Seven Days of Creation

February 25, 2021

Seven Days of Creation

“Seven Days of Creation”

by Rev. Thomas Perchlik ©2021

In the beginning there was only the Great Mystery. The Mystery was in darkness without form, and over it hovered the Mysterious.  Then the Mystery spoke: and there was light. That was The Big Bang, or Radiant Dawn of the First Day.  With light also came time and space and gravity. Then, matter spun atoms into elements. Helium separated from Hydrogen and by noon of the first day clusters and pinwheels of fiery stars swirled into being.  These stars forged new elements: like aluminum and iron, silver and sulfur.  The creation of stars and elements went on for a very, very long time and the source of creation saw it was good.  That was the end of the First Day. 

At the beginning of the Second Day one of many disks of dust was swirling in space.  The Mystery of creation touched the center of that disk and it burst into the light of our happy yellow Sun. Planets and rocks spun out of the disk to circle our Sun.  One of these planets was the Earth.  She was molten hot back then. As she cooled, late in that day, a smaller planet was caught in her gravity, and earth and moon started a long spiral dance. Finally, Earth cooled, and rain fell.  The Mystery saw the earth and the planets of our solar system were good.  That was the end of the Second Day. 

On the Third Day the Mystery made the Archaea, the very earliest forms of life on Earth.  Living things began to use oxygen and nitrogen and carbon. Some of these developed chemical powers to turned sunlight into life-energy.  Eventually there was the vast Edicaran garden the bottom of the seas.  On this long and quiet day new forms of life evolved from earlier forms.  Some creatures began to feed on others and some evolved defenses to escape being eaten.  The Holy Mystery saw that this was good and that was the end of the Third Day.

Early on the Fourth Day the Great Mystery used evolution to shape quiet things like sponges and clams. Then formed funny-finned-fishes and myriad Trilobites. The Mystery moved the surface plates of the Earth and Appalachian Mountains with others were pushed up to begin their enduring existence.  Plants with stems rose into forests. Giant dragonflies hummed through those forests.  Sail-backed Dimetrodons lived and died over millions of years.  Some forms of life, like insects and spiders, turtles and sharks, trees, ferns and even moss saw that day and endured.   Within the Mystery it was clear that these things were all good at the end of the Fourth Day.   

Then began the Fifth Day; The Day of Dinosaurs.  Many different kinds evolved into being.  From Eoraptor to Triceratops; from Tyrannosaurus Rex to the Maisaurs, they roamed the earth, lived vibrantly over eons and left their bones to fossilize.  Other life developed, like frogs and conifers.  True flowers began to bloom on this day, full of color and scent.  The earliest birds rose up, flying and singing as their descendants do today.  Late in the day a new form of life came into being; mammals. They were small but saw the end of the day when a great asteroid crashed into the earth.  Global climates changed, and the dinosaurs faded away, but life endured.  In the Mystery of all, this was good, and that was the end of the Fifth Day. 

On the Sixth Day, evolved running horses and whales began their deep-sea songs. Elephants and wily coyotes came to join the birds and sharks.  Turtles continued to multiply along with new creatures like squirrels and ravens.  Saber-toothed Tigers and Wooly Mastodons came and went through times of deep cold and times of warmth.  Trees grew true fruits and daisies began to bloom.  The Rocky Mountains lifted up, the Grand Canyon began to form and late in the evening Tahoma, or Mount Rainier, rose in fire and ash.  The Mysterious saw that the earth was good, that life was also good and that mammal life was good. That was the end of the sixth day. 

Then, in Africa at dawn, the Mystery caused the first human beings to stand up and look about and realize the goodness of life and love and wisdom.  Humans moved out over the whole of the earth, being fed, in body and spirit from its abundance.  Along the way we improved on language, and politics and science.  We shaped societies and invented technologies. We studied and learned and shared more often than we fought. We made art on the walls of caves and later on the walls of buildings.  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

That is why we come to this meeting place on the Seventh Day of each week to rest and sing and talk about all that is truly amazing and wonderous. We worship, so that we and all humanity will live sustainably well, vibrantly grow, and share this beautiful earth with all the living things through the next seven days to come.

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