In the school where I am chaplain, two of the skills we try to teach students are: First, how to build an evidence-based argument, and second, how to present the view you hold without demeaning or belittling those who disagree. This is especially true with controversial subjects that people hold strong opinions on.
Since we give feedback about this so often, to so many of our students, I thought I would create an example of a controversial, evidence-based argument, which was presented in a way that sought to include even those who disagree with my conclusion. And voila: This sermon was born. The texts read before this sermon included: Psalm 19.1-9; Acts 17.27-28; Romans 1.19-20; 1John 4.7-16.
As we continue our journey through Epiphany, the season when Christ's Light shines on ALL kids of people, through ALL kinds of experiences, I wanted to challenge you a little today about HOW we see God's Light. And this challenge comes from a question I frequently get asked, and that I was asked again last week. The question goes something like this:
"Fr. Nate, you seem like a smart guy. How come you still believe in God?"
This is a fascinating question for many reasons. First, that someone would think I'm smart. I'm honored, but that is a highly dubious assumption!
Second, it is fascinating because it's honest: We talk a lot about God's Light and Love, but a bunch of us wonder if the whole God thing is too good to be true. Why should we believe there a God to shine light on anyone in the first place?
I know, because I have been there. In 8th grade I began questioning whether God existed. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was what you might call an angry agnostic: I didn't know whether God was real, but I knew I didn't like God!
And I find that, for many many people, questioning and skepticism and doubt are something we deal with starting in the middle of adolescence. And that's natural.
The third reason the question is fascinating is because the assumption at the root of the question is that smart people don't usually believe in God. So, if I'm smart (and I'm not saying I am) why would I? Great question!
The first thing I should say is that there are a ton of gods I don't believe in. Zeus, Aphrodite, Thor, Odin. Pretty much all of the gods of ancient religions. I don't believe in them. Petty gods. Cruel gods. Gods of hatred and violence and "us against them". I don't believe in those gods either.
In fact, when I get into a conversation with someone who is skeptical of God, one of the first questions I usually ask is: "What kind of god do you NOT believe in?" Usually they will list off attributes of hatred, cruelty, condemnation, violence, and hypocrisy. And I agree with them: I don't believe in that god either.
So, when I talk about God, what kind of God do I think is, and is not, the Source of All Reality? Well, first of all, I don't think God is simply one being among other beings, like Zeus or Thor. I don't even think God is the Supreme Being who is like other beings, but a lot more powerful and more knowledgable.
Instead of God as A being, or even THE Supreme Being, I think of God as Being Itself: The Being that we live and move and exist within. The Being that makes all other beings "be". Anything that exists, exists because it is currently existing within the life of God.
So, for me, God is not something separate from me, or Some One who peeks in on me from time to time to check and see if I am sinning, and to make me feel guilty. Instead, God is the very Ocean of Existence that we are swimming in, every microsecond of every day, filling us with Love and Joy and Peace and Hope and Compassion, if we will open ourselves to the presence of God, who has always been within our deepest self.
So, when I talk about reasons to think this God is Real, this is the kind of God I want to talk about. Not some cosmic bearded dude in the sky, watching us like Santa Claus, to sort us into his naughty and nice list.
So what are my reasons? Why do I think Being, with a capital "B", exists? Why do I think Being is a Reality of pure Love, who loves all other beings into existence? Why would I come to such an odd conclusion, given the world that we live in?
When I first became convinced that God was Real, I thought that giving reasons for God's Reality was like building a geometric proof, or a court case, to prove that God was right, and skeptics were wrong. I don't think this is helpful anymore. The reasons I think God is Real are a lot less like a lawyer presenting a case in court, and a lot more like enjoying a symphony, and then explaining to your friends why the symphony was so beautiful.
So, the first reason I think God is Real is that I have experienced the Divine Symphony. I have experienced the Love and Liberation of God through the person of Jesus. Jesus has transformed my life. Jesus convinced me that Love is Real. Jesus has spoken in my heart, and given me a purpose and a meaning which is deeper and wider than I could have imagined.
But my experience of God only counts for so much. After all, tons of people claim to have experienced God, to have heard God speak to them. Some of those people are kind and wise, and some are violent and deceitful. Some people who claim to hear God are crazy, some are sincere, and some are using God to trick you, and take your money.
So, just because I've experienced God, and felt God speak in my heart, doesn't count for much to others, even if it counts a great deal to me. So, what are my other reasons for thinking we are living in a Divine Symphony?
Another reason is my continual wonder at the fact of existence. I am amazed not only that I exist, or that the universe exists, but that anything AT ALL exists. Why is there something, anything, anywhere, at all? Why not nothing, forever, and ever, and ever. Why IS there something instead of nothing?
Now this opens up a whole chain of causes, going back some 14 billion years. We exist because of the human species. Humanity exists as a product of evolution. Evolution happens as a byproduct of the infinitely complex web of chemicals and physics found on this planet. Our planet, and all of its chemical complexity, exists because it is in just the right orbit around our local star to support biological life.
And our solar system in turn came from other star systems flung across space and time from the Big Bang. And the Big Bang, from which came all space and time and matter and energy, seems to come from fluctuations in the quantum vacuum. And this quantum vacuum is neither space nor time nor matter nor energy as we know them. But it IS something. And we STILL must ask where THAT "something" came from.
And if we keep asking WHY, at some point we go beyond what words can describe, even what math can describe, and we say "Because that's the way it is!" In fact, in every system of thought or inquiry, from science to religion to art to math to literature, you can only push things back so far, until you get an answer like "it is what it is!"
Try this with your parents sometime. Keep asking "WHY" over and over and over. Eventually you will get them to say "because I said so!"
There is a point where every line of questioning dead ends into the fundamental fact of being: Whether you ask what caused the Big Bang, or what caused God. "It is what it is". That's just the way it is. The brute fact of existence cannot be explained in any other way than to say "It is".
For many religious people across the ages, this basic fact of Being has a Name: God. Allah. Brahman. The Dao. The Source. The One. In Hebrew Scripture, in fact, God's personal Name is very similar to "It is what It is", except "It is" becomes personal. In the Book of Exodus God calls Godself "I AM what I AM". God is the fundamental Fact of Being, from which, and in which, all other beings exist.
And so now I have personal experience, and the great Mystery of Being. But do I have any OTHER reasons to think God is Real? Well, yes. And my next reason is: Reason. I am not only in awe of the fact that everything exists, but also that everything is rational, understandable, knowable.
I mean, how weird is it that the universe should obey all these precise physical constants, which can be expressed in math and logic? And as far as we know, these constants are the same everywhere.
The universe seems to be some kind of rule-bound system, that can be understood and described in language and math, by mammals with 3 pound brains. Amazing!
Here's a short list of things that are constant across the universe, which can be described in mathematical equations: The speed of light. The gravitational constant. Elementary charges of sub-atomic particles. The Planck constant which describes our smallest units length, mass, time, and temperature.
And what is more, if these constants were different by a less than a billionth of a percent, our universe would not exist. Stars would be unable to form. Mass would be unstable. Dimensions would collapse.
In short, the cosmos seems like the product of a Reason which somehow wants us to exist. And not just us, but a whole planet of beings to exist. And perhaps not even one planet. Perhaps billions and billions of planets teeming with life. Life that evolved in ways that are rational and understandable and constant.
Maybe it is all a cosmic fluke. By some incredible random chance, it all just happened, this one time. But then, maybe it is not.
Maybe there is a Mind, a Rational Consciousness, who is pure Being. And maybe this Divine Mind is like the Operating System of our Computer. And we are existing within the rational constants of the Divine Program. Existing IN God.
Which brings me to my final reason why I think God is Real: Love.
Why would a Divine Mind want to create such a rational world? Love. Why would Infinite Being want to make all things exist? Love. God is an Ultimate Reality of Love, who does not want to keep God's Life to Godself as some kind of secret.
No. God wants to share Godself with others: To give them being, to give them freedom, to give them reason, so that they can grow and flourish and come to know the Source of Love who created them.
I can't help it. I am drawn by Love. When I see the beauty of a sunset outdoors, or a painting in a museum, I see Love. When I spend time with my friends, I feel Love. When I hug my children, I experience Love. When I see my wife, I know I am Loved.
When I meditate and pray and think about what I value most in life, it is Love. When I am hurt and angry, only one thing heals me. Love. When I ponder the only thing that makes life worth living, it is Love.
AND when I fall short and act like a jerk, I feel bad because I did not Love the way I could have. When I see people suffering and I hurt for them, it is Love that moves me to compassion. When I get angry that the world is unjust, and things are not right, it is Love that spurs my protest.
I cannot escape the sense that Love is compelling me to become a better version of myself. And no matter how bad things get, I cannot escape the feeling that there is a Love that can heal us, and give us hope, if we will just surrender our selfishness and hatred and fear.
Now we can chose to think that this Love points to nothing more than chemical reactions in our nervous system, and our evolutionary drive to survive as a species. And that may be the case. But perhaps this Love actually points to more. Perhaps it points beyond ourselves, beyond our species, beyond our galaxy, and even beyond time and space itself.
Perhaps it all points to a Source which created all things in Love, a Love that is the Spiritual Gravity of the Universe, calling us home. This seems as obvious to me as the fact that a sunset is beautiful, or that I am in Love with my wife. Love is just a fundamental fact of the world.
And perhaps, just perhaps, this Love has given us signposts across history to point us to itself.
The Golden Rule and Path of Love have been taught by the greatest sages and prophets across cultures. This Love has been embodied in the lives of saints and mystics across history. But above all else, I find this Love embodied in a Jewish Peasant who lived around 2000 years ago.
He fed all who were hungry, healed all who were sick, and stood against the powers of death and injustice and hatred. For this, he was put to death as a political criminal. But the Love that he embodied was so powerful, that not even death could keep him down.
It is through this person-- through Jesus of Nazareth-- that I experience God most directly. Many in this chapel have a similar experience, and still others experience this Divine Love primarily through another person, or in another spiritual path. But I am convinced this Love we all feel, has a Divine Source in the God who is Being, Rationality, and Love.
And so, within the limitations of 15 minutes, that is why I think we are living in a Divine Symphony. And this is why I think that even if we don't believe in God, God still believes in us, and calls us in Love to become the best version of ourselves.
And this is also why, even though we may have wildly different understandings of God, we can still help each other Love more deeply and more effectively. We can be a laboratory of Love, taking what we know of Love from different backgrounds and cultures and religions and spiritual paths, and challenging each other to Love in a way that makes us truly and fully human.
So, no matter how we view God, let us view one another through the lens of a Love. Because God is Love, and anytime we give and receive true Love, I believe we ARE experiencing God.
If you would like to see how this sermon was delivered, there is a video of it here:
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