Colossians 1:15-28
Proper 11 / Year C
Have you seen any of
the first pictures from the James Webb Telescope? Looking back in time as much as 13.5 billion
years, they are truly amazing. 60 times
more powerful than any previous telescope, the clarity of the images and what
they capture are stunning. The telescope
itself is a wonder. Work began on it in
2004. Thousands of technicians and
engineers from 14 different countries invested more than 40 million hours in
its development. The mirror, which
consists of 18 hexagonal, gold-coated sections, extends over 21 feet. It will be able to collect images and data
never before available to humankind and I, for one, can’t wait for what it will
reveal.
I mentioned last
Sunday I took a couple of philosophy classes in college. One of the more interesting questions debated
down through the ages will be fueled anew by what the Webb discovers: which came first… mind or matter?
On one side of the
question are the materialists who hold at the beginning there was only matter
and energy. Over billions of years, some
of this matter developed a consciousness leading eventually (and, up till now,
in its highest form) our brains. On the
other side are the idealists who hold before anything was, at the first there
was absolute intelligence, pure consciousness.
From this mind all things have come forth. Those of us who subscribe to the Christian
faith are idealists, but not all idealists are Christians (if that makes sense).
Materialism’s
greatest challenge is coming to terms with things which cannot be measured and
observed through the scientific method, such as aesthetic qualities and moral
values. Pushed to an extreme, a
materialist has to admit all these things are subjective, thus leaving us with
little more to guide human behavior than relativism – you do what you want to
do and I’ll do what I want to do.
Idealism, on the
other hand, can lead to dogmatism, where deeply held tenents do not conform to
what we know of the visible world.
Someone who states, “Well, the bible says it, so that is good enough for
me!”, is making a dogmatic confession.
Generally speaking,
there is a third option, which is pragmatism, which holds mind and matter developed
together, but by this point in the sermon you are probably wishing I never took
a philosophy class, so I’ll move on...
...on to my
theology classes. [Insert groan] As I said, we Christians are idealists. Before there was anything, we contend God was. And, at the beginning, there was with God the
Word. Paul puts it so well in today’s
New Testament reading:
Christ Jesus is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all
things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-- all things have been created
through him and for him. He himself is
before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Think about what today’s
collect asserts when it refers to as God “the fountain of all wisdom.” It invites us to affirm mind before
matter. And it invites to view the
material world as being infused with a design whose architect is God.
If I were to paraphrase
the first verse of the bible it might be this: “In the beginning God had a
dream…” God’s dream was a dream of
communion with all of creation, but specifically with us, who are created in
God’s own image. All of creation has
been called forth with the intentional purpose of being in relationship with God. And for being in relationship with one
another. God’s dream is for all
relationships to mirror what is at the very heart of God’s being as Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. For us Christians,
it is God’s own self-relationship and God’s dream for us to mirror it which
sets our moral compass and fuels our sense of beauty.
The materialistic
perspective holds there is no intentionality to the universe. Matter simply comes to be and developes as it
does in accordance with the physical laws of the universe and natural selection,
which themselves emerge as guiding principles through no discernable method or
meaning. Not all Christians, but most
Episcopalians, would say these laws and principles are tools in the hands of God
used to translate dream into reality.
We Christians also
hold God’s dream has not unfolded as God hopes.
This morning’s Eucharistic prayer puts it succinctly:
From the primal
elements you brought for the human race, and blessed us with memory, reason,
and skill. You made us the rulers of
creation. But we turned against you, and
betrayed your trust; and we turned against one another.
God’s response to this is self-giving. Paul writes,
For in Christ all
the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace
through the blood of his cross.
Paul sees it as a
one-time event accomplished by Christ’s death on the Cross. I add to this it is an ongoing reality. The Cross is God’s definitive demonstration
of a willingness to reach out to us for relationship and to remain in communion
with us, no matter how much we fail to live into God’s dream. God is both a dreamer and a realist. But above all, God loves us with a love that
can never be broken.
This is our
faith. It is the story we hold dear. It is the good news we proclaim. But we are not dogmatic about it. The more we learn about God’s creation, the
more we learn about God’s dream. Which
brings me back to the Webb Telescope and why I find it to be so thrilling. If you hold to the bible and only the bible,
you will (for example), be forced to believe the sun resides in a chamber in
the nighttime from which it emerges in the morning to transverse our sky.
We Episcopalians
follow a path firmly rooted in God as Creator, but loosely holding what we know
about God’s magnificent creation and how it has come to be. A collect on page 827 of the prayer book
articulates this well:
Almighty and
everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms,
worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant
that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to know you more
truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord.
I love the notion
of every new discovery being an opportunity for us to discern with great
clarity how to fulfill our role in God’s eternal purpose. Unlike some Christians who feel their faith
threatened by discovery and the advancement of knowledge, we find it to be an
opportunity to ponder how better to understand God’s dream.
I know our children
and grandchildren struggle to navigate the seemingly completing claims of
science and faith. Perhaps you do as
well. I invite you to lift up to them
the perspective I have shared with you this morning. Creation reveals intention. Creation is the result of God’s dream to
share relationship.
