June 17, 2012
Out of Nothing You created Something. Then, out of Chaotic Something, you created the Firm Land and the Deeps of the Sea and the Expanse of the Sky. In that Darkness You created Light. And in that Deadness You created Life.
Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man,
in You all things were created.
You laid the foundation of the earth
and the heavens are the works of Your hands.
Without flow or flux, without change or chapter—the world would have been timeless, static, and gray without your gifts. But in the excess of Your Beauty, You gave the world time itself, and with it, thought, story, and music: the flux of change and the flow of the chapters of our lives.
You are before all things,
And give all things their being.
The earth will be changed but You are the same
and Your years will not come to an end.
In this creation, electrons will continue to spin and atoms combine. The sun will shine, and then comes the coolness of night. The beaver will build its dam and the elk rear and snort, the hedgehog will hide in its burrow and the eagle soar on high. And we, whom You created, will continue to have the opportunity to walk with You.
In You all things hold together.
You sustain all that exists
by the word of your power.
It will remain until Your appointed end.
Father, You adopted David as Your king. He was made Your firstborn, the foremost brother among the many sons and daughters begotten in Israel, and he foretold in word and life the coming of your Son.
Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man,
You are the firstborn over all creation,
having inherited a name much greater
than the patriarchs or the angels.
Invisible and unseen, Your face remained hidden in the world. You were like the wind, known in the dust it picks up, the leaves it blows, and the seas it makes rage. No one could see your face and live; even Moses only saw the backside of Your glory. But then You took on the form of a creature, a living being, indeed, a human.
Partaker of flesh and blood,
Made like us in all things,
You are the Image of the invisible God,
the exact representation of His Nature.