Very Good

     The so-called “Fall” of humanity into sin (Genesis 3) is such a captivating moment in humanity’s attempt to understand and define itself that we often miss how the whole story begins. The Franciscan wisdom teacher Richard Rohr is fond of reminding people that rather than the story beginning with sin, the story actually begins with God declaring that we, humanity and the whole of creation are good…good…good…good…good…good…very good! (Genesis 1)  In other words our beginning is a positive one, not one of original sin, brokenness and dis-ease, but one of original blessing, promise, possibility and hope.

     Popular speaker and author Rob Bell writes, “the question of whether the engine of the universe is violence and destruction or overflowing love, joy, and creativity is still the question. He says we live our lives according to these deep forces within us, and the engine that drives us is deeply connected to the way we view the Universe. Is our starting point love or is it fear and hatred? How you begin is invariably how you end.  And both possibilities are rather visible in our world today.”

     Richard Rohr is quick to point out that “There is something within us, which Christians call the Holy Spirit, that makes us aware that we are here to co-create with God and make something beautiful of the world…When you start positive, instead of with a problem, there is a much greater likelihood you will move forward positively too…we came from goodness, we are slowly ticking toward goodness, and we will end in goodness. And all this goodness is pure gift.”

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    - How does seeing humanity’s beginning as powered by God’s declarative “very good” as opposed to the perception that it was powered by an engine of violence or original sin change or confirm your perception of humankind?

     - Looking about at the world today, violence is certainly taking center stage. Is it possible for us to overcome the story of this “defining moment” and reclaim our origin story? Is it possible for us to remember our being created from “an overflowing abundance of love, joy, and creativity”? Never mind the whole of humanity, is it possible for YOU to reclaim your being created in the very “image and likeness” of God? (Genesis 1:26)

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Adapted from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, pp. 27-28, and

In the Beginning… Six hours with Rob Bell and Richard Rohr on reclaiming the original Christian narrative,

and The Story that Defines Us: We Came from Goodness and Will End in Goodness, Daily Meditations, CAC, January 30, 2015.

Photo from Volkan Olmez on unsplash