The Invisible Now Visible

Some books are read and join others on the shelf that are destined for the throw away pile, but there are always a few that turn out to be keepers.  Keepers are books that are not only kept, but also read, not once, but several times.  "The Book of Creation"  by J. Philip Newell has been one of those books to which I have gone now several times.  It is a keeper.  Each time I find myself reading at a slower pace than the previous read as I seek to digest more completely what is on the page.   The book is basically a series of meditations on the seven days of creation recorded in the first chapter of Genesis.    

While it might seem to some that the seven days of creation  is a narrative of completion, Newell invites us to understand that creation is not a done deal.  It is something which is always happening.  In a reference to a ninth century theologian named Eriugena, he writes that all things do not become visible at once.  This is another way of saying that on the seventh day, creation was not a done deal, but something which would continue to unfold throughout time.    

It is an easy enough thing to claim the idea that creation has within what has not yet become visible.  Medical treatments that are developing in our day have always been inherently a part of the created order, but not always visible.  As something new is announced, what has been invisible has suddenly become visible.  Such is the nature of Creation.  It is never a done deal.  It is always unfolding out of the invisible and into the realm of the visible.