Created Order

Again and again, we wonder where God is—if God is! We wonder and we watch, hoping for some sign. It is right before us. It is in creation itself. 

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. 

God’s eternal presence is a constant hovering. We have hummingbird feeders. The tiny birds flit out of the trees and hover over the feeders, miraculously holding still while in constant motion. That’s how I see God’s Spirit forever with us—hanging there over us, miraculously abiding right with us despite the constant swirl of motion that makes for life. It is that constant and steady motion that best defines chaos—the deepest essence of what and who we are. It takes very little argument to prove that we are ordered chaos. No truer sentiment is expressed in scripture. We are ordered chaos—barely. If God was not eternally present, imagine what life would really be like! Our inner chaos breaks out often enough. Far too frequently, we are left with a mess to clean up. Far too frequently, there is more chaos than there is order. But order there is. It becomes more and more apparent in each of the successive days of creation—one more thing comes into being, one more structure falls into place, and there is one more revelation of the Living God to reassure us and comfort us when all hell breaks loose. There is a purpose governing existence. There is an order to trust. God hovers over us. 

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.

6 And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

The first three days are days of separation—this from that, each set in its own place, yet somehow remaining part of the whole. Each day includes everything separated from everything else. Yet, they are not allowed to overrun one another. They have their place and their time. Light and dark; sky and sea; water and land—each finds its own place, its own order. 

Then comes life, nurtured and nourished by all else that is. The plants begin to grow. They cover the ground, fed by the rain, blown by the wind. They are sprung from creation itself, dependent on creation for what they need. Creation feeds them through God’s providence. We begin to see all in all, and all from God. We begin to understand the innate joy of John 1—the Word is present in all that is. Compassion feeds everything—everything is made to help everything else. We do not yet know what exactly the Word is, but we sense it flows from the deepest being of God. The seeds are there. Creation will live. It will breathe. It is now quickened. 

Separation is not alienation. Separation is not isolation. It is the order through which all can become what it is to be. Life needs its own time. Life needs its own space. Then it can regenerate. Then it can flourish. Then it can blossom as God intends it to do. Everything has its own purpose. 

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind[c] 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,[d] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

27 

So God created humankind[e] in his image,

    in the image of God he created them;[f]

    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. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The next set of three days may well be named integration. Separation was a necessary first step—each in its own place—but now it is time for community—each now comes together, remaining what it is, but blending nature, place, and time to create something more whole and more real, if you will. It is the foundation of communion, and as that foundation comes into being, creation receives the creature who is the fullest embodiment of that communion—humankind. 

It begins with light coming into dark—stars and moon become part of the night; and the sun rises in the day, casting shadows across the illuminated earth. Nothing is truly separate. Nothing is completely on its own. All is in all. We begin to understand what sin really is—when someone refuses to acknowledge or accept they have a shadow—that they are not pure, but are a blend—that this is in that. There is an interconnection, dependent on each being what it is, but also an entering that which it isn’t, creating something whole and complete.

Now is when life becomes sentient. Sentience is a blending in and of itself. It is a means by which to interact and engage. It is messy. The pure order of the first three days continues to morph into something else, something other; something complex, something complicated. Yet, in that very move it becomes more holy. It begins to be able to draw closer to its Creator. It perceives. It thinks. It responds. 

Integration, then, fires our minds to consider, reflect, and know. We are a part of all else. All else is a part of us. Everything has a mixed nature. We need to learn to negotiate our disparate parts. We need to compromise to find that which feeds each piece without neglecting any piece. We learn to understand. Understanding, we learn to open ourselves. Opening, we find a place for all, even that which we presume to think alien to our nature. Nothing is really alien. Everything is part of the order.

And it culminates in us. 

We are the crown of creation. We can imagine and feel. We can dream and then act on our dreams. We can manipulate the created order. We can change that order. We can alter creation. We are free. We can love. We are the Image of God. We can find a way to reconcile, redeem, and reconnect all that seems to work against itself. 

Creation now has a caretaker. Our purpose is to love creation and to preserve its wonder, beauty, and bounty for all generations now present and yet to come. We are to interact with God and with one another to make it so. God provides. God provides creation. We are to keep it so. We are to learn the ways of compassion, making compassion the center of our being. 

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it, God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

To echo Jesus’ own words—it is finished. The order of all is established. Its course is set. 

The key to following that course will be our ability to abide in God. Can we abide with the hovering presence of God? Can we attune to that presence? Can we come to understand that the Word is now defined—love? Can we see that that indeed is the foundation of all that is? Can we comprehend that love itself has a specific order? It is to be other-centered and self-emptying—can we do that? 

How we answer those questions will determine all else.

God creates the environment in which we can discern our answers—the Seventh Day. It is the day to rest in God and God in creation. It is the day when there is no greater work than listening for God. 

Through that listening, we recalibrate and recenter our lives. We check our course. We make adjustments. We focus again on that which truly matters. We reconcile our differences. We reconvene as a communion, becoming again the community God intends. 

We also let creation rest. Creation itself needs time to recover. Creation itself needs time to refresh. Order must reassert itself. Things need to retreat into their otherness so they can combine anew. Each needs its time to breathe. 

And we find ourselves back where we began. We find ourselves in the meeting place—that place where God most closely hovers over the action. Here is our God. And here we are—God’s people. Sit and breathe. Realize creation still unfolds before us, within us, and around us. 

God is here.

So, too, is love.

Amen.