One extravagant life
Each life is precious. Each unique among the hundred million babies born worldwide each year. Who doesn’t on seeing a newborn reaching deep for their first breath not also reach deeply with them into the generosity of life. At first there are no words. Only exclamations and tears. And how appropriate that those attending the birth have no words for their wonder and joy, as the baby as yet has no words to protest or rejoice.
Trailing the first sounds of new life, the first words come. And aren’t they instinctively words of thanks? Because new life seems to need darkness, hiddenness, uncertainty and risk. Which is why we know to raise our thanks as high as we are capable of imagining. Science, after all, tells us that this new life is made up of dust from the beginning of the cosmos.
However, the act of creation has one last task if it is to survive. And it falls to humanity to do. Before there was nothing and now there is something. Something that needs to be placed. Something that needs a name. As none of us is able to know our own creation, others must first speak it for us in stories to be shared. For if we don’t speak of our shared beginnings, the web of life breaks and violence comes.
“Let my life be precious in your sight”
There is a story in the Hebrew Bible in the first chapter of Second Kings. In this story, 102 soldiers have died until one captain with his 50 solders comes forward and speaks to the prophet Elijah. “Please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.”
Here we have a story about the good that comes from speaking out of the value of each life. This captain speaks to the prophet Elijah of the sacredness of life. Life is precious. Elijah himself is under a death threat from the king who sent the soldiers to bring him back to carry out his execution. By speaking out on the preciousness of his life and his soldiers’ lives, the captain’s voice reverberates in creation so that God hears and speaks to Elijah. “Do not be afraid to go with this captain to the king. No harm will come.” And with that speaking out, violence ends. At least for the good guys.
Creation stories of precious life
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The beginning of a story of the birth of the cosmos in ten words, spoken in a few seconds. Likewise the Big Bang Theory puts the beginning of the cosmos from nothing to something in under a second.
Some say science replaces creation stories. Some say no. While some say they live side by side. Maybe even intersect. Each of us has to decide for ourselves but here are some reasons why stories, including creation stories, will always be told.
- Story tellers are deep observers of life, giving the rest of us a glimpse of the powerful forces behind our visible world.
- Stories demand our creativity and engagement. We can’t just show up with facts to pit against other facts.
- Truth is incredibly difficult to see from one view but stories have 360 degree vision and telephoto lenses.
- Stories are memorable. They build community through their telling not because they are simple, but because the questions they raise are more important than answers.
- Because stories are open and big and able to include so many.
We will always create stories that speak of our shared beginnings. It is not something the Bible demands, it is something the Bible tells us was there in the beginning. For good reason.
News on creation
The Big Bang. Dark Matter. Deep Space. Dark Energy, Black Holes. Science holds many mysteries in its exploration of the skies, the place where precious life began.
DESI, short for Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, is mapping 1 million galaxies,(yes, that’s right, galaxies). The project is looking to understand how the cosmos works through a better understanding of Dark Matter. But the big news is that DESI’s data is “dropping hints” of something new: Dark Energy may vacillate. Previously, it had been thought that Dark Energy only expanded, sending creation to oblivion. Though now, maybe not.
Check out this mind blowing video. Each dot is a universe!?
Genesis chapter one in the Hebrew Bible speaks seven times of the good of creation. There is nothing in creation that is called bad. Even the creation of sea monsters God saw as good. All of life begins as precious and it is our responsibility to continue to tell that story.
Book suggestions
Consider these books to explore deeper.
- The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis. By Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg. This book is evidence the Bible has something important to say.
- Before There was a Before. By Arthur, David and Shoshana Waskow. Two kids and their dad write this quirky take on the Genesis story.
- Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The astounding interconnectedness of the universe. By Lisa Randall. “Successful science writing tells a complete story of the ‘how’ – the methodical marvel building up to the ‘why’ – and Randall does just that.” New York Times Review of Books
Leave a Reply