SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2025 - THE DEEPNESS OF CREATION STORIES
September 14, 2025
Deborah Laforet
“The Deepness of Creation Stories”
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your
Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
Last week, we read that when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete
chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep. “The deep,” suggests that there was water, and that
maybe this water was in complete chaos. Maybe all the waters were jumbled together, with no sense of
separateness or usefulness. No fresh water, just all combined with salt water. No rivers, lakes or ponds,
or even rain, mist, vapours or humidity. Instead it is all just jumbled together and in complete chaos.
So, on this second day of creation we hear God speak again. Just as God created light on the first
day and separated the light from the darkness, this time, God says, “Let there be a dome in the midst of
the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” This dome then separates the waters above
from the waters below, which probably sounds strange to us. A dome? Here is a simple image showing
how the ancient Israelites may have viewed the world. This dome separates the waters above from the
water below, occasionally letting some of this water through in the form of rain. This isn’t the
description we might use today, but maybe we could imagine that this is the day when God creates the
atmosphere, separating the waters below from the toxic gases of space above. “God called the dome
Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”
Today, I’m actually going to take some time to offer a couple of disclaimers as we continue our
way through this biblical creation story. Unfortunately, our creation stories carry a lot of baggage.
There have been a lot of harmful interpretations, and in some cases, these creation stories have been
pitted against science. So, let’s unpack this a little before we move forward into the rest of our story.
First, there are several people and groups who believe in this creation story as literal fact. It is
part of their faith. They believe God created this world in six days and that this earth is about 6000
years old. First of all, I don’t want to disparage these beliefs or to mock people who believe this way. I
respect those who know their bibles backwards and forwards and hold to the truths they see evident in
these words.
The problem comes when one group of people gain enough power to ban other people’s beliefs,
when all other narratives but one are seen as wrong, and are removed from schools, libraries, and other
community spaces. Unfortunately, we have seen some powerful Christians take this stance, removing
anything that contradicts with the bible or with certain Christian beliefs. This Christian creation story
should not be foisted onto other faith communities or even on those Christians who choose to subscribe
other beliefs, like the scientific theory of evolution.
I am a Christian who chooses to read the creation narrative in our bible as a story, not as fact, a
story created by those exploring how humans and all creation connect with the Holy, with God. When
this story was written down, the Hebrew people were exiles in Babylon, surrounded by Babylonian
stories, including a creation narrative. The Hebrew people wrote down their stories to help them
maintain their identity, and helped clarify to them and to their captors, who they were as a people. At
that time, they were not questioning the facts of the story or debating with the Babylonians as to which
creation story was the correct one. Ancient people told stories to explain their world and their traditions
and pass them along to the next generation. That was their purpose. It’s how many religious and
cultural groups continue to share who they are. It’s not about facts. It’s not about having the right story.
It’s how people identify and pass on customs and values.
So when we share this creation story, we are sharing a story that emphasizes order from chaos, a
God that uses words to create, instead of the violence we often encounter in other creation stories, we
see humans given the responsibility of caring for this creation, and a leave with a sense that all creation
is not only good, but very good. These are strong messages and values and have nothing to do with
whether the story is fact or fiction.
The second disclaimer I have is around the details of this creation story. Sometimes, in trying to
lift up and affirm the scientific theory of evolution, people dismiss and belittle this biblical creation
story, which causes harm to those who love this story, whether they believe it’s literal or not. One aspect
of the story that people point out as nonsensical and foolish is the order in which God created the earth.
For example, how can God create light on the first day but not create the sun, moon, and stars until Day
4? Or how do you have dry land with vegetation, yielding all kinds of fruits on Day 3, if the sun is not
in the sky until Day 4? Or even how do plants yield seeds and fruit bear fruit, without bees to pollinate
the flowers, which weren’t created until on Day 6?
The people who wrote this creation story weren’t stupid or backward. If you read the creation
story account in full, you’ll know that this is not written like a high school science textbook. It’s a
poem, a poem rich in metaphor and meaning, beauty and symbolism. I put together a little chart and did
my best with the emojis available to me. What I want you to notice is the symmetry of this story.
Look at Day 1, when God brought light into the darkness, and Day 4, when God created the sun,
moon, and stars. Then we have Day 2, when God separated the waters and the sky, and Day 5, where we
now have creatures of the sea and in the air. Finally, Day 3, when God separates the land from the
waters, and Day 6, where we now have all the living creatures that walk, crawl, and slither on the land.
This is God creating order from chaos.
One word I learned this week was, “dischronologized.” I didn’t know it was a word but my spell
checker correctly spelled it for me. At the end of each day, we read in our translations of this story,
“And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” Or the second day, or the third day, etc.
What I discovered though is that in the Hebrew, the actual translation does not have the definite article,
“the.” It should actually read, “And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.” A second
day, a third day, and so forth, which may suggest that the days are dischronologized, or that the story is
not arranged according to the order of time, and that how the days are ordered in this story-slash-poem,
aren’t definite and is a bit more loose than how it’s often read.
I actually think that in reading these stories literally or in dismissing them altogether, we lose the
nuance of these stories, the cleverness, and even the beauty. The psalms are often seen as humanity’s
expression of emotion to their God. Elizabeth read four verses today from psalm 33, and I think they
evoke the wonder and awe that people felt amidst nature, amidst the created world in which they lived,
and from which we often, today, set ourselves apart. We heard,
6 By your word, Yahweh, the heavens were made, by the breath of your mouth all the stars.
7 You gather the seas together and control them, putting the Deep into its vault.
8 Let all the earth revere Yahweh; let all who live in the world tremble before you!
9 You spoke, and everything came to be; commanded, and it all sprang into being.
These are words of beauty, of praise, and of wonder. Reading our creation story should feel like
that - inspiring, beautiful, and connecting us to all that is Holy. If we felt more of this towards all life
around us, we might be taking better care of this wondrous planet.
Today, let us hold onto to the beauty of this creation story, the inspiration of this created world,
and the promise held in that story and in God’s words that all life is very good. May it be so. Amen.
Genesis 1:6-8 & Psalm 33:6-9
(Introduce yourself.)
Today, I am continuing a reading from the first creation story in our bible. I am reading
about the second day, from Genesis 1, verses 6 to 8. Notice the continued pattern of God
said, God saw, and God called.
And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were
under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called
the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
Creation stories are sprinkled throughout our bible, so I’m also going to read a few verses
from Psalm 33, six to nine.
6 By your word, Yahweh, the heavens were made,
by the breath of your mouth all the stars.
7 You gather the seas together and control them,
putting the Deep into its vault.
8 Let all the earth revere Yahweh;
let all who live in the world tremble before you!
9 You spoke, and everything came to be;
commanded, and it all sprang into being.
May the Spirit guide our understanding of this sacred scripture. Amen.