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| Pastor's Message |
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| September, 2003 |
"The central trouble in the religious thinking of many people lies here: the new knowledge of the universe has made their childish thoughts of God inadequate, and instead of getting a worthier and larger idea of God to meet the new need, they give up all vital thought about God whatsoever."
Harry Emerson Fosdick
The Meaning of Prayer, 1913
The Meaning of Prayer, 1913
Mars came as close to earth as it has for the last 50,000 years precisely on my 47th birthday. Astronomers have been as excited as teenagers for the whole summer. The newspaper ran a list of places where ordinary folks could go on August 27th to take part in this rare event. We were all invited to participate in this unique occasion where the solar system seemed to be singing "It's a Small World."
Since Fosdick's critique of childish notions of God, we've learned so much more of the immensity and dynamism of God's Creation. We've gone from Joshua's flat earth view of the "sun standing still in the heavens" to an ability to specify the exact position of the planets in the past or future.
In retrospect, I think Mars' proximity was a lost opportunity for us Christians. All too often the wider world hears about us only by our squabbles. I wish Christians of all persuasions had taken our children and grandchildren up to Mount Hamilton, held a Taize service where we chanted and read Psalms, and each of us then peeked into the telescope during a velvety dark silence. Have I lived in California too long?
As we waved to the Red Planet during the Benediction, I suspect young and old would have been inspired to sing praise to the One who "stretched the spangled banners." Our childish thoughts of a petty diety could only have expanded in all the starlight.
Don't we each long to stretch our prayers and lives towards a "worthy, large and vital" God?
Rebecca