In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3
“Most people – and to some extent all of us – lead a meaningless and purposeless life. We do not always know the meaning of what happens at present, the purpose of human existence and the direction for the future. One could just be drifting, subject to various forces, like a boat on the sea or lake at the mercy of the winds; or one could just be carried by mere routine, moving in a rut; or one could be caught up in a vicious circle not knowing, and helpless to come out of it; and one could also be a part of a machine leading a mechanical life.
Further, one could also be leading a very peripheral and superficial life on the margin of self and on the margin of society. Which is worse is one could also be, consciously or unconsciously, in a state of holiness and isolation, left to oneself and centered on self, with all doors and horizons closed, related with neither the Other nor the others, the only reality being self. To have none but oneself is a state of non-existence and non-person. It is also a state of chaos and void: ‘Tohu bohu’.
It is then that the Spirit of the Lord hovers over it. It is then that the Word of God manifests itself with dynamism. It becomes a fresh a creative and transforming Word; order and harmony come into existence; light begins to shine; an opening is made on the horizon; something happens at the core of oneself. Call it intervention of God or irruption of the Spirit, call it the explosive manifestation of the immanent word or the opening out to the dimension of transcendence. A vision of the goal appears and it sheds light on everything gives meaning to everything.”
D. S. Amalorpavadass in “Renewal by Encounter between the Word and the People” in Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006) 317.
God spoke light and meaning when everything was chaos and void or in Hebrew, Tohu bohu. We get to do the same thing where God leads us. For me, it’s India over the next two weeks.
Here Amalorpavadass, an Indian scholar, celebrates what God does in such settings through the power of the Word. The truth brings light and meaning and sets people free.
Pray for me as I prepare to teach from the Word on Sunday in Delhi. And wherever you are, shamelessly and boldly share the Word. It’s the greatest gift you can give people because it brings light and meaning to life.