Scene: An astrophysicist in a lab

Jock Stein August 14, 2025 1 1

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Hebrews 11: 1-3 (NRSVA)

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Picture an astrophysicist in a lab, studying the mysteries of the universe. Perhaps someone like Christopher Knight, who in his retirement became an Orthodox priest. At the same time he is meditating on our passage for today:

Hebrews 11: 1-3 . . .

He remembers an old Greek Christian thinker, Maximos, who took seriously the description of Jesus as God’s logos, God’s word, the divine logic by which all things were made. We understand this by faith, because faith and understanding have always been the two sides of the ladder of knowing God, and the Spirit of God graciously provides the rungs which we take hold of between the two, as we grow. Maximos saw incarnation as present from the very start, not as something which suddenly happened when Jesus was born. ‘The worlds’ (verse 3 NRSV), the universe was prepared by God’s word, by the logic present in the Son and set forth in prophecy until finally, when the time was right, our tiny planet hosted the incarnate Son.

This passage says that the natural and the divine belong together. They are not the same, but they are not at odds. God is the creator and sustainer of our universe. When God does things, God does not contradict the natural laws we recognize, God simply reminds us that nature is more complex than we have yet discovered.

I don’t know whether Maximos, or Knight, would have liked a poem I wrote on this passage, but I offer it now for your further reflection:

Nothing Much

Nothing is impossible – already,

double dealing in a phrase –

whatever nothing is.

But take that word play

back to base, creatio ex nihilo:

what wonderful confusion,

wormy holes of meaning

may bed science and theology,

for ever yoked as yang and yin.

Creatio ex nihilo – creation out of nothing – is one interpretation of verse 3. But while poems like that are in a sense word play, verse 1 reminds us that faith brings us assurance, assurance that God has good stuff in store for us and for the universe, whether we are astrophysicists or just simple believers.

PRAY:

Remember in prayer:

Scientists – may they work with diligence and integrity in a world where the agendas of funders and the activities of bots can so easily distort results.

Theologians – may they embrace the challenge of working in other people’s back yards, and looking for the light of heaven somewhere in them.