I relate well to simple things. Like dirt. Thus, I have always preferred the oral tradition. Granted, the first account is nothing short of a miraculous spectacle. The heavens, earth and sky are a derivative of divine utterances. God speaks=it happens. Acoustical generation. No fuss. No hesitation. It’s neat .Clean. Perhaps, too clean for my understanding. Enter the oral tradition. The story of the God according to the people. Communicable understandings. There’s something primal and sinuous about this telling. Maybe it’s too primal for some. Some consider it a defamation of the divine. The Ground of Our Being gathers up dust [aphar] from the ground and draws it close to his lips. A kiss fills the molded dust with inexpressible life giving air. Imagine learning this as a young Hebrew boy, “God breathed into the nostrils [aph] of Adam.” The priestly tradition tells us that God was hands off, an aural creator. But here--here we have someone telling us that when it came to the creation of mankind God ran his fingers through the earth to gather up the beloved of all creation. I prefer this story. I prefer to think that God cared so much for me that he placed his perfect face towards the ground and breathed. Imagine Adam. After gasping your foremost breath you awaken to the face of the Holy. Relationally created. Made for affection and love. Your first sight is of the one who loves you most. This is truly a devastating thought. God willed us into existence with a kiss………………So why do we, Judas, will God out of our lives with the same gesture? I never noticed such irony before.