Of course, no one knows what happened before there was matter and energy.  I believe there was just God.  God, being a spiritual being, did not need a planet to stand on or a sun to keep him warm.  He did not need dark matter to move through nor energy to propel himself.  God just was.   

Jesus followers like me believe God is one being who exists as three persons.  I do not understand all that means, but I can imagine a perfect harmony in God’s soul.  There is no arguing about who is greater: Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.  There is a deep and profound love between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  I do not know exactly how God converses with himself, but maybe there was once a conversation that went something like this: 

The Father: “I want to make a universe.  I want to scatter stars and planets, nebulas and quasars out on a background of nothing.  Then I want to choose one planet and design life.  I want there to be oxygen and carbon, hydrogen and helium.  I want to design plants of one cell and towering redwoods.  I want to fill an ocean with fish.  Some will taste good, and some will taste terrible.  Some will live in the deeps without sunlight – I will give them a way to make their own light.  Some will be enormous whales, and some will be tiny minnows.  I think I will throw in an eel and a sea snake, along with a porpoise with a smile.  How about a nine-brained octopus to round out the mix? 

Then I will make animals.  Some will have one cell like my one-celled plants, but they will be different.  Then we will add variety: Some will fly in the air; others will snake along the ground.  The biggest animal on land I will make a vegetarian, but I balance that out with a tiny weasel that only eats meat.  I will add worms and salamanders, grasshoppers and cows, horses and horse flies, spiders, and giraffes.   

Then I will top it all by taking a ball of mud and making a man, who will be made in my image, able to think, and choose, and love.” 

The Spirit: “Will the man love me?  Will he choose to do life with me?  Will he let me lavish grace on him, laugh with me at the end of the day, and marvel at my universe?  I do not think so.  For there to be love, there must be choice.  When I create choice, I foresee that man will choose to believe a lie from another one of my creations.  Choosing this lie will unleash evil in the world.  Things will come undone.  There will be disease and death, war, and conflict, striving and anxiety, depression, and disconnection.  If I create this, will I not also create for myself deep pain?” 

The Son: “I will be the conduit of creation.  I will speak the words for the stars and planets to form, for life to come from nothing, for all the forms of life that will come into being.  And when man breaks what I have created, I will suffer the pain of things getting worse before they get better.  Then I will humble myself and enter the universe I have made.  I will become human, and be born as a child, feeling the cramped limits of a body.  Then I will take upon myself their sin, their failures, their brokenness, and I will die a humiliating death.  When that sin comes upon me, I will endure that pain of my soul being torn, of touching the evil I have never committed or experienced.  I will feel the disconnection from myself, from my Father, and from the Holy Spirit, so that what is broken can be healed, what is lost can be found, and what is evil can be forgiven. 

Then I will rise from the dead to prove I have power over death, over despair, and over destruction.  I will redeem what I have made and make it mine again.”

The Father, the Son, and Spirit: “Am I willing to do this to myself?  Yes.  I want these people I will make to know what I know, to know love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.  I will endure the pain for them so that I can share my grace with them.”

And God said, “Let there be light.  And there was light.”  Then the journey to Christmas began.