The Creation Story is A Love Story

For wisdom is more precious than rubies,

And nothing you desire can compare with her.

Excerpt from Proverbs 8

On a spring day in San Francisco a few years ago, warm wind was whipping through the bay as sail boats took to the swells. Even though I was a software engineer, I had agreed to counsel a couple in their preparation to marry. It was about a month before their wedding and I would also be officiating the ceremony.

Both the man, a friend of mine, and the woman had been raised in homes where God had been acknowledged but they both admitted this ceremony was for their parents and families. It had been ages since they last stepped into a church. Yet they wanted to honor the legacy their loving families had given them. As I guided them through the ceremony’s liturgy we arrived at how they would be introduced.

Would she take his surname? They had not yet decided! Our muscles tensed as their speech shortened.

He felt she should take his name! She wanted him to take her name! As I was wondering if the air conditioning died or we were all descending into hell, the woman turned to me and asked:

And why is God a man?

In that instant Solomon must have sent me a text as I replied:

Because Wisdom is a woman.

The Feminine at Formation

The author of the Proverbs writes to us a mystical account of Wisdom. She informs us she was there beside God in the beginning as all things were made. She says resolutely:

I was there when he set the heavens in place… then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.

The image of a solo magician at work in the cosmos is what adorns the domes in Rome yet the feminine is truly beside the masculine in partnership over everything. She delights in creation. She invites us in. 

As the author continues, we are children at the feet of loving parents offered opportunity and favor. The Creation Story is a love story. A lesson the three of us learned on that San Francisco day.

Spanish Customs for English Speakers

We sat for only a few silent seconds as I began to pray softly to myself that there would be some divine follow up. Wisdom is a woman… who says that?

I recalled my own childhood.

I was raised at the feet of my grandmother and great aunt sharing with me stories from the Bible and Mexico. Their parents were still alive when I was born. To me, they must have been there in the beginning with God himself. In a way they were. Their Spanish sayings inoculated me to the staleness of the English language. 

Everything in existence had these two divine partners as the foundations were laid and the firmaments of existence raised. Nothing unfolded apart from the other. Just as in Spanish customs the surnames of the father and mother are retained. 

I offered to the couple that they could use this Spanish naming custom, even though they are not Hispanic. This had elevated the woman's name from online security question to headliner status. The bride and groom were elated. 

The Signature of the Divine

One of my childhood challenges with my Spanish and English upbringing was when to use the masculine and feminine. English had no such thing! Why do I have to learn when to use ‘la’ instead of ‘el’!?

I know now, it is because there is a truth about all things. That there is both the masculine and feminine made in every fiber of eternity. 

This is the mystery and beauty…

That we would be invited to witness true love from first dance to infinite family. 

For those who find me find life

And receive favor from the Lord.

Proverbs 8:35

Until next week,

-Steven

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