๐๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ?โ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต, ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.โ ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ; ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.โ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, โ๐๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ; ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ.โ - Luke 8:42b-48
Now you might be saying to me, โPastor Tim, I thought you were talking about intellectual healing this week. This passage is about physical healing!โ You are right. We are continuing to talk about intellectual healing, but this passage brought on a new way of thinking for me; you could say an intellectual healing. It was through this passage that an event happened leading me to rethink the way I see the world and Godโs action in it.
Years ago, I was in a conversation with a friend who works in quantum physics. Now a little bit of confession is needed here. I was never a shining star in the study of science. As a matter of fact, the only way I could pass 10th grade Biology was that I sat behind young lady named Bette Bushore who was at the top of our class and who also wrote with large letters. Unbeknownst to her, I could see her answers and therefore I passed all our tests. Well anyway, this friend of mine, the quantum physicist, told me that this was his favorite passage. I asked him why. He proceeded to tell me about electrons and how they just bounce all over the place (my words). So, that when I get close enough to you, our electrons intermingle.
He continues, โThe woman reaches out, not touching Jesus, but just touches the tip of his gown. Suddenly Jesusโ holy and powerful electrons surge into her body stopping her bleeding, healing her, making her whole, and bringing her back into her family and community. Holy goodness this is science! This is physics! This is God in Jesus working through our atomic structure! Jesus feels the power turns around and says who touched me. That is a moment of science!โ
It was in this encounter that led me to start reading scientific books starting with โThe Double Helix.โ I continue to search and seek growth in my understanding creation. Now, everything I read I interpret through the mind of a theologian, but in his goodness, God uses science in an amazing way. The fact that we get these glimpses of God working in creation is just a marvelous gift. Growing--you could say healing--our knowledge of the cosmos.
