There is a sad view in the world today that science and theology do not mix.
Like oil and water, or cats and dogs, science and religion just don’t go together.
That’s ridiculous.
That’s absurd.
I want to encourage our young people to take their science classes in school seriously – because the more you study science, the more you are aware of how magnificent God is.
Because Science is really nothing more than a study of what God has done and how he has done it.
In the Old Testament, David understood this. He knew very little about astronomy, but as a shepherd, he spent a lot of time outside under the starry skies, and he knew just by observing the stars that God was a wonderful creator.
In our Old Testament lesson, David wrote,
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what are people that you are mindful of them?
For centuries, many of the great scientists were men and women of faith – in fact, they were ordained ministers who also worked in science.
But in our age, many people have this bias that suggests that science is in conflict with theology.
I read an article this week in a religious magazine that said, “Scientists like Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo pushed God out of the universe that he created.”
Well, that kind of comment simply reveals the writer’s ignorance. Because the last thing these three would ever have wanted was to push God out of the universe. They were, in fact, three devoutly Christian men.
Galileo was a well-read student of theology and had a high view of Scripture. It is true that he got in trouble with the church’s Inquisition – but that was due not so much for his scientific views as for the fact that he and the Pope were good friends, and they had a falling out and Galileo made the mistake of making fun of the Pope.
Kepler was a devout Lutheran who suffered for his religious faith.
Copernicus is remembered as a great astronomer, but he was never a professional astronomer. He was a priest. His father was a bishop and his sister was a nun – and Copernicus dabbled in astronomy.
These three men had two things in common.
First their faith in God.
Second, their scientific belief that the earth was not the center of the universe.
For centuries there had been debate about whether or not the earth was the center of the universe. These three each helped prove the earth was not the center of the universe.
They thought the sun was the center of all creation – well, they were wrong about that, but they were making progress in understanding that the earth was not the center of all creation.
Now when Copernicus presented his arguments, scientists laughed at him. But the church took him seriously. Because the church of his day understood that science was getting it right about God and humanity and our places in the universe.
Humanity is not the center of the universe.
You see, it is not that these scientists pushed God out of the universe – no. What they did was to push humanity out of the center of the universe, and that drives some people nuts!
Because we want to be at the center of all that is.
We want to be the “big deal” of the universe.
Rick Warren in his book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” says in the very first chapter “You are not the center of the universe.” And when people read that, it is a revelation! It was new and exciting and unheard of – but it has been there all along.
We are not the center of the universe.
We are not the most important thing in all that is.
That is exactly the kind of revelation that David was having in his youth while he was in the fields taking care of sheep. He would be out at night looking at the skies, and without the streetlights of our day, he could see all these wonderful stars. And he was moved. He was inspired.
When you listen to the words of our Old Testament lesson, you can see David as a young shepherd tending sheep at night, looking up at the sky.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what are people that you are mindful of them?
And David – well, he knew nothing compared to what we know of the universe.
We’ve got the Hubble Space Telescope. We get these magnificent views from space.
In fact, three times the Hubble Space Telescope has taken pictures of parts of the sky where we can’t see anything. Scientists thought these were absolutely empty parts of space.
You know what these photos revealed?
Galaxies. Not one or two, but hundreds of them. In a space where we thought there was absolutely nothing, there are whole galaxies, with billions of stars – which means that the universe is much bigger than we could ever imagine. And that means, that God who made this universe, is much bigger than we could ever imagine.
And it means, we are smaller than we thought.
We are nothing in this vast universe.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what are people that you are mindful of them?
We don’t like being nothing.
We like being the center of everything.
But the more we learn about the universe, the smaller we feel. And we reach the point at which we feel like “nobodies.”
And we hate that.
And Christmas comes along, and this feeling of being a “nobody” is magnified.
Our neighbors have a Christmas party and we are not invited. We feel left out. We are nobody.
Our children don’t call, or our parents make plans without us, and we feel left out. We are nobody.
It is the end of the year and our boss piles more and more work on us without a word of thanks or appreciation. We are nobody.
We find ourselves frustrated by traffic. Frustrated by bills. Frustrated by life.
We are nobodies.
In a song written with Paul McCarthey, John Lennon wrote of one such “nobody".
"he’s a real nowhere man
sitting in his nowhere land
making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me."
Sooner or later, we all experience that problem of feeling like a nobody.
No matter how good we are as husband or wives, or parents or children, or as employers or as employees, we simply cannot be good enough, macho enough or feminine enough or smart enough, or skilled enough or beautiful enough, or ANYTHING enough, to ALWAYS satisfy those around us. Sooner or later we are going to have our pride trampled on and our dignity is going to be battered as somebody crudely informs us --- that we are still a nobody.
If not our loved ones, or our work, or society itself, then it will be the very universe of God’s creation.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what are people that you are mindful of them?
Well, that’s the miracle of Christmas.
The universe may be enormous. God may be more magnificent than we can imagine. We may be nothing but a grain of sand in all creation.
But God is so great and God is so powerful and God is so magnificent, that he is able to care about even us.
You see, when we think of our ourselves as nothing more than a grain of sand in a vast universe, we think that God can’t care about us. After all, we could never care about a single grain of sand. How can God?
But God is greater than we are.
And God is more loving than we are.
And God cares about us – small as we may be in this vast universe, God cares about us.
You see, when the young shepherd David looked up at the night sky, he saw God’s creation and marveled and wondered, “What am I in this vast universe that you would care about me?”
But centuries later, other shepherds looked up at the night sky, and this what happened…
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
You see, this is the Good News of Christmas.
It is not that we are great, because we are not.
It is not that science is wrong about how big the universe is and how small we are in this universe – because like it or not, these things are true.
The Good News is that God is so great and God is so powerful and God is so magnificent, that he is able to care about even us.
God has broken through the barriers of the universe and not only sent angels to sing to shepherds, but He also sent His own Son.
The angels told the shepherds “Don’t be afraid.”
We should not be afraid.
We should not be afraid of what science can reveal.
We should not be afraid of how small we are in this universe.
Fear not!
God is great.
And God is powerful.
And God is magnificent.
And God is so loving that he is able to care about even us.
Copyright 2006, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
Sermons are available online and can be found by visiting www.Pittendreigh.com
