A part of our We Believe… series

There’s an opinion out there that suggests you can either believe in ‘creation’ or in ‘evolution’. We believe that it’s entirely reasonable to find truth in both!  Christian tradition does not try to explain the science of how God created all that is, rather it acknowledges and celebrates that God brought all things into being.

Christianity’s sacred text, the Bible, describes the ‘Word’ of God as existing with God from the very beginning. It tells us that all things were made through the Word, which was with God and was God. This points to an understanding of God that we will explore further in another article, but for now let’s reflect on the idea that everything that exists was brought into being by and through God.We discussed in the previous article the idea that God is Love. We believe that, whatever the process, God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. Creation is an act of God, an act of Love. 

When we become aware of the love that has been put into something, it changes our relationship to it. That object, whatever it is, takes on a new and added significance. Think, for example, of a gift that is given in love. When we know of the love with which it was given, and recognise that love for what it is, then the object itself becomes much more to us than its material substance. That is not to say that we should think of Creation as being a gift – rather, that when we recognise in creation the Love that brought it into being, every thing that is becomes much more to us than merely its material substance. 

Every thing that is was brought into being by the love of God, and in every thing we see God. Of course, when we look at a painting by Rembrandt or a sculpture by Michelangelo we may recognise something of the artist in their creation, but what we see will only ever be the tiniest of glimpses.  So it is with creation. When we recognise the Love of God in all that is we see the tiniest glimpse of the Creator. 

This must affect the way that we choose to live within this creation of which we are a part. It cannot do anything else. 

Some thoughts to ponder

• Where in creation do you see evidence of God as Creator?
• In which parts of creation do you find it difficult to see God?
• How does the idea that every thing that exists does so because God loved it into being affect the way you relate to the world around you?
• How does this understanding of the nature of creation affect the way you relate to inanimate objects? Not just things that have life.

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