John's gospel makes this clear in an echo of Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word." (John 1:1) God spoke the cosmos into being: "And God said". In his all-powerful Word, God created. This world was created by the Word, why? So that the Word could become flesh and dwell amongst us, and reveal the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth. (Genesis 1:14) Creation is connected and fulfilled in the Incarnation, in the revelation of Christ, for our salvation.

Genesis does not tell us how time began, how the cosmos began, but why we exist at all. We are here to fulfill God's purpose and plan of salvation. Genesis 1 does not focus on the physical processes that gave rise to the created world but on the divine purpose for creation. The cosmos is the theater of God's drama of salvation. Because of the vastness of the universe it is hard for some people to accept that this is the focus of created life.

Some atheistic scientists claim that there can be no intent or purpose undergirding the world. The atheist has a problem with purpose, for if there is no God there can be no ultimate, eternal purpose. Bertrand Russell's most famous essay, and one of the most widely read manifestoes of naturalistic humanism of the twentieth century, concludes with these words,

Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way; for Man, condemned to-day to lose his dearest, to-morrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day; disdaining the coward terrors of the slave of Fate, to worship at the shrine that his own hands have built; undismayed by the empire of chance.....(A Free Man's Worship, 59)

"Naturalism is the view that nature with all its processes is all there is, that there is nothing beyond it, nothing eternal, and that moral and spiritual values are inventions of the human mind doomed to perish like everything else. Russell proposes that in this meaningless, crushing physical universe where our bodies are trapped and doomed, we can satisfy our yearning for something eternal by worshipping the product of our own minds - our art, science, and philosophy." (Spiritual Emotions, Robert C. Roberts, 150)

By contrast, St. Paul was clear about the purpose of God in creation. "For by Christ all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." (Colossians 1:16)

You want to know your purpose - the purpose for your coming into the world? Look at your origins. The agent of your creation is the purpose of your creation. Paul is directly interpreting Genesis 1:1. If you understand that your life was made by Christ for him, you will know where you are going. If you want your life to be fulfilled, you will seek to find your fulfillment in Christ. The meaning of your life will be found in your Creator and Savior. We take our bearings from him. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). If we want to know the mystery of the reality of our lives, and all life, we will focus on Christ. The principle uniting the universe has a heart and a face. It is personal, not impersonal.

"The plan and purpose of God is love, and it is revealed in its fullness in the person of Jesus Christ.... Our goal should be to move forward ever more deeply into the beginning, into the mystery of Christ." (Reno, Genesis, 38) In the words of T.S.Eliot:

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from.

.....And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time."

(Little Gidding, lines 240-42, Four Quartets)

We know who we are when we know where we came from and for what purpose.

Here are some of the big questions which affect our peace of mind, our ability to function, our sense of value. Why does the universe exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? Why do I exist? When did I first begin? Was my birthday my first day? In the beginning were my genes. What is the purpose for my creation? Why did Christ create me?

The answers of the Bible seem to be these. The reason I was born was to come to know Him who is love. He created me for the purpose of knowing him, of being loved by him, of being fulfilled in him, forgiven by him, sanctified by him.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb...When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body." (Ps. 139:13,15) Who did all this? Whose eyes saw us? God the Father, the eternal Word and the life-giving Spirit. God gives us both life and purpose for living.

When we forget this we fall into doubt and despair. We lose our way. In our suffering: in illness, in unemployment, in financial difficulties, in loneliness, disappointment and rejection, it is easy to forget the woods for the trees. We think that we are alone, having to manage only with our own human resources, meager though they may be. We don't have to. We have the resources of the creator of the universe at our disposal. In prayer we are to ask if we want to receive. But we have to ask. With God all things are possible. He will give us the strength to endure, for he is the Suffering Servant, the Pain-Bearer, our Companion and Friend. He will give us the courage to overcome. "I can do all things in Christ." Jesus is Victor. He will not abandon those he has created. He has an investment in our success. He wants us to get to where we need to go. "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6) "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears." (The Message)

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the last, the Beginning and the End, our Origin and our Goal. He who brought us into this world will receive us into the kingdom of heaven. "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear." (John Newton)

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