And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed–bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:24-31

Creation of Eve by Michelangelo

[Marva Dawn devotes an entire chapter to the creation of man and woman, so the liturgy focuses on the first part of the day]

How multitudinous are the varieties of beasts and creepers and cattle, how diverse in their sounds, how exhilarating in their appearance, how remarkable in all their gifts to us. What a magnificent design it is that domestic and wild creatures continue to multiply, especially the microscopic organisms that inhabit our bodies to our benefit—and that they multiply according to their kinds. What a rude awakening it would be if the bacteria that aid our digestive systems would reproduce as mosquitoes.

How graceful the running of gazelles! How majestic the roars of lions! How preposterous the shapes of hippopotami, of giraffes, of anteaters!

And yet this is the only a part of the sixth day. But the rest is a phenomenon to itself, as we can tell because God ends the creation of the beasts with the liturgical phrase “it was good.” Since the untamed and tamed beasts are so astonishing and precious to us, let us glorify God with resounding acclaim for all the gifts of land creatures.

O come, let us worship.
We praise You, Creator, for all that is good.

Say it again for the gifts of the week. O come, let us worship.
We praise You, Creator, for all that is good.

Marva J. Dawn, In the Beginning, God, pg 39.

[Author's note: I don't want to have to point this out, but I know someone will miss it: I've posted this under 'fun.']

“I’ve started a new job this week.” That’s the part of the conversations I’ve had lately that has gone normally for me the past few days. Things would take an interesting turn soon thereafter, however, when I answered the inevitable follow-up question. “Oh, what are you doing?” “Janitorial work, mostly.”

Apparently, most people don’t leave one job to become a janitor like I did.

I have some definite reasons why I did—some holier than others such as wanting to serve the church I’m a member of, and making sure to get more definite hours throughout the week now that I’m married. The majority of reasons aren’t quite so sanctified though, and we’ll find out this Saturday just how easily the two I did mention just now will be kept in the front of my mind as I’m cleaning up after a concert that doesn’t even start until 8pm (Over the Rhine, at the 930; Doors open at 7! It’s going to be an awesome show).

So in light of the above reality, as well as the reality that as a sinner I am just plain prone to be lazy and hate work, I’ve constructed a theology of janitorialism. Enjoy, and adapt:
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And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. Genesis 1:20-23

Window from St. Paul's Episcopal Church-Salinas' Creation series

How intriguing our world is with its hosts of swarming creatures, its flocks of birds with myriads of shapes and songs, its seas monsters that plough the deeps. How harmonious it is that fish continue to swim upstream to spawn and birds fly south for the winter, that pelicans don’t reproduce dolphins and whales don’t try to ascend into the air beyond their breaching.

How gracious it is that birds and butterflies multiply to fill the earth with every hue and tint imaginable. How amazing the fruitfulness of spawning fish! How sweet and faithful the trilling of the birds! How astonishing the diversity of bugs and beetles—all necessary for their particular functions in the harmon of creation!

O come, let us worship.
We praise You, Creator, for all that is good.

Marva J. Dawn, In the Beginning, God, pg 38-39.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsmagic/ / Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0

How could we survive if the Earth did not continue to rotate around its sun? Wouldn’t it be a mammoth loss if we did no perceive the beauties of our moon’s monthly patterns and a marvelous universe full of stars? How stagnant the world would be if the moon didn’t influence the tides! How much life would be lost if the fluctuating tides and inflowing rivers didn’t oxygenate those waters to keep sea creatures and sea plants in harmony.

How good it is that the sun is for a sign of God’s grace, for seasons and days and years. What a treasure that we arise each morning to a new day, a fresh start. What a delight that most of our living places have four seasons to bring a variety of vegetation and colors and crops, that the fresh and beautiful life of spring always follows the cold and hibernations of winter.

O come, let us worship.
We praise You, Creator, for all that is good.

Marva J. Dawn, In the Beginning, God, pg 37-38.

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed–bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. Genesis 1:9-13

Photo © Walter Feldman

What a gift that God separated the waters from the land and appointed the Earth on which we live! How can we ever thank God for the divine gathering of waters into the diversity of all the raindrops in the world, all the snowflakes and hailstones, the fogs and mists, all the creeks and ponds and puddles, all the glaciers and snowpacks, the streams and rivers and fjords, the wells and underground springs, the lakes and the bays and the mammoth oceans. How amazing it is that water in general keeps its boundaries so that vegetation can flourish.

And such a variety of vegetation! … At no time in the whole year is there not at least one kind of flower blossoming. Someflowers develop into fruit—apples, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, loganberries; others into multiple kinds of vegetables or seeds that produce grasses or shrubs or trees.

How much the trinity is to be honored for the waters and land and vegetation! Let us thank God that plants bear seeds and fruits according to their kinds, that we can expect bananas from banana trees and cantaloupes from their seeds in the ground.

O come, let us worship.
We praise You, Creator, for all that is good.

Marva J. Dawn, In the Beginning, God, pg 37.

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. Genesis 1:6-8

What a wonder it is that precisely on this planet we have the right amount of oxygen to breathe, moisture for rain and snow, atmosphere that burns up falling asteroids, an ozone layer for protection. How glad we are that God created sky!

What grace it is that the atmosphere hasn’t fallen into the sea, nor has the ocean rebelled against gravity and climbed into the heavens. God’s separation of waters from waters has continued from the beginning and made our earth an inhabitable home.

O come, let us worship.
We praise You, Creator, for all that is good.

Marva J. Dawn, In the Beginning, God, pg 37.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:3-5

The Trinity is the source of light, without which we couldn’t see to enjoy all the astonishing marvels of God’s work, without which we could do nothing ourselves. God also separated the light from the dark and gave us the rhythm that He called Day and Night.

Let us praise God that our earth has never lost its rhythm of days and nights, evenings and mornings. Let us shout for gladness that God, our Light, and God’s created light are always good.

O come, let us worship.
We praise You, Creator, for all that is good.

Marva J. Dawn, In the Beginning, God, pg 37.

So I’ve finished one book on Genesis 1 (see review), and picked up another. The book I’m now reading looks at the creation account from a completely different angle though—one of how it should effect our spiritual life. Marva J. Dawn’s book, In the Beginning God: Creation, Culture, and the Spiritual Life, has been a fascinating, if not short read thus far. In the book, Dawn argues that we should read Genesis 1:1-2:3 as liturgy, which does not contradict Walton’s view of functionality. In fact, I think the two views blend together very well. In Chapter 5, Dawn looks at the first six days of creation, and presents them to us to be read and responded too. The book calls for worship!  She has set up sections by each day of creation, along with a thought and response. In light of this, I will be uploading each thought each day next week starting with Sunday.  I will then link to them here, so that this post serves as a sort of index. They aren’t long, just a paragraph or two, but hopefully it will call us to worship by looking at the creation account in new ways.

Links:
Day One: Day! Night!
Day Two: Sky!
Day Three: Sea! Land! Plants!
Day Four: Sun! Moon! Stars! Seasons!
Day Five: Fish! Birds!
Day Six: Animals! People!

The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate
John H. Walton
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: IVP Academic
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0830837043
ISBN-13: 978-0830837045
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
Buy Here: Amazon.com

Thanks to Adrianna Wright and IVP Press for sending me a copy to review!

Introduction

It’s funny how polar opposites can be entangled. Both the beginning and end of history are sources of debate and sensationalism. Both have as many theories, and conspiracies, as people who are willing to discuss them. When was the universe and the earth created? How was it created? Is evolution and theism compatible? What role does creationism or Intelligent Design have in teaching science? If you’ve had a pulse in the last century, you’ve certainly heard, or probably even discussed, any number of these questions and more. Just within the Christian camp, there are legions of views, it quickly becomes overwhelming hearing them all. The debate just seems to be the same points rehashed.

Into this haze comes John H. Walton’s new book, The Lost World of Genesis One. Walton presents a theological and contextual reading of Genesis 1 presented through 18 propositions (one per chapter) that explains Walton’s suggested reading of the text, how it effects our theology, and ultimately what it’s implications for modern science and school curriculum. The books is a fairly easy read, especially considering its content which drifts in and out of theology, metaphysics, science, and others. Just hearing that list may scare some readers from picking up this book, but Walton does a fine job of explaining unfamiliar terminology and ideas. Also, though chapters and books on this subject tend to be very convoluted, the chapters in this book are pretty short—long enough to present the proposition in full, but short enough that the reader does not lose focus. The Lost World stands firmly in the tradition that I’ve noticed lately of being both scholarly/academic and accessible at the same time. I hope to see this trend continue.
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@nwbingham tweeted this:

“12 Bloggers Summarize the Gospel in 10 Words or Less http://tr.im/vF9M #tulip // How would you say it?”

My response:
“Crushed skull, redeemed cosmos, satisfied wrath, Kingdom come, Deo Gloria.”

You can see what some other bloggers said at the site Fallen and Flawed.

I know the meme went around about twittering the Gospel a few months ago, so I’m not going to try and start that again. However, if you’re up for the challenge, feel free to attempt your 10 word Gospel in the comments.