Lent Devotional 8

The very first verses of the Bible paint a picture of an all powerful God who speaks and light appears. Who speaks and the waters part dry land pokes through the water and the animals appear. A God who speaks and humans are created in the very image of God.

In the last chapter of the Bible we are told that the one who sat upon the throne said, “Behold I will make all things new…. To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life.” This is a God who speaks and there is the promise of new life and becoming a new creation through a Gift from the God of creation.

Time and time the Bible paints a picture of this all powerful God who speaks and something happens. A God who speaks and there is a message of truth for all people to follow and to live. This a God who chooses to create and never abandons creation. Revelation quotes God in this way. “I am the alpha and the Omega… the beginning and the end”. How do we with our limited human capacities understand such an all powerful God? In reality we don’t understand, but we do journey with God and listen for an understanding of the almighty that brings meaning to life.

When I was in Seminary I heard a musical recitation of The Creation by James Weldon Johnson. Here is the poem that Johnson calls a “Negro Sermon”.

AND God stepped out on space, 

And He looked around and said, 

“I’m lonely— 

I’ll make me a world.” 

And far as the eye of God could see         5

Darkness covered everything, 

Blacker than a hundred midnights  

Down in a cypress swamp. 

Then God smiled, 

And the light broke,         10

And the darkness rolled up on one side, 

And the light stood shining on the other, 

And God said, “That’s good!” 

Then God reached out and took the light in His hands, 

And God rolled the light around in His hands         15

Until He made the sun; 

And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens. 

And the light that was left from making the sun 

God gathered it up in a shining ball 

And flung it against the darkness,         20

Spangling the night with the moon and stars. 

Then down between 

The darkness and the light 

He hurled the world; 

And God said, “That’s good!”         25

Then God himself stepped down— 

And the sun was on His right hand, 

And the moon was on His left; 

The stars were clustered about His head, 

And the earth was under His feet.         30

And God walked, and where He trod 

His footsteps hollowed the valleys out 

And bulged the mountains up. 

Then He stopped and looked and saw 

That the earth was hot and barren.         35

So God stepped over to the edge of the world 

And He spat out the seven seas; 

He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed; 

He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled; 

And the waters above the earth came down,         40

The cooling waters came down. 

Then the green grass sprouted, 

And the little red flowers blossomed, 

The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky, 

And the oak spread out his arms,         45

The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground, 

And the rivers ran down to the sea; 

And God smiled again, 

And the rainbow appeared, 

And curled itself around His shoulder.         50

Then God raised His arm and He waved His hand 

Over the sea and over the land, 

And He said, “Bring forth! Bring forth!” 

And quicker than God could drop His hand. 

Fishes and fowls         55

And beasts and birds 

Swam the rivers and the seas, 

Roamed the forests and the woods, 

And split the air with their wings. 

And God said, “That’s good!”         60

Then God walked around, 

And God looked around 

On all that He had made. 

He looked at His sun, 

And He looked at His moon,         65

And He looked at His little stars; 

He looked on His world 

With all its living things, 

And God said, “I’m lonely still.” 

Then God sat down         70

On the side of a hill where He could think; 

By a deep, wide river He sat down; 

With His head in His hands, 

God thought and thought, 

Till He thought, “I’ll make me a man!”         75

Up from the bed of the river 

God scooped the clay; 

And by the bank of the river 

He kneeled Him down; 

And there the great God Almighty         80

Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky, 

Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night, 

Who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand; 

This Great God, 

Like a mammy bending over her baby,         85

Kneeled down in the dust 

Toiling over a lump of clay 

Till He shaped it in His own image; 

Then into it He blew the breath of life, 

And man became a living soul.         90

Amen. Amen. 

This poem has always reminded me of how “big” God is and how “small” God chooses to be so that I can be in relationship with the Creator.

Today think about how God has “spoken” creation and speaks to you and me. And maybe more importantly think about what it is that God would say directly to us on Wednesday March 3, 2010 and are we willing to hear. And then imagine “God’s smile” when we hear and do.

Have a great day and

SHALOM,

Tom Mc