Skip to main content

God of the Gaps

Neural Synapse. An Electron Microscope Photograph by Thomas Deerinck
Neural Synapse.
An Electron Microscope Photograph 
by Thomas Deerinck
I got derailed from my series on parables... I may return to it at a mythical point in the future when I have time, but over the past couple of weeks I've been reading a few books and articles that touch on the physical/neurological nature of thought, perception and existence (as well as watching the gloriously dated 1960's film version of "The Fantastic Voyage"). All that "sparked" this poem/prayer... "God of the Gaps" is the disparaging term used both by atheists who see the idea of a deity as a simplistic explanation for physical phenomena that science has not yet explained, and by some conservative Christians who use it to describe the God they don't believe in, suggesting that the revelation of God as they interpret it in scripture, trumps all scientific "theories." As a Christian with a scientific bent and a love of words I thought it was time to "redeem" this insult... Pretentious!? Moi?

God of the gaps
Guide me as I navigate 
The infinitesimally small oceans 
That exist inside my head 
Within which the whole universe resides; 
All thought, and feeling, and reality. 
Reach out like Michaelangelo’s creation 
To help your creation 
To make the connections 
Necessary for life 
In all its fullness.

Word become flesh 
Who spoke the world into existence 
Before becoming part of it, 
Help me to resist 
The temptation to retreat 
From the meatiness of mortal life. 
May I not reverse the trajectory 
Of your story and seek to avoid 
The complexity of corporeal existence, 
Withdrawing from the world 
To a warm womb of words.

Insubstantial Spirit 
Breath of life, filling my lungs 
And every living cell within me. 
Promised paraclete 
who stands beside me unseen, 
To strengthen me 
When physical friends have deserted me;
May you infuse me with your fire 
And hover over the chaos 
Of my life and thought 
Shaping my comprehension of the kosmos.

Selah
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that
2 comments
Read more

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65
3 comments
Read more

Anointed

There has been a lot of chatter on social media among some of my colleagues and others about the liturgical and socio-political niceties of Saturday's coronation and attendant festivities, especially the shielding of the anointing with the pictured spoon - the oldest and perhaps strangest of the coronation artefacts. Personally I thought that was at least an improvement on the cloth of gold canopy used in the previous coronation, but (pointless) debates are raging as to whether this is an ancient practice or was simply introduced in the previous service to shield the Queen from the TV cameras, not for purposes of sacredness, but understandable coyness, if she actually had to bare her breast bone in puritan 1950s Britain. But as any church leader knows, anything performed twice in a church becomes a tradition. All this goes to show that I did actually watch it, while doing other things - the whole shooting match from the pre-service concert with yer wumman in that lemon-
2 comments
Read more