Reflections on the First Light
What if the first light of creation was not illumination, but communion?
Driving along a country road in Illinois toward St. Louis, I saw wheat fields so beautiful they took my breath away.
The sun began to rise above the treetops. Its rays stretched across the fields, making the wheat glow with a golden light that seemed alive. For a moment, everything shimmered.
As I watched the morning unfold, I thought of two things. One was a blog I wrote a few years ago about the first light of creation. The other was a question a colleague asked me during a recent conversation about Trinity Sunday:
“What is this light before the creation of the sun?”
It’s a fascinating question.
Genesis tells us that God said, “Let there be light,” yet the sun, moon, and stars do not appear until later in the creation story. What, then, is this first light?
As a theologian, my first instinct was to seek answers. But some questions require more than logic. To reflect on the mystery of creation, I set aside what I knew for a moment. I didn’t reject science or reason, but I made room for wonder.
So I took some time to sit and reflect.
I began with the question and let myself rest in silence.
In that quiet, I remembered that God often speaks to us through images we can understand. The Spirit speaks the language already woven into our lives. Prophets saw visions. Joseph had dreams. Moses saw a burning bush. John described symbols and images beyond ordinary words. Again and again, Scripture shows that divine truths often come to us as metaphor.
As I reflected, another thought occurred to me.
When God made the cosmos, with stars, planets, oceans, plants, animals, and people, creation needed more than structure. It needed life.
The universe could be beautifully designed, but without God’s breath, it would be empty.
Perhaps the first light was not only about illumination.
Maybe it was about sharing in God’s life.
Before the sun lit the sky, a divine presence was already sustaining all things. Before stars burned in distant galaxies, there was the One who gives life to all.
Genesis begins by describing the earth as formless and empty. But God does more than create things. God fills creation with life, purpose, and goodness.
This is why the image of light recurs throughout Scripture.
The psalmist describes God as light.
The prophets portray God’s presence as light.
The burning bush glows with light.
The pillar of fire guides Israel with light.
Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world.”
The final vision in Revelation tells us that the heavenly city needs neither sun nor moon because God’s glory itself is its light.
A pattern begins to emerge.
Light is not only something we see.
Light is the manifestation of God’s presence.
As I kept driving through those golden fields, I wondered whether the first light in Genesis was more than mere brightness. What if it was God’s own life entering creation? What if it was the divine connection that keeps everything alive?
Plants need sunlight. Our bodies need food and water. Yet beneath these needs lies a deeper truth: we were made not only to exist but to share in God’s life.
The physical and spiritual are not in conflict. They belong together. God made Adam from the dust of the earth. Physical matter was important, but Adam became alive only when God breathed the breath of life into him.
Dust and breath.
Body and spirit.
Creation and Creator.
Both are needed.
Maybe this is why we sometimes feel empty when we’re disconnected from God. We might keep going, like a lamp that still stands after it’s been unplugged, but something important is missing.
The source of life is not found within us.
It is found in the One who first said, “Let there be light.”
As the wheat fields faded in my rearview mirror, the morning sun climbed higher. The golden glow stayed with me.
I felt grateful for mysteries that can’t be fully solved.
Some questions are not given to us so that we can master them.
Some questions are invitations.
Invitations to stand in wonder.
Invitations to listen.
Invitations to remember that before there was a sun in the heavens, God was already present, filling creation with life.
And perhaps that first light still shines among us.
Beautiful, thank you 🙏 💛