Earth and Sky

Sunset at Mauna Kea - also known as Mauna Wākea

One of the oldest known Greek poets Hesiod tells the story of Gaia and Uranus (Mother Earth and Father Sky), how they gave birth to the whole Greek pantheon and thus indirectly begat the entire Universe. That is actually the original meaning of the word Cosmology - a story about the birth of world.
    Similar stories are known from around the world. On the very opposite side of the world, in Hawai'ian mythology I am familiar with a similar Polynesian myth about Papa (mother Earth) and Wākea (father Sky) and how they originated the birth of a habitable world, individual islands, human culture and even started famous royal families.
    As surprising as it might sound, the Bible also contains interesting traces of a similar story. These cosmogony stories are never really dominant in official religion, they live in the background of people’s worldview. In the biblical tradition this story got overshadowed with the “official” creation story (in six days) and possibly it even got censored for its unorthodox content. But it is still present, and most visibly in the context of the creation story. Just like Greek or Polynesian mythologies the Bible mentions a “Genealogy of Earth and Sky.” (Gen 2:4) And that is something you might not know about the Bible.

As we begin this Sunday a three month long series of Celestial Theology, we will start by looking closer at this genealogy of Earth and Sky and draw encouragement, joy and inspiration from their almost forgotten, yet powerful message.