Big History -- FPC sermon excerpt

It’s the beginning of time. 13.7 billion years ago. The Big Bang. God says, “Let there be light,” and there is light (Genesis 1:3). The universe suddenly appears, growing from size of an atom to size of a galaxy. All in the fraction of a second.

10 billion years ago. At the center of a supernova, hydrogen atoms and helium atoms fuse. Together, they create the building blocks of the physical world.

4.6 billion years ago. A cloud of matter collapses, and produces a star — our Sun. Earth and the other planets in our solar system form out of the bits of matter swirling around the new star.

67 million years ago. An asteroid collides with the Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. Territory is now open for the rise of the early mammals.

80,000 years ago. A species of ape-like creatures begins to move out of Africa and into Asia.

Today, the descendents of those creatures live in nearly every part of the Earth. I’m talking about us — homo sapiens, human beings! We fly through the air in planes, communicate around the world via the Internet, develop theories about the creation of the universe, and worship the God who created us.

We are just one part of God’s Big History.

A historian named David Christian teaches a unique course called “Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity.” It is a class that looks at human history in the context of the many histories that surround it. A review of the 13.7 billion years since the dawn of creation can remind us of how human history is just a small part of the story of what God has been doing throughout the universe.

The writer of Psalm 19 understands this, which is why she begins with the words, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork” (v. 1). This ancient poet looked up into the heavens, and saw the handiwork of God in the sun and moon, the stars and the planets.

My father felt the same way, through his forty years of working for NASA. He looked into space and saw beauty and order, not emptiness and chaos. That is why my family attached this Scripture verse to an observatory and a telescope, given in his memory to our presbytery’s Camp Meadowkirk.

“The heavens are telling the glory of God.” We want children to look at the planets and the stars and see the handiwork of their Creator, the result of billions of years of work.

This is big. Big History.

Lord of the Seas -- FPC sermon excerpt

When I was in high school, my Latin teacher used to have a “word of the day.” Something designed to improve our vocabulary. Well, I’ve got a word of the day for you: Thalassophobia. Know what it means?

Thalassa means “sea” and phobos means “fear,” so thalassophobia is “fear of the sea.”

This is a legitimate phobia, when you think about it — the ocean can be a place of danger and even death. Take to the water, and you have to deal with waves, wind, tides, currents, and ever-changing weather. You know what lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches, don’t you?

A nervous wreck.

Did you like that one? How about this: What did the Atlantic Ocean say to the Pacific Ocean?

Nothing. It just waved.

When you venture out onto the ocean, you want to be surrounded by as large a ship as possible. And fortunately, a monster of a ship has now been launched. Called Oasis of the Seas, it is the largest, tallest, widest, heaviest and costliest passenger ship ever built.

How big is it? According to The Atlantic magazine (June 2009), it dwarfs a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, stands taller than a 20-story building, and carries 8,000 people.

It’s not a boat. It’s a floating city.

Oasis of the Seas features 21 swimming pools including a kids’ water park and two wave pools. Broadway-style productions are offered in a playhouse that seats almost 1,400, while water ballerinas present shows in an outdoor AquaTheater. In the middle of the ship is a green space called Central Park, which is half the size of a football field and full of tropical plants and trees.

Walking in the park, passengers can easily forget that they are at sea.

Now if your thalassophobia kicks in while you are cruising on Oasis of the Seas, you can go inside and enjoy a restaurant, bar, theater or casino. The interior is “a celebration of excess,” writes Rory Nugent; the ship is packed with glitzy Las-Vegas-style amenities and attractions.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,” promises God in the book of Isaiah; “and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you” (43:2). This is a stirring and beautiful passage, but just what exactly is God saying here? Is he promising to give us safe passage through deep water, like Oasis of the Seas?

Or is there something very different about the one who is Lord of the Seas?

God can certainly carry more than 8,000 people through rough waters, but he is not a floating hotel with glitzy Las-Vegas-style amenities. When we look at the features of the Lord who has formed us, we discover not a celebration of excess, but a celebration of creation and redemption.

World-Changing Words -- FPC sermon excerpt

“That’s just words.”

I know you’ve heard people say this, usually with a sneer and a wave of the hand. Maybe you’ve said it yourself. We’ve all been told at one time or another that what’s important is deeds … not words.

But watch out. When we give priority to deeds, we miss the importance of words. The fact is, words have real power.

I really do believe this. From beginning to end, the Bible speaks of the power of what God accomplishes through a word. “In the beginning was the Word,” says the Gospel of John — in the beginning was the Word, not the Deed. And “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1).

Genesis reports that “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (1:3). God did not build a light-generating machine, but instead God spoke light into being. Then God did the same for the sky, the land, the seas, the plants, the animals, and even humankind itself. On each of the days of creation, God spoke a truly creative word.

According to the prophet Isaiah, God insists that “my word … shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose” (55:11). For God, there is no distinction between deeds and words. For God, words are deeds — God’s words actually accomplish God’s goals.

Words are not empty, according to God. They have real power. And we know this; we feel it. Just think of the power of the words, “I forgive you.” “I love you.” “I welcome you.”

Words can heal and embrace and include.

The significance of God’s word reaches its peak in the New Testament, where we learn that God’s “Word became flesh and lived among us” as Jesus (John 1:14). No longer limited to speech, God’s Word actually takes human form, becomes incarnate, and begins to walk among us as a living and breathing expression of God’s grace and truth. Word and deed and flesh and spirit all come together in Jesus, to show us what God desires for us. “No one has ever seen God,” claims John in his gospel. “It is God the only Son … who has made him known” (1:18).

Word. It shall not return to God empty, but shall accomplish God’s goals. Word. It became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth. Word. It walks the earth as Jesus, reaching out with forgiveness and love and hospitality.

Words have power to bring light into darkness, accomplish God’s purposes, and deliver a much-needed message of grace and truth. They can be seriously powerful, right, and good. They can even change the world.