Tuesday, January 1, 2013



DAY 1- GOD ON THE MOVE...TOWARD US
Genesis 1 & 2 and Matthew 1 & 2
The post for today might be a bit longer, most likely because this is a new adventure, but also because there is so much that God is saying to me. I also added a New Testament chapter and subtracted an Old Testament chapter.

HAPPY NEW YEAR: We start anew and so here we go in this new adventure.

Matthew 1 – 2: It is January 1st. You no doubt have been immersed in Christmas. I pray not the Christmas of the malls, but the Christmas of the Bible. On Christmas we often hear read Luke’s version of Jesus’ birth. It is Luke who gives us the Angel Gabriel visiting Zechariah and then Mary. It is Luke who gives us the manger, the shepherds, and the wise men. We have romanticized (and sanitized) these images. At the Cathedral our young girls flittered about as the most adorable angels; I am sure Gabriel would have enjoyed it and I am sure Gabriel looked nothing like our sweet little cherubs. I like our human sentimentality. It means we have taken hold of the story (or perhaps the story has taken hold of us). The story still seeks to communicate the supernatural truth that God has come to earth – Immanuel – God with us.

But what of Matthew’s version, Gabriel is there again, this time with Joseph. Yet the version is scant with details and therefore what is it telling us? Chapter One of Matthew with its long genealogy reveals something very important. It demonstrates the connection of the New Testament to the Hebrew Scriptures (which Christians call the Old Testament). It communicates to us that the Bible is not a mass of unconnected stories and other bits of writing. Rather the story of Israel is connected with the story of Jesus. Note how Matthew includes two quotes from Old Testament prophets; he will continue to do this throughout his account. The point? It is God’s story: From Creation to New Creation, culminating in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Christ. The Bible is indeed the Word of God, about God, and about how we can find our place in Him through Jesus. It is therefore fitting that we turn to Genesis.

Genesis 1 – 2:4: I love these early Genesis texts. I could write and write about them. “In the beginning…God.” There it is, our starting point. In the beginning God; God is at the center, humankind is not meant for that position. Without God chaos, and as God spoke, creation and order emerge. Ten times God speaks and seven times he says it is (very) good.

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of how people use this text and immediately jump to “creation versus evolution.” They end up jumping over so many important truths that we hold by faith:
·         Truth such as there is a God.
·         Truth that God is the creator and sustainer of the cosmos.
·         Truth that God’s world is one of order, not disorder.
·         Truth that God’s creation began as good, very good.

Might God have created all this in “seven days”? Science suggests no. Is that a problem? Not really, Genesis is written as prose with poetic overtones (cf. HTRB p. 27-28) and we know that it is our poets who often communicate truths which science can never present. Do you turn to science, or poets and musicians when pondering love? Francis Collins (past head of the human genome project) says the Bible is primarily not about “how things happened”, but “why they did”. Science might be able to explain the “how”, but it will never explain the “why”, it is not suppose to.  

So why, why did God create the cosmos, why did God create human beings? I don’t presume to know the mind of God. There is however in the Bible recurring themes. We see God “doing things” and then saying he is doing them to reveal his glory and/or his holiness (cf. Exodus 14:4, Ezekiel 36, Revelation 22). My sense is God has done all this in order to reveal himself, and his character, to us his creatures. Don’t misunderstand. God is not some egotist. Yet all He created reveals who He is, including us. Consider one of the things He reveals:

“Let us make humankind in our image.” It is important that I don’t, at this moment, put myself in the center. However it is significant to note our position in God’s created world. The first thing God does after he creates humankind is…bless us (cf. 1:24). After blessing us, he gives us his creation and tells us to care for it. It is as if after God has created all this, he has tossed the keys of his best car to us, sixteen year old's who just got our license. Again why? The answer is a little ahead of us in Genesis. Right now I am basking in the knowledge that I am not some random event in some random universe. There is order. I have a place and a purpose. And even more than that, there is this God who considers humanity as his crowning achievement.

Two side thoughts: God spoke – from a science point of view sound is a wave, but we know at a quantum level that waves are particles – the point? From nothing God speaks and now there is the cosmos (cf. John 1:1). Lastly, I don’t think God created the cosmos in seven days – I do think he is BIG enough that if he wanted to, then he could have!

Genesis 2:5 to the end: I feel like I have written way too much in the first entry. In chapter two though there is much more about God. In verse seven I picture God on his hands and knees making a man out of the earth; a mud pie! Then he breathes life into us. I can remember learning CPR. Nobody wanted to breathe into the mannequins that were provided, it was too yucky. Now I know the language here is poetic, but the poetic language communicates an intimate connection of God with humankind – he bends down, puts his lips to yours/mine, and breathes his very breath, his very Spirit*, into us. Why (again don’t fall in the “how hole”), why? Because He loves us! God’s work goes on, he plants a garden (v.8), he brings the animals to Adam, (v.19), and finally he makes Eve. The chapter closes with innocent bliss; they were both naked and were not ashamed, because it was good – very good.

*The Hebrew word for wind, breath and wind in this section of Genesis is the same, Ruach.

Genesis 1 & 2 tells us who we are at our core; the image bearers of God. It tells us that God created all of this to reveal who He is, and how he desires a relationship with us. Of course we will soon read how we complicate it, but the Good News is there is a way back.

All four chapters – Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Matthew 1, and Matthew 2 – all reveal God moving towards us. It is God who is the first to act. It is God who is the first to step towards us. It is God who after creating this beautiful world, continues to seek us out.

C.S. Lewis in Miracles writes, “No philosophical theory which I have yet come across is a radical improvement on the word of Genesis, that “In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth.””
As I close this first day of blogging, that is my prayer, that God will break through into your conscious. That His Word, some part of it, has touched you and linked to some deep part of your soul.


4 comments:

  1. I will be checking in (hopefully) daily. Love the dual nature/quantum theory comment. Peace.

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  2. Super, your checking in will help encourage me to keep going!

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  3. Dearest Dean Collum:

    I am beginning to read the bible with you but have to start at the top at this page - which is my day one. So it will be a long time I think before I can catch up. My comment on this VERY beautiful writing is below:

    1) With regard to people who argue and have doubt, or in many cases, are upset or even angry when they read the Old testament, for example this chapter….
    I feel that it is because they have not arrived to the level of understanding that you or many others have. It is as though each person were like a radio that can choose to program itself to receive his or her own inclinations. Some people enjoy listening to debates or politics some more about nature or some only rock n'roll.. If we tune in to God's loving message and ask more and more to understand, then suddenly the radio will receive very clear and beautiful waves whereby we will UNDERSTAND the word of God and see that EVERYTHING in the Bible is more in harmony with science and also ourselves and our spirits.

    God created the world which is NOT chaos at all. When I read the word 'chaos' I could not help but think of John Milton's Paradise Lost in which Satan was banished by God from heaven because of his pride. But I came to believe that if Satan (as characterized in the book) could only overcome his doubt, pride and anger and could accept God's grace, he would not have to fight any battle or CHAOS at all. Then he would not have had to suffer torment of hell at all. And even now, in my opinion, it is not too late for him.

    2) I very much like the part where you told us about the Archangel Gabriel visiting Mary, as well. A great American Buddhist monk once told a story of how one day, during his three months' meditation in darkness (in a cave), he had been annoyed and frightened by a bat which had taken up residence above his head. There were hundreds of bats in the cave but this one was right above him. He had always recited morning and evening Buddhist refuge prayers, but that evening when he prayed, it seemed as though his fear and anxiety led him to appreciate every single word perfectly for the first time.

    Hearing 'May God's love be with you' can make a person cry if there is a perfect understanding of why those words have such powerful meaning.

    Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to bless us with your thoughts.
    Panee

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  4. Dear Panee,

    Thank you so much for your comments. I am very excited for you!

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