Creation

“Then God said, ‘Let us make….’” (Genesis 1.26)

In the beginning God came into the room and said, “Let’s dance!” So they began an exuberant dance of billions of years of laughing and trillions of spinning, a great ancient dance of joy. And the longer it went the wilder it got—playful, impolite, and uncontainable. Until God looked at themselves, elbows and knees and every limb flying in all directions, but with nothing to bump into, nothing to knock over, nothing to pick up and bring into the dance.

So God said to themselves, “Let’s make some stuff to absorb our joy!” And the idea pleased God so much that they danced another thousand years at least—though it’s hard to tell how long anything really takes before time is around to yell at you to “Hurry up!” and “Get on with it!”

All along God had danced in love for one another, but now God also began to dance in hope for what was not yet but they would bring about. And to dance in faith for what they could not see but would certainly create. And this dance was wilder than the others they had danced. Their stomping kicked up the dust in a great, rowdy, chaotic cloud. And God danced with all their might until covered in sweat they whirled each other around so fast that the dust whirled with them, spinning off the ground, until the whirlwind spun and churned and picked up even their drops of sweat that had fallen.

God stopped all at once and looked at the chaotic whirlwind, this living residue of God’s joy, spinning and lifting by the momentum of the love that sent it into motion.

And God looked at themselves and smiled. “This is going to be good,” they said. “This is going to be good-good!”

And the spirit hovered over the chaos that the revelry of God had created. And then someone said, “Turn on the lights—let’s get started!” And so it was….