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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

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