In the beginning

Haiku of the waters

In the beginning;

I can’t think of a better

way to start a book.

God the creator,

calling into existence

the heavens and earth.

Words making attempt

to describe the mystery

of how we are here.

The earth, formless void

in the midst of the darkness,

waiting to take shape

Spirit wind from God

sweeping over the waters.

A voice: let light shine!

God saw it was good,

the light; separating it

off from the darkness.

The light, God called, Day,

and the darkness was named, Night.

That was the first day.

© Ken Rookes 2023 

In the beginning

Haiku of creation

In the beginning.

Top marks for the opening,

you bible writers!

The earth was formless

until the wind from God swept

across the waters.

God spoke and light came,

sun and moon, day and night: thus

happened the first day.

Creation’s story

follows an orderly path:

land, plants, animals.

Birds traverse the sky

and fish occupy the sea;

God saw it was good.

Cattle and crawlies,

wild animals find a home

amidst the earth’s dust.

God’s pleased with the work

so far; completes creation

sculpting humankind.

They will be like us,

God decides; we will put them

in charge of it all.

What were you thinking,

God, entrusting the planet

to such flawed creatures?

Go and lie down, God,

you’ve earned a rest. And reflect

 

upon what you’ve done.

© Ken Rookes 2023

An old creation story

A poem for the Narrative Lectionary

An old creation story

Haiku from the dreamtime

The ancient story

sees the divine creator

sculpting humankind.

The Eden garden;

fruitfulness to be enjoyed,

The man must tend it.

The tree of knowledge

of good and evil is there;

a great temptation.

What did God expect

from her arboreal ban:

don’t eat of this tree?

Humans dominate

the other creatures, even

giving them their names.

The man sleeps deeply

as the woman is taken,

rib-like, from his side.

Fashioned from the ground

the man and woman of dust

belong to the earth.

She is his helper;

he will be her helper, too.

They will be partners

What means this order;

first the man, then the woman?

Damn patriarchy!

Two will become one,

this divine purpose: friendship,

support, and oneness.

© Ken Rookes 2019

It is is not clear-cut like that

"On the first day of creation, as the story is told in Genesis 1, God was in the darkness and brought light into that darkness. God saw that the light was good and gave the world light, but only in equal parts with dark in the form of day and night. With so much artificial light, we may think that the split is around one third dark and two thirds light. From the beginning of the practice of Daylight saving there have been jokes about the extra sunlight, but ozone holes and global warming aside, there is still only the same amount of sunlight as there has always been.

Almost from the beginning, we have seen light as good and dark as evil. There is nothing in these verses to suggest that darkness was anything but good also. In and of themselves they are neutral. Both can be good in some ways and both can be used for evil. We have also spoken as if there is a sharp distinction between them, that there were no grey areas. It is only on the Equator that this is a sharp division between night and day. As we move further from the Equator so the time between dark and light, night and day, lengthens. Dawn and twilight take up more of each day. Could this be what the words “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day” mean?

We speak of some people for whom everything must be seen as black or white, who cannot tolerate grey areas who find uncertainties about God difficult to live with. We believe God sent Jesus to give us more certainty about the nature of God and how God cares for creation, especially people. However, we get caught up in trying to put things into categories of right and wrong, night and day, light and dark. If there is one thing we can see in the life of Jesus, it is that it is not clear cut like that."

Rev Julianne Parker

(for full sermon see sermons page)

Creation

In the fabled first Genesis account
of the formation of the universe,
(six days of divine activity,
resting on the seventh), creation
was enthusiastically declared, “good!”
by the plural yet singular god
designated as creator.
Towards the end of the story
the divine handiwork was entrusted
to the recently instituted humankind;
along with the injunctions
to be fruitful and multiply,
and to fill the earth and subdue it.
We proved to be adept at all those things.
The subjugation of the planet
and the exploitation of its resources
(including its peoples),
were found to be particularly profitable;
especially the conquering, digging, blasting,
scooping, drilling, felling, clearing, refining,
selling, trading and dominating.
Less easy, and politically problematic,
was the task of maintaining creation
in its beauty, hope and goodness
for the benefit of all humankind;
not to mention the bees and the frogs.

© Ken Rookes 2014