Pitt Street Uniting Church, 09-Feb-2014 A Contemporary Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Conclusion Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species/362 Epiphany 5A Isaiah 58: 1-12; Matthew 5: 13-20 Today is Evolution Sunday, the Christian celebration of Evolution weekend. Evolution Weekend has been marked for the last nine years, in response to the belief, held by both religious fundamentalists and atheists, that people have to choose between religion and science. It originated in the United States where only 40% of the population agree that the theory of evolution describes the coming into being of life, particularly human life. We might think that this has little to do with us, but efforts are being made to spread the teachings of creationism or so-called intelligent design around the world, including here. And where this is happening, religion is almost always the motivation for the denial of evolution. So a US scientist Michael Zimmerman began to promote Evolution Sunday, a celebration of the birthday of Charles Darwin as an occasion to challenge the divide between science and religion. It is now called Evolution weekend because it now includes people of other faiths. On the website for Evolution Weekend, Pitt Street is listed as one of six participating Australian churches. In the creationist wars, Darwin is widely depicted as a godless naturalist. The publication of his theory of natural selection is imagined as an instantaneous parting of the ways between science and religion. But in reality, like the great scientists who inspired him, Copernicus, Galileo and Newton, Darwin saw the pursuit of science as a divinely ordained gift and responsibility. He used the word creation over 100 times in The Origin of Species. As part of the project, there is a clergy letter, a part of which I would like to read you. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 1 of 7
We believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as one theory among others is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris.. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth. In every age the worlds of theology and religion interact with the cultural and scientific worldviews of that day. Science on its own is not enough. The counter-cultural wisdom of theology is necessary for the flourishing of the human and non-human world. At a time of rampant individualism, Christian counter-culturalism stands for interconnected community. At a time of intense consumerism, we insist it is not what we have, but how we treat one another that counts.... At a time of growing nationalism and selfsatisfaction, we remind our nation of its responsibility to the broader world, to pursue peace, to welcome immigrants, to protect the lives of suffering people and refugees. At a time when the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, we insist the moral test of our society is how we treat and care for the weakest among us. In these challenging days, the church community needs to be more than ever a source of clear moral vision and effective action. We are called to be the 'salt of the earth' and 'light of the world' in the words of the gospel of Matthew. The gospel is a powerful, positive statement about the Christian life. The followers of Jesus are both salt and light. Jesus reminds us that this wonderful vision is for the whole world. It is something to be shared and lived out in our service of one another and our promotion of peace and justice in the world. The reading from Isaiah reminds us that this light involves not simply personal piety or religious enthusiasm. It requires solidarity with those in need. It is then that the light is most clear and bright. Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 2 of 7
clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you. Isaiah points out that it involves more than service to the poor and needy. It involves removing oppression. It involves working for social change and liberation for the entire world. It involves awareness of the important issues in our world, social analysis, and learning from those who live the experience of injustice. It involves courageous work for justice and for the transformation of society. I think that congregations like Pitt Street Uniting know this in our bones. But what took my attention when I read the readings this week was the promise of Isaiah that follows the injunction to care for the dispossessed. If you do these things, The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. You shall be like a garden, like a deep spring, where waters never fail. Social justice activists don t always feel like a garden. I ve had times in my life when I ve been run ragged. When I ve felt worn out and burned out. More like a parking lot in the burning sun than a garden, like a deep spring, where waters never fail. Working for peace, for eco-justice, for economic justice, for glbti equality, for fair treatment for refugees are all causes I m passionate about. I know that many of you are deeply committed to social and environmental justice. I would like the engagements that we are about to undertake in the next few months to be held in the light of this promise from Isaiah. You shall be like a garden, like a deep spring, where waters never fail. I am excited at the prospect of being involved in the politics of Australian life. This afternoon, Clare and I will join more than 70,000 glbti people and straight allies at the Mardi Gras Fair Day at Victoria Park. At 2 pm, there will be a mass handholding action in support of glbti people in Russia. The event photo will be the largest contribution to date to the Same Sex Holding Hands Initiative (SSHI). The organisers, Pride House International, hope the photo A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 3 of 7
campaign will have a global impact drawing attention to the discrimination and human rights abuses being suffered by LGBTQI people in Russia. Later in the month, I will take part in the Different Conversation event organized by Surry Hills Baptist Church and be part of the marriage equality actions at Mardi Gras. I am also looking forward to being involved with the Sydney Alliance, doing the two-day training in February and participating with many of you in the Assembly at the Town Hall in March as we address issues of housing and treatment of refugees. In March, we will also support the Uniting Church s week of prayer and fasting for A Destiny Together: Justice for First Peoples. Some of us will travel to Canberra for the vigil on the 18 th March and the week will be acknowledged in our worship that Sunday as we remember the ongoing injustice towards indigenous people. There are lots of significant things for us to DO, but how we will BE? Will we receive the promise that we will be like a garden, like a deep spring, where waters never fail? It seems to me that this poetic image of garden is a timely reminder that our God is about creating and sustaining as well as about liberating. If we are to be salt and light to the world around us, to the city on our doorstep, we need our common life to be grounded in a willingness to embrace justice and seek new forms of community. But not in ways that burn us out and dry us up. We seek to be a community of justice seeking friends that also opens us to receive the promise of God that you shall be like a garden, like a deep spring, where waters never fail. Not just for ourselves but for the city at our door. So now I m going to stop talking and invite you to reflect on that promise as we listen to Allie Newell chant. The recording is 7 minutes long so let your heart open and mind wander. Feel free to sing, and to inhabit the promise that: you shall be like a garden, like a deep spring, where water never fails. May this promise abide with us and in us in all that we doing in making justice and seeking peace. You shall be like a garden chant from Sounds of the Eternal: Meditative Chants and Prayers. J. Philip Newell A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 4 of 7
Listen for words of faith in the Hebrew Scriptures. Isaiah 58:1-12 Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice? Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. For the search for wisdom in ancient times. Thanks be to God! A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 5 of 7
Listen for words of faith in the Gospel. Matthew 5:13-20 You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. We give thanks for the stories of Jesus and his community. Thanks be to God! A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 6 of 7
Listen for wisdom in science. Conclusion On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church: We give thanks for the word of God in scripture and science, we honour the word within us, we seek for the word around us. A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 7 of 7