May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight. Amen Good Morning Today I would like to take a look at a part of the school prayer. True Religion Religion by definition is something that we do, or believe that helps us to reconnect to something larger than ourselves. Many of us have been a part of some sort of almost religious ritual in support of our favourite sports teams. We put funny hats on, we dress in strange coloured clothing and we recite chants. We place people on a pedestal if they happen to be exceptional at kicking a ball or shooting it through a hoop. Desire for religion is in all of us and it tends to take on many forms throughout the world. From the dogmatic pragmatism of an American preacher,
to the ritualistic pilgrimage of the Hajj where millions of Muslims travel to Mecca.
From the ancient Hindu worship on the banks of the river Ganges, to the diverse beliefs of Japan. Does religion, or rather do the acts and practices of religion reconnect us with something larger. What is it about taking time out of our lives to pray that helps us to understand and appreciate God? How does giving to people in need help us to grow closer to God? Why should we have respect for our parents? Why should we love our neighbours, or our enemies for that matter? As I ve told you before I studied Mathematics and I have taught Mathematics for a number of years. My education as a mathematician started as a young pup, learning the basics. My education started with addition and consisted of 45 minutes of being drilled on basic facts every day. As I moved onto Multiplication the foundation of my skills became a rote memorisation of my times tables. We had timed tests, where we were required to complete 50 problems in two minutes.
There were journeys into factors and multiples, all with a very basic understanding of how things worked but a very minimal amount of true comprehension for why things were. I can remember a smartish member of my class asking our teacher why we had to do all of this memorisation. Essentially he was asking why our otherwise engaging teacher turned into an authoritarian dictator when it was time for mathematics. The teacher s reply was just that it was good for us to learn the basics. The almost religious dogma that my teachers had for filling my mind with the reflexive answer to 12x7 was never connected to any purpose outside of the classroom. As I moved onto High School my understanding of the fundamentals served me well and I earned respectable, possibly not exceptional, results. I could have easily left it at that, a basic understanding of the laws of mathematics. I could have capitalised on my knowledge by becoming a doctor, an engineer, or an accountant. However, for some silly reason I continued to pursue a study of Mathematics into year 13. Something strange happened then, my basic understanding of my times tables began to take on a life of their own as my mind began to make connection between all of the information that had been drilled into my brain for the previous 12 years of my life to the application of appreciating and understanding the wider world that I was about to enter. My understanding for mathematics gave me an appreciation of logic and philosophy as I pursued an understanding of truth and a deeper understanding of reality. Many of the philosophers of western society, people that have shaped the way that we perceive and interact with each other and our world made fundamental contributions to Mathematics. Their discoveries broadened my horizons.
I learned to connect my understanding of Mathematics to the pursuit of beauty and aesthetics. The ideas of Pythagoras that linked to the understanding of the Golden Ratio. A numerical ratio that is represented in such natural phenomena as the growth patterns of trees and the spiral shapes of snail shells, is equally beautiful when used to create art and architecture. The man made world and the natural world intersecting through something that transcended both of them. The same mathematical principals that had helped me to appreciate the visual and natural world, opened my ears to an appreciation of music.
I learned to appreciate the relationship between harmony and dissonance. I understood rhythm as not just the beat but also the silence between beats. I had been given a very thorough and fundamental understanding of Mathematics. My teachers had drilled me, my parents had hounded me, I had gone through the motions with no comprehension as to why I was doing it. However, this laid the foundation for me to be able to understand and appreciate the world in a much broader scope than just reading about it in a book. Through my learning came true comprehension. Knowledge that doesn t just stick around long enough to pass a test, but knowledge that shapes the way you interact in the world. When we look at religion and it is easy to try to minimise its significance in our daily life. We can look past the relevance in our day to day existence and write it off as a cultural relic. Sometimes we go through the motions without knowing why, sometimes things can seem like they are an act, and sometimes they involve funny hats. However, much like a journey through education, we do and learn these things so that when the time comes in our lives for us to grow, when we are called on to have a broader perspective, when we must have the foundations of our actions planted firmly into a foundation that is built on values, then we will have an appreciation of what it truly means to be a spiritual being. Someone who is more than our religious traditions. As we come to chapel, attend church, go to youth groups, please work to learn the fundamentals of our religion. Grow to understand the foundations of our belief. Learn to find the hope, peace, and love that should be at the very root of all of our actions. When the time comes you will have a truly deep understanding and appreciation your purpose on earth.
Let true religion, sound learning, and good sportsmanship here forever flourish and abound.