Today’s author is Prince of Peace member, Carol Swanson.

This week’s theme Creation…Blesses made me think of Matthew Fox’s book Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality—another book from our PoP library. Fox, a priest, has been very critical of the doctrine of original sin developed by Augustine in the 5^th century. He, with others, have developed the theological view known as Creation Spirituality where Original Blessing, not Original Sin, is the key. I share quotes from his first two theme chapters. He speaks of “Dabhar,” the Hebrew concept we translate as “word.” 

 Theme 1 DABHAR: THE CREATIVE ENERGY (WORD) OF GOD

You have made all your works in wisdom. –Ps. 104:24 [Jerusalem Bible]

In the biblical tradition this time-before-time and time-before-words is associated with wisdom. It involves play.

Yahweh created me when his purpose first unfolded,
     before the oldest of his works.
From ever-lasting I was firmly set,
     from the beginning, before earth came into being…

I was by his side, a master craftsman,
     delighting him day after day,
     ever at play in his presence,
at play everywhere in the world,
     delighting to be with the sons of men. (Prov. 8:22,23,30,31)  [JB]

Gerhard Von Rad, the scholar of wisdom in the Hebrew scriptures, defines wisdom or the word behind creation as “the primeval world order, as the mystery behind creation of the world.” Wisdom extends to all of being, all of creation. It “rules in a similar fashion in the non-human creation as well as in the spheres of human society….” Thus all creation contains the living wisdom and word of God, and all of it is for all of us. The human word is only one among billions of words that God has spoken and that therefore emanate from the divine splendor. To make contact with wisdom is to go beyond human words, which have, after all, existed for only about four million years—and have appeared on paper for only a few thousand years and in print for only five hundred. We are invited to return to the many billions of years of ongoing creation that also constitute God’s talking.

What happens when we let go of a chauvinistic control of words, which means exclusively the human word, and return to Dabhar as the creative energy of God? According to Von Rad, truth happens; and affection happens; and God happens. For “creation not only exists, it also discharges truth.” Imagine that—creation itself, and not just books, is a source of truth and revelation. (p 37-38)

…Dabhar wishes to be incarnate in us.

…If we begin to translate the New Testament too along lines that are more Hebraic and less arrogantly anthropomorphic, a new power emerges from the Christ story. …

In the beginning was the Creative Energy;
The Creative Energy was with God
and the Creative energy was God.
It was with God in the beginning.
Through it all things came to be,
not one thing had its being but through it.
All that came to be had life in it
and that life was the light of persons,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that darkness could not overpower….
The Creative Energy was the true light
that enlightens all people;
and it was coming into the world.
It was in the world
that had its being through it,
and the world did not know it….
But to all who did accept it
it gave power to become children of God….
The Creative Energy was made flesh,
it pitched its tent among us,
and we saw its glory, the glory
that is its as the only Child of the Creator,
full of grace and full of truth. (John 1:1-5,9,10,12,14) [JB, adapted]  (p 40)

 Theme 2 CREATION AS BLESSING AND THE RECOVERY OF THE ART OF SAVORING PLEASURE

This creative energy is still active today—it is constantly creating and inviting others to participate in creating. Creation is continuous and never stops. And neither do blessing and blessings. Blessing is the word behind the word, the desire behind the creation. For God the Creator, like any artist, is not indifferent or neutral to his/her work of art. Like any parent, God loves her creation and that love which is an unconditional sending forth into existence is blessing. God’s creation is desirable; that means it is a blessing. As the Book of Sirach puts it, “How desirable are all his works, how dazzling to the eye! Who could ever be sated with gazing at his glory?” (Sir. 42:22,23,26) [JB]

Blessing involves relationship: one does not bless without investing something of oneself into the receiver of one’s blessing. And one does not receive blessing oblivious of its gracious giver. A blessing spirituality is a relating spirituality. And if it is true that all of creation flows from a single, loving source, then all of creation is blessed and is a blessing, atom to atom, molecule to molecule, organism to organism, land to plants, plants to animals, animals to other animals, people to people and back to atoms, molecules, plants, fishes.  On and on Dabhar flows, on and on blessing flows. For where there is Dabhar, there is blessing. (p 44)

Not only does blessing permeate the story of Israel, it also permeates all Dabhar and all creation from the very beginning. We can say blessing preceded creation too, for blessing was its purpose. Thus there is no doubt that original blessing is the basis of all trust and of all faith. Original blessing underlies all being, all creation, all time, all space, all unfolding and evolving of what is. As Rabbi Heschel puts it, “Just to be is a blessing: just to live is holy.” It is telling that the Hebrew word for blessing, berakah, is closely related to the word for create, bara(in its noun form, beriyah). This suggests that a creation is necessarily a blessing, is wrapped up as a blessing. There is no distrust of creation here. Furthermore, the very word for blessing in Hebrew also means “pool,” and with the change of one vowel, to berekah, the word means a reservoir where camels kneel as a resting place. The images of a pool and a reservoir created by a desert people tell us all we need to know about the desirability behind a theology of blessing. The word for covenant, beriyth, is also directly related to the words for “create” and for “blessing.” A covenant is a blessing agreement, a promise to bless and to return blessing for blessing. (p 46)

Pleasure has not always been advocated as an essential and indeed radical dimension to our spiritual lives…. Many Catholics, for example, will remember the all-too-familiar test of whether an action was a sin or not in that tradition. The question was, “Did you take pleasure in it?” The lesson learned, that the taking of pleasure is the sign of sin, plays havoc with any temptations one might have to entertain a biblical, blessing theology. That constantly-used word in wisdom literature, “delight,” is replaced in one’s unconscious by that word…”sin.” …It is my experience that ecstasy is quite grand. And I prefer a biblical approach to pleasure, such as that of the psalmist who sings as he celebrates the pleasure we give God by our own pleasure.

Glory for ever to Yahweh!
May Yahweh find joy in what he creates,
at whose glance the earth trembles,
at whose touch the mountains smoke!

I mean to sing to Yahweh all my life,
I mean to play for my God as long as I live.
May these reflections of mine give him pleasure,
as much as Yahweh gives me! (Ps. 104:31-34) [JB]  (pp52-53)