Religion and Science

            When we were in Jerusalem, we were on a tour of some of that city’s important sites.  At one point, our guide showed us a rock with a footprint in it that he said was the rock from which Jesus ascended into Heaven.  He said that there was another rock like it somewhere, but he didn’t know where.  That is the only scientific proof that I have ever seen that Jesus ascended into Heaven.  It’s not much, I know, but it is the best that I can do.

            Of course there isn’t any real scientific proof of the Ascension, it is a mystery.   And like all mysteries, it is just that: something beyond our scientific understanding.  That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, it just means that we can’t prove it.  But that is the story with most of the things that we have as a part of our creedal belief.  “Only begotten Son”; “rose again on the third day”; “sits at the right hand of God”; these are all part of our creed, but there is no scientific proof of any of them.  We hold them as a part of our belief system, sworn to by all of us in the Nicene or Apostle’s creed when we worship.  Most of the time, we don’t even give much thought to what we are saying. These creeds were worked out by the church in its history and even though we might have argued about some of it from time to time, we have mostly stopped arguing and simply accept these things as religious truth.  They have all become a part of the great cloud of mystery that surrounds all of us.  These are those things that we can never prove, but have become a part of the religion that most of us celebrate.

            I watched a dear old woman die last week.  I comforted her family, people who I have known for a long time, with the certainty that she is with God and beyond the loss of memory and the sickness that comprised the last years of her life.  This wasn’t the first time that I have been with people who have had a loss.  As a priest, I have often been with families who have experienced the loss of members of their family, and who have grieved over these deaths.  I remember losing my own mother and father, and Rosie’s mother and dad and how these weren’t easy times at all.  We needed to find some comfort in their passing and I was glad for the promise of eternal life to think about in those moments. 

            But this isn’t only about the problem that we have with death.  It is also about the comfort that we need in our lives.  Our God is constantly with us, whether we know it or not.  There is a sign in front of our local Roman Catholic church that says: God loves you, whether you like it or not. That wonderful sign is a great statement of religious truth.  God is a part of all of our lives, whether we like it or not.  That gives us the freedom to ignore it if we like and pay no attention to God until we are in dire need.  That is why we focus on death rather than life, because death is the ultimate mystery.  None of us has any scientific proof of resurrection, eternal life, or anything at all pertaining to it.  We simply live in the face of these ultimate mysteries.  But our religion is there to give us that wonderful thing called hope in the middle of uncertainty.  That is perhaps the greatest gift that our God has bestowed on us.  We can be sure because of what Jesus has said and done that God’s limitless love extends to all of us, in whatever condition that we are in; and that we will know that love for eternity.