Miracle days

Olive . Miracle by srepkela

Late last year, we looked at God in science, culminating in us hosting Manchester Science Festival's first church service.

We considered a miracle as an event that is unexplainable through science and reason and usually attributed to God, giving us a particular insight into God or bring people closer to God.

There are different types of miracle such as healings, raising from the dead, pregnancy, defying natural events and even talking donkeys. Favourite miracles within the group included feeding the five thousand, healing Jairus' daughter, legion, raising of Lazarus and turning water into wine.

We then considered science as being a philosophy, a way of thinking, which involves observation, reason and interdependence. It links cause and effect which allows outcomes to be predictable. It's a process of observation, hypothesis, measurement and conclusion in which assumptions are made and then further questioned.

Science can be used to explain some miracles but it does not necessarily mean that is how it happened. Science can also help us understand how far away from natural law God operates. For instance the changing water into wine can could be a trick or hypnosis or pure creative writing but if we were to rely on purely a chemical explanation, it is impossible. Not just a little impossible but mega impossible: for instance, carbon in the wine cannot just be made out of water as water contains no carbon.

The more we look at the world through science, the more it reveals just how complex the world of nature is. It's just amazing to sit back and look at the diversity and beauty of universe through the lens which science provides.

Volcanic Sanctus

Sanctus went volcanic recently. Well on a small scale.

What with the Science Festival coming up and Sanctus 1's amazing first ever church service for the festival, we concentrated on a theme of God in science.

As the first service of the month is usually a food service, we made it a messy service with food and fun craft with good conversation. The fun craft involved making small volcano like structures out of modelling clay and then making them appear to erupt using caustic soda and vinegar.

The conversation around the table focused on our experience of science and how it has informed our understanding of our world and of God. It is interesting that both theology and science both use metaphor to describe events which we cannot see and are difficult to understand.

Watch this space for more developments of God in science.

Sanctus 1: a family affair

If you were to draw your family tree, what issues would it raise for you?

This is what we did at Sanctus. We explored the nature of family.

We are all part of a family, even if we don't know our family. It seems to be part of being human: something that holds us together in family. Something mystical.

There are advantages about being in a family, such as security, identity, shared values and heritage.

But there can be disadvantages also, like suppression of the individual, control and the exclusive nature of families. If you're on the outside of a family, you'll know what we mean.

Generally the Bible is very pro-family. Adam and Eve and the boys, Abraham and his many descendants, Jacob is blessed when he is part of the family but less so when he leaves. The parable of the prodigal son tells us something similar: being family is good, out of family is bad.

However Jesus challenges this model by saying:

Matthew ch10 v35: For I have come to turn "a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law".

Matthew ch10 v37: "Anyone who loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me: anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

We also questioned whether people have a right to have a family. There was a resounding no to Michael Nazir-Ali (ex-Bishop of Rochester)'s assertion that "in choosing not to have children are they, self indulgent" (paraphrased a little).

Finally we looked at the notion of God's family and church family and does Sanctus 1 operate as a family? Some felt it did, others less convinced. Perhaps it also includes some the negative aspects of family too, like being difficult to break into by those outside.

This coming week is the beginning of our science theme: Messed-Up Science.