I used to wonder about how individuals could pour out all of their innermost thoughts, struggles, desires into the world in a blog. How could people say what I didn't/wouldn't want to share with my closest friends and share them with innumerable strangers? I think that it is a part of our confessional collective American past (which has spread out into other first-world countries). We need to share our sins/ failings/ admissions of falling short of our potential with *someone* and that has been replaced by sharing it with *anyone* or *everyone*. I don't know that it's the same. I don't know that it is even necessarily always constructive, but it certainly seems to be cathartic.
I've been asked/ it was recommended to me that I do journaling during this time of seminary.
Why am I here? God sent me and I said yes. Isaiah 6 - "Here I am, send me!" It reminds me of Shrek, "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!" Well, I got picked and it turns out that I thought I knew what I was signing up for, but I didn't. Not at all. I figured that I would learn something about the Bible, learn the original languages of the Bible and take a few baby steps towards becoming a Bible scholar. My late friend, mentor, and honorary family member, Elaine Follis was a Bible Scholar. I am not. I may, by the grace of God, one day become one, but I wonder if I will ever accept that title in my own mind. People have already tried to bestow it on me, who are not taking Bible classes, but it does not, at least yet, belong.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm taking the nudge, well shove really, that God gave me to go to seminary and if I'm running in the right or wrong direction. (What would the right direction be? The wrong one? How would I know?) In my theology class this semester, I learned that it is very common that people worship something other than God, while they say that they are monotheists. Few, really, would like, even, to worship God, even though many say that they would/do. (This is Richard Niebuhr's work). There are many distractions that are easier to worship - money, clothes, intellectualism, etc. Some are more insidious - church, my religious concepts, how I worship - my routine. That's the tricky part. When we are not wholly willing to change what we believe, how we act, indeed, who we are, when God tells us, then we're not truly worshiping God. While I can intellectually accept this (which is a step (or many) in maturity from where I was a few years ago), I don't really know where I fall in all of this. I suppose, as Ben Franklin said, If I were to say that I had succeeded in becoming humble, then I should not have done so. He left humble on his list of traits that he was working on after all of the others had been marked off.
I think that we cannot really judge if we are worshiping God or not. Only God can do that, and I haven't heard how I'm doing. We have a directive that I am working on/towards in the meantime: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. And love your neighbor as yourself." I've spent a lot of time and energy in the beginning and the middle. I'm going to work on the end this week.
That's enough for today. I wonder if there's anyone out there. If not, that's fine. :) God bless, nonetheless.
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Combining Math, Science, Astronomy and God
This follows from a note that Elizabeth Campbell wrote. Since I worked on my 25 random things this morning, I'm in a writing 'zone' or something, I guess. That's probably good, since school starts Monday. Before I get to my subject, perhaps part of why I'm writing is to take my mind off of what I'm in Madera to do. My friend's mom just passed and we are going through her mom's house, helping her keep what she wants, getting rid of junk, figuring out what to sell, etc. (This was part of my hoarding comments in the 25 things.) It's one of those things that must be done and which no one enjoys. I'm very grateful that I have a few days to be able to help her through this ordeal, hopefully helping her make it more manageable.
I have always seen God in the universe (and in big numbers, which directly follows for me). I think that that was/is a big part of my interest/attraction to astronomy. I feel like I have a small glimpse of what infinity means, because I have spent years contemplating the immensity of the universe.
Earth is small, as far as the universe (or even our own solar system, for that matter), goes, but it is, as far as we know yet, the only place where intelligent folks live. (I actually include dolphins in the 'folks' category. They have language, community groupings, etc.) I hope to be alive when we find other folks. We are each unique, though: number 1 in our own way. Even twins who have the same DNA are not even physically completely identical.
When I teach astronomy, I talk about the very big and the very small. Stars, immense as they are, use the energy of fusion - protons combining with protons to make Helium from Hydrogen. God is infinite, yet He knows each of us intimately. God doesn't forget anyone or anything in Her entire creation. This is actually why I think that there has to be intelligent life outside of Earth. If God truly is infinite, why would there be just one planet w/ sentient beings?
My astronomy mentor, Laurance Doyle, once gave this really great analogy to describe smallness versus uniqueness:
If all of the humans on the planet held hands and jumped into the ocean, it would rise 0.1 mm. Physically we are completely insignificant.
If you had a diamond that was the only one in a room, that might or might not be seen as important. If you had the only diamond in a city, perhaps that would be notable to some. If you had the only diamond on the planet, you would be seen as rich and special. You are the only you in the universe. You are truly blessed, interesting and important, because you are truly unique. Scripture says that the very hairs of our head are all numbered. God cares not just about us as individuals, but knows about the minutiae of our lives. God shows us what to know when we need to know it (if we're listening) and puts folks to help us along our path when we need it (often even if we're not listening).
I studied astronomy because of the glimpses of God's diversity and infinitude that it allowed me. After enough years, though, I realized that I just wanted to know God better, so I'm pursuing other paths that, I hope, will help me along that way. I still have a great deal to learn about how to go about sharing my experiences with God with others, so that they feel free to share theirs with me. I get confused about my purpose, sometimes, though, and start to try to get others to think like me. While I think that my path is right for me, who am I to try to convince someone else to take my path? (Hmm, things to ponder.)
I've got to go, but hopefully I'll come back to this subject - a bunch. It's one of my favorites, combining my two academic loves (and my soon to be two masters' - go figure).
I have always seen God in the universe (and in big numbers, which directly follows for me). I think that that was/is a big part of my interest/attraction to astronomy. I feel like I have a small glimpse of what infinity means, because I have spent years contemplating the immensity of the universe.
Earth is small, as far as the universe (or even our own solar system, for that matter), goes, but it is, as far as we know yet, the only place where intelligent folks live. (I actually include dolphins in the 'folks' category. They have language, community groupings, etc.) I hope to be alive when we find other folks. We are each unique, though: number 1 in our own way. Even twins who have the same DNA are not even physically completely identical.
When I teach astronomy, I talk about the very big and the very small. Stars, immense as they are, use the energy of fusion - protons combining with protons to make Helium from Hydrogen. God is infinite, yet He knows each of us intimately. God doesn't forget anyone or anything in Her entire creation. This is actually why I think that there has to be intelligent life outside of Earth. If God truly is infinite, why would there be just one planet w/ sentient beings?
My astronomy mentor, Laurance Doyle, once gave this really great analogy to describe smallness versus uniqueness:
If all of the humans on the planet held hands and jumped into the ocean, it would rise 0.1 mm. Physically we are completely insignificant.
If you had a diamond that was the only one in a room, that might or might not be seen as important. If you had the only diamond in a city, perhaps that would be notable to some. If you had the only diamond on the planet, you would be seen as rich and special. You are the only you in the universe. You are truly blessed, interesting and important, because you are truly unique. Scripture says that the very hairs of our head are all numbered. God cares not just about us as individuals, but knows about the minutiae of our lives. God shows us what to know when we need to know it (if we're listening) and puts folks to help us along our path when we need it (often even if we're not listening).
I studied astronomy because of the glimpses of God's diversity and infinitude that it allowed me. After enough years, though, I realized that I just wanted to know God better, so I'm pursuing other paths that, I hope, will help me along that way. I still have a great deal to learn about how to go about sharing my experiences with God with others, so that they feel free to share theirs with me. I get confused about my purpose, sometimes, though, and start to try to get others to think like me. While I think that my path is right for me, who am I to try to convince someone else to take my path? (Hmm, things to ponder.)
I've got to go, but hopefully I'll come back to this subject - a bunch. It's one of my favorites, combining my two academic loves (and my soon to be two masters' - go figure).
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Winter Solstice and why Christmas is on Dec 25
Being an Astronomy teacher and a winter solstice baby, I enjoy solstices and equinoxes, but the winter solstice is my favorite. I have taught some 2000 students about these days over the last 8 years. I just did a rough count (not going back to look at resumes) and that's what I came up with. My dad mentioned that, in his 20 years of teaching, he's had many fewer students than I have in 8. Anyway, back to astronomy and ancient cultures.
The word solstice means 'sun stands still' from Latin - sol = sun and sistere = to stand still (thanks for this root word from wikipedia). If you mark where the sun rises every day and/or where it sets every day (and different cultures did one or the other or both), you will notice that the sun does not rise or set in exactly the same place every day. Today many people do not realize how much farther north the sun rises and sets in summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) as compared to the winter (in the NH) where it sets south of west (and rises south of east). (I'll just talk about the sun setting from now on, but the same principles apply to the sun rising. Also, I'm going to assume we're in the Northern Hemisphere, since everyone I know lives there, but the seasons are the opposite times of year in the Southern Hemisphere.)
As you get towards the winter solstice, Dec 21 or 22, the sun seems to slow down in its path towards the south. What I mean by that is that if you marked the position of the sunset every night from the autumnal equinox (Sept 20, 21, or 22, depending) through the winter solstice, you would notice that the sun sets farther south every night, but that the distance between the positions gets smaller and smaller. Finally, on the solstice, the sun seems to set in the same place for several days in a row - it is standing still. On about December 25, a careful observer will be able to notice that the sun has started moving north again from its 'winter house'. This is a reason for celebration for those who worship the sun as a god. (I would love to learn more about modern celebrations of this pagan holiday.) The ancient belief was that sun was happy with the people and had decided to return to the north. This meant that there would eventually be a thaw and springtime would come again. Without the thaw, there would not be a chance for planting again and the people would die. (Clearly they didn't live in CA, because people living in CA would not have died if spring never came again.)
The Christian celebration of Jesus' birth on December 25 probably came about as one of the two following scenarios: 1) early Christians, fearing persecution or death from being found out, celebrated quietly while the surrounding pagans celebrated loudly and they blended in or 2) early Christians wanted to convert pagans to worshiping Jesus from worshiping the sun, so they convinced them to worship the Son of God instead of the Sun on this day. In any case, there is NO archeological evidence that Jesus was born on Dec 25, or even in winter at all. The shepherds certainly would not have been standing out in a field with their flocks in freezing weather.
The 'star' that is glorified in modern Christmas carols, some going so far as to say that it shone day and night and told individuals about Jesus' coming, was probably not a single 'star', but a conjunction of planets gathering in the constellation of 'the people.' The ancient Israelites, like many peoples, had a set of the signs of the zodiac (groupings of stars that the sun and planets travel through). Having more than one planet in a single constellation at a time is noteworthy. Having two or three together in the sign of the people was important enough that even the 'wise men,' probably astrologers from Persia, would have recognized the significance. If there was a 'star' that shone day and night, King Herod, even being a bit slow, would have been able to find it on his own and would not have had to consult with the foreign astrologers (see Mark 2 in the Bible). No conjunctions have been found (using software that can replicate the motion of the planets backwards and forwards for thousands of years) that occurred in the wintertime, or in 1 BC. The probable dates for Jesus' birth are between 4 AD and 6 BC, probably in the springtime. Here's one article from earlier this month saying that it was June 17, 2 BC: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1093053/Cancel-Christmas--Jesus-born-June-17-say-scientists.html .
That's enough for today. I'll do a piece on equinoxes soon.
Merry Christmas! (Does it really matter what day we celebrate it? There's plenty of archeological evidence that Jesus certainly existed and the Christ-idea is with us always.)
The word solstice means 'sun stands still' from Latin - sol = sun and sistere = to stand still (thanks for this root word from wikipedia). If you mark where the sun rises every day and/or where it sets every day (and different cultures did one or the other or both), you will notice that the sun does not rise or set in exactly the same place every day. Today many people do not realize how much farther north the sun rises and sets in summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) as compared to the winter (in the NH) where it sets south of west (and rises south of east). (I'll just talk about the sun setting from now on, but the same principles apply to the sun rising. Also, I'm going to assume we're in the Northern Hemisphere, since everyone I know lives there, but the seasons are the opposite times of year in the Southern Hemisphere.)
As you get towards the winter solstice, Dec 21 or 22, the sun seems to slow down in its path towards the south. What I mean by that is that if you marked the position of the sunset every night from the autumnal equinox (Sept 20, 21, or 22, depending) through the winter solstice, you would notice that the sun sets farther south every night, but that the distance between the positions gets smaller and smaller. Finally, on the solstice, the sun seems to set in the same place for several days in a row - it is standing still. On about December 25, a careful observer will be able to notice that the sun has started moving north again from its 'winter house'. This is a reason for celebration for those who worship the sun as a god. (I would love to learn more about modern celebrations of this pagan holiday.) The ancient belief was that sun was happy with the people and had decided to return to the north. This meant that there would eventually be a thaw and springtime would come again. Without the thaw, there would not be a chance for planting again and the people would die. (Clearly they didn't live in CA, because people living in CA would not have died if spring never came again.)
The Christian celebration of Jesus' birth on December 25 probably came about as one of the two following scenarios: 1) early Christians, fearing persecution or death from being found out, celebrated quietly while the surrounding pagans celebrated loudly and they blended in or 2) early Christians wanted to convert pagans to worshiping Jesus from worshiping the sun, so they convinced them to worship the Son of God instead of the Sun on this day. In any case, there is NO archeological evidence that Jesus was born on Dec 25, or even in winter at all. The shepherds certainly would not have been standing out in a field with their flocks in freezing weather.
The 'star' that is glorified in modern Christmas carols, some going so far as to say that it shone day and night and told individuals about Jesus' coming, was probably not a single 'star', but a conjunction of planets gathering in the constellation of 'the people.' The ancient Israelites, like many peoples, had a set of the signs of the zodiac (groupings of stars that the sun and planets travel through). Having more than one planet in a single constellation at a time is noteworthy. Having two or three together in the sign of the people was important enough that even the 'wise men,' probably astrologers from Persia, would have recognized the significance. If there was a 'star' that shone day and night, King Herod, even being a bit slow, would have been able to find it on his own and would not have had to consult with the foreign astrologers (see Mark 2 in the Bible). No conjunctions have been found (using software that can replicate the motion of the planets backwards and forwards for thousands of years) that occurred in the wintertime, or in 1 BC. The probable dates for Jesus' birth are between 4 AD and 6 BC, probably in the springtime. Here's one article from earlier this month saying that it was June 17, 2 BC: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
That's enough for today. I'll do a piece on equinoxes soon.
Merry Christmas! (Does it really matter what day we celebrate it? There's plenty of archeological evidence that Jesus certainly existed and the Christ-idea is with us always.)
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