Continuous Creation

Continuous Creation

Devotional for the United Church of Christ Science and Technology Network

November 20, 2017

Rev. Dr. Ruth E. Shaver

Ages ago I was set up,

   at the first, before the beginning of the earth….

when he assigned to the sea its limit,

   so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

then I was beside him, like a master worker;

and I was daily his delight,

   rejoicing before him always…

—Proverbs 8:22, 29-30, NRSV

In November of 2013, the Earth proved that the limits of the sea are ever changing. Nii-jima, an undersea volcano in the Japanese islands, poured forth magma that quickly broke the surface of the sea and became the world’s newest island. This escaped notice in the headlines; it’s not like the island was habitable then and it’s no more habitable four years later, though it has merged with a nearby island and continues to grow as the volcanic eruption shows no signs of abating.

Nii-Jima/Nishinoshima is just one example of the ongoing nature of creation. Although we rarely think of it this way, the tropical storm systems around the world are examples of this as well. We see only the destruction of property and the horror of lost or upended lives from our human perspective and we do our best to rebuild Homestead, New Orleans, Long Beach Island, and Houston with better technology and smarter planning. But where humans have not encroached, the destruction makes possible amazing new life. The same is true of forest fires, as we witnessed in the aftermath of the 1998 Yellowstone fire; the recovery of the land, plants, and wildlife led to extensive changes in the way we humans “manage” wildfires. Nature, it turns out, is remarkably resilient and continuously creating even when we experience destruction.

The foundations of the Earth are such that change is a constant. We don’t know enough yet to say whether having a living world from the mantle to the atmosphere is a requirement for life, particularly sentient life, but it seems to me as though continuous creation—including the destruction of death that is essential to the creation of resurrection—is the maker’s mark of a Living God. I have no problem envisioning Lady Wisdom (the speaker in Proverbs 8:22-33) still sitting with God, watching as creation continues to unfold not just here on Earth but in the entire universe. 

In fact, in this time of human turmoil, the thought of God’s continuous creation unfolding around me gives me hope and peace. If creation itself can change, and we who are human are part of that creation, then we, too, can change. Imagine the change if that continuous creation includes the destruction of prejudice, hatred, inequality, and injustice. Imagine the change if we created heaven on Earth. I’m in. Will you join me?

Prayer: Holy Creating God, you have never stopped the forces that create the universe around us and the Earth beneath our feet changes from day to day. Remind us that we who bear your creative image within us are called to continuously create a world that is more loving, more equitable, and more just. In Christ’s name we ask, amen.