Chapter 3

Our God the Creator: The Good that Remains

In the original world, the world was characterised by good. That is to say, there was a fundamental goodness that undergirded everything. There was a deep goodness that was invigorating everything. The whole world was infused with goodness. You could not have found any decay, anywhere. There was no mould nor mildew. There was no nastiness nor meanness. There was no sickness nor death.¹

If it was all so wonderful then, what has happened to it since?

Well, of course, it has fallen into decay since the Fall of Mankind into sin. I remember being in a post-graduate class many years ago in the Education faculty at University of Queensland, and we were in small groups doing some discussion work. (That is what lecturers get you to do when they haven’t prepared any lectures for that evening.)

The question we were asked to discuss was, “What was the most influential moment in human history? What was the moment that changed the course of history, or determined its future path more than any other moment.” Our group members were earnestly proposing such things as the invention of the wheel, the invention of the printing press, the discovery of fire and many other similar things, when I suggested that perhaps it may have been the Fall of Mankind into sin in the Garden of Eden.

I don’t remember ever encountering such a wall of silence, only to be followed by the most withering comments and looks which told me clearly that I must clearly be some sort of cretin who had no right to be in a university course with people of their intelligence and cultural bearing if I were to persist in that sort of nonsense. Eventually they gave me the benefit of the doubt that perhaps I was having a huge joke at their expense and I was forgiven, at least superficially.

However, as you will have seen in the previous chapter, I do believe that there has been no greater single event in the history of man than this event, unless perhaps it was the “other half” of that event, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. All of what we know and do now in this world is inextricably bound up in the consequences of those two events.

Far from having a completely ugly world, however, despite our descent into blackness, what we do still see in the world are vestiges of that original goodness.

You know how when you see your child’s face, you can sometimes just glimpse a vestige of Aunt Emily in your child’s face? Although your child is yours, and is a person in their own right, when she holds her head or mouth just so, there is Aunt Emily, as sure as the nose on her face.

It is this kind of vestigial likeness that we see all the time in our world that is an occasion for joy.

Here is a poem that appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald a couple of years ago.²

Dogs and God

That bikie with his
girl as pillion,
that kelpie in his

sidecar there
singing in the wind
The girl with blonde hair

blowing back
is smiling sidelong
at the dog

who measures in his
cancelled song
the richness of the instant
And who among you
cruising by
would still deny

the fact of heaven?
If dogs have souls
and God’s tattooed

and every angel
has blonde hair
streaming from a helmet

It is this idea of the “richness of the instant” that this poem deals with so well. So many times in life we suddenly see something beautiful. Sometimes it is a character or quality of personality, sometimes it is an action of a person in the midst of what would otherwise be sadness and despair.

This is what I call “vestigial goodness”. It is the constantly recurring cycle of good things that occur in this world, despite its brokenness. For every bomb that is exploded, for every bullet that is fired, there is a cup of cold water poured, or a meal given, or an education paid for by a Mother Theresa or a suburban family or a teenager who have chosen to give something to someone else, just because that person needed it, and they could afford it.³

This knowledge that the world has such goodness in it always fills me with joy. Yes, of course the tsunamis in Asia on Boxing Day 2004 were disastrous. But the subsequent outpouring of good will amongst the entire world was a cause of joy.

Yes, of course Auschwitz was a terrible nightmare, but even in that camp and others like it, there were people who gave their last piece of bread away to others, who gave care and time and words of comfort to others, despite their own crushing tiredness and pain. There were even people who swapped places with others in the lines going to the death chambers, to preserve the life of a child or a wife or husband.

The ancient Celtic Christian world carried in it a strong sense of the goodness of God in all of creation. This is probably the one thing that totally stood out as a point of difference from the world of the Celts and the European Christianity that has characterised our own Christian traditions. In the Celtic world, the goodness of God could be seen – and should be looked for and appreciated in all of creation.

So this early hymn in the tradition of St Patrick:

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star-lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

(Newell, 1997, p. 24)

About 150 years ago, a Scotsman named Alexander Carmichael decided that he would collect together and write down as many of the ancient prayers as he could locate which had been handed down by word of mouth in the Hebridean islands. Had he not done so at that time, these would almost certainly have been lost to us now in modern times.

The collection is known as the Carmina Gadelica, “the songs and poems of the Gaels”. It contains many prayers and songs which show the daily life of a people for whom it was second nature to see the goodness in the world and celebrate it, to use it as part of their daily prayers. This was part of their secret to living in joy in a place where life was often harsh, but the environment was beautiful. For example…

Before a journey or a parting, the people would pray a prayer for the wellbeing of their loved ones (Newell 1997, p. 42):

The goodness of the sea be thine,
The goodness of earth be thine,
The goodness of heaven be thine.

They saw the earth as part of God’s creative blessing to humankind, not as something to be pillaged for resources as quickly as possible, or to be owned and sold for monetary profit:

There is no plant in the ground
But is full of his virtue,
There is no form in the strand
But is full of his blessing.

Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesu who ought to be praised.

There is also in these prayers a great enjoyment of the daily pleasures of this earthly life. “In a blessing for the house, for instance, there is an unabashed asking for ‘plenty of food, plenty of drink, plenty of beds, and plenty of ale’.” (Newell, 1997, p. 47)

These were not people who lived life in a dryness of Christian worship separate from their ordinary lives, but rather, they lived in full enjoyment of the earth and the heavens, living within the knowledge of a loving and graciously-providing God surrounding their lives.

Did you notice the word “enjoyment” in the last paragraph? Of course, it contains the word “joy”. When we insert joy into our lives, by recognising the goodness of this earth and of God’s provision for us, we create “en-joy-ment”.

Have you ever seen a list of all the virtues in the world? It is a pretty long list. Have a look at these; it’s as full a list as I have been able to compile (I’m sure someone will be able to add more that I have forgotten or overlooked):

All of these exist in the world as a remnant of the glory and goodness of the creation and the innate goodness of God.

They can be a source of joy to us in two ways.

Firstly, as we encounter them in our daily lives. As we are blessed by being recipients of someone else’s honesty or loyalty or wisdom, we step into joy. As we live in a community where these are commonplace or at least abundant, we are blessed to be living in an environment where we may daily encounter joy. This, incidentally, is one of the purposes of family. A well-managed family will be a treasure trove of these virtues.

Secondly, as we practise them ourselves, in our own lives, we open up the Gates of Joy. The daily practice of such virtues is a passport to personal peace and joy. Of course, it will be easier to practise these when we are in a daily personal relationship with the God who made us to be like him.

Family JoyFinder

At a family meal, make it a custom that each one around the table gives thanks for something in the world. It doesn’t need to be in fancy words. Little children may say, “Thank you, God, for trees.” Others may give thanks for sunlight, for family, for love, for food.

We live in a particularly beautiful part of the world; surely there can be much to find in our natural environment for which we can give thanks.

If your children are creative, perhaps they may like to make some Celtic types of prayers:
Father, give us today grace like the pelican
Son, give us today love like the budgerigars
Spirit, give us today comfort like our cat in the chair in the corner.

When you are out in the car, or just at home with the family, be on the lookout for those “Richness of the Instant” moments, where you can remind yourselves that God is real and present in this world, and shows himself to those of us who are attentive to his presence.

Try getting your children to choose a “Virtue of the Week”, which each family member, mum and dad included will endeavour to demonstrate in family relationships.

If there is no-one in particular you want to celebrate, then just celebrate your family with a special picnic at the beach, with everyone knowing exactly why you are doing it.

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1 For a detailed examination of this concept, read my book Restoring Hope, especially the chapter entitled “Aren’t we all basically good?”.

2 The poem is by Geoff Page, and is quoted in Gleeson, p. 116.

3 Of course it is true that even the best goodness of mankind is not enough to gain us entry into heaven, nor is it anywhere near the goodness of God. But it is still beautiful and a blessing to those who show it or receive it.