Created in freedom
6th October 2023
Do you know what the first word is that God says in the Bible?
God says Let – ‘Let there be light’. And that’s not the only let in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. Here are some others:
Let the dry land appear
Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every kind
Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth
Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind.
Genesis 1
What sort of feeling does the word let have for you? It feels quite open for me. It’s a word which gives permission. God doesn’t say “do this” – or “don’t do this” – he says ‘Let there be.’
It comes with a different gesture. The poet Padraig O Tuama calls it a generous word – a world creating word.
From this series of ‘lets’ comes the whole of creation – all those growing and fruitful and swimming and multiplying living things – and the whole universe which makes all this possible. Everything that St Francis gave thanks for in his Song of Creation – Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Mother Earth – all flowing from God’s ‘let’.
That tells me something about God’s relationship with the world. It is not a relationship of control – it is a relationship which gives freedom – which allows the universe to develop as it will. It’s as if God understands that giving this freedom, along with the creative energy that he supplies and the love that he weaves through all things – that this will lead from the Big Bang to an explosion of life in all its variety and wonder, and eventually to human life as well.
There is another side to this freedom. In order for the world to be free – to be the world we live in – God chooses to limit his interference. I don’t see God as some great puppet master, pulling the strings. And that means that there are things in the world which are difficult as well as things that we see as wonderful.
For instance, we live on the surface of a ball of molten rock. It seems that this works really well as a place of life to exist. But the currents that move the crust of the earth around sometimes rub against each other, causing earthquakes. And sometimes people are caught up in those earthquakes and it is tragic. God does not step in and stop the movement of the tectonic plates – he lets the earth be as it is – and the same is true of many other hard aspects of life. Allowing the world the freedom to be itself is both a blessing and a curse.
The same is true when it comes to humans. God’s let allows us also to exist in freedom. That is what makes us human. This allows some wonderful things – the care of humans for each other, the free response to God’s love – and it also allows the capacity for terrible evil and cruelty.
Despite the real challenges that it brings, I am thankful that God has created the world in freedom, and created us free as well. The poem which started me thinking about this ends by imagining us searching for ‘a let meant only for us.’ Is there a freedom which God is longing to give to us? A generous openness that we have yet to discover? And can we learn to share in his generous ‘let’ for others, and for the world around us?
Think for a moment of this world in which we live. For what are you especially thankful? Maybe flowers or birds, maybe mountains or rivers or the sea, maybe something else…
Loving Father, we thank you for letting the world be as it is, with all its beauty and blessings. May we learn to live generously and protect all that is vulnerable.
Think of those aspects of the world which are hard and challenging – natural disasters, sickness, climate change, human wickedness…
Loving Father, we bring to you the pain that is part of living in this world, remembering especially those who are going through very hard times at the moment… Even in the most difficult times, may we see your love.
We think of the let through which God has made our life possible, and we try to imagine all that he longs for us to discover…
Loving Father, may we discover more and more fully the true freedom which you want to give us.