What do you do when life seems in disarray? When the news or your Facebook thread is full of stories of chaos and disorder, or your demands at work or home seem more than you can manage? I’ll share my strategy: I balance my checkbook, or do the laundry. Somehow creating little pockets of order in the midst of chaos is an approach that’s hard-wired into the human condition.
Most scholars think that today’s reading—the first in a pair of two separate creation stories—originated during a time of chaos in Israel’s story. Probably written during the exile in Babylon (587-539BCE), this opening salvo turns on end the Babylonian account of the origins of things. Instead of a frenzy of competing gods, this story features God alone (though the Hebrew word for “God” is, rather intriguingly, a plural noun); instead of creation out of violence, God merely speaks the world into being; and instead of creating humanity to do the chores of lazy gods, here, humans are created in the very likeness of God. In all these ways, Genesis 1 promotes an alternative worldview that affirms order in the midst of chaos, and the goodness of creation—including the divine imprint of God—in the midst of humiliation and oppression. Doing the laundry, indeed.
Beneath the veneer we work hard to sustain, I wonder if we’ll admit that life is often more characterized by chaos than by order. Strained relationships, dashed dreams, misbehaving people (not us, of course) all challenge the order we think we’d like to impose on our lives. Isn’t it reassuring, then, that ancient Israel’s founding story affirms that even this messed up world, these messed up lives, are at their core, good, very good indeed—and filled with purpose?
- Name your chaos. Where do find things disastrously wrong, or at least not quite right? What might it mean to affirm that God is at work to create anew, and to affirm the goodness of all creation?
- Reflect on the notion that humanity is created in God’s image. What does that claim mean to you? For your relationships? For your worldview?
- What other details did you notice in today’s reading?
Prayer: Hover over us, O God, not as some remote magician, but as one whose very breath sustains us and our world. May we today honor your image in us, in our loved ones, and even in those we neglect or despise. Amen.
[Note: To help us carry the text through our day, I’m adding a daily breath prayer. Try it over a cup of coffee, in the shower, at work, or as you lie down at night.]
Breath Prayer: God said [inhale], “it’s good!” [exhale].
