Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief 2. The Risk of Love (maker of heaven and earth) Sunday, February 1, 2009 10 to 10:50 am, in the Parlor Presenter: David Monyak
Primary Reference Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, Rowan Williams, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, London, 2007
Primary Reference Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, Rowan Williams, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, London, 2007
The Most Revd. Rowan Williams is the 104 th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 27th February 2003
Born 1950 Studied theology at Cambridge DPhil at Oxford 1975 Priest 1978 1977 to 1992: taught theology at Cambridge and Oxford 1986: Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at the University of Oxford 1991: Bishop of Monmouth in Anglican Church of Wales 1999: Archbishop of Wales Dec 2002: confirmed as the 104th bishop of the See of Canterbury Considered by many the best Protestant theologian in the world today Also a noted poet and translator of Welsh poetry
Tokens of Trust An Introduction to Christian Belief Jan 25. Who Can We Trust? (I believe in God the Father almighty) Feb 1: The Risk of Love (maker of heaven and earth) Feb 8: A Man for All Seasons (and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord) Feb 15: The Peace Dividend (He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again) Feb 22: God in Company (And I believe in one catholic and apostolic Church) Mar 1: Love, Actually (I look for the resurrection of the dead)
O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. For Joy in God s s Creation, Book of Common Prayer, p. 814
Last Week: 1. Who Can We Trust? (I believe in God the Father Almighty)
1. Who Can We Trust? I I Believe When we say I I believe in God the Father Almighty, we are proclaiming: I take refuge in God the Father Almighty I put my trust in God the Father Almighty God is where I belong God is who I have confidence in to keep me safe God is where I find the anchorage of my life God is where I find solid ground, home
1. Who Can We Trust? A Trustworthy God We can be confident God is a trustworthy God because: 1. The testimony of the scriptures tells us so: Through Jesus and the events around Jesus life, God has at last made his purposes clear God has shown us God s s agenda 2. God is the creator: God is, in simple terms, sublimely and eternally happy to be God, and the fact that this sublime eternal happiness overflows into the act of creation is itself a way of telling us that God is to be trusted absolutely, that God has no private agenda
1. Who Can We Trust? An Almighty Father Almighty applied to God means: There is no place where God is absent, powerless or irrelevant There is no situation where God is at a loss God always has the capacity to do something fresh and different, to bring something new out of a situation God s love never exhausts its resources Therefore there is no situation in which we cannot rely upon God: we can trust God as we could a loving parent
1. Who Can We Trust? A Real God Faith often begins with belief, belief, trust in the lives of some believing people. Some people do take responsibility for making God credible in the world through their lives. Example: Etty Hillesum,, a young Jewish women captured by the Germans in Holland in 1941, who died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz in November 1943 at the age of 29 In the darkest of times, Etty felt called to bear witness to the fact that God lived, to commend You [God] to the heart of others
This Week: 2. The Risk of Love (maker of heaven and earth)
The Idea of God
The Idea of God Why Take Seriously the Idea of God? Taking seriously the significance of a life such as Etty Hillesum s may point us towards God if we ve already accepted the idea there might be an entity called God But why should we take the language about God seriously? Why should we take seriously the idea there is such an entity as God?
The Idea of God Arguments for God s s Existence Arguments for God's existence usually invite us to look at the world as a single whole 1. We have a stubborn intuition that it is a fair question to ask where it all comes from. 2. Modern science tells us that there is a first event, a point from which the universe (as we know it) begins as a whole to expand
The Idea of God Arguments for God s s Existence If there is an apparently endless line of dominoes knocking itself over one by one... somewhere there was a domino that was nudged! - George, the philosophy professor in Tom Stoppard s play Jumpers In our complex world of continuously changing energy and movement, cause and effect, What ultimately energizes? What keeps the world from collapsing into incoherence and randomness?
The Idea of God Arguments for God s s Existence Trying to answer such questions gives rise to the idea that our universe is a related to another reality that: Holds or includes our universe A reality so utterly consistent with itself, so unaffected by other activity, that this reality is its own explanation, its own cause, cause, eternal and unchanging: God Asking If God made the world, who made God? in this other reality of God makes no sense
Not A Clockmaker God
Not A Clockmaker God CAUTION CAUTION: thinking about God as: The one who long ago nudged the first domino and is sitting back watching (or yawning) as the domino line continues to fall; The watchmaker who long ago made a watch (= the universe) and is now busy elsewhere; The brilliant academic who wrote great works long ago (=our universe) and is now in retirement Is NOT biblical. It is not what Christians believe (or Jews and Muslims).
Not A Clockmaker God Creation is on-going Creation is On-Going The beginning point was the beginning of active relationship that has never stopped. For God to create is for God to commit his action, his life, to sustaining a reality that is different from him, and doing so without interruption.
Analogy: Not A Clockmaker God The Current of Divine Activity The universe: a glowing light bulb God: the electrical current that is flowing here and now to keep the bulb lit The current of divine activity is here and now making us real. If God s s attention slipped for a moment, creation would disappear.
Not A Clockmaker God The White Heat At the Center of All God's action is on-going going,, a white heat at the center of everything Implications: each one of us is already in a relationship with God before we've ever thought about it every object or person we encounter is in a relationship with God before they're in a relationship of any kind with us.
Not A Clockmaker God God Versus What is Not God Creation is an action of God that sets up a relationship between God and what is not God. Eternally, there is just God And time begins when God speaks to call into being a world that is different and so establishes a reality that depends on him. It depends on him moment by moment, carried along on the current of his activity
Not A Clockmaker God An Outpouring of Life From God We may look at something that seems unmoving and unchanging, like the pillars of a cathedral or the peaks of a mountain, but what is within and beyond it is an intense energy and movement. The scientist will tell us that at the heart of every apparently solid thing is the dance of the subatomic particles. The theologian will want to add that at the heart of the subatomic particles is an action and motion still more basic, beyond measure and observation the outpouring of life from God.
Not A Clockmaker God Seeing Everything in Relation to God Creation isn't a theory about how things started; as St Thomas Aquinas said, it's a way of seeing everything in relation to God.
Not A Clockmaker God CAUTION: Not Pantheism The idea of God as the white heat at the center of everything may make it seem that there is no real difference between God and the world (= pantheism ) God is distinct from God s s creation: God makes what isn't him and sets up a free and loving relationship with it all If there were no creation, God would be the same God, no less in glory and beauty
The Problem of Evil
The Problem of Evil Suffering and Disasters If the white heat of God is at the heart of everything every object, every process why does God allow and sustain suffering and disaster, cancers and tsunamis? It is a fair question, a justified protest: Human pain must be taken seriously No one s s suffering is insignificant, just a statistic
The Problem of Evil A World of Regularity and Change Some points to keep in mind as we try to approach some partial answer to this question: This world is different from God. It is a world of regularity, but also complex interactions, interconnections, and change Innumerable interactions and interconnections mesh to make things happen The Butterfly Effect: the flap of a butterfly s s wing in Asia can contribute to a whirlwind in Europe In such a universe, the processes of change may not always be smooth or gradual; there may be cataclysms, violent moments when the interactions are explosive.
The Problem of Evil A World of Regularity and Change Some points to keep in mind as we try to approach some partial answer: This universe of regularity, and also interactions, interconnections and change has brought into being a world of natural wonders, and with life and intelligence If God had made a universe with little interaction, little interconnection and change, a world of isolated systems where cataclysmic interactions could not happen, could the universe have given rise to its present wonders, to life and intelligence? If God had made a universe with a perpetual safety net, could we call it a world at all, a world with it own integrity and regularity?
The Problem of Evil Facing Tragedy These points do not make tragedy easier to face. Yet in protesting Why God do you allow suffering? we must also: Imagine what kind of world it would be if God simply aborted any process that might pose a risk to living creatures. Not forget to take seriously lives like Etty Hillesum,, that witness to and make God credible to the world, even in the midst of the most horrendous suffering
A Risky World
A Risky World God s s Purpose in Creation So did God make a risky world? Yes! And God takes the riskiness to an extreme point in making a world in which creatures with minds and freedom emerge God's purpose in creation is to bestow as much of his being and life and joy as is possible and that includes pouring out his freedom. A God who poured out all aspects of his being and life except freedom would be a God who refused the challenge of real difference at its toughest level.
A Risky World God s s Purpose in Creation Thus, as the Bible tells us in Genesis, creation reached a climax point when beings who reflect him more fully than anything else beings capable of choice and of love emerged. In other words: beings who reflected the image and likeness of God
A Risky World An Even Riskier Creation When beings reflecting the image and likeness of God emerged, the riskiness of creation took on new heights. Not only are there now threats from natural processes,, but in addition, there are threats from human choices: both stupid choice, and choices deliberately hostile to God
A Risky World Trusting God in a Risky World The fact that God has created such a risky world with beings who show something of God's liberty, God's love, God's ability to make new things and relationships, shows how serious God is about creation. God does not guarantee our safety in this risky creation, but God is always present, free to move things on even in the most desperate situations. In the Old Testament, Job was aware of God s s presence, when, after suffering indescribable loss and anguish, he says, If he kills me, I shall still trust him (Job 13.15). Today there are people in similar situations saying similar things.
Prayer and Miracles
Prayer and Miracles An Almighty God Doesn t t the Bible seem to show a world where God is almighty, can perform miracles, miracles, imposing his will whenever and wherever he wants? If so: Why does God intervene there, and not here? Why are some prayers apparently answered, and some not?
Prayer and Miracles An Almighty God Recall (from session 1) the meaning of almighty = power that: Is a steady swell of loving presence Always at work in the center of everything Opening doors to the future even when we can see no hope
Prayer and Miracles God s s Response to Prayer How the Almighty God does NOT respond to prayer: Receives prayer as an application on which he makes some marks, then forwarding it on for major action (AKA miracle) or minor action by an angelic civil service. Or throwing into the trash bin. Can be battered into answering (finally!) by a heavy campaign of praying Can be influenced by a salutary turn of phrase or inside connections (prayers to saints in heaven who can intervene on your behalf)
Prayer and Miracles God s s Response to Prayer How then does God respond to prayer? How might God act in the world? St. Augustine: miracles are really just natural processes speeded up a bit, fast-forwarded If God is actively sustaining the universe: the white heat at the heart of everything, the divine current that keeps the universe in being then perhaps we should not think of God s s miracles and answers to prayer as things in competition with God s s sustaining of the universe
Prayer and Miracles God s s Response to Prayer God is always at work, but it is not always visible. Sometimes the world's processes go with the grain of his purpose and sometimes against it. At times the processes of the world can come together in a way which: Makes the world more transparent to the underlying action of God Gives God extra freedom to maneuver in our universe Perhaps something we think, say or do, an intense prayer, or a holy life, can open the world up a bit more to God's purpose so that unexpected things happen.
Prayer and Miracles God s s Response to Prayer This picture may help a bit in understanding why some prayers are answered and others are not. We can never know all the processes present in a given situation that may open the door further to God s s action or close it further. But our prayer, or some act of love or devotion, may be one of the innumerable factors in a situation that shifts the balance of events and open the door further to God s s action.
Prayer and Miracles Jesus Miracles Do we explain the miracles of Jesus in the same way? In Jesus, we have prayer and holiness in unique intensity, so the door to God s s action is always more open in the vicinity of his human reality However, even Jesus couldn t t do anything he wanted: Jesus noted he needed to have the trust of people to cure them. Then Jesus said to them, Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house. And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. (Mark 6:4-5 5 NRS)
Prayer and Miracles Jesus Miracles Jesus miracles happen when: his boundless compassion comes together with other elements in the situation, such as the trust of the suffering person, or of their parents or friends. The miracle is: 1. the action of God, and 2. the fruit of making room for God in the world by prayer, confidence in God, and receptivity to God.
Prayer and Miracles Miracles and God s s Active Presence God has mysteriously made a world where the processes of the world, and in particular, human beings, can help or hinder God s s purposes. Our prayers and good thoughts, a holy life can help make the world more transparent to God s s purposes, and then unpredictable things miracles can happen. To reject the possibility of miracles may reflect a rejection of God s s active presence in creation, a belief in a watchmaker God who is no longer actively involved in the world.
Prayer and Miracles Miracles and God s s Active Presence The vision that a young William Blake had on Peckham Rye in 1767 a vision of a a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars is closer than we might think to reality: God is both invisible and inscrutable on the one hand, and, on the other, almost unbearably close wherever we are and whatever is happening. [The world] may not be secure but is pulsing with something unmanageable, terrible and wonderful just below its surface.
All Things Visible and Invisible
Things Visible and Invisible More Than We Can Grasp To say we believe in a God who creates heaven and earth and... all things visible and invisible acknowledges: Creation is more than we can get our minds around. Some of it we can grasp, and some of it we can t. Creation has unfathomable dimensions to it, hidden realities, hidden connections
Things Visible and Invisible Angels Angels in Christian teaching: even if you are not inclined to believe literally in angels, they can still be a powerful symbol that: round the corner of our vision things are going on in the universe, glorious and wonderful things, of which we know nothing
Things Visible and Invisible Angels In the Bible angels are often rather terrifying beings occasionally sweeping across the field of our vision; they do God strange services that we don't fully see; they provide a steady backdrop in the universe of praise and worship. They are great beasts, living creatures,, flying serpents burning with flames, carrying the chariot of God, filling the Temple in Jerusalem with bellows of adoration, echoing to one another like whales in the ocean.
Things Visible and Invisible All Things All things visible and invisible emphasizes God is responsible for everything. When the Creeds were written, there were rival ideas: This world was not made by God, but by some second class (and incompetent) divinity Or some of this world was made by God, and some of it by an evil divinity, a rival of God.
Things Visible and Invisible All Things But as Christians, we proclaim God made it all, all things visible and invisible. Implications: Since what God made was good; nothing (and no one) is bad by nature The whole range of human experience, and natural phenomena, and process is of concern to God.
Things Visible and Invisible Every Aspect of Myself That God made it all, all things visible and invisible, also has a deeply personal meaning for each of us: the possibility of an whole or integrated life in the light of God. We have only a confused and fearful and partial picture of ourselves: There are things in our lives that we are aware of, and things we are not aware of, or have swept under the rug We have learned to make good use of some of what God has given us, and we've made a mess of some of the rest, or just haven't come to terms with it Our pasts are speckled with successes, but also are littered with failures, with broken and unfulfilled relationships, with lost and missed opportunities.
Things Visible and Invisible Every Aspect of Myself But all that we are is the working out of what God has made. God has made us in our entirety,, and is concerned about all of us. (This is not the same as saying that anything we choose to do is fine)
Things Visible and Invisible Every Aspect of Myself Every aspect of who we are can and needs to be brought into the circle of God's light, because he can deal with all of it. This also means that every facet of the human experience, such as politics, sports, economics, art, are of interest to God.
Things Visible and Invisible Every Aspect of Myself He can lead us gently to face what we find unacceptable and learn how to make it meaningful by his grace. He can draw the scattered bits of myself together. He is not going to be bored, disgusted or impatient with anything he has made, even when we have made a mess of it for ourselves. It s in this way that the creating God and the forgiving God belong absolutely together