In the Beginning
a sermon by John W. Wimberly, Jr.
Pastor, Western Presbyterian Church
Washington, D.C.
May 18, 2008

Text: Genesis 1:1-2:4a

This week a college friend now living in Los Angeles sent me an article about Rev. Jose Gabriel Fune, the director of the Vatican?s Observatory.  Before reading on, my first reaction to the story was, ?Why doesn?t Western have an observatory??  If Western is going to remain competitive in the religious marketplace, I think we need to examine that question.  We could put an observatory on top of the office wing no problem!  Think of the possibilities.

Father Fune was in the news because he thinks it entirely possible that there are other forms of life in the universe.  If other life forms are out there, said the good Father, they are our ?extraterrestrial brothers (and sisters).?  I think Jesus would find that concept a consistent extension of his teaching.  However, I?m not sure we have to look into outer space to find extraterrestrial beings.  I?ve got a couple of friends who are definitely brothers from a different planet.

Further down in the article, Father Fune states that there is no contradiction between science and faith.  I couldn?t agree more.  Whether it be the 17th century Roman Catholic Church against Galileo, early 20th century fundamentalists against the theory of evolution or some 21st century churches against stem cell research, the juxtaposition of the church?s faith over and against science is wrong and has damaged both.

A look at the first chapter of Genesis reveals why we don?t have to pick between faith and science.  Unless read literally, there is nothing in the biblical story that contradicts either the Big Bang theory or evolutionary theory.  Indeed, as recorded in Genesis, the cosmos, in the beginning, was without form and void.  This matches the scientific description of the universe prior to the Big Bang.  After the Big Bang, the world, as described by science, evolved in pretty much the same sequence as laid out by the authors of Genesis, with human life being the most recent major development.  In fact, it is stunning that these nonscientific authors, writing thousands of years ago, came so close to what science would later discover.

So the biblical and scientific versions of creation are not in conflict.  On the contrary, they are complimentary.  Indeed, it is hard to understand God?s creation without either one.

Science helps us fill in the details of the brief outline given us by Genesis.  And the bible fills in the most important thing missing in the scientific accounts of creation.  Namely, the bible tells us who created the cosmos and why it was created.  To date, science has no answers to these two absolutely crucial questions.

In our fascinating Wednesday night series on religious studies, we have examined the thought of everyone from Kant to Marx to Freud to Eliade.  In our academic studies, our faith has been enriched, not overturned.  Yes, many of these thinkers raised profound, highly critical questions about religion.  But all are questions raised in the Bible itself.

Marx raised questions about the complicity of religion and capitalism.  The prophets raised the same questions about the complicity of religion and economic oppression in their day.  Rudolph Otto wondered whether or not our image of God is a mere projection of human attributes.  Jesus wondered the same thing when he asked his generation why they thought God was solely their God, not everyone?s God.  Eliade studied the strengths and weaknesses of religious mythologies and rituals.  The same strengths and weaknesses are detailed in both the Old and New Testaments.

The notion that we have to check our brains at the sanctuary door is perhaps the most dangerous mistake a believer can make.  Far from being antithetical, faith and reason go hand and hand in our spiritual journey.  This is why we Calvinists have built so many schools and universities.  We devote as much time to the study of history, literature and science as we do to studying the bible.  Because we cannot fully understand the bible if we don?t better understand the humanities and science.

When joined together, intellectual advances, scientific discoveries and a prophetic faith have enabled people to battle some of humanity?s most troubling traits.  For example, people of faith and people from the academy have joined together to fuel the human rights movement, challenging the roots of sexism, racism, ageism, and homophobia.  We have made huge progress against these ancient foes.  However, as we are witnessing in this presidential campaign, bias continues to grow in dark places within human beings.

This week there was a very sad but true op-ed piece in The Washington Post by Marie Cocco in which she described the sexist attacks launched by journalists and others on Senator Clinton.  Time and again, people have used sexist slurs in an attempt to diminish Senator Clinton.  Cocco ended her piece by writing, ?There are many reasons (Senator) Clinton is losing the nomination contest, some having to do with her strategic mistakes, others with the groundswell for ?change.? But for all (Senator) Clinton’s political blemishes, the darker stain that has been exposed is the hatred of women that is accepted as a part of our culture.?

In like manner, The Post has done a good job recently of describing some of the racist attacks the Obama campaign has faced.  One of our members spent two months working for Senator Obama in Pennsylvania.  She was occasionally reduced to tears by the racist things people said to her as she went door to door.

Finally, it is clear that ageism has reared its ugly head in this campaign as well.  In both subtle and blatant ways, some question Senator McCain?s ability to be President solely because of his age.  Hopefully he responds as did Ronald Reagan by saying, ?I won?t hold the youth of my opponents against them.?

So while we have made great progress when it comes to some of humanity?s most basic biases, our work is far from done.  We need to combine faith and reason in our battle against bigotry.  Enabling every person to use his or her gifts to the fullest possible extent is not only God?s will, it is in humanity?s self-interest.  Any reasonable, intelligent person understands that we need all our best minds working together, not just those of white, heterosexual, males.

When the church pits faith against reason, human progress is impeded.  Using faith to validate our fears, we turn our back on the Holy Spirit which, Jesus said, leads us to ever new understandings of the truth.  As a result, the church becomes the last bastion of ancient biases. 

Turning their back on reason, some churches use faith to validate their homophobia.  It is incredibly sad that the highest court of California is more in tune with God?s will when it comes to LGBT marriage than the Presbyterian denomination.  Taking advantage of First Amendment constitutional protections, our denomination continues to use our faith to discriminate against LGBT folks when a major business can?t.

In 1920, the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote.  It took another decade before our denomination ordained a woman elder to vote on a Session.  It wasn?t until 1956 that we ordained a clergy woman to vote at a Presbytery meeting.  There are several small, conservative Presbyterian denominations that continue to discriminate against women to this day.

Discrimination in the church against LGBT individuals and females has been defended as a faith-based decision.  Forget what science has taught us.  Forget academic studies that lay out the root causes of discrimination against woman and LGBT folks, revealing it for what it is: hatred of the ?other.?  ?We will believe what we believe because it is a matter of faith,? say the advocates of such discrimination.  ?It is in the Bible and that is that,? they repeat like a mantra.

So much for following Jesus.  So much for following the Holy Spirit leading us to ever-new understandings of the Truth.  Note, Jesus didn?t say the Truth changed.  He said that our understanding of the Truth would change. 

Even those who oppose the ordination of women now acknowledge that parts of the Bible got it wrong in advocating polygamy.  Most of those who oppose the ordination of LGBT folks acknowledge that we should ignore those verses in the Bible endorsing corporal punishment of children.  So on one level, we all agree that some parts of the Bible have been overruled by decisions coming down from the Highest Court?Almighty God.

Nonetheless, too many people of faith, Christian-Muslim-Jewish-Hindu-Buddhist, hold on to their sexism, racism, homophobia and nationalism, claiming their bigotry is ordained by God.  It is only through the combined use of faith and reason that we will move beyond such rationalizations for discrimination.  Neither faith nor reason alone is sufficient to the challenge.

Of course, all of this causes some people understandably to wonder, ?Given the misuse of faith by the church, why bother with the church at all?? 

Short answer: The church is too important an influence in the world to leave it in the hands of small minds.

Longer Answer.  Parent-child relationships can be incredibly destructive.  Should we do away with these relationships?  Love can be twisted and become violent.  Should we do away with love?  Economies can do great violence to people.  Should we do away with economies? Of course not.

Faith is an intrinsic part of the human experience, as intrinsic as families, love and economics.  There is no sign that it is going away.  Indeed, there are many signs that the need for spirituality is intensifying.  So we have no choice but to continue the process begun by Calvin, Luther and others.  We must be constantly reforming religion, realigning it with God?s will. 

Calvinists are the subject of many jokes in which our reliance on the intellect is spoofed.  We are called God?s ?frozen chosen people? because we can be skeptical of emotional outbursts.  I am more than comfortable with that critique.  I embrace it.

The religious community has incredible diversity.  One of the things we add to the pool of diversity is a demand that our hearts and minds be synchronized; that faith and reason compliment one another; that Christian education be as important as Christian prayer.  A little icy analysis is a good thing in a sometimes overheated, emotionally charged religious environment. I hope we will always remain advocates for analyzing our faith even as we live it out.

In a world where we can travel to moon, transplant hearts, and understand the role of DNA, it is incredibly ironic that we continue to fight anti-intellectualism in the church and community.  But fighting it we are and fight it we must.  Whether it be the President of the United States uttering non-sense that diplomacy is a tool for appeasers, fearful preachers saying that gay marriage is a threat to heterosexual marriage, the NRA telling us that more guns make us safer, theologians telling us that their religion is the only valid religion or anything else that flies in the face of what faith and reason teach us, you and I must stand up for the Truth as it has been and is being unfolded before us by the Holy Spirit.

For example in this argument over diplomacy, we will proclaim our faith that we are to lovingly engage, not hate our enemies.  We will also be students of history, pointing out how every major conflict has been ended when enemies finally talked with rather than stonewalled each other.

Augustine said that Christianity is ?faith seeking understanding.?  At its best, we are.  We will not allow Christianity to disintegrate into ?faith seeking simplistic answers.? 

God calls on each of us to be incarnations of faith and reason, as they compliment and strengthen one another.  As we do so, you, I and the world will grow in Spirit and Truth.

Let us pray: Gracious God, out of nothingness and for something, you have created us.  As we continue to explore your amazing creation and discover our place in it, help us to utilize all the gifts you have given us?faith and intellect, prayer and science, religious fervor and analytical critique.  All this we pray in the name of Jesus the Christ.  Amen.