The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God.

Have you ever been so lost that you didn’t know what to do next?  I had a moment like that.  As some of you know, I can be worse than the most stereotypical absent-minded professor when it comes to practical matters.  So I was very proud this summer in Vancouver when I figured out how to take a bus from University of British Columbia where I was taking a course, to the science museum.  I was supposed to meet Tim, who had taken the sky train, to the science museum, for a 2 o’clock show.  And for once in my life, I made it without any problem, arriving around 1:30. Half an hour early!  Woo hoo!  So not like me, right?

Got in, paid admission including the 2 pm show, but that’s when things went sideways.  I texted Tim, saying "I’m here, where are you?"  He quickly replied, "right by the phone booth in the lobby."  "What phone booth", I shot back.  Turns out there’s two science museums in Vancouver, the Telus World of Science next door to the old Expo site on False Creek, and the H. R. MacMillan Space Museum near Grandville Island.  And you guessed it, I was at the wrong one.  Drat!

Well, more than just a drat, actually.  It would take more than the now 20 minutes I had to get downtown and figure out which train to catch, and would miss the 2:00 show no matter what I tried, short of taking a taxi.  So, feeling quite sorry for myself, I went up to the planetarium, and sat down grumpily to watch the 2pm show. 

There’s nothing quite like a tour of our solar system to put one’s problems in perspective, and to come away with a renewed amazement at the beauty and complexity of our Milky Way Galaxy.  We soared over Mars, dove in and out of the rings of Venus and Saturn, looked at the shrinking Red Spot on Jupiter and toured some of the closer constellations in the summer sky.  Wow. 

By the time the show was over, I felt a lot calmer and was able to find my way to the train station, Tim, and even back home where we were staying for the week.  It’s truly breath-taking and still as mysterious as when the folks writing the Psalms and the Book of Job looked up at the sky and saw the Hand of God at work in the music of the spheres, as they called it then.

Planetariums have come a long way since I was a kid.  They could only project stars on the roof of a big domed ceiling and a guide would point out different constellations with a flashlight.  Now with computers and a touch of a button we can be zooming through a colorful kaleidoscope of breath-taking images from the Hubble Telescope.  Our knowledge of space has grown and our computers too.  50 years ago it took computers the size of this church to land people on the moon.  Now we have the same computing power as that room in a device small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

50 years ago today, the first astronauts to land on the moon finally came out of quarantine and could safely reconnect with their families and friends back home.  Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins returned to earth as heroes.  Nasa had managed to do the impossible, send humans into space and back again.  They did it with careful planning, by being prepared for as many different scenarios, and by testing their equipment over and over.  But they also managed to do it with faith. 

Not too many people know that the first food eaten on the moon was bread and wine.  Before Neil Armstrong left the Eagle for his famous walk, Buzz Aldrin opened his tiny box of private items that each astronaut was allowed and pulled out a glass much like this one, a bit of bread and a little vial of wine.  He read from a tiny piece of paper, “I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing.”  Then he ate the bread and drank the wine, making Communion the first meal to be eaten on the moon.  The cup is kept in a special case in a Presbyterian Church in Houston Texas that likes to call itself ‘The Church of Astronauts’.  Every July, they celebrate communion on the Sunday closest to July 20^th just like they did in 1969 with Buzz Aldrin.

How often do we hear that science and faith are incompatible?  How often do we hear of Christians scoffing at scientists or scientists writing books about how delusional it is to believe in God?  There seems to be in most people’s minds a sense that we have to choose one or the other.  I’ve even heard stories of Christians telling children not to waste their time on science because it’s not true.

Yet so many people find no such dichotomy.  Dr. Donna Strickland won the Nobel Prize in Physics this year and was featured in Broadview Magazine as a faithful member of a United Church in Waterloo.  She’s not alone.

Here’s a quick quiz for you: Who said this, a scientist, a theologian or a philosopher?

“The question of whether there exists a Creator and Ruler of the Universe has been answered in the affirmative by some of the highest intellects that have ever existed.”

–Charles Darwin, the founder of evolutionary biology

“It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion.”

“People take it for granted that the physical world is both ordered and intelligible... However, even the most atheistic scientist accepts as an act of faith that the universe is not absurd, that there is a rational basis to physical existence manifested as law-like order in nature that is at least partly comprehensible to us. So science can proceed only if the scientist adopts an essentially theological worldview.”  –Physicist Paul Davies

“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” Sir Isaac Newton

“I believe that the more thoroughly science is studied, the further does it take us from anything comparable to atheism.”  “If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God.”

—Lord William Kelvin, who worked on thermodynamics, the concept of absolute zero and the Kelvin temperature scale.

And last but not least, “The more I study science, the more I believe in God.” by none other than Albert Einstein himself.

These are just a few of the top physicists and scientists who have concluded that there is more to our existence than happenstance or coincidence.  That this big beautiful planet we live on with just the right balance of water and carbon, heat and cold, liquid and solid, spin and tilt is no accident, and that the psalmists were scientists when they said,

When I look to the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their places, what are we mortals that you should be mindful of us, mere human beings that you should care for us?  You have made us little less than divine, and crowned us with glory and honour.       You have made us rulers over all your creation, and put all things under our feet.

May we learn to be as faithful as scientists and live with respect and gratitude in this beautiful universe that God has created.

Could it be Magic?

Have you ever watched a really good magician do his tricks?  David Copperfield is coming to town and he’s got posters up and Facebook ads and television commercials and all kinds of tricks up his sleeve.  Maybe he’s got coverage on the local news station, and he’s got an amazing trick planned like making the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty disappear that he tells everyone about.  He razzle dazzles them, and folks flock to see him perform.  There’s going to be lights, there’s going to be fireworks, there will be sound effects and dramatic music, and from the moment you step into the room, he’s going to try to fool you into thinking that what he is doing is not what it seems.  Like a simple coin trick.  Anyone can make a coin disappear, right?  First, of course, you need a coin.  Anyone?  Then some clever patter, like I’m so Scottish, I can pinch a penny until it screams, or at least I used to be able to do that when Canada still had pennies.  Or I can stick a pin with a balloon and it won’t pop.  Something like that.  I can make this quarter disappear before your very eyes.  Don’t believe me?  Well, like all things around managing money, it takes practise and patience and sometimes things don’t go as planned, and coins can be slippery and hard to hold onto, but the next thing you know, well, where did it go? All of the sudden, the coin has disappeared, and if I were a really good magician, I could hide it right in your ear, and there it is.  It’s a great skill to be able to do something like a good magic trick at a party, and even a wedding party, make a little entertainment, have a few laughs, and leave them wanting more.

But if we treat the story of the Wedding at Cana like a magic story, well, Jesus is a terrible magician.  First of all, where was his publicist?  He hasn’t really had any advertising yet, he only has a few followers, and did you notice that John doesn’t even name Jesus’ mother?  She comes across as a bit of a nag, quite honestly, and it wasn’t a terribly polite response he gave her. 

If my son called me ‘woman’ when I was out with him at a family party, I’d be more than a little annoyed at his response.  Odd to say the least.  And really, why is his mother sticking her nose into other people’s business anyway?  Why should she care?  Is this one of his brothers getting married and she wants first-born to save younger brother from public embarrassment?  John never says.  He never names the bridegroom, he never says why Jessus is at the wedding in the first place, and there are a lot of loose ends that have many biblical scholars viewing this story with a healthy dose of skepticism, especially when this is the only version we have of the wedding at Cana.  Matthew, Mark and Luke have no record of anything like this.  John is a lousy story teller, but I think he is a marvelous theologian.

Going back to my first point of Jesus being a lousy magician, he’s got some pretty cool stage props, the big water jugs for doing ritual purification for religious practises and observances.  But they are all behind the scenes, so far from the action that even the head caterer doesn’t know where the wine came from.  The only ones who knew what happened were the servants, the Diaconos

When we hear the word servant, we should always pay close attention to that word.  Repeatedly in all four gospels, Jesus talked about being a new kind of leader, a servant leader.  Especially in the Gospel of John, there is no mention of a last supper.  There is, however, the last footwashing, when Jesus said that the one who would lead must be a servant to the others.  So it is a theological statement when John tells us that the only ones who knew what really had happened that day in Cana, were the servants.  Those who were serving.  Those who already put Jesus teaching about the last being first, the blessedness of the humble and lowly, to practise every day of their lives.  The disciples didn’t get it yet, even Jesus’ mother didn’t get it.

The servants were the only ones who knew what had turned that party from a potential shameful disaster of epic embarrassment into a marvelous celebration of hope for two people starting a new stage in their lives.  The servants knew who was responsible for saving the day, livening the event, cheering the folks and helping people forget for a moment the tough lives that they lived in an occupied country where they had little safety and predictability.  The servants knew, and they remembered that it wasn’t always the flashy, braggy person who loved to be in the spotlight that had made the event a happy success.  No, it was the quiet man in the back halls, hovering behind the kitchen that had made everyone go home with a smile on their faces and a spring in their step.

Just as this gathering can be inspired, filled with the spirit that takes ordinary food like bread and grape juice and makes it something that brings joy and healing to us all.  There are no fireworks, no disco balls and no puffs of smoke.  And yet, despite that, we experience something deeply real that enriches our lives and helps us remember that we are also called to servanthood, to community and to listening for Jesus, tiptoeing around and changing our lives in wondrous ways when we least expect it.  I think that’s a much better kind of magic , and thanks be to God that it is here every time we break bread and gather in Jesus name.