Reflection for the Week - March 25

In the early part of the Genesis narrative, we read that God is the Creator of the world and present in it. Creation exists because this particular God created it. It has a sanctity, but not of its own. Creation, therefore, is special and central for many reasons, most notably because it is created with purpose and a divinely personal touch. We also read that there is a clear biblical mandate for respecting creation; caring for it based on God’s actions and enabling creation to fulfill its purpose of praising God. But the created is not God. The soil, sun and moon, animals, and humans are distinct from God. They are not divine. And God, who is Divine, is not some impersonal force or energy aligned with everything else, but a set-apart, personal God—one who relates, makes covenants, and speaks and acts within creation in an ongoing way. We should not think of God as caught up without restraint in the created world or exclusively identified by it. The Genesis God is the God who sees, names, replies to, and proclaims that what is created is good for its purpose. Thus, God is related to and distinct from creation. When Christians ignore either of these two truths, they do so at their own theological and spiritual peril.