A Clergyman Writes #127

PLEASE NOTE: This is a visually attractive avatar of the Revd Dentist Marwood and should not be taken to be a likeness. Failure to head this polite notice may lead to disappointment.

Being an occasional series in which our resident clergyman Drovers actor and Vicar of Our Lady of the Calcified Ganglia, Bincombe - Duntish Marshwood - offers advice on a pressing theological issue. This week, he addresses the thorny matter of: Origins.

As a clergyman I am often asked difficult theological questions. One which frequently surfaces at my weekly "Meet the vicar blue skies afternoon workshop" is: "Which did God create first, the chicken or the egg?"

In essence, this is a question about origins or, more colloquially, beginnings indeed about the beginning. Happily, the Bible is quite explicit on the subject and the whole matter can be considered - to all intents and purposes - theologically settled.

To be precise; and I quote:

"Meet the vicar blue skies afternoon workshops" take place every Wednesday afternoon in the Parish Hall [Cricket Pavilion if wet].

1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God; and of God; and from God. And the Word that was of God and with God and from God, was in God also.

2. Now, the Word that was in God and of God and with God and from God was the same Word that was God also; as was the Word itself; and whereas all that was of God was in God, so was it in the Word also.

3. For, in as much as that which was the Word and was the Word of God and was God also, so were the Word and God both the same: each unto the other.

4. Likewise the Word that was from God and in God and with God, was rendered unto God always in likewise fashion.

5. For the Word was that same Word which God made even unto himself and in his own image so that it should have Life. And in that life did both God and the word abide, like as to one another. And he that liveth in the Word, liveth also in God and is with God and of God and from God who is himself God even as he is also the Word of God ...

[Please note that in this abridged version, 12 verses have been omitted for the sake of brevity. Be assured that the meaning has not been significantly altered, nor comprehension of it compromised by this excision. [Theological Ed]]

I hope that clears up the matter once and for all and that we can now move on to other more demanding issues facing us at this most difficult time eg: why are chestnuts so expensive, is goose fat vegan and why a Threadboneextra Clubcard is the key to an inflation busting Christmas dinner?

NEXT WEEK: What came first the woman or the child?