The Singular Door
Christmas, New Years, and all that stuff.
This Jesus stuff, his birth in a stable, heavenly choir, a moving star, wise men coming from far away, and a virgin conceiving? How can we believe this? There is too much here that defies the imagination. Sometimes it sounds more like Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. Why should I believe this?
How about this. As I look at the universe with unprejudiced eyes, I see something so vast I cannot comprehend it. I don't understand infinity. I don't understand the universe expanding. I can't fathom what a black hole looks like. Maybe, being a black hole from which no light escapes, it is invisible so I couldn't see it anyway. There are really so many things I don't understand, yet I believe, because "scientific experts" have convinced me of their truth. (In "March of the Penguins," we understand that these birds recognize their mates by the sound they make. To me it all sounded alike, but somehow, I am told, in the midst of tens of thousands of penguins, one bird can sort out its mate. That is just a little unbelievable.)
I confess I find it abundantly more difficult to believe that "chance" caused all that we know to come into being without a divine plan. The universe and everything in it is just too complex. So for me, God is the author. Having said that, how do I get from there to Bethlehem?
As Psalm 8 says, "When I consider the heavens, the work of Your hands...." Then I connect this with Genesis 1 and John 1, and I am led to "consider" that not only are the heavens awesome but so is the God who created them and thus is the Word called Christ who joins our world.
Too far out?
How about this? When I can't believe ion anything, when all is lost, when there is no hope, I look up and I look down. I look up to the universe. I am impressed. OK, God made this. I look down at the earth. Dirt, things grow. The sun produces and sustains life. Any closer or much farther away and life as we know it ceases to exist. OK, conditions are perfect for human life. God did this. Jesus lived, died, and rose. God did this, too. OK, I believe. And because I know the God of the universe, and the Jesus who rose, I connect everything to Bethlehem, where the impossible happened - again.
Infinity is impossible to grasp! That the universe goes on forever? God is impossible to grasp! If the universe is infinite, God must be more infinite? So Jesus provide my link to the infinite and the impossible. The Glorious Impossible! Now that's "far out!"
Charlie
Christmas, New Years, and all that stuff.
This Jesus stuff, his birth in a stable, heavenly choir, a moving star, wise men coming from far away, and a virgin conceiving? How can we believe this? There is too much here that defies the imagination. Sometimes it sounds more like Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. Why should I believe this?
How about this. As I look at the universe with unprejudiced eyes, I see something so vast I cannot comprehend it. I don't understand infinity. I don't understand the universe expanding. I can't fathom what a black hole looks like. Maybe, being a black hole from which no light escapes, it is invisible so I couldn't see it anyway. There are really so many things I don't understand, yet I believe, because "scientific experts" have convinced me of their truth. (In "March of the Penguins," we understand that these birds recognize their mates by the sound they make. To me it all sounded alike, but somehow, I am told, in the midst of tens of thousands of penguins, one bird can sort out its mate. That is just a little unbelievable.)
I confess I find it abundantly more difficult to believe that "chance" caused all that we know to come into being without a divine plan. The universe and everything in it is just too complex. So for me, God is the author. Having said that, how do I get from there to Bethlehem?
As Psalm 8 says, "When I consider the heavens, the work of Your hands...." Then I connect this with Genesis 1 and John 1, and I am led to "consider" that not only are the heavens awesome but so is the God who created them and thus is the Word called Christ who joins our world.
Too far out?
How about this? When I can't believe ion anything, when all is lost, when there is no hope, I look up and I look down. I look up to the universe. I am impressed. OK, God made this. I look down at the earth. Dirt, things grow. The sun produces and sustains life. Any closer or much farther away and life as we know it ceases to exist. OK, conditions are perfect for human life. God did this. Jesus lived, died, and rose. God did this, too. OK, I believe. And because I know the God of the universe, and the Jesus who rose, I connect everything to Bethlehem, where the impossible happened - again.
Infinity is impossible to grasp! That the universe goes on forever? God is impossible to grasp! If the universe is infinite, God must be more infinite? So Jesus provide my link to the infinite and the impossible. The Glorious Impossible! Now that's "far out!"
Charlie
posted by Charlie | 7:10 AM
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