GOD IS ALIVE
Author: Fr. Michael Byron
June 26, 2021
I once heard a lecture given
by a Catholic Theologian on the topic of what is known as “deep time.” It’s a study that sits at the intersection of
faith and science, about which I know relatively little. The speaker pointed out that it is common for
scientists to make note of the astonishing odds against anything like human
life coming in to existence in our universe. It is a miracle that we are here – literally. For life of any kind to exist on Planet Earth
– let alone intelligent life – it requires that exact convergence of a star,
like our sun, and an orbiting mass, like our Earth, at just the right distance from
that star, so that it is neither too hot nor to cold; and an atmosphere that is
not poisoned by various gases, and a source of water that is drinkable and
plants are edible. And it requires a very,
very long time for all of that to evolve. Like millions of years. Hence the
Phrase, “Deep Time.”
According to many
cosmologists, the chances if anything like our lush and verdant Earth ever
having come into being at all are statistically almost impossible. And yet,
here we are. And it explains why, as
best science can determine, for all but the last minute on a 24-hour clock, the
universe consisted of nothing, in terms of life forms as we understand them. We
are an incredibly unlikely and very late-coming community of human beings, when
set against the long history and vast space of the galaxies. In a very real
sense, we are astonishingly lucky even to be alive. We are the most amazing exception to the
order of creation.
But then the
theologian/speaker went on to say something that I have never forgotten. He said that all of what he and I have just
mentioned presumes that it is The Natural State of the universe to be dead…that
life is that rare and unexpected eruption into an otherwise dark, cold and
lonely place…a speck in the vast wasteland. But what if we believe that is God
who is responsible for all this? And
more specifically, what if we believe in a God whose very nature is to be alive
and to be life-giving? What if we accept
the witness of both the Old Testament book of Genesis and the New Testament
Gospel of John that God names himself, “I AM”? And what if we believe that
every created thing is necessarily make in God’s own image and likeness? Then suddenly, according to the study of deep
time, our existence and the existence of Planet Earth is not some weird and
rare eruption and the very end of a long night. It is instead the very early appearance of a creative process that has
only just begun. And what if we actually take to heart the words of today’s
first reading from the book of Wisdom: “God did not make death, more does he
rejoice in the destination of the living.” That’s not because of how God
feels. It’s because of who and how God
is. God and death cannot be put in the
same sentence. Where there is death there is Not God. And where there is God there is Not
death. Let me say that again, where
there is death there is Not God. And
where there is God there is Not death.
As you may be aware, we are
having a very number of funerals these days here at Pax, and that will continue
in to the foreseeable future. So many
who have died during the pandemic have had families postpone the farewells
until things could open up a bit. We had
two funerals here this past week and will have three more in the week to
come. I mention this here because one
The Prayers at the gravesite in the Catholic burial ritual book involves the
Name of “The God of the living and the dead.” I think I understand what is
attempting to be said by that, but there really is no such thing as a “God of
the Dead.” There is such a thing as a
God of those who appear to us to be dead – maybe including ourselves sometimes –
but that’s a misunderstanding on our part and not a proper description of the
real God. So I just sort of overlook
that phrase at our many Christian burials lately, and I invoke the “God of the
Living” at people’s graves. This is our
faith, after all. Whatever God cares
about and touches is alive, even if we don’t always quite understand how it can
be so.
That same reading from the
book of Wisdom also acknowledges the experience of loss and grief and sin and
injustice that occur in this world, but these things are not of God’s doing or
God’s wish. They are the results of
human frailty, mistakes, poor judgements, and sometimes deliberate decisions to
indulge in sinful behaviors – whether personally or nationally, or globally, or
as a church.
God has given us the freedom
to delay or obscure his good plans for a time. But God has not given us the
ability to change who God is, or to frustrate his ultimate will for our living and
thriving and that of all creation. In
the struggle between God and death, between God and “The Devil” (as wisdom
calls it), this is not a battle of equals. To believe otherwise would be to displace God, who alone is supreme and
whose name is “I AM.” As the science of deep time reminds us, nothing that
truly comes from God is in the process of decay or rotting or dying out. It is rater in the process of erupting into
life – maybe just barely beginning! If
it seems otherwise, then this is our problem, our mission, our
responsibility. As always, the Eucharist
is our regular opportunity to remember that and to respond.
|