08-21-25

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 21, 2025
A couple of days ago, a fragment of an asteroid burned up over Japan, and in the process, it lit up the night sky with shocking brilliance. I’m sure for anyone who was outside, especially in a rather dark location, it was a bit shocking. Videos from different locations show how night became day. Almost immediately, news reports were calming the concerns of citizens who wanted to know what it was. Yet even with the unexpected nature of such an event, most people today are not going to wonder why God or the gods are sending fireballs to the Earth. There were probably very few people who were repenting out of fear that heaven was raining down judgement. Yet from the video, I could understand how an ancient people would have easily come to that determination. Science and knowledge that come from discovery help us better understand the universe, and what was assumed to be divine anger was, in fact, debris from the tail of a comet that had spun off and been aimlessly floating through our solar system until it ran into our atmosphere and burned up. I would call this growth in knowledge to be good progress, but it also makes me wonder what people will think of us in a thousand years. What are certain beliefs that we hold quite seriously today that will be shown to have an entirely different scientific explanation? Part of me hopes that generations to come will be gentle in their evaluation of us and our beliefs. Even more so, I hope that what we are doing today in regard to science and religion will be seen as an important step toward whatever is next, as compared to being that embarrassing footnote describing people who refused to let go out of fear of seeing things differently, even when the evidence was clear.

God of breathtaking revelation, we give you thanks for this amazing world in which we live. There is so much to learn, and though scientific breakthroughs are astonishing and numerous, we recognize how there is much we do not understand. Keep us humble, while also gently encouraging our imagination as it seeks to know and understand. Amen.