astronomically speaking...

During its 221st meeting, the American Astronomical Society announced the identification of 17,000,000,000 Earth-sized planets in our galaxy. That means that 17% of the stars in our galaxy have a planet up to 1.25 times the size of Earth in an orbit lasting 85 days or less. Ours, of course is not the only galaxy. Since even the most powerful of our instruments can view only a fraction of the universe, no one knows how many galaxies exist. Astronomers and cosmologists estimate that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies, but a German supercomputer simulation recently posited the existence of 500 billion. There may be a galaxy out there for every star in the Milky Way, and each galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars.

In other words, we're just a speck of dust in our 13.8 billion years old universe. Yet, what a wonderful speck we are and how precious is the glimmering blue orb we inhabit.  Nothing could be rarer than our planetary home, and each one of its inhabitants is unique. Do we need more motivation to receive the gift of life with gratitude and pursue it with courage? On the worst of days, despite the odds, we exist. None of us knows how long we will live, but whether for a moment or a century, life is miraculous. How can we know that and not feel grateful and not want to revere, protect, sustain, and preserve the miracle that we are and have?

Add this to the pondering. On April 18, NASA announced that its Kepler space telescope had discovered three exoplanets (An exoplanet is a planet outside our solar system.) that may have the capacity to support life. One of them, Kepler-62f, is 1.4 times bigger than Earth and circles a star smaller and dimmer than our sun. The neighboring Kepler-62e is 1.6 times larger than Earth. Both of them orbit their star in the "habitable zone," the appropriate range of distances where liquid water can exist on an exo/planet's surface. William Borucki, Principal Investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center, declared that these orbs "look very good as possibilities for looking for life."

We may never have the ability to meet them face-to-face, but we may have kissing-cousin creatures somewhere in the vastness of all that is. Only 4.9% of all that is consists of ordinary matter. The rest is dark matter and dark energy. Yet, that 4.9% suffices for our extraordinary world and lives and possibly other worlds and lives as well. Far from making us less unique, that makes us more extraordinary and deepens my sense of awe. Despite the odds, life finds a way. Not everyone calls the reason for that God, but we do. God's reach extends far beyond us. As a part of God, our capacity for relationships exceeds our imaginations.

There may be a galaxy out there for every star in the Milky Way, and each galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars. We inhabit a planet just the right distance from one of those hundreds of billions of stars to make life possible. That ought to make us feel profoundly grateful for our lives and fill us with desire to do something worthwhile with our lives. In Paul's words, "Rejoice always." In the words of our baptismal liturgy, "Obey Jesus' word and show his love."

            Easter Blessings,

            LP

Raymund's note: celebrating new beginnings

To:  MWPC Faith Community

From:  Raymund Ocampo, Director of Music Ministry

As many of you know, I have accepted an offer from the University of South Florida in Tampa to attend their Master of Music in Choral Conducting program. USF offered a full-ride scholarship, plus an assistant director post with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay as part of an offer package. It was an opportunity I couldn't refuse. The decision was difficult to make, but the need to improve my skills as a musician and conductor weighed heavy on my mind, especially after my workshop (PCI) last summer.

Elizabeth and I so very cherish our work with this church. The decision was made difficult because of how much we love Cincinnati and MWPC. We have made dear friends at MWPC and are sad to leave, but we know that in order for us to improve and continue our careers, we must take advantage of opportunities such as this.

I know that the next few months will be bittersweet, but we still time together. Let's make this a celebration of new beginnings for both of us as we transition to new paths and brighter futures.

Sincerely,

Raymund

Lessons from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Many Christian traditions remember the life and ministry of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on 9 April. Ordained in the Lutheran Church in Germany, Bonhoeffer responded to the anti-Semitism and jingoism of the Nazi-influenced German Church by becoming a director in the German Confessing Church. After participating in a plot to assassinate Hitler, he was incarcerated and then hanged in Flossenburg concentration camp three weeks prior to Hitler's suicide. While in prison, he wrote this reflection [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Who Am I?" Letters and Papers from Prison (London: SCM Press, 1953), 173].

Who am I? They often tell me

I would step from my cell's confinement

Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,

Like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They often tell me

I would talk to my warders

Freely and friendly and clearly,

As though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me

I would bear the days of misfortune

Equably, smilingly, proudly,

Like one accustomed to win.

Am I really at all that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I know of myself,

Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,

Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,

Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,

Thirsting with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation,

Tossing in expectation of great events,

Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,

Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,

Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?

Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,

And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?

Or is something within me still like a beaten army,

Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine!

                       

Most of us attempt to shield others from the depth of our suffering. Psychologically healthy people do not make themselves vulnerable to all. Sometimes we choose not to add to other's pain by drawing attention to our own. That reflects self-care and neighbor-love more than deceit. That does not mean that we should always eschew vulnerability. Bonhoeffer did not do that. When we judiciously choose whom to allow into our pain and whose pain to enter willingly, we form a community in which we gladden each other's hearts.

Shielding most from the depths of our doubts (and the heights of our joys) can feel dishonest. When that feeling invades our peace, it helps to remember when we have chosen to lift that shield. To support his fellow prisoners and to confront his captors, Bonhoeffer

... would talk to my warders

Freely and friendly and clearly,

As though it were mine to command.

He chose to convey himself as one whose spirit prison bars could not bind. Far from exhibiting hypocrisy, his choice reflected

... something within me still like a beaten army,

Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved[.]

His captors could murder but not defeat him because

Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine!

People who embrace the proclamation of Easter know suffering, pain, disappointment, defeat, and death. Yet, they believe and use their lives to proclaim that darkness yields to light, hope shatters despair, life overcomes death, and trust in God diminishes fear. Thanks be to God for followers of Jesus, like Bonhoeffer, who deliver that message in the best and worst of times.

Several MWPC members asked me to repeat often these words from my Day of Resurrection proclamation, "Jesus was not raised to be venerated; he was raised to be followed." In light of those words, where and how are we allowing the Easter message to speak to, in, and through us? Expressions of hope, faith, and love sometimes seem to deny our struggles and weaknesses. Don't fall into the temptation of believing that. Choosing to have hope, faith, and love simply and powerfully reflects whose we are.

            Happy Easter!

            LP

Celtic Christians

During the season of Easter, Rhonda and I will use stories and traditions about Celtic Christians to illustrate our sermons. Some cringe at the use of the term, Celtic Christianity, and insist that the church always leaned toward Rome. We cannot deal adequately with that in this item, but we can note that from the fall of Rome to the height of the reign of Charlemagne, many practices of Christians living in what we call Britain, Ireland, and Scotland differed significantly from those in areas more heavily influenced by Rome. Christians in Celtic lands planted seeds that continue to sprout among Presbyterians and other Reformed followers of Jesus.

Celtic Christians valued the oral word above the written word. Even though Celtic hands exquisitely illuminated Bibles, Celtic folk typically embedded the truths they most treasured in stories, poems, and songs shared from memory in the context of everyday life. The Reformed understand that the "word of God" is not the words of scripture written on a page but what the people hear when a preacher interprets and proclaims scripture has decidedly Celtic roots. Celts had written laws and documents, but they most delighted and revered words intended to enter the soul through the ear.

Celtic Christians had a non-linear worldview. They considered the past and present intimately intertwined. Perhaps the most recognizable illustration of this is the term "thin place." A "thin place" is a place, a time, or an individual in which the separation between this world and other worlds become thin and the presence of the divine becomes especially manifest. Brigit, a late fifth and early sixth century Celtic Christian, was often depicted as present at the manger at the birth of Jesus. If that sounds too odd for credibility, consider it from the viewpoint of the words, "Do this in remembrance of me," which we recite during Holy Communion. We don't claim that the loaf and cup transport us to first century Jerusalem, but sometimes past and present intertwine and we feel peculiarly connected with the Upper Room.

For Celtic Christians, life revolved around the community, the clan. Sometimes this made it hard for distinct communities to unite for their own good and sometimes it led to destructive in-fighting; but it also demanded that people hold themselves accountable to their neighbors. Sound familiar? Celtic people typically chose their "kings" not by heredity but by who seemed best suited for leadership by the majority of the community. Celtic Christians readily embraced the concept of the Trinity, because to them it made perfect sense that God existed and lived in relationship.

Celtic Christians loved nature and thought that everything created in some way pointed to the Creator. Whereas Augustine focused on original sin, Celtic theology stressed the goodness of creation. Celtic Christians considered sexuality a blessing from God to embrace in appropriate ways, not something God reluctantly allowed to ensure the continuance of the species. We all shun excess, but embracing goodness takes us in very different directions from avoiding evil.

Celtic lore includes many stories of wandering, roaming, and exploring. Western Christians embraced the pilgrimage, a journey to a holy site that allowed renewal during the trip and at the end. Many Celtic Christians advocated peregrination, a journey taken without a known destination in which the traveler went wherever God led. Some Celtic Christians reportedly set to sea in boats without oars, confident that God would travel with them and take them where they needed to go. They knew better than most of us that something beyond us truly guides our lives.

What's the point? Part of it is to have fun. It's Easter. Let's celebrate. Another part is to proclaim the ever-present diversity among followers of Jesus. Despite every demand for orthodoxy and orthopraxy, followers of Jesus have maintained their uniqueness while seeking and following the same Lord. The more we recognize that, the more we can move beyond mere tolerance to acceptance. In such a gloriously diverse cosmos and in communities filled with diverse people, surely that will lead us more fully into God's embrace.

            Happy Easter!

            LP