Ok, first of all a few scientific facts...
Can anyone take a guess at how much the earth weighs ...... in pounds
(13,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) 13 to the power of 21 pounds, or about 6 billion trillion metric tonnes.
What about how fast the earth spins... .1,600 kilometers an hour at the equator, to zero at the poles. Anyone going to London soon - we are to pick up Hannah's Gold D of E award. Anyway, be prepared to feel very dizzy because in London the earth is spinning at 998 kilometres an hour.
metric tonnes.
How far across is the visible universe - universe that scientists speak about, the one
that light has travelled across - any one want to guess in miles?
(1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) 1 power 28, that is a million, million, million, million
miles.
metric tonnes.
The intergalactic family holiday would be a real nightmare, can you imagine - "are
we there yet", for a million,million,million, million miles !
And what about the sustainability of the universe, for example did you know that for
the universe to exist as it does, it requires hydrogen to be converted into helium in a
very precise way, converting 7 one-thousandths of its mass into energy.
Lower the value from say 0.07 to 0.06 per cent, and no transformation would take
place and the entire universe would only consist of hydrogen. Raise it to 0.08 and all
the hydrogen would have run out millienia ago.
metric tonnes.
And isn't it amazing that at one time the universe was so small you'd have needed a
microscope to see it, but that during big bang (if you hold to that theory), the universe
doubled in size every 10 to the power of-34 seconds (0.1 followed by 34 zeros).
And finally, if you wanted to draw just our solar system to scale with the earth reduced to about the size of a pea, Jupiter would still be over 300 metres away, and Pluto, the furthest planet in our solar system, would be 2.5 kilometres away and about the size of a bacterium. So the neat little diagram you find in the Pears encyclopedia of the universe laid out on a fold-away page, needn't really have bothered with the foldaway page,- unless the page was 2.5 kilometers wide.
metric tonnes.
And lastly here's a non scientific fact to end on. In l781 William Herschel became the first person in the modern era to discover a planet. He wanted to call it... George after the British monarch...... but was overruled and instead it became... Uranus.
My grateful thanks to Bill Bryson and his superb book "a short history of nearly everything", for these interesting facts.
metric tonnes.
So why have I begun this address with these facts - simply because when I first read them I was truly amazed at the scale of things, I really was in awe of them - these for me are facts that fill me with awe when I stop and consider them for a moment. And I find that pleasing because there doesn't seem much that people seem to find awe inspiring anymore. Everything seems to be "whatever", and people seem preoccupied with their immediate surroundings and feelings.
metric tonnes.
I still find it odd that folk would rather play "tennis" on a computer in their house,
than go to a tennis court and play the real thing. Perhaps it's more "awesome" that the
computer can simulate the game, than the actual game itself ?
metric tonnes.
But the universe and world in which we live are awesome aren't they? and for those
of us who walk the hills here, or watch how they change hue and colour throughout
the seasons, know something of the awesome-ness of nature.
Indeed I remember looking at a greenfly on the arm of a bench I was sitting on, and
realising that it cast a shadow. I couldn't believe it - the light from the sun had
travelled 96million miles, only to be thwarted by a greenfly within the last few
millimetres of reaching earth !
metric tonnes.
It had only been a matter of about 50 days since Jesus had been crucified, taken from the cross, buried and then raised to new life. The disciples were still buzzing from the experience of the resurrection, and more recently in the section of Acts that we read today, the event of Pentecost. Such a lot had happened in a relatively short time that they could hardly catch their breath.
metric tonnes.
And now we find them coming together as a vibrant community, a new creation, a community that had never existed before. Listening intently to the teachings of the 12 . apostles, they met together, sold their property and shared the proceeds, worshipped together in the Temple and broke bread as Jesus had taught them in one another's homes.
And as they began to live a new life of the Kingdom of God as the body of Christ, and through the indwelling of Christ's Holy Spirit, a deep sense of awe came over them. Something truly wonderful and fearful was happening to them.
Awe is a strange word. It's strange because it mixes up feelings - it mixes wonder and
amazement, with fear and trepidation - something that's truly awesome fills us with
both wonder and fear.
metric tonnes.
The scientific facts I mentioned earlier had an awesome effect on me because I
realised in the same instant, the size of the universe, and my place within it.
As the psalmist says, "when I consider the heavens..... what is man that you are
mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him" ? (Psalm 8)
And so it was with the disciples, wonder and fear, amazement and trepidation came over them as they realised that they were involved in something huge, something - i! greater than their wildest hopes - the Kingdom of God was breaking out in a new and unexpected way, it was breaking out, through them !
metric tonnes.
Perhaps some of them remembered listening to Jesus when he'd spoken to them about the Kingdom and their place within it. Perhaps they remembered his metaphorical story of the Shepherd and the sheep, when he'd told them that he was the Good Shepherd, not a hireling, and that just as the committed shepherd would lay across the entrance to the sheep pen each night to ensure no sheep strayed, and no wild beasts got in, so Jesus was the gateway to true life.
metric tonnes.
And perhaps they remembered that he said that he would call them each by name, they would know him, and he would know them - he would call them to new life and go on ahead of them, calling them and encouraging them by name. And so there they were in Jerusalem, with everything changed. They no longer followed a man who was constantly at odds with the authorities, a man they sometimes understood, frequently misunderstood. A man whom they'd hoped might create a movement to free them from Roman oppression but instead was executed for being a fake and a troublemaker.
metric tonnes.
Now they followed a man who they knew wasn't simply a man, but a son of man who was the Son of God, and who had risen from cold death and visited them with tongues of fire, burning within their hearts and minds and branding them a new creation. And they were in awe.
metric tonnes.
And so what about us ?
Are we not also called by name ?
Isn't it the same Spirit that created and continues to create that mind-boggling
universe that we spoke of earlier, isn't it the same Spirit that gives us life ? The Spirit
that crafted the planets and stars and galaxies out of microscopic elements is the same
Spirit that weaves us together in the secret place, which knits us together in the womb.
The Spirit that gave birth to life before mankind is the same Spirit that brings about
the fusion of male and female, creating within the inner universe of the womb a life
made in the very image of God.
metric tonnes.
And even at the advent of this mortal birth the same Spirit calls us to life immortal;
calls us by name to follow Him as he opens the gate that leads from the imperfect
kingdom that humankind has constructed, into the perfect Kingdom of God, where
fullness of life awaits.
metric tonnes.
We take so much of life for granted, and we don't spend enough time fully observing
and engaging with the creation within which God has set us. If we did, perhaps we'd
experience awe a little more often.
And we take Christ for granted too. We repeat His name, we meet in his name, we
offer prayers and give thanks in his name; but how often do we reflect upon the fact
that it's our name that He knows and loves.
metric tonnes.
The fact is that we're only here this morning, a part of that awesome creation, a part
of that Heavenly Kingdom, a part indeed of the body of Christ to live his life and so
have life in abundance, because he's called each of us by our own name.
If we are truly to be God's people and take our full place in both the creation and the re-creation, the universe and His heavenly kingdom, then we must know ourselves a people called by name and filled with awe.
metric tonnes.
Amen.
Ian Spencer
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