Thought for Today
Genesis 1:28 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness . . .
Numbers 13:29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan."
Matthew 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
Acts 16:26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.
My Thoughts this morning are the results of an odd confluence of several diverse things coming together. I have reflected several times recently on Genesis 1:28 and what it means to be made in the image of God. Most of us are probably aware that a large portion of our country is in the grips of some extremely cold weather. You know it is cold when they delay a football game and all the associated money it produces. Yesterday, as we were leaving church to come home, a friend warned that the meteorologists were forecasting some sort of ‘snow event’ for later in the day. As Greta and I sat in our den, awaiting the start of the Sunday afternoon football game, as we talked, I looked out the window at the field behind our home. It was cold and clear. About 5 minutes later, I looked out that same window and could not see 3 feet because of the snow blowing almost horizontally.
I am used to extreme weather and sudden storms. I have lived my entire life within less than 100 miles of either the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. In New England, I have come to realize that a nor’easter is just a blue norther coming from a different direction, sometimes with snow instead of rain. But, yesterday was truly an eye-opener. This particular cold front engulfing so much of our nation has produced some very extreme weather!
“The Great Rift Valley is a geographical and geological feature running north to south for around 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers), from northern Syria to central Mozambique in East Africa. . . The northernmost part of the Rift forms the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. To the south, in Israel, it is known as the Hula Valley separating the Galilee mountains and the Golan Heights. Farther south, the valley is the home of the Jordan River, which flows southward through Lake Hula into the Sea of Galilee in Israel and then continues south through the Jordan Valley into the Dead Sea on the Israeli-Jordanian border. From the Dead Sea southward, the Rift is occupied by the Wadi Arabah and then the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.” (newworldencyclopedia.org)
Israel is bounded by the Mediterranean Ocean and that Great Rift Valley. Seas, oceans and rivers have greatly influenced much of our religious history. Floods, earthquakes and storms figure prominently throughout scriptures. Last evening, as it began to darken more and more, my own thoughts were greatly influenced by the howling winds and the blowing snow. Very little snow accumulated, but it is strange to see snow ‘fall’ horizontally.
Geological and meteorological events generally inspire me to ponder of God’s creative work in Genesis. In recent decades, with the launching of the Hubble Telescope and the Webb Space Telescope we have added several new words to our vocabulary, e.g., Goldilocks Zone and Exoplanet. They are part of our search for life and/or lifeforms on other planets. Exoplanets are planets outside our own solar system. These orbiting telescopes have identified many such planets. The Goldilocks Zone is the range of orbits around a star within which a planet could support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. (Wikipedia)
So much of our science, technology and even our understanding of history and our place in it is based on how we understand what it means to be made in God’s image. We assume life must be carbon based. We assume life must be dependent on liquid water. We even assume that being made in God’s image means that God must be bipedal, symmetrical about a vertical axis, etc. We assume that even God must somehow be contained within a linear time frame, forgetting those first words of the Bible, “Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.”
What does it all mean? I do not have all the answers, merely more questions. Thankfully, I don’t need all the answers. I only need to accept the grace of my Creator God.
Stay safe, thank God, trust God,
Pastor Ray
