Sunday, March 19, 2006
Sermon: “In the Pursuit of God”
Scripture:
Psalm 19
Reverend Larry Gerber
The knowledge of God comes to us through different channels. Scientific discovery is one form, natural revelation is another, written revelation yet another. One God, One Truth.
Recently, a scientist, who is also a leader in his congregation, prepared a devotional for his local church board based upon a reading from Genesis 1. His comments were prompted by an essay in The Washington Post by Henry Brinton, a Presbyterian pastor, on the debate within his congregation between proponents of Intelligent Design and Evolution.
The scientist began by describing himself as a scientist and a Christian. He went on to explain the difference between a scientific theory and a hypothesis: A theory is proven by a rigorous testing of hypotheses; An hypothesis is not provable by a set of repeated tests and thus remains a hypothesis. Theory is not the same as hypothesis.
Then he stated his own conviction regarding creation. “God did it. The Genesis stories of creation, while different in detail, agree that God did it. This theme runs throughout the Bible. That God did it does not suggest how God created us, and I find it somewhere between amusing/annoying/irritating/maddening that people might have the temerity to insist that God did it in a way that is pleasing to them. I feel that God has given us the intelligence to explore the world around us and to do our best to understand it.”
If one believes that God is the author of all truth, then the pursuit of scientific truth is not to be feared but rather pursued with joy and delight in the discoveries that will render the manifold splendor of God’s truth. Truth is truth, therefore, scientific truth need not be held in opposition to revealed, or religious, truth; They are different aspects of the truth that leads us to a knowledge of God.
Generations of believers have embraced the prayer of Psalm 19 in just this way.
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge (Psalm 19:1-2).
The psalmist gazes at the beauty of creation and utters praise to God, the sovereign author of it all. This praise-offering comes from a truth born of faith. This is not science asserting, it is faith affirming. Science talks the talk; faith walks the walk. Science can do no more; faith can do no less.
The knowledge of God comes to us through different channels. Scientific discovery is one form, natural revelation is another, written revelation yet another. One God, One Truth.
One can’t help but notice that the psalmist goes on to praise God for the glory of the human person who has a unique place in all creation.
Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5).
Darwin’s theory of evolution has had Christians grinding their teeth for almost 150 years. It seems to fly in the face of the Genesis account of the origin of life and the natural world. This is particularly troubling if Genesis is read as a scientific journal rather than a theological document that explores how humans are in relationship with God their Creator.
Listen again: The knowledge of God comes to us through different channels. Scientific discovery is one form, natural revelation is another, written revelation yet another. One God; One Truth.
It is unlikely that the psalmist, surveying the heavens and praising God for the wonders thereof while giving thanks for the place of humanity within creation, was thinking about the details of how such wonders occurred. He was simply offering praise and gratitude for his maker and living his life in harmony with the view that God is, indeed, the glorious author of all creation.
The How questions are for science. The Why questions are for faith. Did the psalmist ever consider the question of how? Who knows? How many of the millions of believers who joyfully give praise to God at the birth of their child consider the issues of chance, randomness and natural selection? For many, these matters are part of the fabric of life explained by science and affirmed by faith and pose no threat to their theology or to their spiritual practice.
Perhaps, this is where people of faith should let things rest. Matters of science, including the theories of the origins of life, are to be pursued by way of the standard forms of scientific research. Matters of science when in dispute, including theories about the origins of life, cannot be solved by theology, nor can matters of theological dispute be solved by the scientific method. To insist on empirical evidence for the existence of God or the origins of life would be to eviscerate the need for faith at all.
Theology has to do with the pursuit of God and doxological practice that flow from our understanding and experience of God. This is the path of the psalmist and it has been the path of Christians and Jews for generations. Holy Scripture offers a window into the exploration of God and a view into what it means for human beings to live in profound relationship with the Giver of all good gifts. Christians explore the New Testament assertion that God has been revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the One in whom all things hold together (Colossians 1:17).
Christians, believing that all creation coheres in Christ, in whom the fullness of God dwells, are free to explore all the wonders of the natural world using the tools of science for learning and more complete understanding. We can join the psalmist who rejoices in the wonders of creation. Such wonders are not diminished by the work of science, they are illuminated.
We need to be in the pursuit of God, but not searching for the proof of God. Science needs proof, while religion needs faith. Let us pray………..
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Sources:
Brinton, Henry. “Darwin goes to church.” The Washington Post. Sunday September 18, 2005.
“Cosmic Design.” The Christian Century. September 6, 2005. Vol. 122:18.
Haupt, Lyanda Lynn. “Darwin, God, and the nightingale’s poem. Image. Summer 2005. No. 46.