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Reconciling Two Beliefs This reflection was presented by Larry Johnson to the All Saints Men's Group as part of the discussion of Father Joe by Tony Hendra. We invite you to continue the discussion on Larry's blog (listed at the end of his reflection). "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." (The White Queen, from Through the Looking Glass) As twenty-first century Americans (or at least New Englanders) we mostly believe in science and as Christians we mostly believe in God. Belief in science can easily lead to atheism. Belief in God can easily lead to belief in the supernatural, which could be defined as "outside of science." There seems to be a contradiction to believe in both. Perhaps one belief is a belief of the head, the other of the heart. It is not a comfortable situation, putting us in the position of the White Queen in Through the Looking Glass, quoted above. We can practice denial, but if we choose not to deny the contradiction, then we might find ourselves in an inner civil war, the head versus the heart. Is there a way to reconcile belief in an infinite and eternal God with belief in science, based as it is on what we can experience with our senses - matter and energy? God cannot be defined. "Defined" and "infinite" both come from a Latin word meaning "boundary" or "limit." "Define" means to set the boundary - to say what a thing is we must be able to say what it is not and what is not it. Infinite means without boundary and therefore undefinable. The physical universe of matter and energy cannot be the same as God because it might not be infinite. Also the universe is subject to time and impermanence, so it is not eternal, and is not God, and probably not part of God. Hard science is deeply materialistic - it deals only with what can be sensed - matter and energy and the changes that matter and energy undergo in time. Softer sciences such as psychology and sociology are concerned with the human mind and behavior - eventually these sciences might be reduced to purely material things, neurons and their interactions. If God is infinite, eternal, and not made of matter and energy, then I cannot see how science can say anything about God. Science proceeds by forming hypotheses that can be tested through experiment, ultimately coming down to something that is perceived by the senses. Hypotheses such as the existence of God or "Intelligent design" are not testable in this way, and cannot be part of science (and are therefore not true hypotheses). Perhaps science will evolve so that it can include God as part of its set of knowledge. If it does, it probably won't be science any more, just as we are no longer speechless, prehistoric primates, but have evolved from them. It is possible to speculate on how science might evolve in this direction. As human beings, we have bodies which are made of matter and energy. One might say that matter and energy are the medium in which our bodies exist. I'm not sure if the word "medium" is used here metaphorically or exactly. We say that oil paint is a medium for art, newspapers a medium for public awareness, and television a medium for low-quality entertainment (=mindless drivel.) So matter and energy are a medium for humans, animals, plants, nature as a whole, but not for God. If God exists and has some sort of effect on us, then God needs a medium through which to act, and this medium cannot be matter and energy. God has no direct power over matter. God cannot even nudge an electron or divert a photon. A more plausible medium for God to work in would be that of a web of relationships. A relationship between beings implies that one affects the other, through gravity, physical interactions, exchange of energy or matter, and other material ways, and also through information, communication, emotion, language, and idea. Every particle in the universe affects every other particle at least through gravity. Every human being affects every other through thought, word, feeling and deed, if not immediately then ultimately. If everything in the universe is related to everything else, then a vast web results, vast but not infinite, if the universe is not infinite. Buddhists have a beautiful metaphor for this, called Indra's Net. They say that the every being in the universe is a mirror and also a light. Each mirror reflects every other light. And also reflects every reflection. This shows the way in which a finite web can become infinite. If a relationship between two or more beings can itself become a kind of being - we speak of couples, families, groups, organizations, and societies - then each relationship has a relationship with every other relationship, which can multiply to infinity. This now-infinite web is a possible medium for God, or God's spirit, to exist in, or at least to work in a universe otherwise of matter and energy. God would have a place in the universe, not in opposition to science, but where science has not yet ventured. The importance of relationship is found at the core of Christianity, in the Trinity. As Meister Eckhardt said, "The Father laughs at the son, the son laughs back at the Father. The laughter gives pleasure, the pleasure gives joy, the joy gives love and that love is the Holy Spirit." This essay is posted in a new blog, where interested readers can comment on it. http://reconcilingbeliefs.blogspot.com/.
New this Year Create A Sacred Space at Home This New Year, you may want to create a sacred space in your home - a space which call us into God's presence throughout the day. What does a sacred space look like? It could be anywhere. If it is a space shared by the whole household, encourage family members to contribute items that they find along their daily paths: a piece of nature, a drawing, a poem, whatever has caught their attention. Here are some ideas: one person created a sacred space on a shelf in her bedroom; another created sacred space in his home office where he prays daily using a service from a website; a family uses an entry hall table, gathering there each morning to pray before everyone leaves for the day. Find a space, create, worship and enjoy! Rite 13 Ceremony 2005 On Sunday, January 29, two young people in our parish will participate in an important step in their faith formation -- Rite 13 -- during the 10:30 am Holy Eucharist. This year's "celebrities" are Annelise and Morgan. First they'll have a retreat with their leaders Mary Longer and Bill Schnoor filled with activities and meditations to help them imagine the joys, challenges, and responsibilities that will come their way as adolescents. After Sunday's liturgy, together with their family, friends, and all participants in Journey to Adulthood, they will gather for a marvelous celebratory Brunch. At that time these "celebrities" will be toasted and prayed for as they begin their journey into adulthood. As members of their congregation, it is important that you join with them to recognize their transition from childhood to adolescence. This is a brief but moving ritual where they will symbolically separate from their parents in order to join their peers who have preceded them and are blessed by the parish and clergy. Please mark Sunday, January 29, on your calendars. ~ Stefani Schatz, Director of Religious Education
The Seminarian's Bookshelves ... Epiphany 2006 The season of Epiphany is upon us, celebrating the manifestation of Christ in the world. The season emphasizes the transformation of the lives of those who encounter Jesus: the Magi arriving from afar having re-oriented their journeys around a new star, the disciples leaving their fishing boats to follow a different course, the paralytic man able to walk for the first time. Wherever Jesus' early ministry happened, those around him were changed through seeing themselves, their abilities and their callings in different, more compelling ways. The transformations of those Jesus touched culminate in the Transfiguration of Jesus himself, in which his clothes became "a dazzling white," symbolic of the final victory of light over the darkness. Each of us has specific needs for transformation this Epiphany, and given the season's symbolic vocabulary of light and darkness, the need to work against racial discrimination towards an anti-racist society leaps to the forefront. In her challenging and thought-provoking book Dismantling Privilege: An Ethics of Accountability, Mary Elizabeth Hobgood calls white people to a greater sense of awareness about their racial identity. Anti-racism work suffers when those in socially "privileged" racial groups do not recognize the tangible benefits derived from preferential treatment. Hobgood reminds those of us who are white "that we are accountable to the unearned advantages that [social] systems accrue to us, as well as for how we contribute to the reproduction of these systems." But more than recognizing unearned advantage, Hobgood re-examines the language of "privilege" commonly associated with whiteness. She argues that so called "privileged" whites are actually "morally damaged, spiritually impoverished, and put physically at risk in a society structured to give unfair advantages to the few." Through an investigation of both the symbolic classification of whiteness and blackness and the economic oppression created by racism, Hobgood explores the negative effects these symbolic and economic systems have on white and black people. Though her take on racial classification is polemical at times, her approach weaves sociological, psychological, and spiritual threads of argument into a tapestry that presents a more full picture of the evils and harms of ongoing systematic oppression. The book also explores other categories of discrimination, in an effort to sketch a ethical Christian response to oppression in the world. Warning: this is not the most pleasant book to read and regardless of your particular social location it will challenge you to see yourself in a new way. Hobgood's book is thought provoking and certainly sheds new light - or at least new darkness - on our needs for individual transformation into more intentional anti-racist living this Epiphany. Blessings on your reading! - Chris Wendell, All Saints Seminarian, cwendell@eds.edu
From the Rector | Liturgy | Good News & Opportunities
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