Very goodness.

Greetings on this good day! I’m thankful to be together with you on Tuesday in the Pastor’s Workshop.

We’re continuing our series “Begin with Basics”.  Our work over the last four weeks has been grounded in the first chapter of Genesis.   This week we come to the end of the chapter, Genesis 1:31.  In this verse God surveys all that God has done in Creation and makes an assessment, it is “very good”.  As a companion to this verse, a supplement to our thinking, we also include Acts 17:22-28 as Scriptural source material for our message.

Yesterday we did an “immersion” in the texts.  We read and wrote these words of the Bible.  We let them “wash over” our minds.  We let our “holy imaginations” be curious, maybe even captivated, by the ideas and images the Spirit lifted.  It was Day One of our Creative process.

Today, on Day Two, we take a more “objective” look at the Scripture.  Is there an underlying theme we see?  Is there a “logic” woven into the fabric of what we’ve read that we need to note?

The choice I’ve made for the message centers on the “Very Good-ness” of Creation.  As I read the Scripture I picture God “stepping back” after all the days of hard labor and in a moment of satisfaction  saying, “That’s good.  That’s very good!”

On one hand this phrase “very good” is a benediction, a blessing, on all God has done.  In making this assessment and saying these words God pronounces a judgement, a good judgment, on all God has made.  On the other hand I look at this phrase as a recognition. It is an acknowledgement that during the creative process the “goodness” of the Creator (the very Goodness of God), has “rubbed off” and is inherently part of all God has made.  There is an essential, existential “goodness” present because all Creation is “God made”.

In Acts the Apostle Paul builds on that thought as he lays out his case for Christianity to the Athenians. He compliments them – they are religious people.  They have hearts and minds that search for what is true.  And he wants to introduce them to the “Truth.  He offers them this intriguing insight, the “Truth” is much nearer than they think.  In fact they “live and move and have their being” (verse 28) in the Truth.  Moreover their very lives reflect the Truth, “they are offspring (children) of God” (verse 28).  Whatever they can make with their hands is nowhere near as “real” as the Hands who have made them.  Their very lives are a testimony to the goodness of our Creator God. 

As we develop our message and “make our case” this core truth needs to be at the center of what we say.  There is a “very goodness” that is inherently, existentially and essentially part of our world.  It is woven into the fabric of our lives. It is nearer than we can imagine. In all that lives and breathes there is a “goodness” of God. When we look deep within our souls we need to see what God sees, the “imago dei”, the created image of God. Both the writer of Genesis and the Apostle Paul point out this truth.

I look forward to highlighting this “very goodness” in all, in you and in me as we advance in this week.  It is a powerful and positive understanding of who we are that alters our perspective on life and shapes our self-image. Tomorrow we’ll see how it challenges some other interpretations of Christian faith.  When we say, “God is good” – that truth has far reaching, lifesaving impact.  When we know this goodness comes to fullness in Jesus Christ, we are close to understanding the glory of God’s salvation.

In that blessing I pray for you a “good day in God’s goodness”.  I’ll see you tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for the “goodness of today”.  It is a reflection of Your Goodness in which I live and move and have my being.  Open my eyes to see this grace.  Open my heart to trust this goodness.  Open my hands to share this blessing.  All this I pray in the name of Jesus our Good Lord.  Amen.