And God stepped out on space. And God looked around on space. And God said, "I am lonely. I’ll make me a world!" And as far as the eye of God could see, darkness covered everything. Blacker than a hundred midnights down in a cypress swamp. Then God smiled and the light broke, 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 took the light into Her hands and God rolled the light around in Her hands until She made the sun. And God set the sun a-blazing in the heavens. And with the light left over from making the sun, God gathered it up into a shining ball and flung it against the darkness, spangling the night, with the moon and the stars.

Then down between the darkness and the light, God hurled the world! And God said, "That’s good!" Then God Herself stepped down. And the sun was on Her right hand, and the moon was on Her left, and the stars were circling around Her head, and the earth was under Her feet. God walked. And where She trod, Her footsteps hollowed the valleys out and bulged the mountains up!

Then God stopped and looked and saw that the earth was dry and barren. So God stepped over to the edge of the world and spat out the seven seas. She batted Her eyes, and the lightning flashed! She clapped Her hands, and the thunder rolled! And the water above the earth came down. The cooling water came down. . . .

Then the green grass sprouted. The little red flowers blossomed. The pine tree pointed its finger to the heavens, and the oak spread out its branches. The lakes cuddled down into the hollows of the ground. And the rivers ran down to the sea!

Then God smiled again and the rainbow appeared and curled itself over Her shoulder. And God said, "That is SO good!"

Then God raised Her arm and waved Her arm over the sea and over the land, and said, "Bring forth, bring forth!" And quicker than God could drop Her arm, fishes and fowl, beasts and birds swam the rivers and the seas, roamed the valleys and the woodlands, and split the air with their wings! And God said, "That’s good! That’s good! That’s good!"

God walked around, and God looked around on all She had made. She looked at Her sun. She looked at Her moon. She looked at Her little stars. She looked on Her earth with all its living creatures. And God said, "I am lonely still."

So God sat down by the side of a hill where She could think. With Her head in Her hand, She thought and thought.

Till She thought, "I’ll make me a human." Up from the bed of the river, God scooped the clay. And by the bank of the river, God kneeled Herself down and there the great God almighty who lifted the sun and fixed it in the heavens, who flung the stars against the far corners of the night, who rounded the earth in the palm of Her hand, this great God, like a mammy bending over her baby, kneeled down in the dust, toiling over a lump of clay until She made it into Her own image. Then into it, God blew the breath of life. . . . and man and woman became, became living souls. And man and woman became living souls!

Amen! Amen.

 Based on a poem by James Weldon Johnson.