Words | A Dramatic Reading for My Church

Note: Audio version follows text.

In the beginning,

God.

God created the heavens and the earth.

Earth was without form and void.

Darkness was over the face of the deep.

And God spoke…

Words.

Beautiful words.

Life-giving and powerful words

Separated light from darkness and land from sea.

Earth sprouted vegetables,

plants yielded seeds,

and fruit trees bore fruit.

God spoke two great lights into existence,

the sun to rule the day

and the moon to rule the night

and stars, twinkling stars.

Waters swarmed with living creatures.

Birds flew above earth and across the heavens.

Livestock, creeping things, and beasts came to be.

Male and female, made in his image,

And it was so good.

Until words, our words,

Spoken out of turn

Turned on him,

Spun on the lie we believed:

that we could be like him.

We distrusted his goodness,

Doubted his boundaries,

And despised his love.

We traded light for darkness, life for death,

Preferred sin to holiness, autonomy to authority.

We fell, we fall, and we sit in our pits

Waiting for words.

For the Word.

For in the beginning was the Word,

And the Word was with God,

And the Word was God.

All things were made through him,

And in him is life,

And his life alone is our light—

The light that shines in our darkness,

And the darkness will never overcome it.

This Word dressed in flesh and dwelt among us.

In him, in Jesus, we see the unseen.

He heals and restores,

rescues and redeems,

gives grace upon grace.

In his face, we see God’s glory.

We see dimly, but one day face to face,

In the new heavens and the new earth

Where our glimpses of grace,

our tastes of faith,

Are only hints of what is yet—to be.

As we wait, we speak, teach, write, hear, read, and treasure

Words:

true, honorable, just, pure, lovely,

commendable, excellent, praiseworthy words.

Our words point to his words, and the Word,

Declaring the glory of the One and only Son,

the Word made flesh—

using gospel words.

We tell our stories of grace

To ourselves, to our friends, to our families,

To the nations,

To anyone who will listen:

In the beginning,

God.

Read more of Katie's words at Loving My Children on Facebook and at https://www.instagram.com/katietfaris. To learn more about her book, Loving My Children, click here. Email Katie at lovingmychildrenbook@gmail.com.