C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for January 21, 2007 I once got some good advice about preaching: Have an interesting beginning, a strong ending, and a very short space in between. So in light of my scratchy voice, which will only last for so long, I think I’ll stick with that advice today. Speaking of time, check this out: ( This is a Kenji Williams video on the human lifespan in the context of evolutionary history http://www.global-mindshift.org/memes/10000.swf ) Darwin, Guinness and Time Thanks to Charles Darwin, and thanks to the scientific re-calculation of the age of the universe, and due to the fact that we have been able to shift away from seeing life as a series of static, divinely ordained events, to a series of interconnected, fluid processes, we have the opportunity to do two things. They are both profoundly spiritual acts. The first is that we are able to gaze at the wonder of the enormity of the symphony of which we are a part. We can gaze at the wonder of it all, the size of it all, and the longevity of it all, and our very small place in that. The second thing is that we can grab our 1/10,000th of a second and make it count. That is long enough to do the only thing that we have to do, and that is, wake up. After we have awakened, 1/10,000th of a second is long enough to do what we need to do to be part of the evolutionary flow of history. That’s a pretty intense way to begin, isn’t it? So, let’s have some fun. Here is another way to appreciate evolution: Isn’t that cool? Guinness is my favorite beer. I think we should stop and honor Guinness as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the 19th century paleontologist’s “omega point”, the point to which all of history is leading. Guinness! This morning we are beginning a three-week series on science and religion. We are going to discuss how the two interact, and the difficulty that they have had interacting over the centuries, as well as the opportunity that we as progressives have to integrate the best of both science and religion. A scientist and a theologian are sitting on an airplane, and strike up a conversation. Inevitably, the conversation turns to what they each do for a living. The theologian says, “I teach ethics in a seminary.” The scientist says, “Well, that must be very simple. After all, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ really captures it all, doesn’t it?” Then the scientist says, “I’m an astronomer.” And the theologian exclaims with tongue firmly in cheek, “That must be very simple. After all, ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ is really all there is to it.” They carry on the conversation, and the simplistic understanding that each has of the others’ work is part of the problem that we have faced over the years. There seem to be four ways that people understand the relationship between science and religion: Conflict, independence, dialogue, and integration. Science and Religion in Conflict First is conflict. Science and religion have been in conflict for centuries. It’s no wonder, because science has always said, “If I can’t count it, or measure it, or see it, or touch it, then it doesn’t exist, or is not significant.” Religion, meanwhile, has said, “If you mess with our beliefs, doctrines, or dogma, we’ll kill you.” Exhibit A- Galileo. It doesn’t matter if you are proved correct down the line or not, we will kill you just to be on the safe side. You see, control over the beliefs of people is what we do, the church has said;. So you can understand the conflict. I’m glad to say that we don’t kill scientists anymore in the church, but we still shun some of their discoveries. However when you stop and think about it, the only thing that science is in conflict with is religious literalism. Take creationism, for example. That is a conflict that is very hard to resolve. In the same way, the only thing that religion is in conflict with science about is scientific literalism, or science that refuses to dwell in possibility. Science has told us that the world most likely began with a big bang 14 billion years ago. Religion that dwells in possibility asks questions such as why it could not have happened in some other way, at some other time. Science tells us how the world operates. Religion that dwells in possibility asks the question- “why doesn’t the world operate another way?” These are questions that can’t be answered. But they are questions that are worth asking because they allow us to dwell in wonder and possibility. Science can benefit from such enquiry. Science and Religion- Keep ‘em apart The second way to understand science and religion is to keep them apart. Don’t ask them to mix at the same parties. Stephen J. Gould, Richard Dawkins and others would argue for this perspective, which says that science and religion are dealing in such different realms that we should just keep them apart, and not expect them to interact. This perspective would say that science deals with the perspectives of what and how, while religion deals with the questions of why, and ethics. Richard Dawkins would go to the extreme, saying that he would refuse to share a platform with a creationist, because they are not even at the same level of intellect. That is a fairly extreme and not very open perspective, isn’t it? But that is the perspective that many like Dawkins take- keep science and religion apart, and allow both of them to do their work, but do not mix them. Dawkins would go even further, as Sam Harris does, and seek converts out of religion in the hope that religion will cease to exist. The problem with this current anti religion trend, while it asks good and challenging questions of religion, is that it is only reacting to literalistic religion and is not allowing inclusive, non dogmatic, open ended, naturalistic religion to emerge. Even Harris and Dawkins would no doubt find much in common with this type of open religion. Science and Religion- Bring ‘em together The third perspective is dialogue. This perspective would hope to bring the two together, so one can inform the other. One can teach the other, and guide it to some new truth. An example of this would be religion bringing ethics to science, so that scientists can use the most ethical practices and procedures in their methods. On the other hand, science brings to religion this wonderful notion of evolution, which I would suggest is a deeply spiritual reality. It is a gift to religion, and not something to be feared. The fourth perspective is one that I want us to explore in the most depth, and that is to integrate the best of science and the best of religion, and allow them both to be a part of an evolving kosmic story. This is a story which goes back beyond many beginnings, and tells us the story of where we came from and how we got to this point, and points us forward to many endings, asking us to use our imagination to wonder about what life could be. Both religion and science can add input to the cosmic story. That’s an exciting journey. It’s an exciting story to tell. It is a story that was told in the book of Proverbs. I encourage you to read it, because this notion of wisdom in the book of Proverbs could also be described as the Divine Feminine. The book of Proverbs has borrowed a secular personification of God, and called it Wisdom. It is a notion from the ancient Near East, and is in contrast to the religious god of the Psalms, which is the creator, controller, the one who deals according to reward and punishment. Wisdom and the Kosmic Story In the book of Proverbs we have Wisdom, who dances in creation. Wisdom is both the co-creator of the universe and creation itself. Wisdom is spontaneity, and appropriate action, allowing life to organize itself. Wisdom is a wonderful quality, as described in the book of Proverbs. It is described in other parts of the Bible as being torah, or the law. Wisdom is the law that is written on our hearts. It is the law that is lived in appropriate ways, from moment to moment, in each 1/10,000th of a second. Wisdom is appropriate action, which allows life to organize itself, and doesn’t need to control or understand the whole thing. Wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs as the Divine Feminine. It is the discovery of the God within, God becoming aware of God, the universe becoming aware of itself through our lives, through the very physical stuff of our lives. I reject the notion that the spiritual is dealing with the non-physical. I reject the notion that science sometimes suggests, that it deals in the physical and material, and that religion deals in the non-physical. I reject that out of hand. The religious is interested in the stuff of life- the flesh, the relationships, our actions and behaviors in life. The word for spirit in both Hebrew and Greek is the same word as breath, which is very much matter, isn’t it? Our brains, which are matter, interpret all the events that we describe as being spiritual. How can the spiritual be anything other than a deeper, more symbolic experience of the physical? I reject the dichotomy that some scientists and some religious people set up. Both science and religion are interested in the stuff of life, the matter. What makes religion different, and where religion can inform life is that it allows us to dwell in the symbolic. It allows us to dwell in possibility, and to wonder and imagine the future. Of course, good science is taking us there as well. So, we have had wisdom personified for us. This dance of delight in creation. This God becoming aware of God, realizing itself. We can understand that both literally and symbolically. Let me talk through that for a moment: Evolution and the Kosmic Story Evolution tells us that we have a very long history. It is measured in the billions of years, not the tens and hundreds, the way we think of life. So we have this long and amazing history. We can see all the great patterns of life, and we see the patterns moving from death to life, to re-growth, to new birth, where we see entire species becoming extinct, and out of their extinction, new species emerging. We’ve got this great long history. And we have evolution telling us that we are a part of that. What we do with the stuff of our lives will be part of the evolution of the future. The wisdom that you live with is nothing less than the stuff of the future, the stuff out of which the future will emerge and evolve. So, where is it all heading? It’s all heading back to itself. Science tells us that we have been on this path of expansion ever since the Big Bang. Ever since then, you could say symbolically that God has been exhaling, and the breath of God has been expanding, and moving, and growing, and creating all the time. Science tells us that at some point it will begin to shrink and come back to itself. That is true symbolically as well. I heard a wonderful story that comes out of the Jewish mystical tradition: A rabbi had a dream that he went to heaven. When he arrived in heaven, he was so excited. He was taken to a room where there was a series of long tables. At the tables were some sages, who had lamps, and their heads buried in books. The rabbi was deeply disappointed, and said, “How could this be heaven? It’s just a bunch of old men studying.” A voice answered him, saying, “The sages aren’t in heaven, heaven is in the sages.” The sages were doing what sages do. Their study has come back to itself, and heaven has arrived inside of them. If we can learn anything from evolution, and the great pattern of death and rebirth, and that when we look back and see ourselves emerging, and when we look forward we see ourselves evolving, it is that all things come back to one thing, and that is divinity. Everything is in everything else. Nothing is separate, even though we often live that way. If we had the opportunity to look through a telescope at life, what I’m suggesting would be taking place is that the universe would be looking through the telescope at itself, and saying, “Wow!” If I may borrow from the philosopher Schopenhauer, and we could go forward in time and look backwards through a telescope, we would see nothing other than ourselves in rocks, stars, and all the stuff of the earth. If we could look forward through a telescope at what is to come, we would be looking at ourselves evolving. We would be looking at the universe coming to awareness of itself. We would be looking at the divine feminine, dancing in creation, still in endless delight at the possibilities. All the way back and all the way forward, all the way up and all the way down is one thing. In the stuff of our lives, in the very physical, real earthy stuff, God is being realized. God is being expressed. And there can be nothing more exciting than to take that 1/10,000th of a second that we call our life, and make it count. To make it count as part of evolutionary flow. Like Wisdom, we can dance in creation, and the joy of it all. Living appropriately, never having to control the whole thing. Never having to understand the whole thing, just getting into the flow of life and trusting it, and trusting that the very physical efforts in our lives will be part of the future, they will be part of this evolutionary flow. That’s what it means to live in God. close window | ^ top | home |