Earth had yet to bathe in first dawn.

Coruscating flares glisten immense in reaches of crystal purple like droplets of glistening diamonds in a goblet of fine wine. Beyond other earths, beyond their moons, beyond eons of light posturing spirals, beyond the fulminating furies, on the other side of black night, in resplendent glory, and before the first instance of time, breathed the living Word in primal vitality, pulsating rhythmic cadence,

The Word was with God.

The Word was God.

Celestial, vacant and vast, created by the Word who lives outside; external to all of it, in transcendent reality incomprehensible, and in unearthly dimension, unimaginable. Into this created expanse, he placed all it now contains, a womb; a tangible place of nourishment for that which he would create in his own image, a perpetual, cosmic universe, set within the bounds of infinity, and prepared as a home fit . . .

for the Imago Dei.

From an infinite array of assembled specks of brilliance so thick it resembled a carpet of sand, yet distanced from each other by a thousand epochs of time; from all this I say, he selected one. From this sea sand of luminous bodies, he selected the light that rules by day. From that light's orbs, he selected yet another. From the soil of that orb, he formed a man.

In the Image of God
In the Image of God
In the Image of God
. . . created he him.

Into this man he created, the Word implanted life and the man became a living person, yet unfinished and incomplete.

Creation was not yet good.

Therefore, the Word created woman and the woman and the man were one as he is One, syncretizing consummate perfection. Male and female created he them. Male without female, female without male are each in their uniqueness, incomplete.

Together, they are one.
Together, they are good.

An image is a reflection, two-dimensioned, but otherwise an exact copy of the original. So elegant, so complete this Image, it reflects the power to make its own choices. The Word has that power, and in creating man and woman in his Image, the two of them also had that power'the power to make their own choices.

They were reflections of him, yet they were unique. They were the same, yet they were unique; different from him and different from each other. In the quality of their uniqueness, they also reflected him . . . yet, there is none like him. A paradox; yes, a paradox reserved for consideration only by the deepest, minds.

The man and the woman could now choose independently of the Word's choices. And this they did. He chose to have them live together in love, sharing intimacy with him and with all that he had created. They chose, however, to grasp for the knowledge of right and wrong, to draw distinctions between good and evil.

In impact and in substance, they became creatures of law. A distance more timeless than that which separates the stars is that which separates the value of a life lived in hallowed love from a life lived in constraint to law. In making this choice, darkness entered the man and the woman. And with darkness came death.

Yet, there is life. The Life of the Word. The Life of the Word became light to the man and when that light shines in darkness, it is impossible for the darkness to swallow. It cannot extinguish or resist the omnipotence of light. Like the sharp point of a javelin, the Word penetrated this darkness with light. Its function is to redeem, to release and reclaim the person, the created soul and body, the effervescent spirit formed in the image of God. What is so familiar, the ant, the worm, a soft breeze, the violet, the impulse to savor the bouquet of a rose'all appear insignificant and tellurian set against the backdrop of this infinite Light, an irresistible Force bringing life and vitality .

From his resplendent palace of unspeakable purity, beyond and larger than the eternal, the Word came to live in this world'in a body that could die. Such a consequence as to encompass the Eternal God in a perishable human frame is incomprehensible. It blinds the mind, turning it to coal and pith. Because of this seeming impenetrable darkness, we who live in this world did not'could not'recognize him for whom he was. Still, the genius of his power penetrates the impenetrable, reaching any and all malleable souls, any and all who would dare to believe. This marvelous Light of his infinite life permeates and illumines, reaching to the extremities of hopes and dreams, and the gift to be a child once again becomes his irrevocable warrant; a child of the Eternal God, a child born not of natural descent, but born of God.

We honor the credibility and we affirm the noble magnificence of him who came from God the Father, this Word so full of Grace and Truth. From the great reservoir of his Grace we have all received life, an eternal life and all its continuing benefits, giving reason for perpetual celebration. From the fullness of Truth, we have received illumination, dissipating the darkness of relativism and uncertainty. To teach men the futility of trying to live by knowing good and evil, religious and civil law came through Moses. The Enlightenment and Life that comes by Grace and Truth, however, comes only through Jesus Christ.

No one with earthbound eyes, has ever seen God the Father. The raw radiance of his glory, extends far beyond our sensory overload. But this Word who has lived, and who yet lives in the Father's heart has now lived among us. He lives among us still. It is he, who has revealed the Father to us. He has brought us to God.