Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Why does it have to be science OR religion?


"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." (Albert Einstein)

In the news I continue to hear an ongoing debate between science and religion.  There seem to be two entrenched sides of the conversation.  On the one hand you have you have religious folks who view the world through the lens of the Bible.  Anything that doesn’t fit that framework, including science, is viewed with suspicion.  The Big Bang, evolution and global warming are seen as part of a vast conspiracy by scientists to undermine the faith.  On the other hand you have scientific folks who see the world through the lens of empirical data.   Anything that can’t be rigorously tested, including religion, is viewed with suspicion.  Creationism is considered part of a vast conspiracy by people of faith to undermine scientists’ work.

Why do we have to choose between two extremes: science OR religion.  Can’t they coexist?  Since when did scientific discoveries have to undermine the faith? 

Not that many years ago that people didn’t understand our world very well.  They planted seeds and had little understanding of why they grew.  Rains seemed to come randomly.  Some people got sick and recovered while others got sick and died.  In this world of ignorance, God ‘filled in the gaps.’  When you couldn’t explain something, people assumed God did it.  God caused the seed to grow.  God caused the rains.  God healed.  It seemed pretty straightforward.

Then science got rolling and people had explanations for these natural phenomena.  From the beginning, the church was skeptical.  In 1633 the pope sent Galileo Galilei to prison.  His crime?  He proclaimed that the earth revolved around the sun (and not vice versa).  People of faith read their Scriptures and knew this had to be wrong.  The Bible talks of a flat earth! 

We live in an era when science progresses rapidly.  Living in the shadow of Mayo Clinic I see this firsthand.  We know more about our physical universe than we’ve ever known before and research continues daily.  Are we getting to a point where we no longer have any room for God?  I don’t think so!

The Bible is the story of God at work among God’s people.  It contains the record of people’s experiences with the God who worked in their midst.  Scripture exists to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ: not to prove science.  The people that God used to write the books that we have in our Bibles didn’t know a thing about atoms or DNA.  They assumed that the world was flat.  They ‘knew’ that the sun revolved around the earth.  They understood the world in simple ways…but they knew that God had a hand in it.

While the writers of the Bible may not have known much about their physical world, they did understand God.  God created the heavens and the earth.  We don’t need to get anxious over whether God did it in seven 24 hour days or over millions of years. 

Science has not ‘pushed God out’ of life.  Scientists work to understand the complex world that God has created.  I thank God for the wisdom that God gives to God’s people.   

"Science is an effort to understand the creation.
Biblical religion involves our relation to the Creator.
Since we can learn about the Creator from his creation, religion can learn from science."
(Paul H. Carr)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Open Letter to KTTC


Dear KTTC television –

Last Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to join with Lutherans from all over the Southeastern Minnesota Synod as we gathered at the Mayo Civic Center for our annual assembly.

The theme of the weekend was God’s Work, Our Hands, God’s Family.  We spent a lot of time pondering ways to pass our Christian faith from generation to generation.  We spent an entire morning on Saturday learning new ways to help people al ALL ages grow in faith and impact their communities.  It was good stuff!  You seem to have forgotten to mention that when you put our assembly on your newscast.

During the ‘business’ portion of the assembly we voted to kick off a fund appeal to raise at least $50,000 to combat malaria.  Over 800,000 people die every year from this disease that is completely preventable and treatable.  We will work with people all from over the globe with the goal of eradicating this horrific disease.  In a poignant moment of the discussion, one of our South Sudanese immigrants came to the microphone and talked about his history with malaria.  “I used to get malaria about 10 times every year.  We would go out into the bush to hide from the people with guns, but when we went to the bush the mosquitos (that carry malaria) would find us.  We had to choose between guns and malaria.”  I think that his comments would have ‘played well’ on the nightly news!  He brought a southeast Minnesota connection to a world issue.  I’ve heard that you like to do that.  Yet somehow you missed out on all the malaria discussion.  Perhaps it was an oversight?  $50,000 will save many lives.  That seems newsworthy to me.

In the midst of a two day assembly, we had a one hour discussion about the proposed ‘Minnesota Marriage Amendment.’  As you know, this is the amendment to the state constitution which would define marriage as ‘between one man and one woman.’  If you stuck around for the discussion (and it seems that you did) you heard people who deeply love the Lord and Scripture disagreeing on these matters.  As ELCA Lutherans, we’re OK with this.  Throughout the discussion people were able to debate this topic with respect and dignity.  In a society that is pretty good at vilifying the opponent, I think this was remarkable.  In the end, after much conversation, the assembly voted to pass a resolution which opposes the ‘Marriage Amendment.’  This one hour discussion made it into your newscast.

I resent that you chose to caricature the ELCA church that solely focuses on matters of sex.  We are open about the fact that we do not agree on issues of homosexuality.  It’s no secret!  While we acknowledge the importance of these conversations, they are a mere sidelight to our core: we are a people of faith, seeking to change the world through the love of Jesus Christ.  We do not find unity in our stances on social issues.  We find our unity in Jesus Christ.  Your newscast attempts to fit us into the 'right-wing vs. left-wing' politics of our day.  God's church is much more complex than that.

I can’t expect you to get excited about the inspiring worship or some of our internal workings.  I get that.  But other newsworthy things…positive things…happened at the Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly.  In your rush to talk about controversy and sex you completely missed them, and in doing so, gave a false impression of what we are about.

I’d love to see you at our assembly next year when we prayerfully elect a new bishop.  You will again see people of faith wrestling with challenging issues that they disagree on.  It’s what we’re good at.

Sincerely,

Rev. Peter Reuss
Peace Lutheran Church
Eyota, MN


The newscast can be viewed here.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Lesson of the Air Guitar


Sadly, my son does not seem to have inherited my ‘Air Guitar’ gene.
 
Last Saturday night Ben and I got to go to an amazing concert.  Fireflight plays wonderfully loud, obnoxious, melodic metal with a Christian theme.  If you stop at our house nearly any evening you’ll hear it flowing from our speakers.  The band is on their national tour and somehow ended up playing in Kasson (in between concerts in Indiana and Michigan)!

From the moment we walked in the door I knew it would be a good night.  The wall of speakers next to the stage promised to rattle my eardrums.  The first band was OK.  The next band was halfway decent.  Then came Ashes Remain with their loud, growly sound (and drummer who looked either like the caveman on Geico commercials…or a sasquatch – I’ve never seen so much hair).  Ben and I liked them enough to buy their CD!   Each warm-up band tried (with varied success) to get the crowd involved.  Ben and I clapped along a bit…but we didn’t know the songs at all.  It’s hard to get into the music when it’s not familiar.

When Fireflight took the stage everything changed.  The smoke and light show ramped up.  The sound got mixed more clearly.  The crowd roared.  This is what we’d come for!  As the opening guitar riffs blazed, I assumed the proper ‘air guitar’ position and played along.  I hit every note!  I soon had a tap on my shoulder and a voice trying to shout above the music, “Dad, what is THAT?”  Apparently Ben hasn’t seen an air guitar being played before!  He shook his head in disbelief.  As the concert rolled along both Ben and I sang loud and proud…clapped our hands…waved our arms…shouted our approval.

There was a day when I would have shied away from any of that, afraid that I might ‘look stupid.’  I know full well that I’m an awkward guy.  I’ve never had ‘smooth moves.’  My ability to dance can be compared to Frankenstein trying to keep from drowning.  I’ve finally gotten to the point in life where I don’t care (it’s only taken me 41 years!).  This is how God made me, so why be embarrassed by it? 

It’s amazing how much my fear of ‘what others will think’ has influenced my actions over the years.  I haven’t allowed myself to freely enjoy myself.   As Fireflight rocked on I let my body join in the celebration…even (to my son’s dismay) throwing down an air guitar riff when it felt right!

I am who God created me to be.  Why be embarrassed by that?