Articles

And it was good

God, the Creator. God, the Maker. God, the Poet. When with him, you look at his work, you have to say: yes, it is good, it is beautiful, it is imaginative, it is inventive, and it is creative. In Greek, a poet is literally a “maker,” someone who can really make things you cannot but admire. This opening chapter of the Book of Genesis is a poem that tries to tell that God created everything. The number of days does not matter, except to say that he made everything and that he rested on the Seventh day, the Shabbat, with the implied lesson that his people too, would have to rest on the day of the Lord.
In the New Testament, God’s Son is close to the people. They recognize the face of Jesus, run after him, and touch his clothes. They can now see and feel the nearness and humanity of God in Jesus Christ.

Reading: Genesis 1:1-19

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
God spoke: “Light!”
        And light appeared.
    God saw that light was good
        and separated light from dark.
    God named the light Day,
        he named the dark Night.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day One.
God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
        separate water from water!”
    God made sky.
    He separated the water under sky
        from the water above sky.
    And there it was:
        he named sky the Heavens;
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Two.
God spoke: “Separate!
        Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
    Land, appear!”
        And there it was.
    God named the land Earth.
        He named the pooled water Ocean.
    God saw that it was good.
God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
        of seed-bearing plants,
    Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
        And there it was.
    Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
        all varieties,
    And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
        God saw that it was good.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Three.
God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
        Shine in Heaven’s sky!
    Separate Day from Night.
        Mark seasons and days and years,
    Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
        And there it was.
God made two big lights, the larger
        to take charge of Day,
    The smaller to be in charge of Night;
        and he made the stars.
    God placed them in the heavenly sky
        to light up Earth
    And oversee Day and Night,
        to separate light and dark.
    God saw that it was good.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Four.

Gospel: Mark 6:53-56

They beached the boat at Gennesaret and tied up at the landing. As soon as they got out of the boat, word got around fast. People ran this way and that, bringing their sick on stretchers to where they heard he was. Wherever he went, village or town or country crossroads, they brought their sick to the marketplace and begged him to let them touch the edge of his coat—that’s all. And whoever touched him became well.

Prayer

Lord our God,
in the beginning there was the word
that you spoke
and everything was created.
Fill us with a sense of admiration
for all the beautiful things you have made.
May we say with you:
“yes it is good” and all are very beautiful.
As people who are part of it,
may we respect your creation
and give you all thanks and praise,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.