Dreaming of a community of faith and justice

SEEKING AFTER GOD

 

Eph.3:14-21

John 6:1-21

 

 

Psalm 14 includes this marvelous phrase. `The Lord looks down upon us to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.' We are here because we want to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. We want to love and be loved. We want to act wisely. The Psalm says that to do all that requires of us that we seek after God.

 

But how do we go about doing that? Simon Dettleback was taking a piano lesson from Tom, he finished and came down stairs and we were winding up our Older Adult Ministries meeting. He wanted to play the sanctuary piano, but Tom thought maybe the meeting was still on so he told Simon to ask me if it was ok. But I see the piano as Tom's province, so when Simon asked me, I said he would have to ask Mr. Tom. With a sweet, puzzled look he said—Mr. Tom says to ask you and you say to ask him. I didn't have the heart to tell him that `Well, yes, that is just how we do things in the church.'

 

Isn't that sometimes just how it feels as we do indeed seek after God. Or in these great phrases from Ephesians that we enter into the mystery of Christ that we might be strengthened in our inner life. The particular mystery Paul is talking about is how the love of God, given in his theology first to the Jews, has now flowed out into all the peoples of the earth—so that there is finally no distinction. All are one in Christ Jesus our Lord—slave and free, Jew and Gentile, male and female. What are revolution—not only are the dividing walls of hostility broken down but the coming culture of radical equality in the Kingdom is proclaimed and embodied.

 

So this is part of the mystery of Christ. When Paul writes about the mystery of Christ he is not using the word mystery the way we commonly do.

 

Summertime—Jersey shore or our backyards or porches and people are reading murder mysteries by the millions. Something happens—through a variety of steamy and clever adventures the hero or heroine will assuredly figure it all out. In the end, problem solved. Case closed.

 

But this mystery of Christ is far different. Indeed, we are seeking after God—Christ, by the power of the spirit is rooting us in love and giving us power to understand that we may be filled. This mystery is to be embraced—it is not a problem to be solved.

 

Years ago there was a book about transactional analysis called Born to Win. The cover photo showed a little girl at the ocean with the waves washing over her feet and her arms outstretched like she was welcoming the ocean and all of life into her soul. Somehow that photo speaks to the power of embracing, welcoming and accepting the mystery of God in Christ flowing over us and around us and through us.

 

So again how do we embrace this mystery? How do we seek after God—knowing that this God is not a problem to be solved—but a transforming reality to be embraced?

 

One of the ways is traveling. Jesus feeds the 5000—withdraws to the mountain and then comes down to the Galilean Sea. The story says that in the night the disciples are crossing the sea when the wind comes up. Jesus miraculously comes to them. The Scripture often tells of journeys and encounters with the Holy.

 

We travel partly to see ourselves and to see others and to see the world with new eyes.

 

`Every journey has a purpose that the traveler is not aware of'. Put another way, God is working around the fringes of our journeys. I was born in the Latham Sanitarium in California Missouri in 1945. My father and 36 year old brother are buried there. We stopped there on the way to see my mother 3 weeks ago. While traveling I had a dream. (The Scripture says that one way we can seek God is to listen to our dreams and that at least some of them speak to us about the deep things of our spiritual journey.)

 

In this dream I am visiting a beloved professor. It is like he is retiring and this is the end of the school year. He is packing up books. I noticed one book which is about the theologian Paul Tillich and the noble prize winning author Albert Camus. I say how much they have stirred my soul, especially when I was young. He concurs. I am a Jungian Christian—I believe in the God of the soul, in the self not in the God who supposedly controls history, directing how nations shall rise and fall.

 

Another female faculty member asks me what I will do after graduation. At first I say I don't know then I realize that I want to go back to Mississippi and to live in a community where we were inspired by Fannie Lou Hamer and worked together sacrificially for justice and sang and lived together. Immediately, I feel overwhelmed by emotion, leave and walk down the stairs near tears.

 

How do we seek God? Tillich and Camus and Borg and Lamott and Mary Oliver and Wordsworth and Nouwen.

 

How do we seek God? Do justice—at least give it a shot. Equal Exchange. FISH. Casa Ezperanza, ASP. Erin, JPKang, Mike and Deanna Womack.

 

How do we seek God? We remember the saints, the old professors who taught us and touched us, who helped us embrace the mystery.

 

How do we seek God? We come into the sanctuary wanting to make music and we don't take no for an answer.

 

We do justice, love mercy and walk humbly—turn our face to the rising sun and sing joyously.

 

 

Saints, Heroes, Role Models

I remember Charles Barkley saying emphatically star athletes are not role models. They are athletes and that only. He insisted that kids should look to their parents for role models.

With young people in confirmation class, I would ask for names of movies they had seen about the lives of real people. Usually, it was a very short list. Some had seen Gandhi. Several had seen movies in school about Martin Luther King. Most had seen a Jesus movie in church. But that was usually about it.

Last weekend,my wife and I attended the ordination to the priesthood of the son of long time friends. One of the aspects of the service of ordination and the mass the following day that struck me were the prayers for the saints. Those prayers began with the apostles and ranged through 10 or 12 names of the martyrs of the 1st and second century. We did hear the name of St.Francis and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. Sisters of her order were in attendance. But no other names from the present except the Pope and the Archbishop.

We all ponder this question of who are the saints, the heroes, the people who offer us spiritual inspiration.

Who are those people for us?

Clearly, that list cannot end with Christians martyred for their faith 1900 years ago. How do we as parents, as people, as church folk share with others those real life people who have been an inspiration to us? How do we remember and honor those whose lives inspire and challenge and bless us and who are clearly part of that mighty cloud of witnesses who surround and support us.

Giving Money Away

On a recent trip to Nicaragua, I met a professor who is active in a progressive Catholic parish in Philadelphia. He said that the priests of the church urged people to tithe by giving 5% of their income to the church and 5% to other causes. That is great and probably alot of us church types try to do that or something like that. If we belong to a Church, we know how to give to the church.

But how do we learn to give away that other 5% with efficiency and effectiveness and joy?

I guess I am feeling the need for a workshop or class or discussion on Giving Money Away. How do we find the right partners--especially as we look internationally? What kinds of accountability can we expect? If we are major donors, how do we use our influence in ways that are helpful and not paternalistic?

In the Chronicle of Philanthropy years ago, I read an article that argued persuasively that the reason more money wasn't donated was that there was a shortage of people who were fundraisers, who were actively seeking to create that flow of money from those who have(and often know that they have too much) and those who are in need.

Now, we don't just want to give to beggars, whether in the form of little kids on the street or organizations, that just appeal to our sympathies. I am amazed at today's Star Ledger which includes at least five ads pleading for people to donate their old car or boat and always to help children. These organizations almost always have obscure names and addresses, but a tax ID number. Smiling children draw the reader in. But they feel like quasi scams or at the very least organizations that spend an enormous amount of money on advertising.

So we know some of the kinds of organizations that we don't want to support. But we need to find those that are very powerful, cost effective and that call forth our soul's joy as well as our checkbook's power. How do we do that? Do you all know any helpful resources?

Gracias

Coming back from Nicaragua for perhaps the 15th time, I feel that painful and poignant mixture of hope and despair. Some of the kids that we visited at Inhijambia will die--of drugs or AIDS or despair or violence. Doesn't it make you angry that we human beings are both so cruel and so selfish. and yet there are these incredible, really mind blowing beacons of hope shining out into the storms of despair and death. and sometimes, even we aer those beacons. My wife, Gail, was a guidance counselor and guidance director for many years. She had innumerable families and students tell her `we couldn't have made it without you.' We each really need to celebrate those places where our work helps change people's lives for the better.
at the same time, certainly we have deep admiration for those who work in environments that are so difficult, we cannot imagine how they do it.

So every time I visit Inhijambia in Managua, I am deeply humbled by the courage, tolerance for pain,energy, hope that flows from the staff but also flows from the children, one to another. they sang a song called Casa Abierta. I will seek out the words.

What will it take for us to prepare our souls and minds to really address the global crisis of poverty and death? That crisis is personal and political--it is about the greed of many of us westerners, but also of wealthy Nicaraguans. It is about political structures that enrich a few rather than serve everyone. The global economy impacts Nica with great power. And culture--how can people work together across different cultural divides in order to build the earth rather than destroy it.One of the more depressing sights in Nica was to see the long lines all the time at Western Union. How are we going to live better in Nica--send one of the kids to America or Costa Rica and have him/her send money home. Ok--partly hopeful, but also sad. Cant we build a world where there are decent jobs in Nicaragua.

I am back to being committed to blogging five times a week, basically Monday to Friday. I appreciate your feedback.

No Gracias

Years ago, my wife and I visited Acapulco. We wandered the town. Saw the cliff divers. I tried para sailing, but when your eyes are really bad and you have to give up your glasses you can't see much. Mostly though, we relaxed on the beach. The beach was beautiful but the children selling trinkets, jewelry and shells just came at us in waves.

No, gracias. No, gracias. Over and over again we would say no, gracias, trying hard not to look them in the eyes.

I once asked a Dominican Republic pastor how he dealt with beggars as we walked through a congested market in Santo Domingo. He said he never gave to children as that encouraged them to be beggars. But since there was really no adequate provision for handicapped people or old people he would give to them. That seems to be a good guideline.

I have never had my shoes polished at a shoe stand in the US. But when kids offer to polish them on the streets of Santo Domingo,or Guatemala City, I occassionally have said yes. How do you deal with those situations?

so the challenge of being able to comfortably say No gracias, but also not having a greedy and hardened heart is upon us. when Christians travel on mission trips, they probably should contribute at least as much money to the cause of the organization that is hosting them as they spend on themselves.

we need to find our voice that enables us to say No gracias comfortably so that we can also say--Gracias, gracias for everything.

Nosotros Venceremos

I organized a group of 15 people that visited Nicaragua recently. We included friends from the church I currently serve as the interim pastor and 7 people from Drexel University. Only 3 of us had ever visited Nicaragua before. In part, we were tourists and so off to the Masaya Volcano and the Laguna de Apoyo and the markets and restaurants we went. But more importantly we were working with partners and searching for new reliable organizations where we could share goals and resources. So we visited cooperatives, schools, a cancer treatment center and a factory that builds concrete, prefabbed houses. We helped build one such small house one morning.

For ten years I have worked with a friend in Nica, who created and operates a center called Inhijambia, that works to save the children who are the throwaways of the society. About 4000 children live on the streets of Managua including 400 who live in the sprawling Oriental Market. Inhijambia works to get these children food, health care, hope and healing. Virtually all are addicted to glue. They have been physically and sexually abused. They are continuing testimony to the sin that abides in us and the evil spirits that throb through our cultures.

From a half dozen previous visits, I knew the children would sing for us. The boys song was particularly moving as they stood with their arms draped around each other shoulders. Two young homeless boys probably about 6 or 7 years old had entertained with dancing.

I had decided that we should offer a song for them. We will sing We shall overcome in English and then in Spanish. I asked our group--have you ever sung it in Spanish. Almost no one had. Three college students hadn't sung it in English.

But we remember vaguely Tiannemen Square on the 20th anniversary of the student democracy uprising. The Chinese sang We shall Overcome. We rejoice in the freedom won by the countries of the former Soviet block. The Poles and Hungarians sang We shall Overcome. What is it with us that we have stopped singing it and other songs of hope and struggle and solidarity. And that we haven't learned to sing it in Spanish along with De Colores and Gritare and other songs. Hearing Pete Seeger sing We shall Overcome before the inauguration should have been enough to stir up our singing souls--so that we can be strong and joyous in the battles for the lives of the precious children of God who live in the streets of Managua

Some Scriptures on Sexuality

 

Some Scriptures on Sex.

 

I remember in the early seventies hearing about this wild and wonderful chaplain at Vassar College who had decided that the church had for too long not addressed one of life's most basic issues, namely human sexuality. So he boldly titled his sermon—It's Fun, Funny and Faithful. He was fired—just took a couple of weeks.

 

Bob was a middle aged man in my previous church who suffered severely from muscular dystrophy and had had over 20 operations as a child and adult in order to just be able to walk laboriously with crutches. He had very limited eyesight. One Sunday morning he was struggling up the seven steps to get into the Parish Hall. I said Good morning Bob. He replies Good morning Rev. Brooks—may the peace of Christ be with you today. He paused and then added—you are really going to need it. Wow—what did he know that I didn't know? Then with a smile I decided that Bob was right on about that day, that Sunday and in fact about everyday.

 

So in this spirit let us hear some of the Scriptures that speak to some of the issues of human sexuality. This sermon is mostly Scriptures—with a bite of commentary by the preacher—may the peace of Christ be with him, he is really going to need it.

 

I Corinthians 6.19-7.8. Paul speaks this powerful word to us that it is good to be single. Paul is single, celibate. Jesus is single. Mary Madgalene. There is holiness, a glory about living and standing before God as a single person. The Message translation says so beautifully God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.

 

And Paul proclaims sexual equality in marriage. Bring your mind back into the world of first century Roman Empire. In that context then, we hear Paul proclaim one more step in the Christian revolution.

 

John 8.1-11. When we hear this story, our inquiring minds are immediate fascinated by one question. Where's the dude—takes two to tango. So where is the guy? But we understand that the scribes and Pharisees have no real concern for this woman or the adulterous man, they are trying to trap Jesus. They are trying to squeeze Jesus between the rock of the law and the hard place of love and forgiveness. Jesus condemns there self righteousness—and ours.

 

And Jesus is both forgiving and firm. You have sinned. Go—repent—change—sin no more.

 

Matt.5.27-28 Famously, Jimmy Carter was asked by a reporter about this verse and whether he had ever lusted after someone other than his wife. Jimmy Carter took his religion seriously and told his truth by saying yes. Yes, he said, I have found other women very attractive and have always kept my marriage vows. Some people said O my God how he could say that. I say Thank God he had the honesty and courage to say that.

 

Song of Songs—To their surprise , the choir was asked to sing and has blessed us with an anthem from the Song. These loves poems are sometimes attributed to Solomon. Remember a little about Solomon. Wise—built the temple—rather heavy into slave labor—rich. The children were studying Solomon in Sunday school and a mom asked her son what they learned that day. Mom it's amazing—Solomon owned hundreds of porcupines.

 

Listen to parts of the Song of Songs. We hear powerfully the voice of a woman, a man and a chorus. We hear words of love and longing—we understand that the author celebrates the communion between human love and divine love. In the Song of Songs, they walk hand in hand.

 

2 Samuel 11.1-5 David the anointed one, the king, the great military hero is not in the field with the army. He is smitten by Bathsheba—is it lust, is it love, is it boredom, is it all of the above. We don't know but he has power and uses it to command Bathsheba to come to him and his bed. We cannot hear Bathsheba's voice in the story—did she come willingly or reluctantly. Was she terrified? The story tells us of power being used to control and abuse another person. David and Bathsheba do seem to grow into love for one another.

 

Ruth 3.1-10 Ruth remember is a foreigner, a woman of Moab, a refugee. She has returned to Israel with her mother in law, Naomi. Ruth has been gleaning the fields of Boaz, a well to do relative of Naomi. Boaz noticed Ruth and was kind to her. And Naomi says, Here is how you can seduce him. Go and lie down beside him at night and then say Marry me. Does is amuse you that Ruth has a blessed place in this sanctuary. Remember too—she is the great grandmother of David—and is one of only four women who are mentioned in Matthews's genealogy of Jesus. So Matthew thought she was a wild, wonderful woman of God.

 

Gen.17.9-11 Well, what can we say in response to this text. There is only one word—OUCH.

What does to mean to the world when you move from circumcision to baptism as the rite of initiation into your religious tradition. Revolution. Revolution.

 

Gen 1.27-28 the first creation story celebrates the mystery of us being created male and female, equally reflecting the image of God. We hear the command to be fruitful, to have children—and how good all of creation is.

 

Gen 2.24-25 This text is from the second creation story. Eve created from Adam says the text and therefore their coming back—cleaving to each other—is returning to a primal unity.

Blake, Ghostbusters and the Will of God

THY WILL BE DONE

 

2Kings 2:1-12

Mark 9:2-9

 

 

To share the mystery and power of Elijah's life the author of 2^nd Kings brings us into a world of legend and miracle. Elijah is going to be taken up into heaven, without dying. Elijah knows his earthly life is ending and says repeatedly and plaintively to Elisha—Tarry here, I pray you. Watch with me—stay by my side. The end—well a new beginning is so near. Then Elijah takes his cloak and strikes the waters of the river Jordan, dividing the waters just like Moses divided the red sea and like God at creation had separated the waters from the waters.

 

Then the heavens opened and a chariot of fire separated Elijah and Elisha and in a whirlwind of the Spirit, Elijah, says the text, is taken up into heaven.

 

Then the mantle of Elijah falls upon Elisha and he strikes the water—it divides. The sons of the prophets shout out—the spirit of Elijah, the spirit of the Lord has fallen upon Elisha.

 

William Blake was an artist, printer, writer and poet. As a child he came home and told his parents that he had seen a vision of angels in a tree. His father beat him for lying. Blake kept on seeing and hearing and sharing. He wrote a poet titled Jerusalem.

 

Bring me my Bow of Burning Gold

Bring me my arrows of Desire

Bring me my spear: O Clouds unfold

Bring me my Chariot of Fire

 

I will not cease from mental fight

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England's green and pleasant land.

 

This movement from vision to action is the same movement we experience as we go from transfiguration down off the mountain to confronting the problems of everyday. First though let us live into the transfiguration.

 

While Moses speaks to us of the law and the covenant, Elijah evokes the mystery and power of the Spirit. Their aura, their spiritually presence will surround Jesus in the vision of the transfiguration. They are blessing him and communing with him, confirming his identity as the Messiah, the beloved Son, the Christ of God—and perhaps too comforting him as he enters ever deeper into the wilderness of God.

 

Jesus ahs brought his closest disciples up the holy mountain. We enter this imaginal world in which a mountain brings someone closer to God. As Peter and James and John watch and wonder Jesus' form changes—he is transfigured, transformed. Pushing through his fear Peter offers to make temporary shelters for Jesus, Elijah and Moses. Here again fear walks with revelation. The Book of Hebrews says `it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' To love God is good, to fear God is better, to love God while fearing God is best of all. These moments of revelation in our lives are awesome, and awe inspiring and in some ways terrifying. It is looking into the depths of the Grand Canyon or watching millions of gallons of water come over Niagara Falls or just feeling the total glory, mystery and fleeting nature of life.

 

Into these moments of fear and fascination, comes this voice of God saying Beloved Son—this is my beloved son. So the question comes to us—have we heard the voice, experienced the power, sought and fuond the revelation that tells us that Jesus of Nazareth is Beloved Son—human face of God—window opening into the Divine—the door to eternity. We stammer back, Well, yes I think so. I believe someday with great faith and fervor and some days with a little fuzziness and frustration, but yes Lord I believe, help my unbelief.

 

Now we had experienced with the disciples this vision of transfiguration and the voice of proclamation. We have been to the mountaintop. Now we must come back down the mountain. Back to our village, back to work, back to the crowds with their questions and need for healing and hope and their battles with demons.

 

As I was thinking about this process of coming back from the mountaintop, a song kept going through my head.

 

For sure, there is something very strange in the neighborhoods in which we live. Remember in Ghostbusters, the guy who just comes into their office that converted fire house. The guy just needs a job and Bill Murray, Dr.Venckman, hands him a ray gun or something and says welcome to our world where we catch ghosts and ghouls and demons and devils. I am sure he thought something like `This is outrageous, you guys must be nuts, wackos, weirdos, psychos.'

 

Wait a minute though. You know something of the challenge and charge that God in Christ lays upon us as we come down the mountain, back home, back to work. Love God, neighbor, self. Love your enemies. Heal the sick. Cast out the demons. Battle the principalities and powers. Trust and believe with all your heart that I am with you to the end of the age. Return no one evil for evil. Good news to the poor—recovery of sight to the blind—release to the captives. Do the will of God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We pray every Sunday thy will be done. O god, I want to see a world where you will becomes our way. And God says, Son, you do your will. Take care of business.

Especially those of your with little children, get guardians. Name em and talk to em. Take care of those precious little ones. And all of you, be generous with your accumulated resources. Find ways to live out the Gospel even after your earthly life. And of course you want to do the best you can controlling the end of your life—write those advanced directives and name your medical power of attorney. Don't just pray to me—do your part. We need each other—we work together—we are partners.

 

Don't just love in word alone but in deed and in truth—and that means do your will with faith and foresight, with grace and generosity. There is this glory in bosom of the Lord that transfigures you and me and gives us the call and the courage to march on into eternity singing and living Glory Glory Hallejuhah.

 

Brooks Smith

 

 

 

 

Spirit Crisis and Healing

SUFFERING AND SCIENCE

 

Isa. 40.21-31

Mark 1.29-39

 

 

 

Sometimes the Scripture bore us, sometimes it confuses us, and sometimes we are amused or inspired. Sometimes, we feel God speaking right to our hearts and lives. This text from Isaiah really connects to my reality. When I was about 11 years old, my mother took me and my brothers ages 8 and 7 to get our polio vaccines. My brothers were whimpering about how scared they were. I said—be brave. It won't be that bad. I'll show you. I'll go first. The doctor gives the shot—and I pass out and collapse on the floor.

 

Giving blood in college I fainted once before I gave and then once after. So when the text speaks about God giving power to the faint, I say Hallelujah—thank you Jesus for coming to my rescue—for reviving me and calling me back to life and consciousness.

 

This text from Isaiah resonates with the story of the healing of Peter's mother in law. Peter's mother in law is healed of her fever when Jesus takes her by the hand and lifts her up. Precious Lord, take my hand. Jesus, call me by name. I want you to know who I am—I want you to call me, and hold me and lift me up that I might be made whole. At the close of the worship service, one of the Caring ministers and Linda and I will stand at the communion table. If you would like to be prayed for by name, come forward. Perhaps you would like prayers for a loved one or for ice storm victims in Kentucky or homeless people in Gaza. We will ask you what you like to have prayed for today and then Linda or I will offer a prayer for you and for the burden of your heart. If you would like to be anointed with oil, that ancient symbol of blessing, then approach the caring minister and indicate whether you prefer to be anointed on the forehead or on your palm. We bless on another with our prayers, our love, our claiming the gifts of God's healing power coming into us.

 

Let us pray.

 

Dick McKenna was an extraordinary biology teacher at North Plainfield High School. He was scheduled to have spinal surgery that involved fusing several vertebrae. Fairly dicey stuff. When I visited him in the hospital, we began talking about evolution. He said that he knew teaching evolution was contrary to the Scriptures, but he believed in evolution and felt called to teach it. I felt blessed by the opportunity to talk about the Scriptures and the two creation stories and the way the first told an amazingly accurate story of the creation of the earth out of the watery chaos, the emergence of life and the eventual emergence of the human being. We then talked about how the second creation story was in fact the story of the birth of moral consciousness, the knowledge of good and evil.

 

 

 

Yes, evil, the power of the demons was real as it is real in the story of Jesus casting out those demons. But clearly thanks be to God for the birth of moral consciousness and therefore, of course, to Eve as the mother of moral consciousness—at least according to the Scripture.

 

My friend Dick had never heard of Teilhard de Chardin, the paleontologist /mystic theologian who embraced fully the mystery of the earth, who believe in the truth of rocks and all that rocks revealed and who believed in and experienced Christ present in the evolving universe. Teilhard wrote `If as a result of some interior revolution, I were successfully to lose my faith in Christ, my faith in a personal God, my faith in the Spirit, I think that I would still continue too believe in the world.' Teilhard died in the mid fifties. Thomas Berry one of his interpreters and the author of Dream of the Earth said in the spirit of Teilhard, `The earth is the only thing we know for sure.'

 

Being a scientist, a biologist like my friend Dick McKenna, doesn't mean that one is automatically religious or irreligious. Certainly, in Isaiah's image we can look into the heavens stretched out and for those with eyes of faith we can see the mystery of God. At the same time, as we study the universe with our mind and we learn from the universe, we know those learnings shape our understanding of faith, of our sense of what God is doing in the universe. Teilhard said that evolution is so true and so glorious that it is the arc to which all our thought must conform. As a scientist he rejoiced in the truths that the rocks spoke—as a Christian, he rejoiced in the truth spoken by and through the Rock of Ages.

 

When I was in the last year of high school, I decided that I was no longer comfortable calling myself a Christian, based on my understanding of the Christian story. At the time I rebelled intellectually against Christianity for two reasons--Suffering and Science. There was no explanation as to why a loving all powerful God would allow such suffering in the world, so God must not exist I thought. And like Dick McKenna and many in our culture I had come to believe that one had to choose between religion and science, between creation in 4004BC and evolution.

 

In Copenhagen, Gail and I visited an incredible church built I think in the late 18^th century. The church proper was on the bottom floor. The inclined walkway led to a second floor that housed a library. The third floor was an observatory.

 

At the General Assembly last June, I was standing in line to buy breakfast and wandered into conversation with a delegate who was a professor emeritus of physics from Stanford. After a little chatter about upcoming GA business, we started in on religion and science. Born in Switzerland, a life long church goer, he was currently involved in a research project to discover what happened to the anti-matter that is present somewhere in the universe. With my 45 year old memories of high school physics class fading a little bit, I listened intently and humbly. He explained how the universe contained as much anti matter as matter. Ok—whatever you say. And I thought—by God I am proud to be a Presbyterian. One of our national organizations passionately explores issues of Faith, Science and Technology.

 

Science challenges theology—and too theology challenges and informs, but hopefully does not distort science. There is the possibility of a blessed partnership. Again, Teilhard blesses us.

 

"Throughout my life, through my life, the world has little by little caught fire in my sight until, aflame all around me, it has become almost completely luminous from within…Such has been my experience in contact with the earth—the diaphany of the divine at the heart of the universe on fire…Christ: His heart: a fire: capable of penetrating everywhere and gradually spreading everywhere."

Sufferingandscience

SUFFERING AND SCIENCE

 

Isa. 40.21-31

Mark 1.29-39

 

 

 

Sometimes the Scripture bore us, sometimes it confuses us, and sometimes we are amused or inspired. Sometimes, we feel God speaking right to our hearts and lives. This text from Isaiah really connects to my reality. When I was about 11 years old, my mother took me and my brothers ages 8 and 7 to get our polio vaccines. My brothers were whimpering about how scared they were. I said—be brave. It won't be that bad. I'll show you. I'll go first. The doctor gives the shot—and I pass out and collapse on the floor.

 

Giving blood in college I feinted once before I gave and then once after. So when the text speaks about God giving power to the feint, I say Hallelujah—thank you Jesus for coming to my rescue—for reviving me and calling me back to life and consciousness.

 

This text from Isaiah resonates with the story of the healing of Peter's mother in law. Peter's mother in law is healed of her fever when Jesus takes her by the hand and lifts her up. Precious Lord, take my hand. Jesus, call me by name. I want you to know who I am—I want you to call me, and hold me and lift me up that I might be made whole. At the close of the worship service, one of the Caring ministers and Linda and I will stand at the communion table. If you would like to be prayed for by name, come forward. Perhaps you would like prayers for a loved one or for ice storm victims in Kentucky or homeless people in Gaza. We will ask you what you like to have prayed for today and then Linda or I will offer a prayer for you and for the burden of your heart. If you would like to be anointed with oil, that ancient symbol of blessing, then approach the caring minister and indicate whether you prefer to be anointed on the forehead or on your palm. We bless on another with our prayers, our love, our claiming the gifts of God's healing power coming into us.

 

Let us pray.

 

Dick McKenna was an extraordinary biology teacher at North Plainfield High School. He was scheduled to have spinal surgery that involved fusing several vertebrae. Fairly dicey stuff. When I visited him in the hospital, we began talking about evolution. He said that he knew teaching evolution was contrary to the Scriptures, but he believed in evolution and felt called to teach it. I felt blessed by the opportunity to talk about the Scriptures and the two creation stories and the way the first told an amazingly accurate story of the creation of the earth out of the watery chaos, the emergence of life and the eventual emergence of the human being. We then talked about how the second creation story was in fact the story of the birth of moral consciousness, the knowledge of good and evil.

 

 

 

Yes, evil, the power of the demons was real as it is real in the story of Jesus casting out those demons. But clearly thanks be to God for the birth of moral consciousness and therefore, of course, to Eve as the mother of moral consciousness—at least according to the Scripture.

 

My friend Dick had never heard of Teilhard de Chardin, the paleontologist /mystic theologian who embraced fully the mystery of the earth, who believe in the truth of rocks and all that rocks revealed and who believed in and experienced Christ present in the evolving universe. Teilhard wrote `If as a result of some interior revolution, I were successfully to lose my faith in Christ, my faith in a personal God, my faith in the Spirit, I think that I would still continue too believe in the world.' Teilhard died in the mid fifties. Thomas Berry one of his interpreters and the author of Dream of the Earth said in the spirit of Teilhard, `The earth is the only thing we know for sure.'

 

Being a scientist, a biologist like my friend Dick McKenna, doesn't mean that one is automatically religious or irreligious. Certainly, in Isaiah's image we can look into the heavens stretched out and for those with eyes of faith we can see the mystery of God. At the same time, as we study the universe with our mind and we learn from the universe, we know those learnings shape our understanding of faith, of our sense of what God is doing in the universe. Teilhard said that evolution is so true and so glorious that it is the arc to which all our thought must conform. As a scientist he rejoiced in the truths that the rocks spoke—as a Christian, he rejoiced in the truth spoken by and through the Rock of Ages.

 

When I was in the last year of high school, I decided that I was no longer comfortable calling myself a Christian, based on my understanding of the Christian story. At the time I rebelled intellectually against Christianity for two reasons--Suffering and Science. There was no explanation as to why a loving all powerful God would allow such suffering in the world, so God must not exist I thought. And like Dick McKenna and many in our culture I had come to believe that one had to choose between religion and science, between creation in 4004BC and evolution.

 

In Copenhagen, Gail and I visited an incredible church built I think in the late 18^th century. The church proper was on the bottom floor. The inclined walkway led to a second floor that housed a library. The third floor was an observatory.

 

At the General Assembly last June, I was standing in line to buy breakfast and wandered into conversation with a delegate who was a professor emeritus of physics from Stanford. After a little chatter about upcoming GA business, we started in on religion and science. Born in Switzerland, a life long church goer, he was currently involved in a research project to discover what happened to the anti-matter that is present somewhere in the universe. With my 45 year old memories of high school physics class fading a little bit, I listened intently and humbly. He explained how the universe contained as much anti matter as matter. Ok—whatever you say. And I thought—by God I am proud to be a Presbyterian. One of our national organizations passionately explores issues of Faith, Science and Technology.

 

Science challenges theology—and too theology challenges and informs, but hopefully does not distort science. There is the possibility of a blessed partnership. Again, Teilhard blesses us.

 

"Throughout my life, through my life, the world has little by little caught fire in my sight until, aflame all around me, it has become almost completely luminous from within…Such has been my experience in contact with the earth—the diaphany of the divine at the heart of the universe on fire…Christ: His heart: a fire: capable of penetrating everywhere and gradually spreading everywhere."