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This weekend's topic is the creation stories of Genesis. There are at least two of them in the very first two chapters of the Bible. In one, creation takes seven days, and, in the other, it sounds like about one afternoon.

Scipture scholars often refer to them as "poetic myths." This really upsets one group of believers who take the word "myth" to mean"false," "untrue," "fiction," or "fairy tale." But, what the scholars mean is a profound set of truths, conveyed by means of a story. Another group of believers is greatly relieved to hear this because they know, and we know, that creation did not take place six thousand years ago and was not accomplished in seven days, let alone in one afternoon. Closer to the fact is thirteen billion years ago for "creation," four billion years ago for the very first life forms on this planet, and forty thousand years ago for the first human beings with language.

Pope Leo XIII acknowledged this in 1893 when he warned readers not to look for scientific information in Biblical texts, as did Pope John Paul II in 1981, when he said, "The Bible itself speaks to us of the origins of the universe and its makeup, not in order to provide us with a scientific treatise, but in order to state the correct relationship of human beings with God and with the universe." It was put another way, centuries earlier, at the time of Galileo, by a Cardinal who said, "The Bible doesn't teach us how the heavens go, but how to go to heaven."

Well, if the first two chapters of Genesis don't tell us about creation literally, what do they tell us? The point of the biblical creation accounts is essentially religious. They seek to awaken in us a sense of awe and gratitude for the sheer extravagance and glory of creation. They tell us that the universe is grounded in a divine flaring forte of love and promise. In the face of ancient theories of many gods, of gods indistinguishable from sun and moon and nature, of gods struggling with each other and producing a basically evil world, they tell us of one God, effortlessly breathing forth all the life around us. And, in the face of modern theories that nature is inherently destructive, savage and malicious, they make the staggering claim that nature is essentially good and gracious, that our universe, even if it is unfinished and has a dark side, is filled with God's promise and love.

Now, some still will say, "Well, if the early creation accounts and chapters of the Bible are not an historical record, then what about the rest of the Bible, what about Abraham and Moses and David? Or, for that matter, what about Jesus Christ? That attitude is like reading the editorial page of a newspaper and deciding that, since it does not claim to be reporting factual incidents, neither is the front page reporting real news.... Two different literary forms, two entirely different sections of the library!

The first twelve chapters of Genesis are awesome in their religious truth, deep meaning, and description of our human condition and our relationship with God. But, later on, well after Adam and Eve, well after the Tower of Babel, and well after Noah's Ark, the historical section is yet to come. Again, we can say, all of it is true, and a lot of it, yet to come, actually happened that way.