Jesus and Creation

 Sixth Thursday after Pentecost

Ordinary Time--Color:Green

Lectionary Texts:

OT: Genesis 22:1b-19

NT: Matthew 9:1-18

Today marks an anniversary for Marianne and me. Twenty years ago today we signed the papers at a law office in Manteo buying our townhouse/condo in the OBX. My late father was quite upset with me then. He said, "You're using all the money you have saved and invested to by a beach house." My father had no use for the beach. He loved the stock market. When I told my father's words to my late brother Tom, who dealt in real estate and had no use for the stock market, he said, "Well if you get more pleasure from having your money sitting in an account somewhere, don't buy the beach house. If you get more pleasure from having a house at the beach, where you can go to beach for the whole summer,  get the beach house."We went with Tom. I've never regretted the decision. I would have made more money on the stock market, but I wouldn't have had anything like the fun. Incidentally, the beach house is now valued at two and half times what we paid for it.

Today we took Roxie the Doxie to the beach for the first time. Since she's a rescue, we don't know whether she has ever been before. The sand got a little hot for her paws until we got to the cool sand near the water. She seemed to like the sand but not the water, though she didn't show any great fear of it. The water was summer warm. Mostly Roxie made friends, especially with little kids. Little kids love little dogs. Adults friends were made as well. Everyone wanted to pet her and feel her shiny coat. Tonight we're going out to dinner, sans Roxie. 

 

"Through whom all things came into existence."

 

This is the next line of the Nicene Creed. The antecedent of "whom" is Jesus, or more properly Jesus and God in their binary unity, the subject of the preceding lines of the creed.

 

Jesus was with God before the beginning of creation. Jesus was with God when God said, "Let there be light," and the Big Bang happened. This was 14.8 billion years ago. Before the Big Bang there was nothing but a intensively massive black hole. When the matter of the black whole reached such an intensity that there was no more room to contract, it massively exploded. The energy of that explosion was light. "And God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light.'" Jesus was/is (among many other things) light. "God from God, light from light, true God from true God, " the Creed says. Everything came into existence through that one Big Bang, that one Word from God. Everything that exists has been evolving ever since.

 

Trinity of Creation. 

We are thankful that you made us. That all the coalescing and re-coalescing of certain bits of matter evolved over these billions of years to become us, your people. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Faithfully.

Christian