Thoughts on creation and wisdom

Dogwood in front of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church; Lansdale, PA

I have been asked to reflect upon it at my church this Sunday (10-16-16). So I better get some thoughts flowing.

I have always struggled with the "created in God's image" bit from the first Chapter of Genesis:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

 Why us and not the Northern Shafted Flicker, or a virus that fractures a tulip in a dazzling array of colors, or a Dogwood Tree? Does God not resemble trees, diseased plants, and Woodpeckers?

Thirty years ago I gave a talk on Nuclear Winter in front of fellow biology students and biology professors. I was asked one question: Are you depressed now?

I remember my answer: No, because even at our most destructive self, we humans apparently cannot eliminate life on this planet.

And 30 years later, might I add: if you leave God a critter or two, God will be use the laws of science to recreate the image of God, which we see as a mirror.

And that is one of the things that has caught my eye about Sophia in the seventh chapter in the Book of Wisdom:

26 For she(Lady Wisdom, Sophia) is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. 

27 Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things...

Creation is a mirror and God's light shines off of it in the most amazing reflection. We see creation when a photon of light enters the lens of our eye and sends an electrical impulse into our brain. All of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly is all creation. We are meant to open our eyes and be moved by what is seen.

Don't ignore the good or the bad. Beauty fades. Ugly transforms. Creation is not static.
 
Creation unfolds with time and space. The master of understanding this relationship was Albert Einstein who said:

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. To whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: their eyes are closed.

which sounds like a fine transition to my most recent post.

Then to make an ending in which I motivate all to be like God, be creative.

becoming a stained glass artist

My new blog friend, Kathryn J, over at Colloquies with Kathryn, spoke about how this internet stuff can lead to problems.   I agree, so I made a new rule... 30 minutes in my studio before I can write anything on my blog.

So I just spent 30 minutes with paper, pencil and erasure working on something big, well it will be big for this stained glass artist.

This is my favored stage and until the final stage of the process--- it is all downhill in my book.

I have doodled since the beginning of time and now my brain is adapting to the constraints of glass. In my current design something new is happening. It is being created as I play with lines on paper.

what are those other steps as they descend in pleasure after creating the design...

choosing the colors/glass
cutting and grinding the glass
foiling the glass
soldering... now we have hit rock bottom
cleaning the finished project and holding it up to the light.

so this post was to be about how I became a teacher. That is the idea that floated up and apparently floated away, but if I continue to read Kathryn's journey to become a teacher (not my route at all, well maybe we have something in common????). I will be reminded of the blog post that could become, like one of my unfolding mandala designs inside a ten inch diameter circle...



looking at this I want an erasure. It is not quite done yet... what would you erase?

what percentage are we?

It does not ask if both are possible in their own realities, but this Gallup poll shows that both things are believable.

Yet, stand in the midst of evolutionary biologists and speak of the joy of living in God's unfolding creation and see who agrees, some will.

Stand in the midst of many American Christians, and speak of the wonders of DNA and the evolution of life from bacteria and then mention primates and humans and see who agrees, some will.

There are times I sit in church and my science education knocks on some neurons and I think, "How can I believe in this hocus pocus nonsense?" There are times I try to understand the wonders of life and how exactly evolution works and my overwhelmed brain says, "It is too complicated."

The first doubt leads to atheism, the second leads to Intelligent Design theory.

Most of the time I am comfortable with both (not atheism and ID)... standing in the middle believing in the fact of evolution and the truth of Christianity. Fact and truth. This is how Joe Paprocki explains it in his book, A Well Built Faith. This I found in a book for teaching the basics of the faith to young and old Catholics. What a better world we would have if we weren't told to choose one. It is a good thing to believe. Both sides of this battle claims the other is unbelievable. Just because one is true does that make the other one impossible.

So do I believe in two unbelievable thoughts, or in two believable thoughts.

Things evolve, and not just biological. I am rather certain that the Catholic church has not always had their presses (Loyola Press in this case) putting out books saying it is OK to believe in both. Problems come when we stop believing that things have changed or try to stop the changes.... when we dig in our heels in the midst of a better reality and refuse to ride that wave of a unfolding creation. Who would I be if I had not studied evolution? Who would I be if I was not accepting of my spiritual life?

What is God's exact role in the process? Who knows? But those who are righteously certain stand on both sides of me screaming at each other as I stand in a bookstore trying to find a book on evolution. At school I am comfortable being in the realms of science and what studies about life have proven to be true. I am also comfortable walking with a God that looks down at creation and says, "It is Good." This spiritual truth does not get taught in my classroom, except if a student struggles with both, then I will say that there are those who see it both ways. I don't preach, but I refuse to say one is wrong. I tell them that there is no living human who knows exactly how life started, and be grateful that there are mysteries, then I teach them biology through the vision of one who believes in evolution.

I am not alone here in the midst of the anger and hatred that has emerged in this debate, though I imagine our demographic group would be a small percentage. Maybe next time the folk at Gallup will have another possible answer when they ask their questions.

more on the price of hand made crafts

I stopped myself while writing the last post which was about having fun, but I did start and delete some of what follows. The last two craft fairs which I attended were high-end. Nothing that we could afford. We are close to poor and we are close to rich. We are at the median income for our county, which also means we are far from the poorest and far from the wealthiest. It was that latter group who were buying this weekend. If my mental math was correct, then the average take of a booth last year was $17,000 dollars. That's a good pay for 4 days. But please add in the time and cost spent designing the craft, developing the craft, buying supplies for the craft, creating the craft, advertising, commuting , display cases, packaging.......


M and I know this phenomena.

When she makes mosaics and I make stained glass.

Do we want to take this passion seriously and be able to leave our day jobs? Do we want to one day be elite and only have the wealthiest folk buying our stuff? How do we compete with mass produced pieces made by low wage workers? How do we value our time and what is a fair price?

we see people selling mosaics and stained glass for so cheap that you wonder if they value their time at all... OK this is from the man who tends to give all his art away... next blog post....

As in all things there is a middle ground, the land between expensive and cheap. That is where I want to land.

-- tonight at my church I led a discussion on the two creation stories. one in the room had done exegeses on the first, others had not read them in years, some didn't know there were two. "How does this relate to me in my everyday life,"one asked near the end. Remember it is good. remember you were created in God's image, remember that your marriage is a mystical thing inspired by the human need to be in communion with others. Remember it is good, and you are part of it.

Hermeneutics of Consent stir me up

Things have changed. I am now comfortable with taking the Bible into my heart, not just my mind. It was hard work because I now see my heart was guarded by very talented stoic soldiers and I had to ask these internal guards to leave my heart open to attack by emotions. They listened. It is still hard work, for the Bible challenges me.

I think of my time at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville. Spend a week in silence, allowing for at least three hours of reflections on the Bible each day, and something has to crack. I didn't know what I was headed for on my first long retreat, I thought it would be a break from the daily routine, relaxing, a vacation. In my room was a suggestion, "Read and reflect upon Psalm 139." It ripped into my heart possibly even killing a stoic guard along the way. What emerged at first was anger and sadness which had been there for over 30 years. Four days later, God's love began to fill in the space which had been emptied.

Things have changed. A few weeks ago while worshiping at Wernersville, the beginning of Psalm 139 was read, while we chanted on being wonderfully made. I can believe, even with our flaws, that God creates us wonderfully. Is it that what we deem not wonderful, is truly wonderful? I see this as true. I struggle.

But God is never finished. Last week, my spiritual director directs me to Psalm 139, and now I am to face that God has chosen to create me in this way, at this time, at this place, with these joys, and with these pains. Again my faith is challenged to believe in a God who chooses so much, but I surely didn't chose these things, so who did. Was it God or was it nothing?

There are extremes here and I know folk at both ends, but I don't want to be in either camp. I can't imagine God choosing every thing that happens, and I can't imagine God having no choice. I explain this to my spiritual director who says profound things like, "this is good, you are awake, the exercises are getting things stirred up inside of you."

creation today: it is still good

When I returned to church 10 years ago, I had plenty of doubts and some of them I was sure would stay with me forever. I did not want to touch the first chapter of Genesis, but I did.

It had to compete with my biology degree and interest in evolution. How could the two go together? Wasn't this whole subdue the Earth thing the main reason the planet had environmental issues?

The first break in the fence around my heart happened with the repetitive phrasing of God sensing that creation was good. Who could argue with that? Creation is amazing, if not always gentle and non-violent. The amazement I felt deep inside me that led to my studies in biology seemed to be shared with God. That was good.

Later a minister asked if I would help him with a project. He wanted to rewrite the creation story as if the Hebrews knew what we think we know today. So there we were with Big bangs, and interstellar dust, laws of physics and bacteria, evolution and hominids. But through it all, I wanted those words: and it was good. Pleasing to God.

Talking about cells today in my anatomy class a student said, "all cells come from cells." I agreed, but asked what the problem was with that statement, and soon enough I was asked where the first cell came from.

I said, "It is a mystery. A mystery that can not be explained. No scientist or theologian can tell us with certainty how or why that first cell came into being. But we can be happy that it did."

For it was good.



The images featured here were taken by Margaret. We are at my work place. She played with the camera at night and I watered the flower garden. The Lyng's sunflower I am stretching for once stood over nine feet tall before the weight of the flower bent it over. It took me 18 years to get to six feet, this plant only took 3 months to tower over me.

I am still filled with amazement at what has been created and what has evolved.