Celebrating Creation

The Bible begins with storm and chaos and darkness and deep. The story in the first chapter of Genesis is a pastoral message addressed to a people in exile, to a people in chaos. There need be no conflict between a scientific account of how life came into being, and the deep spiritual meaning of these biblical creation stories. These stories are not primarily about what happened long ago. They are not explanations of how the world was made. They are not science, but gospel, good news addressed to a people who needed good news. To a people in chaos, torn by doubt and worry and disillusionment, the story speaks of a powerful, gracious word of God which can order chaos, bringing light out of darkness, solid ground under our feet, and astonishing variety out of oppressive conformity.