Form and Fill
One of my Old Testament professors once told me that the Hebrew poetry in Genesis 1 unpacks these two words תֹּהוּ (formless) and בֹּהוּ (void). The first three days of creation are about forming. And the last three days are about filling what was formed.
Forming the Formless:
Days 1-3 of Creation, from What Breathes Beneath Our Story | Bette Dickinson
God spoke creation into being, and in the first three days He separated what was formed into their contrasts. He separated light and darkness. He separated the sea and the sky. He separated sea and land.
In the separation, there was distinction. God created contrasts and gave them boundaries according to their purpose.
But the things that were distinct and separate were meant to compliment one another.
Day 1 - Light was formed and separated from the darkness
Day 2 - The sea was formed and separated from the sky
Day 3 - The earth was formed and separated from the sea.
We understand one by understanding the other. They complement one another.
And it is in the bringing together that there is birth of new life. It is in their union that we see the multiplication of diverse beauty. Think about all the beauty that emerges along the edges of where these two forms meet.
Light and Dark...sunsets and sunrises
Sea and Sky...breathtaking horizons
Earth and Sea...shorelines
The Artist’s Way
Artists do this in their work. The best work arises when there is contrast - when there are light and darks, high density colors and low density colors. We call colors opposite of each other on the color wheel “complementary colors” because they are opposites paired together. The compliment one another.
Musicians know there is rhythm - balance between the notes that are played and the rests. And the rests are just as important as the notes.
In stories, there is a protagonist and antagonist - and the convergence of their story that makes it so compelling and interesting. There is mystery and concreteness.
In the convergence of forms, there is harmony and balance. Diverse forms that come together give us a sense of completion and wholeness. And as a result, the beauty and glory of God is propagated throughout the world.
John O’Donohue puts it this way in his book, Beauty: the Invisible Embrace,
“Opposites throw light upon each other...The vigour and vitality of beauty derives precisely from the heart of difference...Beauty inhabits the cutting edge of creativity - mediating between the known and the unknown, light and darkness, masculine and feminine, visible and invisible, chaos and meaning, sound and silence, self and others.”
Filling the Void.
In day four, God begins the work of filling the “void” of what was formed in the last three days.
Days 4-6 of Creation from What Breathes Beneath Our Story | Bette Dickinson
Day 4 - Dark and light were filled with sun, moon and stars.
Day 5- Sea and sky were filled with fish and birds of the air.
Day 6 - The earth was filled with people and animals.
An exponential increase begins to explode on day six when opposites come together - plant life, animals, and people fill the earth, sea, and sky as the two become one.
The Diversity of Humans
In day six with the formation of Adam and Eve, we begin to see the foundation to diversity emerge when two are united together.
Humanity continues to exponentially diversify as creation multiplies. We see different ethnicities, personalities, and gifts that arise with each generation. Later in Scripture, we find this mirrored in Pentecost with the same spirit, but many different gifts.
This is God’s creative process. The continual unfolding of His creation that never stops. Separate and distinct parts brought together in union. And it is in their union that new life unfolds.
It is part of the creation mandate to “be fruitful and multiply.”
Why this mandate? Because it is a reflection of the image of God and the way His creative process works. We see here the continuation of the original creation, formed out of the love within the persons of the trinity that overflows into continually diversifying creation.
This creative love multiplies life wherever it goes like a stream that covers and fills the earth. But when humans try to stop this creative flow, it loses its purity and power.
We see this in the tower of Babel. When humans choose to rebel against God’s instructions to “be fruitful and multiply” and build a tower upward to make a name for themselves instead of spreading outward. They blocked the creative flow of God from multiplying His image throughout the world. So God “scattered them from there over all the earth” by the confusion of language (Genesis 11:8).
We see it in the resistance in the early church to take the Gospel forward to the Gentiles. But through persecution, God’s Spirit scattered the church to continue multiplying throughout the world.
The Holy Spirit is always breaking us out of staying within our sameness so that the impact of His Kingdom can multiply and be released throughout the earth. His Kingdom grows when differences come together and compliment one another in loving union.
So, what does this mean for us?
We honor the creative overflow of God by:
Living into our unique design
Seeking to understand the diversity of God’s handiwork
Embracing differences in loving union in ways that create new life
Living into Our Unique Design
Did you know that when you mix complementary colors together they produce grey? They lose their uniqueness and distinction. This is what uniformity does. Uniformity says everyone must merge together to be the same. But when we do this, it makes grey - void of color and life.
But - when you pair complementary colors next to each other, it produces an effect called Simultaneous Contrast that physically vibrates the light waves. Our eyes are drawn to this beauty in the same way we are drawn to the vibrance of a sunset. The blue sky pops against the radiant orange beside it, and we are captivated.
Consider the implications of this when it comes to belonging in the community of God. Unity means bringing your fullest self into your environment. You bring yourself as a separate and distinct person and stand amidst those who are different. Uniformity; however, is merging with the environment and your uniqueness is lost.
I’ve wrestled with this a lot in my own journey. As a 3 on the enneagram, I tend to shapeshift and merge with whatever the culture wants me to be.
But as I’ve learned from Brene Brown, this isn’t true belonging. According to Brown in Braving the Wilderness,
“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”
Braving the wilderness means having the courage to be who you are when you may be misunderstood or stand out like a sore thumb.
Have you ever thought that perhaps it is your uniqueness that the world needs? Your unique gifts, strengths, gender, ethnic identity.
Perhaps it is your difference that can make a difference.
When I step into a room as an artist, for example, in a room full of left brain analytical thinkers, what the room needs is not more analytical left brain thinkers. The room needs an artist in order to achieve a sense of balance, harmony, and ultimately generate new life. Imagine the possibilities. New ideas, new solutions, new creative action can emerge when we learn to embrace our differences rather than merge them.
When I step into a room of men, this means I need to stop trying to fit in and stand up within my unique identity as a woman...because that’s what the room needs. It is my difference that will propagate the beauty and creativity of God in that space.
Honoring the Diversity in God’s Handiwork
Our natural inclination is to stick with what we know and understand. Complexity emerges when differences are introduced. And complexity can be confusing and takes work to cultivate.
Painting a monochromatic painting (painting with various shades of the same color) is much easier than one with a variety of colors. Why? Because it is a lot more work to create a sense of harmony and balance with variety.
Is this not true in all areas of life? It’s easier to paint a monochromatic life. It’s easier to hang with those who understand us. Those who don’t take as much work to know and be known.
But - when we paint monochromatically, we miss out on the full spectrum of possibilities. Our imagination is stifled, and we also aren’t accurately representing the truest picture of what life is.
Similarly, if we are seeking to represent the full spectrum of God’s glory in the world, we cannot do so by staying within the bounds of sameness.
Perhaps when we look around and see the same kind of person represented in the room, that is a red flag that the flow of creativity is being stopped up like the tower of Babel. We will be compelled with a sense of urgency to break out of this box because we realize that we cannot possibly display the glory of God when we all look, act, think, or talk the same.
We must then force ourselves out into the creative flow of God through seeking those different from us, and like the primary colors working together in harmony, uplift one another and honor one another in a way where new possibilities emerge.
When we see one ethnic group represented in a room, for example, we need to awaken to the fact that we are missing out on the beauty and creativity of God. It will lead us to do whatever we can to welcome all voices to the table. Because when we do, we will be better. We will multiply the Kingdom impact in more innovative ways. We will be fruitful and multiply and propagate the earth with the glory of God.
Embracing differences in loving union in ways that create new life
More than ever, we need to learn how to create spaces of hospitality to all different kinds of people in the church. Sunday mornings have been known to be the most segregated time of the week because we are caught up in our silos. When we fail to make spaces of welcome to all different kinds of people, we fail to reflect the beauty of our trinitarian God in the world.
Consider what happens when you mix the primary colors, blue, yellow, and red. The emergence of forms multiplies into infinite possibilities of new colors. Rather than cancelling each other out, when two primary colors are mixed, you still see the feature of the original form within the new thing. When you look at orange, you can still see the impressions of red and yellow in its midst.
Perhaps this is what it looks like to embrace differences in a way that instead of cancelling each other out in uniformity, actually allows for both to shine and thus, creating something new.
When we know that it is only through differences coming together that new things can be formed, we will spend less time avoiding differences and more time seeking to understand and embrace our differences so that we can more effectively “be fruitful and multiply.”
We will get into this more in the next blog post, but for now consider what might happen when we have all perspectives, genders, ethnicities, and gifts represented in the same space? We see the new creation and we begin to bear fruit.
