“Super-Collisions
of the Spirit”
Numbers 11:24-33
Acts 2:1-21
I am going to take a chance this morning
in talking about something which I really know next to nothing about,
but found intriguing. I am no scientist, but every once in awhile a
scientific story catches my eye. The implications of this story are
too great to ignore. It seems that this summer the world might end(!),
maybe the universe as we know it. Interestingly, this potential, imminent
“end of the world” talk is not coming from some misreading of biblical
prophecy, as it often does. This time, it is coming from the world of
science.
This summer, outside Geneva, Switzerland,
they are going to fire up the Large Hadron Collider, the largest particle
accelerator ever constructed. It has been called, the “Hubble Telescope
of inner space.” It has taken 14 years to build, and cost $8 billion.
It will require 128 tons of liquid helium to cool the superconducting
magnets that keep the particles whizzing around the 17 mile circular
track buried 300 feet below Swiss soil. it will deliver three million
DVDs worth of data every year. What it does is take 14 trillion electron
volts of energy and use it to accelerate sub-atomic particles close
to the speed of light, and smash them together. 1 Cool.
Why? Well, the purpose is simple: “to crack the code of the physical world; to figure out what the universe is made of; in other words, to get to the very bottom of things.” 2
What scientists hope is that smashing
these particles together will create fleeting glimpses into what it
was like when the universe began. “The particles will produce tiny
fireballs of primordial energy, recreating conditions that last prevailed
when the universe was less than a trillionth of a second old.” Discoveries
into the very nature of matter and energy await. They may even find
the “God particle” 3 (I don't really understand what
this is, so I won't try to explain it, but it sounds important.)
But even the “God particle” is not
the end of the story.
Two men have filed a lawsuit in a federal
court in Hawaii to try and stop them from firing up the collider. They
contend that the collider could produce a tiny black hole, which, they
say, could eat the Earth. Or it could “spit out something called
a 'strangelet' that would convert our planet to a shrunken dense
dead lump of something called “strange matter.” The chance is
small, sure, but the risk! To quote one article, “Scientists say that
this is very unlikely [that the earth will be swallowed up]-- though
they have done some checking just to make sure.” 4 Ya,
I think you'd want to do that!
I don't want to play up the catastrophic
black hole scenario. It really is unlikely according to scientists much
more learned than I. You can ask JR (Dennison), or Mark (Riffe), or
Jim (Clow) about it over cookies after worship. On the bright side,
Jim informs us that if we do get sucked into the black hole, it will
happen so fast that we won't even know it.
This smashing together of particles
might provide insight into the fundamental nature of the universe, or
it might swallow up the earth, or perhaps it will reveal nothing. The
scope of this project is immense, and the outcome is uncertain and,
there's just the smallest element of danger. It is, after all, the unknown.
The reason that I bring all of this
up is that in our story this morning, we have a super-collision of a
different sort. This is Pentecost, the Sunday when we celebrate the
birthday of the church. What happened in that upper room is nothing
short of a super-collision, a super-collision not of sub-atomic particles
but of spirit and flesh. It is a story of the super-collision between
God's Spirit and human seekers. As the tongues of fire appeared, and
the violent wind rushed through the house, we discover the super-collision
between the Holy Spirit and those women and men who were waiting and
open to new discoveries of faith.
As they waited and prayed at the beginning
of the story, as they pondered Jesus' teaching that they would change
the world in his name, we find the scope of God's project immense, the
outcome uncertain, and there was also just the smallest element of danger.
For them, it was, after all, the unknown. Yet, in this super-collision
we discover what the universe is made of; or more precisely, we discover
what the creator of the universe is made of. We get to the bottom of
things.
We learn that the Spirit is out of our
control. The disciples, not even Peter (or later Paul), were out in
front. The leader - the instigator - was the Spirit. The disciples would
be led, prodded, and dragged by God's spirit to go places and do things
they had never imagined, and at times did not want. At times their tendency
would be to resist God's “out of human control” Spirit. They
would be like Joshua in the story from Numbers, saying, “My Lord,
stop!” But God has another plan. The scope is immense, the outcome
from the human point of view is unknown, and there is also that persistent
element of danger. God's spirit is out of our control.
Last week I talked about Scripture as
the story of God's love that binds us together. It gives us identity.
It anchors us in the steadfast love of God. It moors us securely in
God's hope. When we go together to Scripture, when we are finding out
who we are and how we are to live, we discover super-collision after
super-collision between God and human. These super-collisions reveal
a God who will do anything to bring wholeness to creation, to the whole
human family, to us.
Scripture binds us together, and in that binding we discover that God's spirit sets us free. Yes, in a sense we are set free by Jesus death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, but it is God's spirit that makes it real for us. God's spirit sets us free from living in bondage to our own brokenness and our own limitations. It sets us free from human boundaries that lift up the few and marginalize the many. It sets us free from having to worry, first and foremost, about ourselves, and free from fear for our own survival. God Spirit frees us to live in community with each other, and for each other. As Paul says in Gal. “In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 3:28) God's spirit makes that real.
God's spirit would take a rag-tag group
of followers, fishermen, tax collectors, sinners, business women, government
officials, and out of this diverse group of conservatives and liberals,
males and females, rich and poor, and God's spirit would change the
world. The story is nothing less than the story of a super-collision.
The scope is immense, and the outcome from the human point of view is
unknown; and yes, there is that persistent element of danger and risk.
But oh, look at the outcome when the church is faithful to the Spirit's
leading.
What about us? We might say that God's
spirit doesn't work that way any more. We might say that we have waited
for that big super-collision in our lives, and that we are disappointed
because one has not come. We might say that we live in a unique place
here in Utah, and it's too much to expect God to create a super-collision
here.
We could say these things, or, perhaps,
for wisdom on what this Pentecost super-collision means for us, we can
go back to the Large Hadron Collider.
I found it intriguing that all the potential
gains offered by this particle accelerator are not offered in one great
super-collision. What really will occur when they flip the switch is
a mere 30 million super-collisions a second.
While we are busy waiting for one massive/can't miss it/remove all doubt/end all discussion super-collision, and while our faces are downcast because it doesn't happen in the way we expect, God's Spirit is busy with 30 million mini-super-collisions around us. (“Mini super-collisions” might not be a scientific term, but for this morning let's just use it as a theological one.)
Peter, James, Mary Magdalene, Joanna,
and all of the other disciples who collided with the Spirit in that
upper room long ago invite us to wait, watch, & look for mini super-collisions
with the Holy Spirit.
When we do, we discover that the Spirit
is at work all around us. The Spirit is waiting to “collide” with
us, to enter into us, transform us, and take us places-all of
us.
The spirit arises in unexpected places,
in unexpected ways, touching unexpected people. When the people of Israel
wandered in the wilderness, Moses wished that all would receive the
Spirit of God, and at Pentecost that happens. It has been happening
since, for all those who are open and waiting.
The other night, the building committee
and some members of the finance committee met with the head of construction
from Building God's Way. There is no doubt that, for us, the project
is immense. The outcome from a human point of view is unknown, and there
is indeed an element of risk and danger; but oh the possibilities! The
other night, in that room, I believe that there was a mini super-collision
with God's Spirit.
When we make decisions about our careers,
about what schools we go to, about how we spend our time and our energy,
these are opportunities for mini (and sometimes major!) super-collisions.
When we open our checkbooks, and when we decide on how to spend our money and on what values we will proclaim with our treasure, these are opportunities for mini (and sometimes major!) super-collisions.
For those of us who struggle with addictions,
we find ourselves under the power of something greater than our own
strength. We struggle with a disease that robs us of freedom to choose.
But each decision not to take that drink, or place that bet, or take
that pill, or go to that website, is a super-collision when God's Spirit
sets us free to say, “Yes, I will be the person God wants me to be
today.”
Perhaps we are one of those who believes
that we [as a nation, as a community, as a church (!), or as individuals]
are strong, & that we are basically pretty good, and that “we
are not in any great need for a super-collision with God's Spirit at
the moment, thank you (8 billion can sound like a lot).” God's Spirit
is waiting to collide with us to set us free from our pride.
In that super-collision, our eyes are opened to the fact that when there
is suffering or brokenness anywhere, there is brokenness everywhere,
and we are part of it. A super-collision with God's Spirit empowers
us to receive grace with humbleness, and to share out of our abundance.
For those of us whose faith has become
stale, or lifeless, or boring, or irrelevant, the Spirit is waiting
to crash into us. There is ministry to carry out. There are lives to
change (perhaps our own most of all), and there is good news to proclaim.
The Spirit was there long ago. The Spirit is here today. When the Spirit goes out of our control, or calls us beyond our comfort zones, we can respond like Joshua and say “Lord! Stop! Please!” Or we can be open to new super-collisions in our lives, in our church, and in our world. Oh, this is what makes faith an adventure!
God spirit has a plan for us. The project
is immense. The outcome from a human point of view is unknown, and yes,
there is an element of risk and danger. But oh the possibilities!
May 11, 2008
Rev. Paul Heins
First Presbyterian Church
Logan, Utah