2 Corinthians 4:18.
You know the saying - the more things change, the more they stay the same. Thermodynamics in a couple of words, because as we get older, we come to understand that however much we 'wriggle' (try to get somewhere) in our skins, the forces that really change things are always way more powerful than us, and that what we want to change so much only seems to move in one direction - usually that's from bad to worse!
Think honestly for a few moments about all the things that are true about you, about your situation, about your life, and then reflect on just how many of those things you had any real say in, or how much impact you have on the outcome of what happens in the events of most days.
Sobering, isn't it?
One of the artists I work with recently posted a brilliant image on her facebook page:
It's so true.
To make a noticeable (if small) dent in the general entropy (or just plain bloody-mindedness) of things takes a lot of effort, and often, the rewards for what's been put in come no where close to the real cost, so it's a good thing we gain some personal satisfaction out of such actions, and that there are some things (good food and drink, good company, good music and sunny days, and of course, chocolate!) that make life worth living.
One of those plusses is often the joy of each other, which often gives us some real treasures.
This week, for example, I found myself in a conversation with my barber about the recent airing of a 'mockumentary' on the wait for it... existence of mermaids!
What fascinated me was the scenario which made it "possible" in this fiction for such creatures to develop.
(Notice how the underlying theme in this TV show echos what I was just saying above)...
Here's the pitch... an "island" (so, think something like this) which broke away from the African coast then became waterlogged, forcing the indigenous population of primates to adapt to a far more aquatic lifestyle to stay alive. This of course is a spin on the 'ol Darwin's finches observation, but what goes without saying in the tale is that 1. You have to have the highly developed apes in the first place for the process to get started and 2. You have to blindly presume that the indigenous chemical and biological material you have to hand will allow such a transition from one form to another without any hitches, otherwise all you get is extinction.
The reality, of course, is somewhat different (taking us back to where we started this entry). Whilst small changes to the beak of a finch can occur because the genetic information already available allows for this, that's altogether different from going from, say, a Whale to an Elephant - it simply doesn't happen, Darwin's hope of different kinds of creatures coming one from another has never been shown.
Notice, though, the 'high hope' optimism in the face of the ugly crush of the real world.
"Power creation" of the kind imagined in Star Trek II with the "Genesis device" (yes, they really called it that) is simply fictional conjecture at best as far as we're concerned, and that marks the chasm between our need as we dream our dreams, and the real state of play - the nihilistic, narcissistic 'rat trap' of our times. That's why we need a truth that allows our deepest longings for something really good to come true.
Truth starts with the mess, but also shows us the hope. When we look at what's outlined in Genesis 1:1, there really isn't a great deal to work with at the start. All that's present is darkness, emptiness and water -lifelessness- (sounds like a usual 5am workday on a January morning!) in terms of what is seen, but look at what comes into that void. God acts upon these rudimentary things and begins to breathe and shape something extraordinary, leading, slowly and surely, to a realm abundant with light and life, over-flowing with beauty and goodness.
Like our island of swimming apes, we needed a miracle, and Genesis is telling us that these came in spades.
We have often sought to undercut the wonder here by seeking to imagine/set-up our own rockumentary. We so often wallow in the crude and cruel in what we accept (about life, the universe and everything), and it then becomes easy for the weight and pain of misery to prey deeper and tighter on our lives, but the Genesis story is saying that we're right to say what we need is a miracle. There is a better way - a deeper truth.
When we envisage something far less than ourselves - random forces and changes hammering what we are, magically, somehow bringing about our complexity, we know it's a cop-out. We look in the mirror, or devise our mockumentaries, because we must have beauty in our lives, and the truth is the beauty is there.The reason we are as we are - that we have complexity, intelligence, and a whole bunch of other amazing traits and characteristics, is because these gifts were miraculously built-in to our world. The garden came with fruit on the trees and gold in the rivers, and we still echo with that goodness - that's what we crave.
So, as we sigh when we stub our toes, sit in traffic, start another round of dental treatment, and so on, and on, let's focus on all that's best, because in that expression, that reflection, we hear eternity in our hearts, and that's certainly the call we need to answer.
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