Sexagesima

 
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
 
Amidst all the celebrations of Charles Darwin’s 200th anniversary, perhaps you caught the special reports from David Shukman on BBC 1 News about the Galapagos Islands. Like everywhere else on our planet, even the remote parts like the Antarctic, the ecology of the Galapagos is under severe strain – and for the usual reason – selfish, thoughtless human activity. The whole point of the Galapagos of course was that the islands were ‘Man-free’ zones and each island a self contained unit so that Darwin was able to compare similar species which had been left to evolve, undisturbed for millennia. So, do we think to ourselves best leave them that way? Just allow the occasional scientific visit when absolutely necessary? No, of course not! We start to turn up in droves as tourists - shops, restaurants and hotels all have to be built: well you can’t expect us to camp and take our rubbish home, can you? Come on, this is the 21st century! 
 
Of course, by the same token, we haven’t set out deliberately to destroy the Galapagos, or the Rain forests, or the Polar ice cap for that matter. Some of the animals though have been hunted to the point of extinction such as the Giant Tortoise. Other species are heading that way because of human hunters keen to provide us with luxury ivory goods for example, or with some essential ingredient in oriental medicines of highly dubious efficacy. Perhaps it is no surprise that Westerners in particular have also managed to eradicate whole lifestyles of entire peoples who had mastered the art of living in harmony sustainably in their environment: Australian aborigines, Native American Indians and the Kalahari Bushmen spring to mind as examples of this. To think more cosmically for a moment – I have often pondered what life elsewhere in the Universe might be like. Most Sci-Fi stuff imagines a world where the ‘Aliens’ will just want to take us over to enslave us, steal our water or some other vital supply or wipe us out so they can have our planet to themselves – classic psychological projection! But suppose the ‘Aliens’ turned out to be superior in intelligence? Most likely, they’d take one look at our polluted overcrowded planet and avoid us as the slum dustbin of the Universe... Planet Chav? That picture of all the satellites and over junk orbiting earth this week says it all!
 
Well, enough of all this speculation on my part, let’s enjoy the musings of past generations with our Bible readings for today.
I can’t say we are coming down to earth with these passages, in fact they are no less constrained or confined than mine but they are more poetic and profound.
 
Notice all 3 are about Creation but barely a hint of Genesis in sight. The Bible Truth is that there are several different views of Creation. David Paterson has started a list and we’ve got to about 8 at least so far. It livens up the debates with both Prof Richard Dawkins and the ‘Creation fundamentalists no end.
 
In our first extract, taken from Proverbs, Wisdom takes centre stage. The very first created thing in this account is Wisdom: not light and before there was any void or deep or water for the Spirit to hover over – so not at all like Genesis 1’s account. Not much like Genesis 2 either for that matter (which has long been noticed to be incompatible with the Gen 1 version) it is unclear for example at what point humanity come on the scene as this bit is not specifically described just mentioned at the end. What we do get is a wonderful description, perhaps drawn from watching a craftsman roughing out a construction made of wood or a design for metal work? The depths (under the earth) and the springs abounding with water are yet to be,; before the mountains were shaped – already we get the image of a the carpenter or a potter at work – before the earth and fields of first bits of soil had been made: Wisdom was already in existence – the implication being that not only was all made in Wisdom but Wisdom is the most significant element in the whole created order – the integral element and not just the final development. To use an image from ‘Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Universe – it’s the cake itself and not just the cherry on top of the icing – remember from just one small piece of fairy cake the entire universe can be extrapolated – pace Douglas Adams...
 
From verse 27 we get more of a blow by blow commentary: God establishes the heavens (the skies above the earth) and establishes the foundations of the deep (waters below the earth) and then draws a circle upon the deep (think Terry Pratchett’s Disc World here minus the elephants and Turtle!) and gives the sea its limit so as not to overrun the dry earth. The next bit means the fairy cake metaphor breaks down – crumbles even? as Wisdom is beside God ‘like a master worker’ – so Wisdom is also the baker – effecting the Creation – moulding and making. The final bit is simply wonderful: I was daily God’s delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race
What a picture of community and even intimacy this conjures up – it’s official, there is delight in the Universe.
 
Tom Fellowes and I were discussing recently the importance of Beauty as well as Truth as the basis for our thinking. If we had to choose which one would we decide was ultimately the most important That’s your starter for 10 over coffee today! – the writer of this part of Proverbs has most certainly included delight and rejoicing in this account of Creation – not a dry head only exercise then. Wisdom is more than just Truth or Knowledge
 
We’d better look at the second reading now before we run out of time – if such a thing is possible for such a construct within our Universe – that’s one for Ian Walmisley to explain...
 
The map is there to show you that the Christians addressed in this letter live a little inland from the coast of SW Turkey very close to Laodicea and both get a mention in the Revelation. This part of the letter explains the wider, deeper, cosmic significance of Jesus and the purpose of his dying upon the Cross. If we find it a bit mind blowing well that’s because it is! Jesus is described as the image of the invisible God  and the firstborn of all Creation and now see how this writer ascribes to Jesus the same role in Creation our previous author gave to Wisdom: in him all things in heaven and on earth were created: things visible and invisible ...all things have been created through him and for him  - that very last bit ‘for him’ is an extra twist but it is not a little one – this is why Jesus can be called the Alpha and the Omega: Alpha 1st letter of the Greek alphabet so the beginning – everything was created through him; and Omega the last letter of the Greek alphabet so the end – the destiny of all that has been created. So Jesus holds all things together. The fullness of God is to be found in him and it is through him, by means of the Cross, God has reconciled all things: on earth or in heaven. There is nothing outside or beyond God’s reach. I am tempted to say at this point: this is the theologian’s ‘Theory of Everything’ – the current challenge of many physicists.
 
The theological language here though is metaphysical – moving beyond our material Universe and the superficial meaning of language to something beyond the surface, struggling to express something wider and  profounder. In our third reading we have the supreme example of this. Some of the sublime use of language is lost in translation from the original, highly sophisticated Greek. Like the Colossians passage, the total lack of any narrative can mean we get a bit lost. The writer of this Gospel has stretched language to its ultimate to express something ultimately inexpressible. In beginning are his opening words and to get behind all the nuances and echoes this evokes could take a whole book in itself. Once again as with all our readings today we are taken outside and beyond our space-time continuum to a time when there was/is no time.
 
So outside time, history, human experience, was the Word is how we try to translate logoj but this is misleading – the author here does want us to connect to the Genesis 1 account of Creation: And God said  Let there be Light  but we must understand that logoj is not just connected to our word logic to mean thought or utterance alone. Make it into an adjective: logikoj and we can translate this as spiritual – Here we have something which is alive, life affirming, transforming – just like light piercing the darkness. Want to go on and learn more about this passage? You’ll have to come to my Greek classes!
 
 
 
All three readings today are about origins and not just of the species but about the firstborn, the beginning and the entirety of all things – truly cosmic. It is vital we see that these passages stir up ideas and images which are metaphysical – they grew out of the scientific understanding of their own times but should not be mistaken for the science itself.  The point is to appreciate the awe and wonder of life and our planet and our Universe and from that sense of wonder to tap into Wisdom to find our place within Creation, living sustainably, nurturing all living things, delighting and rejoicing in God’s world. As we stretch out our hands to receive the consecrated bread and wine today let us reflect that we hold in our hands the Body of Christ in whom all things hold together: and so we are given the entirety of Creation, the fullness of God, the Wisdom of God. Feed on it, be nurtured by it, live by it rejoicing before God and in God’s inhabited world always,
 
 
 
Amen.