In the Beginning

As we come to pray in this sacred time of worship, let us remember the Great Creator Who made us. We come from different areas of the planet - different customs - different weather - different ways of doing things - different ways of speech and dress and food. However, we all have in common that we have been created by the One True Creator. We have different ways of expressing our creation, and the Name we use to honour and respect our Creator. We all have the same need; to be loved, accepted, and to find out why we are here on this planet.

What is my purpose in life?
Who am I really?
What do I really want out of life?

All these questions and more, the Creator can answer. We need to simply take time with Him, open our hearts and minds, and speak to Him within our minds. This is known as silent prayer.

May the Creator Who made both you and me, and finds both of us precious and irreplaceable in His sight, grant you wisdom, strength, comfort, understanding, and peace of mind and spirit as you honour Him as your Creator.

There are many different ways of understanding and describing the beginning of Creation. There is but one truth of Creation; that it occurred, and is a wondrous and mysterious event. Praise be to the Creator for His wondrous creation of the world, the universe, and all in it.


THE CREATION

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...
  So God created man in His own Image;
  male and female He created them."  The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 1 and verse 27.

"Allah created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in six days...
  We created the human being from aged mud, like the potter's clay. "  The Holy Qur'an Surah 7, verse 54
  and Surah 15, verse 6

"In the beginning was the Divinity in His splendour, manifested as the sole Lord of land, skies, water,
space and that beneath and He upheld the earth and the heavens.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?
 It is He who bestows soul-force and vigour, whose guidance all men invoke, the Devas invoke whose shadow is immortal life and death...
It is He Who by His Greatness became the One King of the breathing and the seeing , Who is the Lord of man and bird and beast...
It is He through whose glory the snow-clad mountains rose, and the ocean spread with the river, they say, His Arms are the quarters of the sky...
It is He through Whom the heaven is strong and the earth firm, Who has steadied the light and the sky's vault, and measured out the sphere of the clouds in the mid-region...
It is He to whom heaven and earth, placed in the light by His grace, look up, radiant with the mind while over them the sun, rising, brightly shines...When the mighty waters came,  carrying the universal germ, producing the flame of life, then dwelt there in harmony the One Spirit of the Devas. Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings? It is He Who in His Might surveyed the waters, conferring skill and creating worship - He, the God of gods, the One and only One...
Father of the world - may He not destroy us Who with truth as His Law made the heavens and produced waters, vast and beautiful. Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?
Lord of Creation! No one other than Thee pervades all these that have come into being.
May that be ours, for which our prayers rise, may we be the masters of many treasures!"
10th Book of Rigveda, Hymn 121

"We have been told, as our fathers were before us, that there was land, but it was a bare, flat, barren plain.
  No birds sang overhead. No trees or bushes grew.  No sound of water could be heard. Nor was there any
  man or woman. Baiame, or the Maker of Many Things as some called Him, brought the Dreamtime
  ancestors from under the ground and over the seas. With them, life came to the barren, flat  plain."
 Australian Aborigines Creation Story

"It is now believed that, at a certain time in the past, which can be calculated roughly 15000 million years ago,
  all the matter and energy in the Universe was concentrated in a mathematical point with zero volume from
  which it burst in one 'Big Bang' to create the universe...So, over millions of years, different forms of life have
  evolved." Humanist Creation Story

"Let it be told of a time when there was nothing but chaos, and that chaos was like a mist and full of emptiness.
  Suddenly into the midst of this mist came a great colourful light and from this light all things that exist came
  to be." Chinese Creation Story

"The Ancient One, known as Unkulunkulu, is the Zulu Creator. He came from the reeds and from them   
  brought forth the people and the cattle.He created everything that is; mountains, streams, snakes."
  Zulu Creation Story  

"Modimo was the Creator. He distributed good things, appeared in the east and belonged to the element
  water. " Zimbabwe Creation Story

"In the beginning there was nothing in this world except Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, who lived in endless
  light...One day, Ahura Mazda decided to make different creations. First He shaped the sky made of metal,
  shining and bright. Second, He made the pure water. Third, the Wise Lord created the earth...Then He
  created the first man, Gayomard, bright, tall and handsome."(Zoroastrian Creation Story)


http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/re/information/creation/australian_aborigines.htm
http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/re/information/creation/humanist_creation.htm
http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/re/information/creation/chinese_creation.htm
http://www.mythome.org/creatafr.hhttp://www.religiousforums.com/forum/zoroastrianism-dir/75184-zoroastrian-creation-myth.htmltml

*Photograph taken by Catherine Nicolette. Please feel free to use copyright free for any educational or spiritual purpose.