Engaging the World Through Science: Creation

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ~ Genesis 1:1
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
    calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
    mighty in power,
    not one is missing. ~ Isaiah 40:26
And Ezra said: “You are the Lord, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you. ~ Nehemiah 9:6
Natural history is not taught in seminary. This is curious, as most people in pastoral ministry are about 567 times more likely to be asked about cosmology or sub-nuclear physics or human biology or evolution than they are to be asked about irregular Greek verbs or the danger of the patripassionist heresy. If we monotheists are going to go around claiming that our "God made the heaven and earth," it is not unreasonable to expect us to know something about what that heaven and earth actually are. ~ Sara Maitland

 Gravity explains the motion of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion.  ~ Isaac Newton



I wish I'd paid more attention to science when I was in high school, because the more I fall in love with God, the more I see science as one of God's languages.

 My favorite professor in seminary was also something of lover of science. He knew as much about evolution it seemed as he did of Systematic Theology (which he taught). He taught me to see God in places in which I never would have thought.

 God of scripture - especially the visionary, creator God we meet in the Hebrew scripture, is not one out to teach us "how." We don't find the meaning of atoms, particles, geology, or chemistry in God. We don't get an answer to how the world was formed.

 We get an answer to "who" did the forming.

 The Hebrew people who lived at the time of the writing of Genesis were surrounded by tribes who had very violent stories about the creation of the world. Creation for them came out of battles and wars.

 But the Hebrew God was different.

 The Hebrew God was creative and artistic. Wanted relationship. Had a sense of humor (just read the story about God trying to find a perfect mate for the first man)!

 There is no need to believe science OR religion. No need to make it an either/or.

 Instead we are invited to view it as both/and.

 God speaks through atoms and ions. Through quarks and particles. Through trace elements and chemical composition. Through galaxies and gardens.

 And through those things - as through the language of Faith - God reveals something of God's self.

 What is your favorite branch of science? Where in it can you see God at work?
Prayer: God of all creation, help me to see your hand in the mysteries of scientific exploration. Amen





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