BERESHIT: GENESIS 1:1–6:8

Beginnings

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NKJV)

I am a runner. I run several miles each day, and on most days, the hardest part of my run — the time when my feet drag and my mind tells me I should still be in bed — is the beginning: the first mile or two. That's when I'm feeling the most resistance. That's when I want to quit.

After a while, however, a feeling of flow kicks in. The strides become more natural. My mind begins to wander, and I enjoy the scenery. Breathing comes regularly and easily.

On the face of it, this pattern seems counterintuitive. Shouldn't energy be highest at the beginning and diminish as the run continues? What is happening?

The Energy of Breath

The act of beginning produced an energy of its own. When God spoke and the world came into being, an energy was introduced into creation. The Torah calls this energy Ruach Elohim, the spirit of God.

This spirit of God with which the earth began does not diminish. It is the very breath of life. We feel it when we breathe. We feel it when we pray. The Hebrew word for breath is neshimah, which is also the word for soul. Within our souls is the very breath of God. The energy with which the world was created lives on within us.

A Beginning that Does Not End

We need that energy because beginnings are hard. Do you remember the fear, the tingling, when you last began a new relationship, a new job, a new adventure? Did the fear ever feel like too much? Did you ever want to stop, to withdraw, to put your head back under the pillow?

But imagine if God had simply stopped at the beginning. There would be no world, no humanity, no opportunity for our own beginnings.

The great Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, from the eighteenth century, said the world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important part of crossing that bridge is not to be afraid. Beginnings may make us afraid, but once we begin, the fear subsides. Energy builds up. We develop momentum. That is when a beginning becomes a blessing and we cross the bridge linking us to God and to another.

Eternal God, May you fill my beginnings with blessings, and may you bless me with many more beginnings than endings. Amen.

The Voice

Some time later, Cain presented an offering to the Lord from the land's crops while Abel presented his flock's oldest offspring with their fat. The Lord looked favorably on Abel and his sacrifice but didn't look favorably on Cain and his sacrifice. (Genesis 4:3-5)

My oldest daughter loves the show The Voice. Sometimes she coaxes me into watching it with her. I confess I am not a big fan of the music. I am always intrigued, however, by one part of the show — the most difficult, emotional part — the time when the judges have to tell one of the losing contestants he or she did not make it.

Typically the dueling contestants are both talented. Often they have trained together, having both made it past some of the initial rounds. Only one of them, however, can move onto the next round.

Each of the judges has a different style for informing the losing performer, but all convey the same message: It's not about failure. It's not about a lack of talent. It's simply the reality that a choice must be made and that the winner fits what the judge is seeking for the next round. In other words, one person must lose this round, but he or she is not a loser.

What Cain Misses

I wish Cain had been able to hear this message back in Genesis 3. He and Abel had both made an offering to God. For an unspecified reason, God preferred Abel's. God knew Cain was angry, saying to him, "sin is crouching at thedoor" (Genesis 4:7 ESV). Still angry and frustrated, Cain ignored the warning and murdered his brother.

It didn't have to turn out that way. God's preference was not an indictment of Cain. As we learn later, Cain went on to become the builder of the first city. Yet his reaction echoes throughout history.

To Compare Is to Despair

We compare ourselves to others, and when another is preferred, we take it as a personal failure. Competition can bring out our best, but too often, it also brings out our worst.

A later Jewish legend suggests Cain ultimately repented for his sin and God accepted it. Cain's forgiveness thus became an example of God's infinite grace. If God can forgive Cain, God can forgive us. Cain's repentance reminds us that the door is always open to forgiveness and redemption.

God, Our society labels people as winners and losers. Yet I know that in your eyes I am sacred and unique, blessed with gifts. May I be open to growing and changing with your love. Amen.

A Day from Heaven

God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work of creation. (Genesis 2:3)

An admirer once asked the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz how he could play so beautifully. He answered, "The notes — anyone can play. But the pause between the notes ... ah ... that is where the music lies." What Horowitz said about music is also true about our lives. It is in the pauses — the rests, the spaces in between — that meaning is made and that holiness is felt.

This idea feels so counterintuitive today. We are always doing, always moving, always on call. A 2014 survey...