In the Beginning…by Lori Stewart

In the beginning
the very beginning, not the
patriarchal, colonial beginning

In the beginning
was the Word
which may have been
a grunt, a vibration, a thought, a feeling
a woman or man or a non-binary being

In the beginning was the Word
And the Word was with God
beside, above, below, inside
and God was perhaps a woman, a man or non-binary
a thought, a vibration, a feeling
or…pure unadulterated love

Unadulterated…
interesting Word
Unadulterated… does it mean
not of an adult
before adult development
better to be
a child so not corrupted by
becoming an adult for whom
pure love is a lost cause?

Is this about the pure love that only a child experiences when they are poured out… hmm… maybe baptized by love before the waters were even formed and theology
parted those waters
and split hairs?

In the beginning was the Word
And the Word was with God, and
The Word was God

The Word was God so it becomes
more complicated and
results in needing to prove
Authority
Credibility
Respectability

R-E-S-P-E-C-T… maybe the Word was Aretha

Maybe the Word was
cacophony
and
chaos

Maybe the Word was “bring to order”
Order! Order!… believe this, think that
How do “this” and “that” make you feel?

In the beginning was Love, or
… an accident
Oops, a button just got pushed
We’re up, running, and off to the races…

Or maybe in the beginning God
and his long white beard
stood up from his throne and declared
the patriarchy superior

The grandmothers aren’t happy with that

Lori Stewart
©2019
(Inspired by Louise Halfe; based on John 1:1 in the Christian Scriptures)

Lori Stewart is Associate Faculty at St Stephen’s College in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where she has taught Questing Faith: Thinking About God, and Pop Culture and Theology. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Theological Studies. Her MTS research focussed on identity and power as they relate to married women’s surnames. Lori is also a poet and writer, a spiritual director, and a social activist. She belongs to a choir for people who think they can’t sing and have discovered they can, indeed, make beautiful music.