In the Beginning

This Sunday, we embark on a series focused on creativity. For these weeks we will celebrate the creativity being expressed in the world by looking at the ultimate Creator. Adam Marshall-Lopez bring this Sunday’s message, and he writes:

This Sunday, we launch into a new sermon series. Our current reality of social isolation in the midst of a pandemic is not the only example of widescale stress and anxiety on the human species. (Nor is it the first.) Psychologists and historians continue to point out that one expression of humanity seems constant across such periods of stress – creativity. This may take the form of sewing masks, composing poetry, making visual art, or stringing together viral videos of humor.

This is not a uniquely human trait, however. It is one that has been mirrored for us by our Creator.

Genesis 1:1-5 (New Revised Standard Version, NRSV)
¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept ³over the face of the waters. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

John 1:1-5 (Common English Bible, CEB)
¹In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. ²The Word was with God in the beginning. ³Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being ⁴through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.

God’s action through the Word – the Logos – brought about all the lifeforms that we observe today. This is not only a central belief of our Christian faith. It also serves as a model for us. Creativity is a founding and core expression of life. It is foundational in that it was expressed on day one. In addition to that, the gospel of John connects true and authentic expressions of life to something else – to Light. Creativity and life and light are all deeply connected to one another. It is in seasons of uncertainty and fear that we must turn to these foundational principles, to center ourselves in the loving and motherly embrace of our Creator.

Consider these questions:

1. How have you expressed or experienced creativity in this season of coronavirus?
2. In what ways have you seen the Light of God at work in humanity?