Co-Creating with God

 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.  She said, “with the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”     Genesis 4:1 NIV

As Eric and I await the arrival of baby girl Nielsen, we have been reflecting on the whole experience of pregnancy. Part of my reflection has been on the question, “where is God in labor pains and morning sickness that was truly all day sickness?” For those who only saw me on Sunday mornings, you probably had no idea that I was terribly ill with nausea and fatigue from week 8-16 weeks of my pregnancy. Those who are on staff had inklings of what was going on before then, but I did not want to confirm anything until I was past 12 weeks of pregnancy which is when the chance for miscarriage goes down drastically. As my due date approaches, that time seems like such a long time ago, but it is indeed part of my pregnancy experience. Turns out that nausea in early pregnancy is linked with high levels of the hormones that are needed to sustain a pregnancy. My nausea was an indicator that all was well with baby!

 Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which led to consequences: the ground and the serpent were cursed. Adam had to work the land and Eve’s child birth would be painful. Then in the very next chapter, Eve proclaims her creative work with God, literally to make another human being. The English translation doesn’t quite get the scripture translation right, it is closer to “I co-created with God a man!” God created the world by speaking it into being and created us in the same image. We too are creative agents in the world with God, not just women who give birth, but all people in a variety of creative, imaginative ways! How are you co-creating with God? How is the church a place where we co-create with God?

In Christ,
Rev. Elyse Milligan Nielsen