The Second Day

Genesis 1: 6-8

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 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. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

The second day…no grand processionals, no Hallelujah Chorus, no drama of a massive rock being rolled away to reveal an empty tomb.  What kind of follow-up can you expect after (Re) Creation?  What in the world could God have up the Divine sleeve, so to speak?  How in the world can you do better than Easter?

I think that’s our problem.  We celebrate the Easter as the pinnacle of our faith, as that thing that God DID for us.  The truth is, though, that God is always DOING for us.  In the second tier of Creation, once the relationship between heaven and earth was established, God separated the waters from the waters.  God made “Sky”.  When I was little, I was told that the universe was “infinite”.  Now to a child’s mind (and probably to most adult minds, although we don’t usually admit it), “infinite” is hard to grasp.  I used to look up at the sky and imagine it going on and on and on.  And then I knew it got beyond the cumulus clouds that I saw to the dark vastness of the solar system.  And then I knew it got beyond the solar system to the darker and more incredible vastness of the galaxy…then the universe…then….then….SURELY it had to stop somewhere.  Everything does.  But then what is beyond where it stops?  And then what is beyond that “whatever” when it stops?

On the second day, God made vastness; God made infinity; God made forever.  We Christians seem to think of eternity, of forever, as a Christian theological point (or a really bad theological point that claims its some sort of Divine reward for being good boys and girls).  No, it’s really a God-thing.  In fact, God IS eternity.  But God knew that we would never grasp that, no matter how hard we tried.

So God separated the waters into things that we could get.  And yet, they were all connected.  The smallest of waters leads to the vastness of eternity.  And so, to remember, God gave us water—just a tiny bit.  “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”…”Remember your baptism and be thankful.”  And with that little bit of water in which you are immersed, or that is poured on you, or even that tiny bit that is sprinkled into your life, God reminds you that you have entered the vastness and infinity of eternity, whether or not you understand it.

Now THAT was a pretty good follow-up to Easter.  God is full of surprises—unlimited and eternal ones!

Remember your baptism and be thankful!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli