Genesis 1:1-5 New American Standard Bible
The Creation
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was a [a]formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the [b]surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the [c]surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “[d]Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 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, one day.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Have you ever stood on the seas shore or watched a fishing trawler, watched a bunch of seagulls or a terns that seems to just hang in the air over the waves?
The wind may be blustering, the waves crashing and the waters roaring, but the bird yet somehow soars calmly and easily over the vast expanse of rough ocean.
In a more reflective moment this morning, I realized that image of a hovering bird over turbulent waters is how Scriptures first describes the Spirit of God.
The word for “hovering over the surface of the waters” indicates a high degree of care, even concern, in its action, and it is unmistakably linked to the behavior of protective birds that soar, brood over their nests, guarding and keeping their clutch warm and safe as it develops and nurtures the coming generations of life.
Holy Spirit, in his protective love, hovers over the surface of the unformed deep.
The story of creation in Genesis was given by God to God’s people at a critical and vulnerable time when other stories about the beginning of the world were filled with themes of darkness and violence, disarray and disorder and chaos.
At the time, it would have sounded far different from the other creation stories.
Because love and goodness are at the center of this creation story, it continues to invite all people to know God as the all loving, protective Creator that He is.
Throughout the pages of Scripture, God reveals Himself as Father, Son, Spirit.
As Creator, God reveals this three-in-one nature.
Jesus, the Son of God, is present and creates everything.
The Spirit of God hovered over the waters bringing breath and life to what was a darkened, formless, lifeless and empty void.
The three-in-one natured God brought beauty out of nothingness, order out of chaos, specificity out of randomness at creation. God wants the beauty, order, and specificity that originates in His nature to overflow into our relationships!
Into all of that unsettled situation, the Genesis story came as a gift that revealed God’s truest, purposeful, loving intention to make all things good and beautiful.
As we will see in these next coming days, perhaps weeks, many other passages in the Bible also teach something about our God through the imagery of birds.
Against the chaotic backdrop of unpredictable crashing waves and deep oceans,
Against the backdrop of the we the “trawlers” upon the Waters of our Baptisms,
Let’s keep reading of God’s presence, pondering “the birds of the air” together.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
We thank you and praise you, Almighty God. You are the Father who conceived us in love, the Son who re-created and redeemed us from sin, and the Holy Spirit, Whose power inspires and enables us. We desire, O God, to live with each other and reflect the harmony and grace with each other that we find in Your nature. We trust that You embedded this aspect of your character within us. Would you please increase our desire to live with each other with grace and in harmony? We ask that the Holy Spirit enable us to mature into this aspect of Your divine character as we seek You, Lord.^ We pray this in the exalted name of Jesus. God, please also help us to be continually aware of how the fullness of your presence constantly hover over us, keeping watch on and over us as you alone protect us and sustain your creation day by day. Amen.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 