Cosmos Sunday Background Reading
Cosmos Sunday – For leaders of the church service.
Introduction.
Trying to create a liturgy for this Sunday presents a real challenge, but of course, with every challenge, comes a great opportunity. There is quite a bit of background reading, all of which, which I encourage you, is necessary to read. Without it, you may not understand the basis on which I build my suggested liturgy. There is quite a bit about the Cosmos.
I present something significantly different to that which is presented on the Internet.
For me, the material on the Internet, (Liturgy – Cosmos Sunday 1, Liturgy – Cosmos Sunday 2, and the Liturgy USA – Cosmos Sunday 1) are all examples, I believe, of unsuccessful ways of trying to connect the concept of the Cosmos to biblical concepts and trying to expand the churchgoers’ ideas about our home Earth, to ideas of the Cosmos. An example of this is when the writer of the internet order of service states, ‘Your presence pulses through all galactic space across light years of time’. Obviously, the writer does not understand the term ‘Light Year’. ‘Light Year’ is a measure NOT a measure of time. It is a measure of distance. It is like saying, ‘A kilometre or 500 yards of time’.
This Sunday in the Season of Creation series should centre on the Cosmos. For this church service we must realise that, when talking about the whole Cosmos, we are dealing with a ‘world view’ of reality that has changed dramatically over the centuries. The ‘world view’ presented by biblical writers bears no resemblance to what we think today, to what astronomy and cosmology have uncovered for us. To be honest to the theme, and to give the congregation the adult respect they deserve, we must engage with our ‘world view’ of today. I have offered, in the Background Reading, some pictures of some of the Cosmos, taken recently by telescopes. This is scientific stuff, but I believe our church services should reflect where we are at, regarding our understandings of reality.
Even theological or poetical representations of the biblical ‘world view’, do not disguise the fact, that during the past 3000 years, since the Bible was written, our ‘world view’ have changed radically. ‘The Cosmos’ is a totally foreign concept to the biblical writers. It was also totally foreign to Jesus’ thinking and plays no part in his teachings. Galaxies, nebulae, the Big Bang etc., were not part of his understanding or imagination. This is not a negative criticism: it is just a statement of fact. He was a 1st Century person.
This Season of Creation Sunday presents us with the stark reality of how difficult it is to try to use biblical teachings, and orthodox church teaching which springs from those, to have a conversation with what modern knowledge has given us. From a different culture, from 2-3 thousand years ago and from a different understanding of reality and how it works, biblical readings and accompanying teachings, need to be used with extreme caution, if at all.
It is pleasing that there is a Sunday given to ‘Planet Earth Sunday’ on the Internet, because the two themes for Planet Earth and the Cosmos are totally different. The liturgy mentioned above (Liturgy – Cosmos Sunday 1, Liturgy – Cosmos Sunday 2, and the Liturgy USA – Cosmos Sunday 1) are not suitable for a ‘Cosmic’ liturgy. They do invite those gathered to think beyond our own speck of the Cosmos, but they are saturated with comments and ideas about the Earth. ‘Earth’ is mentioned over a dozen times, sometimes connecting it to the Cosmos, but many times, not. All comments are about the Earth belong to a ‘Planet Earth Sunday’ liturgy.
I hope, that if you do have a Cosmos Sunday, you will find some of the following useful. However, if it is all too difficult, and my suggested liturgy is too different when compared with a ‘normal’ church service, you might wish to skip over it all, and concentrate only on a ‘Planet Earth Sunday’ service. If, however, you find only some parts of the suggested liturgy too difficult or too long, you could delete bits and use other bits.
Moving forward with my Cosmic Sunday offerings.
Because the Cosmos is a ‘new’ theme, not really connected to the Bible, some serious teaching needs to be done. I try to do some of this through ‘conversations’ in the liturgy.
Aims and objectives
Main Aim.
To celebrate the profound wonder of the unknowable, creative, energy, Life-force mystery within the unity of the whole Cosmos. To celebrate the profound wonder that this same motivating, creative, energy, Life-force mystery, which saturates and sustains the Cosmos, is united to all life, and is thus, active in all our own lives, here and now. To accept that we humans are part of the Cosmos, always have been and always will be, can prompt profound thanksgiving and awe.
Other important aims are,
1. To introduce the concept of the Cosmic Christ.
2. To address the size and age of the Cosmos.
3. To look at the Hebrew ideas of the ‘Heavens and the Earth’.
4. To accept that Cosmos’ thinking, played no part in the teachings of Jesus.
Resources offered (The leader is encouraged to choose from these resources below, and use them, if so wished.)
A. Background reading about the basis of my liturgy.
B. Background reading and commentaries on Bible readings.
C. Modern information about the Cosmos and our belonging in it.
Some 21st Century information is given (Some of it may be new to you.), as well as a diagram with biblical quotes, detailing the Hebrew ideas about creation.
D. Suggestions for congregational participation.
Dialogues, individual contributions, and a children’s activity are all included in the suggested liturgy.
E. Lyrics to traditional hymn tunes.
Some sets of original lyrics are used in the suggested liturgy.
F. Prayers and Prayer suggestions.
A Creation Prayer, and suggestions for other prayers are included in the suggested liturgy.
A suggested liturgy.
The suggested liturgy below takes about 45 minutes minutes, which includes time for congregational participation, the children’s activity, and sharing of it with the congregation, etc. It is suggested that, without interrupting the flow of the service, short commentaries could be given, to explain some of the Bible readings, or other matters which you feel are important, and need some explanation.
Resources detailed
A. Background reading regarding the basis of my Liturgy.
1. Some church contemporary history - not directly on the theme but information about the Bible.
There were other ancient gospels written, available and used in worship and for instruction by the early church, e.g., the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth. etc. These other gospels were not included in the New Testament, as we have it today. Some church leaders have suggested, very seriously, that some of these gospels should have been included originally, back when the Canon was closed.
A group of church leaders, called the New Orleans Council, was recently initiated by Dr Hal Taussig, retired Professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He, with 19 other scholars and spiritual leaders within the church, over an extended period of time, researched a large number of ancient documents, which were available to be included in the original New Testament, but were not. Many ancient documents, some fragmented and others more complete in their preservation, have been discovered in the last 60 to 100 years in various parts of Egypt and the Middle East, including the more famous Dead Sea Scrolls. Much research and scholarly discussion has taken place about many of these ancient documents, but that has not filtered down to regular churchgoers.
This council, organized by Dr Taussig, asked the question as to which of these newly discovered ancient documents, if any, should be considered worthy enough to be included in a new Canon, to create A New New Testament. Taussig has actually written and published a book entitled, A New New Testament. After their deliberations, the New Orleans Council voted that 10 more documents were worthy to be included in A New New Testament. These extra books include The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, The Gospel of Truth, These are all included in Taussig’s book, inserted in what were considered appropriate places.
On Taussig’s book, A New New Testament, Marcus Borg comments,
(This book is) important both historically and theologically. Readers will not be able to see the New Testament in the same way again.
There are twenty-seven books in the traditional New Testament, but the earliest Christian communities were far more vibrant than that small number might lead you to think. In fact, many more scriptures were written and were just as important as the New Testament in shaping early-Christian communities and beliefs. Over the past century, many of those texts that were lost have been found and translated, yet are still not known to much of the public; they are discussed mainly by scholars…. In A New New Testament Hal Taussig is changing that. With the help of nineteen important spiritual leaders, he has added ten of the recently discovered texts to the traditional New Testament, leading many churches and spiritual seekers to use this new New Testament for their spiritual and intellectual growth.
Amongst these 10 documents, I have personally found the gospels of Mary and of Truth very helpful. I have included readings from these gospels in my suggested liturgy.
2. A comment about my concept of God - not directly on the theme but basic to the content of the liturgy.
This is not unrelated to Cosmic Sunday, but I use it as part of the background to the main aim, and what I build this Sunday’s liturgy on.
The whole biblical story is saturated with anthropomorphic images of God; God imaged as a superhuman, with human bodily features, doing human things, having human emotions and attitudes. God, the Creator, is one of the most commonly used of these, both in the Bible and in liturgies of the church services I attend these days. My beliefs are not anthropomorphic but filled with mystery; the unknowable, creative, energy, Life-force mystery. Instead of referring to God the Creator, I talk of ‘God Beyond’. Hence the following.
I have replaced this separate, anthropomorphic, theistic, almighty, Creator/God, with an awesome, inherent presence, a divine dimension to and ‘in’ everything, the entire Cosmos, including our solar system and Earth and its nature; - God Beyond. God Beyond is the divine dimension of all that is, including all that which is ‘beyond’, outside me. God Beyond is that which is not restricted to me or my understanding, but not distant from me or outside my experience. I find the phrase ‘God Beyond’ is appropriate, because nearly everything is beyond me. Other people, trees, ants and animals, rocks, moon, stars, books, cars, houses, galaxies, most atoms, microbes, and bacteria are outside, beyond me. Life is not limited to my life. There is much more. Existence is not limited to my existence. There is much, much more. This is so obvious; I find it rather silly highlighting it!
I, others, and everything else have limitations but, God Beyond has none. I experience God Beyond when I experience that inherent, unknowable, creative, energy, Life-force mystery, that fundamental fabric, that Ground of Being of everything that is, that has happened, happens, and will happen. My experience of God Beyond includes all that I see and all my encounters because God is the divine dimension of all I see and all I encounter. (Details about this can be found on my website at https://sites.google.com/view/george-stuart, using the red links ‘My Book’ in ‘Area 1 of Questioning’. ‘Area 1’ deals with God Beyond, God within, and God Between. Contact me for a copy if you wish to buy one.)
The belief I have in God is clearly stated, for me, by Matthew Fox in his book, ’Original Blessing’, when he says,
The idea that God is ‘out there’ is probably the ultimate dualism, divorcing as it does God and humanity and reducing religion to a childish state of pleasing or pleading with a God ‘out there’. All theism sets up a model paradigm of people here and God out there.
What is the solution to the killing of God and the losing of human soul? It is our moving from theism to panentheism.
Panentheism is altogether orthodox …, for it slips in the little Greek word ‘en’ and thus means, ‘God is in everything and everything is in God.’ This experience of the presence of God in our depth … in all the blessings and suffering of life, is a mystical understanding of God.
As a panentheist, I believe that God is in everything, including the whole Cosmos and even you and me. (This again is detailed in my book, in the same, ‘Area 1 of Questioning’, referenced above.)
B. Background reading and commentaries on Bible readings.
Bible readings suggested in the internet liturgy for Cosmos Sunday.
I’m not sure that any Bible reading, dealing with the structure of the ‘Cosmos', can be used for this Cosmos Sunday. If a passage is used it must be used with caution because the writers of the bible had no idea about the Cosmos. It plays no part in their imagination. They spoke of the ‘Heavens and the Earth’; a totally different concept to the Cosmos or Universe. That created the limits of their understanding. Some biblical passages may be useful, but I believe they will need a very extended interpretation. We must admit that we also, have limits to our understandings. Numerous limits! Later in these background notes, is a diagram of what the bible writers were writing about, when referring to the ‘creation’.
Some of the exegetical notes, accompanying the readings suggested on the Internet, use the words ‘Cosmos’ and ‘Universe’. I might be being a little pedantic, but by using these words, they are indirectly suggesting that the biblical writers were referring to what we know now. That is not the case. What we know now, was totally outside their 2-3 thousand old imaginations.
The suggested readings are -
Proverbs 8:22-31.
This reading gives an introduction of an anthropomorphic ‘Wisdom’ as a female entity, accompanying the male God at creation. With the limited time available in church services, I believe that, for this particular Sunday, if new information is to be taught by the leader, it should be about the ‘Cosmic Christ’, or should arise from our 21st Century human imagination, much of which has to do with science, and not with ancient Hebrew teachings.
‘…before the beginning of the Earth... ’ in verse 23, is not the beginning of the Cosmos. We know now that the Earth came into being billions of years after the beginning of the Cosmos. This passage refers not to the Cosmos but to the Earth, the oceans, springs, mountains, hills, fields and dust of the Earth, the heavens, the clouds, the sea, the deep, etc.
Verse 28 ‘When he made firm the skies above, when he established the foundations of the deep…’ refers to the 3-tiered creation, as thought of 3000 years ago. This idea has been discarded today.
This is an inappropriate reading, when centring on the Cosmos in a liturgy, and, I believe, should not be used.
Psalm 104:24-26.
Verse 24 raises the proposition that ‘God’ made all things in ‘wisdom’. This time, ‘wisdom’ seems to mean that the male ‘God’ was very wise during ‘his’ creative activity. The Leviathan mentioned in verse 26, is referred to as a ‘domain’. Again, this forms no part of modern human imagination, but is part of 1st Century thinking.
It is an inappropriate reading when centring on the Cosmos and should not be used.
Colossians 1:15-20.
Not by name, but this passage introduces the theological concept of the ‘Cosmic Christ’ and identifies it with Jesus. The Cosmic Christ is a ‘high’ view of Christology which emphasises the divinity - the God nature - of Jesus, and the extent of Jesus Christ's concern for, and influence on the whole Cosmos. The biblical bases for a Cosmic Christology could be found in Colossians, Ephesians, and particularly, for regular churchgoers, in the first few verses of the gospel of John.
The Cosmic Christ can be understood as the creative spirit that is embedded in and makes up everything in the Cosmos. Jesus is the human embodiment of that spirit we can love. This ‘high’ Christology, this Cosmic Christ, does not depend on the historical Jesus, however, Jesus is the manifestation, the incarnation of the Cosmic Christ, to whom we can relate in a human way.
This concept of the Cosmic Christ points me towards a sort of panentheism. In panentheism, it is possible to accept the theological idea of a Cosmic Christ, that inherent and influencing presence, which is God. It is not essential that the Cosmic Christ be linked to the historical Jesus, however, it is virtually impossible to use the term ‘Cosmic Christ’ without it automatically being linked with Jesus.
John 6:41-51.
This Bible passage is built on the premise of a tiered universe, ‘Heaven and Earth’, heaven above and earth below, etc., and as such, these two realms are separate and very different. I believe this passage is not appropriate for a Cosmic Sunday liturgy.
My suggested alternative readings, some of which are from Dr Taussig’s, A New New Testament.
These readings have to do with a creative God being within all things, and all things, especially humans, being within God. Some of the readings refer to the unity of Jesus with God, the Father; some refer to the unity of humans with God.
Maybe one of the best bible readings is Psalm 139:7-10. I have used it in the suggested liturgy. I very strongly suggest that, if these Bible verses are read, they should be followed immediately by a 21st.Centiury imaginative comment like that which is below. I strongly suggest that the biblical verses should not be read unless a 21st Century comment is also given.
Psalm 139:7-10.
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou are there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me and thy right hand shall hold me
Or today we might say: -
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend to the edge of our Solar System or the edge of our galaxy, the Milky Way, thou art there. If I make my bed in the molten centre of the Earth, thou art there.
I can’t, but if I take the wings of light and dwell in the uttermost parts of a galaxy, billions of light years away, even there thy hand shall lead me and thy right hand shall hold me.
The Gospel of Truth 1:1, 2:1-2, 4:5 & 7-8, 27:6-10.
The good news of truth is joy.
All things have searched for the one from whom they have come. All things are within him – the uncontainable, incomprehensible one who surpasses all thought.
He was nailed to a tree and became the fruit of the Father’s knowledge. And he discovered them in himself, and they discovered him in themselves – the uncontainable, the unknowable Father, the one who is full and made all things. All things are in him, and all things have need of him.
And the Father is within them and they are in the Father. They are full and undivided from the one who is truly good. They need nothing at all, but they are at rest, fresh in the spirit, and will listen to their root. They will concern themselves with those things in which they find their root and not suffer loss to their souls. This is the place of the blessed. This is their place
Luke 17: 20-21.
Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, he (Jesus) answered them, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
The Gospel of Mary 4:3.
Beware that no one lead you astray saying, ‘Look over here!’ or ‘Look over there!’ For the Child of Humanity is within you. Follow it!
John 1:1-3, & 9.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
John 14:8-11, 20.
Phillip said to him (Jesus), “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Phillip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me, does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.
Acts 17:28.
For in him we live and move and have our being.
Ephesians 4:4-6.
There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.
1 John 4:12-16.
No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. So, we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
There are many choices from which to pick. I believe these readings can speak for themselves, but if any are used, a short commentary could be appropriate.
C. Modern information about the Cosmos and our belonging in it and to it.
Huge numbers confront us when contemplating the mystery of the Cosmos. Huge numbers!!! A billion is a thousand million. A trillion is a million million. Our whole cosmos contains approximately 200 billion trillion stars. Or, to put it another way, 200 sextillion. That's 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000! With the new Webb telescope, recently launched into space, this estimate may grow considerably.
In the Cosmos, it is estimated that there are about 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies - that’s 2 trillion. Scientific estimates vary quite a bit. Each Galaxy, it is estimated, contains countless stars. Our Galaxy, the Milky Way (pictured below), has about 100–400 billion stars and about the same number of planets. Our Sun is just one of those stars.
The Milky Way is a huge collection of stars, dust and gas and is called a spiral galaxy because if you could view it from top to bottom, it would look like a spinning pinwheel. The Sun is located on one of the spiral arms, a long way away from the centre of the galaxy. Even if you could travel at the speed of light (300,000 kilometres, or 186,00 miles, per second), it would take you about 25,000 years to reach the middle of the galaxy, beginning from its edge.
Cosmologists and astronomers now believe that most stars in the Cosmos have one or more planets that revolve in orbits, around them. Our star, the Sun, has 8 plants, our home Earth being the third closest to it.
Millions, if not billions, of planets revolve around their ‘parent’ star in orbits, that are in the ‘goldilocks zone’; the zone where it is not too hot nor too cold for some form of life, as we perceive it to be, to exist. Our home Earth is one of them, not too hot and not too cold for us to exist.
Andromeda (pictured above) is the name given to the closest galaxy to the galaxy Earth is in. Andromeda is much larger than the Milky Way. However, it is more than 2.5 million Light Years away. That is more than 20,000,000,000,000,000,000 klms! In billions of years or so into the future, it will probably collide with our galaxy, the Milky Way. The two may become a single galaxy, and all the structures of both will be changed, destroyed or at least, modified. Humanity, most probably, will cease to exist. Not to worry. It won’t happen for billions of years into the future. All humanity , if it still exists, will be exterminated if or when this happens.
The images above are not images of the whole Cosmos, but just tiny parts of it, the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. I believe it would be impossible to view one image of the total Cosmos, all in one image. It is just too immense.
The ancient Hebrew, biblical concepts of creation.
This diagram above, is from the Teachers’ Commentary, edited by Hugh Martin M.A., on page 406. It is very important to read the biblical references accompanying the diagram. They point to the physical features of the ‘Heavens and the Earth’ that were thought to exist at the time the Bible was written. For us in the 21st Century, they are quaint ideas and without any semblance of scientific foundation. We might learn some theological truths from the Bible creation stories, but we learn nothing at all about the Cosmos, that is helpful regarding its physical reality or structure. It is absurd to think we can. It comes from the human thinking and imagination of thousands of years ago.
However, one of the theological ideas that may come to us from the creation story in Genesis chapter 2, is that of humans, animals and birds being made from the dust of the Earth; Genesis 2:7, 18 and 3:19, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’. Theologically, this could remind us to practise humility and not think of ourselves ‘more highly than they ought to think’, Romans 12:3. So, according to the Bible, we are dust; made up of dust of the Earth; that dry fine dirt under our feet, something worthless that we sweep up and put in the rubbish bin or mop up with a damp rag.
However, this idea is reversed by modern knowledge. Our modern knowledge tells that we are made up of ‘stardust’; minute particles that are the material foundation of all this wonderful, majestic grandeur, we call the Cosmos. And these minute particles were there at the beginning, at the Big Bang and just after. We are not Earth dust, fine dirt to be discarded as worthless, but literally, stardust, part of the ultimate, beautiful mystery of the Cosmos.
The physical dimension of our/my connection to the Cosmos.
We need a new origin story. We have it and it is totally different to biblical concepts.
A smattering of the science about the beginning of the Cosmos.
This is not theological or poetical. It purports to say what the situation actually was.
In the beginning, there was a tiny ball of matter of nearly infinite energy and density. Some scientists use the word, ‘Singularity’. There was a sudden violent expansion; we call the Big Bang. This Big Bang happened about 13.7 billion years ago. After this sudden burst, the expansion continued at an astonishingly high rate, doubling in size every 10-34 seconds, creating space as it rapidly inflated. We know from observations today, that the Cosmos is still expanding and at an increasing rate.
One of the outcomes of the Big Bang was coming into being of galaxies and stars, as well as much of the stuff of the Cosmos we can observe today. We know that Hydrogen was the main component of the Cosmos at time of the Big Bang. We also know that Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen came to be with the burning, explosion of stars, a short time after the Big Bang – maybe about 300 million years.
A smattering of chemistry, with comments about our physical human body.
There are over 100 different elements. Elements are the fundamental units of matter, of which all physical material is composed. Each element has been given a chemical symbol, e.g. Oxygen-O, Hydrogen-H, Carbon-C, Nitrogen-N, Chlorine-Cl, Sodium-Na, Iron-Fe, Calcium-Ca, and so on, for all the more than 100 different elements. Using these symbols makes it very easy for us to learn a lot about a compound. Compounds are the results of ‘bonding’ of different elements. For instance, water is formed when Hydrogen and Oxygen bond together - H2O. The symbols denote what elements are present and the little number denotes how many atoms of each element are present. (Atoms are the naturally indestructible tiniest form of elements.) For water, there are 2 atoms of Hydrogen to every 1 atom of Oxygen. Another example is table salt. It is formed by the bonding of Sodium and Chlorine, NaCl, chemically know as Sodium Chloride, with equal numbers of each atom.
Most importantly for us, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen atoms make up 96% of our human body, 65% Oxygen, 18% Carbon, 10% Hydrogen and 3% Nitrogen. In us, they don’t occur by themselves as elements, but they occur as bonded with each other or bonded with other elements to form compounds, most of which are extremely complex.
So, the Hydrogen atoms came into being with the Big Bang, and the Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen atoms in us, were produced by stars exploding. These atoms, 96% of us, existed at the time of the Big Bang and just after. We have billions upon billions of these atoms in us, and they all are many billions of years old.
Being naturally indestructible, they have had an extremely long and very complex journey, getting into us, but that is the result of the processes of evolution, over billions of years. These journeys included passage through the evolution of life upon our home Earth, through the evolution of the earth in our Solar System about 4.8 billion years ago, as well as the passage through the evolution of the Milky Way constellation about 13.6 billion years ago, right back to the Big Bang. Consult the utube matter in > https://youtu.be/MBv38ahelms= ( I personally think his comment about ‘forgetting Jesus’, is totally irrelevant to what he is talking about. It is right at the end of the comment. I think it should be deleted.) Planetary scientist and stardust expert Dr Ashley King explains. “It is totally 100% true: nearly all the elements in the human body were made in a star.”, and, “We are not figuratively, but literally stardust”, according to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
What a journey?? Practically impossible to comprehend! But these atoms, most of us, have made this journey! So, what we are made of, is as old as the Big Bang. We may not look it, but that’s the truth! We are billions of years old! We originally came from the Big Bang. We are stardust. We are part of the Cosmos, always have been and always will be. Our origin is to be found in the origin of the Cosmos.
It is very appropriate to use our 21st Century knowledge and say we are not physically dust of the Earth, as Genesis suggests. We are ‘stardust’. As such, we are physically part of the Cosmos. We are all part, a very privileged part, and we always will be. Let us be thankful and celebrate this, our origin.
Where and when did our self-consciousness as humans, come into being? This is another profound and mysterious evolutionary ‘event’ that happened about 2 to 300,000 years ago, or more.
And when I die? Physically, the Cosmos will receive back all the indestructible atoms of Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen atoms, as well as all the others, in me, that it has loaned to me for my 3 score years and 20. The Cosmos will then use them in some other way for a different important purpose. This is not re-incarnation; it is evolution.
To all this, I confidently add my belief, that the unknowable, creative, energy, Life-force mystery that was active in the Big Bang and exploding stars, etc, is now active in my life, as it is active in all life around me. This has been the case for always. We are all part of this wonderful Cosmos, always have been and always will be. This unknowable, creative, energy, Life-force mystery, which I am comfortable calling ‘God’, has been, is, and always will be the active creative force in this changing, expanding and evolving wonderful Cosmos. And in ME!!!
Innumerable changes have occurred during the very, very, long journey of the atoms in me, but the atoms, themselves, have not changed. I am stardust; was there at the beginning, and will be there at the end. I belong!
We are in union with God. We are in union with the Cosmos. The whole Cosmos is in union with God.
Thus, we all belong together. We are all united; God, the Cosmos and all of us. We continue to belong.
This is certainly something to celebrate.
BUT,
Nearly all of the above information is incredibly different to the material usually presented to us in church liturgies today. Maybe it is best, not to try to include this in a church service liturgy but use it in a small study/discussion group within the church, organised for those who are interested.
A different emphasis, giving rise to omissions and different ideas.
You may notice in my suggested liturgy there is no prayer of confession. This is deliberate, because regarding the Cosmos, I believe we have nothing to confess. We certainly and definitely have need of confession regarding our home Earth, and the way we abuse our environment and each other, but regarding the whole Cosmos, we have no influence on galaxies that are millions of light years away. What influence does an Earth house fly have on the moon??
We have no influence on the laws of evolution and natural selection, that have been in place for billions of years. What I and you do or don’t do, has virtually no influence on the ‘whole of creation’. To suggest that the Earth had a perfect start and that when humans sinned, everything became polluted and was changed for the worse, is quite absurd. Even more so, to use such ideas as, ‘All creation groans in pain because of human sin’, is not only absurd but also extremely arrogant, to think that our human behaviour affects all creation. Our Earth’s environment certainly groans, but distant galaxies? These sorts of ideas place humanity at the centre of the Cosmos, both in time and space. How arrogant is that??
I’m not sure that prayers of intercession have any place in this liturgy. What part of the Cosmos do we pray for? What do we suggest should happen? Do we wish for changes? If so what changes? I have no idea!
Thanksgiving and celebration are that which is overwhelmingly appropriate. Thanksgiving for the Cosmos itself, thanksgiving that it is saturated and sustained by God, thanksgiving for God being the divine dimension of all that has been, is and will be, thanksgiving for belonging in the Cosmos, as part of it, thanksgiving for this being the continuing situation and our experience of it, and also that Jesus points to most of this in his life and teachings. These are all essential and necessary when we have the Cosmos as the centre of this church liturgy. This is where I believe our liturgy should commence and finish. However, extremely changeling. Maybe beyond us!
A. Suggestions for congregational participation
There are Conversations in the ‘suggested’ liturgy which can be used. It is essential that these conversations are thoroughly practised by those participating. You may wish to use some to of the teaching in these conversations in a reflection by the leader.
B. Lyrics to traditional hymn tunes.
There are several original sets of my lyrics used in the suggested liturgy. Other sets of lyrics are available on my website, accessible at George Stuart - Google sites, or https://sites.google.com›view›george-stuart. Follow the links Singing a New Song and then 32 Themes/Subjects.
C. Prayers and prayer suggestions. See the suggested Liturgy.
D. Suggestions for children’s involvement.
There are a number of suggestions in the liturgy to introduce children to big numbers. Choose, if you wish., any that may be appropriate for the age of the children present.
E. Suggested Liturgy – my faltering attempt.
Some other resources that may be useful. If any of these are used, it may take some reorganisation of the suggested liturgy.
Leader. Suggested comments for a reflection on the Hebrew concepts of creation. A slide, showing the Hebrew picture of the heavens and the Earth, should be screened. It is in the Background Reading.
Reference can be made to the A4 handout. Change the wording as you wish.
Let us look at something a bit easier. No big numbers and no big distances. The Hebrew writers, when they wrote Genesis 1 creation myth, had no idea, whatsoever, of all we have been talking about. Their view of the Earth and the Heavens was tiny compared with all that. They believed that the Earth was flat, like a saucer. It was supported, built on pillars that went down into the Great Deep, 1 Sam. 2:8, Job 9:6. Right round the edge of this Earth saucer were mountains which acted as pillars to support the firmament, a solid dome. Water was everywhere, absolutely everywhere. This dome separated the water above it from the water under it. The dome or firmament and the flat saucer Earth created a fixed closed space, Gen.1:6&7, Job 26:11. Water being everywhere there was no empty space, as we know it today. Water was above the firmament, as well as filling the enclosed space bounded by the solid firmament dome and the flat Earth. The Hebrews believed that God ‘gathered’ the water under the firmament into one place thus creating seas and dry land. Gen.1:9. Water was also beneath the Earth in the Great Deep. Rain came down from above when God ‘opened the windows’ of the firmament. Rain came down and floods and came up from the Great Deep, Gen.7:11, as at the time of Noah, filling the enclosed space bounded by the dome and the flat Earth. The sun and moon were fixed in the firmament to give light to the Earth, and stars were there also Gen 1:14-17. The Sun moved across the heavens, Psalm 19:4&6. Within the Earth was ‘Sheol’, the realm of the dead, sometimes called ‘the pit’ or ‘hades’, later referred to as ‘hell’, Number 16:30-33, Isaiah 14:9&15.
Let us remember this was what the Bible storytellers thought 2&1/2 thousand years ago. Very different to what we think today.
Conversation about the Hebrew ideas.
Voice 1. Now that’s something I can get my mind around. Rather out-of-date, I suppose, but I can understand it.
Voice 2. Yes, I thought you might say that. However, it doesn’t really ring true for us today. We think it is rather quaint, but it was an ingenious way of explaining some of the natural things they experienced, like rain. It came down from ‘up there’. How come? Well, if there was a solid dome or firmament on top of the flat Earth and there was water above that, then the ‘windows’ in that dome, that could, when opened and shut, let water in or keep it out. Open the ‘windows’ and down comes the water as rain. This is mentioned a couple of times in the story of Noah and the Flood.
Voice 1. I think it was very clever. But why are you telling me all this?
Voice 2. I wanted to tell you how much our ideas of the Cosmos have changed over the centuries. And here’s the wrap! Our new story of the Cosmos tells us that we are all part of it. We all belong, now and for ever! That’s a wonderful story. We belong! And God is everywhere in it.
Leader. (Suggested notes for a homily.) One of the theological ideas that may come to us from the 1st creation story in Genesis chapter 2, is that of humans, animals and birds being made from the dust of the Earth; Genesis 2:7, 18 and 3:19, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’. Theologically, this could remind us to practise humility and not think of ourselves ‘more highly than they ought to think’, Romans 12:3. That is an important message. According to the Bible, we are dust; made up of dust of the Earth; that dry dirt under our feet or the unwanted refuse that we sweep up and put in the rubbish bin or mop up with a damp rag.
However, our modern knowledge tells that we are made up of ‘stardust’; minute particles that are the foundation of all the matter of this wonderful, majestic grandeur, we call the Cosmos. These minute particles are called atoms, and they are naturally indestructible. Nearly all our bodies are made up of these atoms, 96%. We are not Earth dust, dirt to be discarded as rubbish, but we are stardust, enjoying the privilege of being part of the fabulously beautiful mystery of the Cosmos. We not only belong to, but we are part of the Cosmos.
Continuing the conversation.
Voice 1. I know we’re part of the Cosmos. We all live on the Earth. We don’t live somewhere where the sun doesn’t shine, and the rain never comes. We all experience night and day. The moon shines at night and often we see it.
Voice 2. Yes. That’s true but our new story says a lot more. We are physically part of the Cosmos and always have been. Nearly all of us, 96% of each of us, is made up of tiny atoms of Oxygen, Hydrogen, Carbon, and Nitrogen. All these tiny atoms came into being at the Big Bang or just after. We know all this because of scientific discoveries. The time of the Big Bang was when this 96% of us came into being. We are billions of years old! 13½ billion.
Voice 1. Well, you could have fooled me. I thought you were only about 50 years old! And I don’t think I look billions of years old! Do you think I do?
Voice 2. I suppose not. But I think it is exciting to know that we are all part of something immense and wondrously beautiful; that we are stardust! Just about all of us came into being at the Big Bang or just after.
Voice 1. Well, Thank you. That was a good science lesson, but I came to worship, not to go back to a science class!
Voice 2. Yes, I suppose it has been a bit of a science lesson. But I hope we have learned a bit. Because, you know something? When we learn more about the cosmos, we learn more about God. Why? Because the Cosmos is saturated with God and God is saturated with the cosmos.
Voice 1. That really is something to believe.
Leader. Prayer of thanksgiving.
We stand in awe as we contemplate the Cosmos. We find it difficult to find words that express our deep thankfulness for it. But we celebrate it with joy. We are thankful that we experience stability, knowing that the sun will ‘rise’ each and every morning and ‘set’ each and every night. We are thankful for the stability of the stars, in all their wonder; that they shine each and every night and that we always see them as being in the same places in the sky. We are thankful that our Earth home does not collide with other planets. We are thankful that we are a tremendous distance from other galaxies, and that our galaxy does not collide with them, sending us all into oblivion.
All this, and much more, is impossible for us to comprehend, but we are thankful for all the stability that the Cosmos gives us each and every day. We feel safe. May we never take all this for granted. We are thankful that as we experience God who loves us, we can also respond to God as this stabilising force which enables everything that is to exist. AMEN.