This Week

And God stepped out on space
And he looked around and said:
I'm lonely-
I'll make me a world.

And as far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundered midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.

Then God smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said: That's good!

Then God reached out and took the light in His hands,
And God rolled the light around in HIs hands
Until He made the sun;
And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered up in a shinig ball 
And flung against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world; And God said: That's good!

Then God himself stepped down-
And the sun was on His right hand,
And the moon was on His left;
The stars were clusterd about His head,

And the earth was under His feet.
And God walked, and where He trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.

Then He stopped and looked and saw
that the earth was hot and barren.
So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas-He batted His eyes, 
	and the lightenings flashed-
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled-
And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down.

Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red floweres blossomed, 
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down to the sea;
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around His shoulder.

The God raised Hi sarm and He waved His hand 
Over the sea and over the land,
And He said: Bring forth! Bring forth!
And quicker than God could drop His hand,
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said: that's good!
-James Weldon Johnson, "The Creation," excerpt

O LORD, our sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded 
a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings mindful of them, 
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, 
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.  
O LORD, our sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
-Psalm 8

• What makes human beings a little less than God? Is it their ability to create?
• How does looking at the stars affect your sense of place in the universe? Your relationship with God?
• What does it mean to have dominion over the earth?
• How do you experience God being mindful of you?