1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

27 So God created humankind in his image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." 29 God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.

Oh, how science and I don't get along.  Not that I find any eschatological challenges through the influence of scientific theory (or fact), but more simply, I've never been a "science" kind of guy.  My brain just doesn't work that way.  But when diving into the modern dialogue about some of the most ancient and critical texts that build the foundation of our faith, one begins to discover a significant amount of thought being given to how faith and science converge in the opening verses of Genesis.  So here's how I'm going to go at this blog...I'm going to begin with the point I'm feeling led to share on Sunday, then I'm going to share an illustration to hopefully back up the point.  Then I will share two opposing theological/scientific theories that I believe are actually in concert with one another to hopefully bring this point home.  Ok?  Let's try this out....

God created.  God still creates.  We are called by God to be co-creators in God's ongoing redemptive work in the world.  There we have it folks, that's the point, are you with me so far?  So here comes the science part.  Science tells us that in order for something to exist, there most be something that has created it.  Nothing comes from nothing.  Created things cannot, by nature's rules, have independent power in and of themselves to exist.  Essentially, created things must have a creator.

So let's take an apple for example.  The apple exists because it was created from other elements.  When those specific elements came together, the output was what we know of as an apple.  However, the elements that make up the apple are in perpetual motion.  These atoms, protons, neurons, etc. are continually moving, crashing into one another, shifting and changing.  So the scientific thinking is, with each given nanosecond, the apple is technically "re-created" due to the movement of these atoms. But to the human eye, the apple remains the apple.  Author Jonathan Edwards writes about the dual-take on creation by saying, "God's upholding created substance, or causing its existence in each successive moment, is altogether equivalent to an immediate production out of nothing, at each moment, because its existence at this moment is not merely in part from God, but wholly from him; and not in any part, or degree, from its antecedent existence." Uh huh....

Have you ever heard of Creatio Ex Nihilo?  This is called The Doctrine of Creation Out of Nothing.  It's essentially a working title for chapter one of Genesis.  God created, but did so out of nothing, bringing forth light and darkness, time and space, matter and life.  Interestingly enough, some scientist are also beginning to attribute Creatio Ex Nihilo to the explanation of the Big Bang Theory (not the show, but the creation of the universe in one single act.)  The idea is that only something "outside" of, or transcendent of, the laws of the natural world could create something from nothing.

But then there's also Creatio Continua.  This is called The Doctrine of Continual Creation, and it emerges out of Genesis chapter two, the second creation story.  While this is a more controversial take on creation, the basic traditional thinking is that creation is something that was not just a one-time occurrence, and rather something that is ongoing.  The theology is that God's immanence and power is manifest and seen in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.  God's created order requires the ongoing dependence of creation on the Creator.  Some scientists are connecting Creatio Continua to the theory of Evolution.  They are making their case through examples of ongoing discoveries of new planets, stars and solar systems, and at the same time drilling into the depths of atoms to sub-atoms and beyond; finding evidence of the improbable or unpredictable nature of created things within the created world.

So the truth is, in my non-scientific brain, there is ample space for both of these doctrines when considering the creative nature of God.  God created, but God also continues to create.  If part of God's nature is to create, and our God is a living God, then one would assume that God has not stopped creating. I want to be open to both truths and I'm convinced that being open is exactly what God desires from us.  So the question then, is what does that mean for us in terms of our relationship with God?

            Does God continue to create in the world around us?

            Maybe God continues to create through us?

            If so, how do we intentionally participate in God's ongoing creative work?

Maybe the first step is to remain open.  I'm looking forward to us having more dialogue about this on Sunday!  

See you then!

Jim