A God at Peace with the Universe...

 A God at Peace with the Universe… 

Jeremiah 23:23-29
23:23 Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off?

23:24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.

23:25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed!"

23:26 How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back--those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart?

23:27 They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.

23:28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD.

23:29 Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

 

Just how good are we? The earliest biblical creation story tells us that God made the world in stages, and considered each of them “good.” Given that humanity seems to be the “crown” of God’s achievement in these stories, can we therefore assume that God considered us “good,” as well. Then something happened. Theologians have debated throughout the eons just what happened. Literalists will say that Adam and Eve ate fruit of the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” and this caused “the fall.” Others will say that this story is a metaphor for humanity deciding that it knew better than God, and selfishly began making its way in the world, forgetting a God that wanted to “walk with them” in the cool of the evening. Some will even say there was no one-time, cataclysmic “fall,” but that humanity is regularly challenged with choices as to whether we will acknowledge God—or even others—as being worth our energy, efforts, and reflection, beyond satiating our “creaturely” desires. Which is it?

 

Frankly, they all work for me. If there was such a tree as the “Knowledge of Good and Evil,” and eating of it gave wisdom, one from the other, this could have given birth to “I’m right and you’re wrong” that is the modern human plague. If the story is a metaphor for human selfishness that disconnected us from God, that is certainly what has happened. Or are we daily being confronted with “fall” or “fly” choices? You tell me. I know I am. And my track record on choosing the right one is ”iffy” at best, though I consider myself among the redeemed. More often than not, this latter thought hastens the conclusion that we are screwed, as a people.

 

Here's what I know—the Universe is good. Have you seen its snapshots, lately? Amazing, indeed. A monumental telescope, named after a visionary but flawed man, is reawakening our sense of wonder as we look beyond the polluted clouds of Planet Earth. Countless galaxies, each a cavalcade of stars and planets in its own right, spinning in the blackness of space, animated by either the primal forces of creation and/or the tug of hidden “Black Holes” at their centers, elicit curiosity and trigger adulation for the energy that keeps it all suspended. I’m having a tug of war within my mind, trying to imagine a God larger than what we are now witnessing, thanks to the miracle of the James Webb instrument. I find myself asking if, instead of God creating the universe, what if the immensity of the Universe gave birth to God? Is God the intelligent, sentient “energy” at work, maintaining and expanding the Universe? Is God what the incomprehensible Universe evolved to manage the system, including designing its “living” occupants and establish relationships that can’t be governed by equations? Or, is God really that all-encompassing, all-knowing, powerful, and far-sighted? A God who spoke and all of this “became”? Frankly, the former makes more sense than the latter, but we have the matter of scriptural revelation to deal with, don’t we? 

 

The God of today’s Jeremiah text gives me great hope—and some degree of sincere evidence—that the latter is true. It is, after all, what we believe and proclaim. Whether you call it “Intelligent Design,” or believe God just has an immense canvas upon which to joyously paint, is probably irrelevant. Can I look at the photos from the Webb (or even the “ancient” Hubble, for that matter) and not see that something wonderous has, and is, occurring? And can I come to the conclusion that it is all just a “happy accident” emanating from the “Big Bang,” without seeming crazy? This is not a question we are able to answer, let alone prove. It is relegated to the annals of belief. Science looks to analysis and evidence to draw its conclusions, and for the most part, must rule out a “Divine mind” from its equation as to how the Universe began and evolves. As soon as science accepts an unprovable “theory” that a divine force is responsible, its work goes off the rails. We should not fault it for this. In fact, we are indebted to science for its detailed experimentation and hypothesis-seeking-proof that has advanced the human cause so far in our limited experience (limited at least as far as the timeline of the Universe is concerned!). There are some important things about God that this text tells us.

 

Firstly, God IS a “God nearby.” The Christian idea of the Incarnation aligns well with the Jewish concept of an “earthy” God who is not afraid to get her hands dirty while journeying with her people. It also signals the kind of devotion to the Divine we see in the tenets of Islam. Some of the brightest people I know are of the Muslim faith, and to see them prostrate themselves before God in prayer, admiration, and respect, reminds me we, too, are called to “have no other Gods” before Yahweh. The bottom line of the faith equation is that God IS a God nearby, and that God has stepped into human history. God encourages believers to develop an intimacy with the Divine, with an understanding that God has provided a clear pathway thorough the Incarnation of Jesus Christ into our world. God is a God both of the Universe AND the individual human being, or even the tiniest creature inhabiting God’s world. As the text also says, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” The same God whom we see in the cosmic expanse is the same God who held children on his lap, and who intimately listens to the prayers of God’s people. The Cosmic Christ is also a “God nearby!”

 

This is not an easy concept for us, and it wasn’t for Israel, either. Our human minds come with a necessary “governor” that keeps them from “spacing out” too much on the grandiose nature of the Universe. They are set to keep us “in the game,” and are much better at apprehending a “personal” God, but our modern revelation of the Universe via Webb and Hubble images, and the work of people like Einstein and Hawking, has often “blown our minds.” As I said earlier, the latest images from space prompted me to wonder if the Universe “created” Yahweh to be the bridge between living creatures and the celestial realm. Modern scientific revelation has made it much harder to imagine a God who is so much larger than the billions—now they are saying TRILLIONS—of galaxies spinning in space. And yet, today’s text, and most of the biblical witness, says that is exactly what we believe. And when we DO make the “leap of faith” to believe this, it may render the “personal” connection to God more distant. As a Christian, I will say this: to me, Jesus Christ as the “Word made flesh” who “tented among us” is every bit as amazing—if not more so—than the Universal “light show” we are presently being treated to! That God would do both of these things—create a Universe of wonder, AND compress all of the “stuff” of God into a human carcass and humbly redeem humanity—is the true miracle of the biblical witness. 

God is at peace with the Universe, and that includes redeemed humankind. We still strive for peace with God, though. If, by faith, we receive God’s grace and resulting pardon, we may feel God’s “personal” touch (and should!), but we may doubt the scope of the Divine when we get a gander at the majestic Universe. OR, we may be taken in by THAT, and have a tougher time believing that its Creator would have anything to do with little old us. But both are profoundly true—this is what we believe! We are compelled by the scriptural witness to accept that God IS at peace with the Universe, and this includes US! We are also compelled by scripture (and of course aided by the rest of Wesley’s “Quadrilateral” of tradition, experience, and reason), to believe that WE can be fully at peace with God, NOW, and in the world to come. 

 

The Jeremiah text is telling Israel to stop their goofy “daydreaming” and just accept God’s words of pardon, reassurance, and peace. The daydreaming is what humans do when we want more, but feel it is beyond our reach. This text, like many others, is trying to remind us that God is the one who has done the reaching! We are free to grasp God’s hand and join God on the great journey of life, discovery, and faith. We will always have one hand free to invite others to join us on the trip, as well. 

 

Do you need a “God nearby” today? You have one who has already opened God’s heart to you. Read the Gospels to hear just how much God loves you, expressed through the lips and life of Jesus! Do you want to believe in a God so huge that even the “Black Holes” obey God’s creating, sustaining Word? You are free to do that, too. The Bible says so. Genesis isn’t science, its art! And it’s personal. And if you are like me and trying to fit faith and science together, you are free to do this, as well! Even as the Bible isn’t a science book, neither is science able to tell us about God. It just isn’t in their paygrade. However, they can tell us more about the wonders of the Universe, and their method can enlighten us, heal us, and save our planet. Let’s not set up a false dichotomy between the two! God IS at peace with the Universe, and is inviting us into God’s soothing, uplifting, empowering, and stabilizing peace through taking the hand of Jesus. Amen.