Advent devotions 2008

Mon, 5 Jan 2009

JAN. 6 - 'THAT'S GOOD'
By Odelet Nance, director of multicultural affairs

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1:1-5 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

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DEVOTIONAL:
One my favorite poems is “The Creation,” written in the 1920s by James Weldon Johnson. Johnson, the author of the Black national anthem, “Lift every voice and sing,” was a well-known educator and civil rights activist. The Creation subtitled, “The Negro Sermon,” begins with the following stanza:

“And God stepped out on space, and he looked around and said: I'm lonely -- I'll make me a world. And far as the eye of God could see darkness covered everything, blacker than a hundred midnights down in a cypress swamp. Then God smiled, and the light broke, and the darkness rolled up on one side, and the light stood shining on the other, and God said: That's good!”

With power and intensity, Johnson’s audience is reminded throughout the poem that God’s creation is good. On this sixth day of a brand new year, I am encouraged that God’s creation is still good. The new year is our opportunity to see light in the midst of darkness and create new possibilities for our future. In Genesis 1:1-5, day and night represents the beauty of time and time is God’s creation. God’s creation of a new year, brings opportunities for renewal, new mercies and hope. This is a time to allow God to clear the darkness from our paths, bring light and create a new start for our lives with the brand new year. When we walk in God’s light, we can emphatically proclaim that God’s creation is good!

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SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1:1-5 (NRSV)
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.


Posted at 16:19 #



Disclaimer:
The views and beliefs expressed in the devotional piece prepared by each individual reflect their own spiritual growth journey and thoughts, and while created in a campus environment that encourages thoughtful questions and reflection on biblical Scripture and contemporary Christian themes, do not necessarily represent the official institutional positions of Goshen College or Mennonite Church USA.