Beginning Words

My slow reading journey which will take me from Genesis to Revelation began as the new year began.  In the beginning moments I found myself reading those Words, "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1).  It is not only a Word which begins the sacred Word of God, but it is also a Word that speaks about the Source of all things.  While there are many opinions about how things got started, the Scripture does not enter into any debate or discussion, but simply states that everything owes its origin to God.    

For some it is a huge leap of faith to stand on such a simple premise.  Most of us have heard or read a theory or two about the way things began.  And many of those theories point to an explanation far more complicated than the one offered in Genesis.  As we read the rest of the Creation account in the first chapter of Genesis, we see an unfolding process which brings order out of chaos, light out of darkness, and life out of the divine reflection.   It is a Creation which is not only given life by the Creator, but one which has been continually sustained by Him since its inception.  

The gospel writer, John, would much later pick up on this same theme as he wrote in what we know as the Prologue to his gospel, "In the beginning was the Word...All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being." (John 1:1, 3).  The more I read the Word, the more I am convinced that there is not just some passing reference to the Hebrew Scripture being made by the gospel writer, but the declaration of an underlying truth that runs like a connecting thread throughout all of history.  As far as John was concerned, there was no way to understand what has happened in the creation and throughout history without affirming that God is the basis for any understanding.