Being the Beloved - A Monthly Blog from CFDM Northwest
By David Hicks
The older I get and the more I reflect on my own journey with God the more I realize how often I have misunderstood or misconstrued some of the fundamental truths of who God is and how God interacts with the world. I have sometimes made subtle assumptions that may seem connected to deep truth but in reality do not reflect the essence of truth. They end up creating a kind of shadow version of reality. A “dark side” if you will that, left unchecked and unexamined, can create a vision of life that is anything but 20/20.
One of these assumptions I am now trying to re-think has to do with an understanding of creation that I have unwittingly allowed to shape my awareness and experience of God in ways that actually do more harm than good.
One of the fundamentals of the Christian view of reality is that all things have come into being through the creative power of God. “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1). I have never questioned this. But I am now realizing that I have inadvertently misinterpreted the word “created”. Here's a quick primer in English grammar (disclaimer: I actually had to look this up. Grammatical rules are not my forte).
In order to understand a verb in the past tense we add the ending “-ed” to it. This sets the action of the verb in the past. If we want to understand a verb in the present, as on-going action, we add the ending “-ing” to it. Some of you more astute contemplatives can already see where I am going with this. To think that God “creat-ed” something implies that on the 7th day God washed the dirt and clay off and then rested as if things were done. God stood back and said, “Hey, that’s pretty good”, in the same way that a famous painter might finish a masterpiece, admire it, and then entrust it to someone who then puts it on display for all the world to enjoy.
I have now come to believe that the heavens and the earth and humanity were not “creat-ED” by God, but that God is, even now, actively “creat-ING” all things. The 7th day cannot be understood as something that falls at the end of a timeline marking a kind of finality to the work of creation. 7th day is best understood as the new, on-going, pattern of reality where God continues the work of creation. It is now found in a multitude of “re” words: renew, restore, refurbish, repair, replenish, rekindle, rejuvenate, refresh, revive, etc., etc. All of this is part of the “creat-ing” that God is doing now all around us.
This perspective is a game-changer for me in terms of how I understand and participate in the creative work of God both in the world and in me. It takes me out of some of the fear and shame-based theologies of my past and opens up a much more expansive, inclusive, grace-filled understanding of God and the creative work of God in me. And the biggest eye-opener of all is not that God is doing this on-going work, but that I am invited into the process not as an observer of what God is doing, but as an active participant. This world is not a museum where we look at what God has done and give thanks. It is a construction site that is constantly creating new things and we are all creators with God in the active, on-going, “-ing” of creation.
God through Isaiah says, “Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; do you not see it?” (Is. 43:19) These days I am trying to accept this invitation to see, and participate in, the new things God is creating in me and all around me. And what I’m seeing is pretty awesome!
What books, media, activities are nurturing your heart, soul, mind, strength in this season as we are loving God and our neighbor as ourselves? Post in the comments below or hop on over to our Facebook page and share with one another.