Beginning Stories

Gathering

In the beginning…

In the beginning was the thought
the impulse
the moment

In the beginning was the possibility
the intent
the breath

In the beginning
the idea became a promise
the intention, a rhythm
the breathing, a tempo
the silence, a song
and love found her voice

and because she knew not how to do anything else
and because she couldn’t help itself
she spoke
and the sound of the word
shifted into the shape of that word

and so it began...

Creative Response

Provide seven thin strips of lining paper on tables. Provide paint, crayons, pens etc.

You are invited you to recreate this image.

Firstly choose a place where you would like to begin with a new beginning this week

Perhaps the new beginning for you is Chaos to cosmos, that might be tidying your bedroom! (Day 1)

Or new horizons: God separated heavens and earth and created a horizon. (Day 2)

Unfamiliar places: Day three was about creating a niche for every everything as the land and seas were created. (Day 3)

Sun moon and stars on day four: a place to begin in dreams and visions. (Day 4)

Or begin with the environment as God created on day five, birds and sea creatures: the two places where pollution is found in its concentrated forms. (Day 5)

Or start with being human: begin with care for each other. (Day 6)

Or even the trysting place, the place of peace and rest, the sabbath. (Day 7)

Choose a place to begin this week or this summer and take the paint and paint on the paper a sign, symbol, picture, hand-print, name, word. You may wish to try a few and we will bring them together and create our own version of creation, a new beginning.

Beginning Stories

Genesis 1 (and others)

Beginning Stories

Over the summer we are taking themes rather than specific passages, themes that stretch through the bible like Gods constant word, ever reminding us of who we are and whose we are.

We tie them also into an image that speaks into each theme, this week we reflect on beginning stories focusing on our first creation story but also all those other beginning stories that speak of God’s constant second chance to begin again. Here are some clues to some of them…

The door fell open
and everything paused
as the light fell in
to the dark inners of heaven’s menagerie.
Such light had not been seen
under the rainclouds for many long days,
but this was new light
filled with amber and indigo,
sapphire and gold,
ruby and emerald,
and arched a welcome
for this holy remnant
and a new beginning

The stars keep sliding
across the midnight blue
rearranging themselves
into imagined constellations of names.
Each night
it is like living under a promise
that one night,
this night,
the promise will come true
and the centenarian will hear his child’s cry
echo among a billion suns
as each bows
in this new beginning
of the nation of God

The pause held every question.
The stone fell and so did the giant
and as winning and losing quietly changed sides
it sucked out the words
and emptied the moment
of what should have been said
and hesitated as new words were gathered
to express the surprise
as the ground shifted
not from the heavy fall of Goliath
but from the unexpected new beginning
in the boy who would be king

The night lies broken
by the dawn;
the silence,
by bird song;
and crushed alleluias
are unfolded
as the whisper fleets through the universe:
“Empty! The tomb is empty!”
The quiet reboot of creation has just happened
without a noise
and the only clue to this new beginning:
a footprint in the dew
of the gardener,
restored.

In the beginning,
the beginning of all beginnings,
heavy with dreams
and overflowing with love,
chaos is held up to the light
and finds within
its pattern,
its shape,
its form,
its beauty,
its purpose,
its possibility,
its humanity,
in a simple sentence:
“Let it be”
And it was.
And it was good.
The first, second and every day
of new beginnings