Posted by Tyler Kirkpatrick | July 4, 2020
I was recently inspired to write a poem for each day of creation–(which are written as poems themselves). I will be posting a new entry each day. Today: Genesis 1:24-31.
The Sixth Day
Like rereading a kind text or note from a loved one sent hours or minutes before their unexpected passing or gazing at the photograph of a joyful moment together with friends taken the day before the world turned on its head: Sept 10, '01 or December 6, '41 or New Year's on the eve of 2020, smiling faces unaware of ominous thunderclouds fast approaching on the horizon, so is reading the account of the Sixth Day: a happy memory turned melancholy by future tragedy, a reminder of what was and what could have been.
The Imago Dei, the Crown of Creation moved by Pride soon forgot in whose image they were made soon forgot they were created soon forgot their fellow humans were also made in their Creator's image soon forgot the earth was given to them to be received with thanks, not taken by force; soon forsook their calling to steward choosing instead to plunder, the only creatures capable of not being what they were created to be.
The Imago Dei; desecrated but not destroyed defaced but not effaced, in need of redemption but not irredeemable Redeemed by One Uncreated who alone was now capable of being what these creatures were created to be, who was taken by force, plundered, crucified forgotten and forsaken moved by Love, the Crown of Thorns on the Imago Dei.
The Sixth Day a reminder of what was and what could have been and a glimpse of what one day will fully be glimpsed now in the face of my friend who devotes his life to those with mental illnesses forgotten by others, glimpsed now in the hands of the vet caring for the injured roadside deer, glimpsed now in the feet of the farmer walking her field once more in unending cycle of love and labor, her patch of planet received to steward, to grow, to give: the Imago Dei the Sixth Day.
[1] Raimondi, Marcantonio, ca. 1480-ca. 1534. Adam and Eve, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=50226 [retrieved July 4, 2020]. Original source: http://www.mfa.org/.
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