Thursday, March 31, 2016

Help Me Believe

 
Chapter nine of the Gospel of Mark speaks of a father who brought his son to Jesus to be healed. The man makes one of the most honest statements in the whole Bible. Jesus tells this man that “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father of the boy says, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

Isn’t that just like us? We believe; and we need help to overcome our unbelief. We trust Jesus; and we need help to overcome our lack of trust. We have simple child-like faith; and we struggle with the complexities of the universe. The mysteries of life, death, healing, sickness, and life beyond this world, impinge upon our simple faith. What we don’t understand gets in the way of what we trust. We want explanations of how things work. We find it hard to simply believe.

Lord, help me believe. I don’t want to miss any miracles. I don’t want to miss your power. Help me believe.

Help Me Believe
(Lyrics and music by Nichole Ellyse Nordeman)

Take me back to the time
When I was maybe eight or nine and I believed
When Jesus walked on waters blue
And if He helped me, I could too if I believed

Before rationale, analysis
And systematic thinking
Robbed me of a sweet simplicity
When wonders and when mysteries
Were far less often silly dreams
And childhood fantasies

Help me believe
'Cause I don't want to miss any miracles
Maybe I'd see much better by closing my eyes
And I would shed this grownup skin I'm in
To touch an angel's wing and I would be free
Help me believe

When mustard seeds made mountains move
A burning bush that spoke for You was good enough
When manna fell from heavens high
Just because You told the sky to open up

Am I too wise to recognize
That everything uncertain
Is certainly a possibility
When logic fails my reasoning
And science crushes underneath
The weight of all that is unseen
Help me believe

'Cause I don't want to miss any miracles
Maybe I'd see much better by closing my eyes
And I would shed this grownup skin I'm in
To touch an angel's wing and I would be free, free, free
Help me believe

When someone else's education
Plays upon my reservations
I'm the first to cave, I'm the first to bleed
If I abandon all that seeks
To make my faith informed and chic
Could You, would You show Yourself to me?

Help me believe
'Cause I don't want to miss any miracles
Maybe I'd see much better by closing my eyes
And I would shed this grownup skin I'm in
To touch one of their wings and I would be free
And I would be free and I would be free

Help me believe, help me believe
Could You, would You show Yourself to me?
Could You, would You show Yourself to me?
Help me believe


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Aedes aegypti mosquito


Photo credit: Alex Wild[1]
(Click on the photo to get a larger image.)

This terrifying picture shows an Aedes aegypti mosquito rising out of the water immediately after it has metamorphosed from its larval stage. Without a sense of scale this creature looks like some dragon from a Peter Jackson film. Despite the fact that it is just a mosquito, the insect is none-the-less horrifying. This is the mosquito that carries the Zika virus that has been plaguing much of the tropical zones of the world. This is not a new virus; it has been documented as early as 1947. For some people the Zika virus causes nothing more than a rash and flu-like symptoms. What is new is the link between Zika and two conditions in humans. There is growing evidence that the Zika virus can induce microcephaly in the fetuses of pregnant women and that Zika may trigger Guillain-Barré syndrome (a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system[2]).

Scientists and the World Health Organization are extremely concerned about the effects of this virus and are working hard to develop vaccines and ways to combat the mosquito. It is now known that the Zika virus can infect and kill neural progenitor cells in vitro and this may be the mechanism by which it causes microcephaly.[3] The world waits as more research and vaccine trials occur. Let us hope and pray that effective solutions may be found.


[1] Science News; March 18, 2016; “Special Report: Here's what we know about Zika”; https://www.sciencenews.org/article/special-report-heres-what-we-know-about-zika; accessed 2016-03-23.
[2] NIH; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Guillain-Barré Syndrome Fact Sheet; http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/detail_gbs.htm; accessed 2016-03-23.
[3] Science News; March 18, 2016; “How Zika became the prime suspect in microcephaly mystery;” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-zika-became-prime-suspect-microcephaly-mystery; accessed 2016-03-23.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Sympathy For the Dead

 

In his time, Johnny Cash sang more than one murder ballad. Adam Cohen, Kenny Rogers, Crooked Still, Sting, and Tom Waits also recorded songs in this genre. Even the consummate pop songwriter Barry Manilow wrote a song about murder (perhaps one day I will expand on these other murder-ballads).

What is it about murder ballads that catch our attention? Is it that we truly desire justice, revenge, or retribution? Or is it the horror of a train-wreck from which we cannot remove our gaze? The latest song from Key of Zed tells one such story of murder and asks the question, “Was it swift justice or retribution?” The soaring vocals, growling guitar, and haunting electric solo tell the story of two men who lose their way, and ultimately, lose their lives. There is a faint echo of a Kenny Rogers’ song; and it also makes a nod to Adam Cohen’s “Don’t Crack.” I will leave it up to readers to come to their own conclusions on the inherent question in the last line.

Sympathy for the Dead

Down the long dark corridor
I heard the sounds I couldn’t expect
Her clothes were strewn on the floor
My heart was frozen in my chest

Door was open just a crack
Pushed it wide for I must be sure
Gun on the floor she always packed
It would be used for this cure

It was over in an instant
Just another crime of passion
Punished to the full extent
Swift justice or retribution

The trial was over in three days
No time to hear all the facts
Nothing ‘bout his abusive ways
To explain my attack

It was over in an instant
Just another crime of passion
Punished to the full extent
Swift justice or retribution

Now the doors close on my plan
Excuses ringing in my head
Surely he was an evil man
Becky’s safe now the monster’s dead.

It was over in an instant
Just another crime of passion
Punished to the full extent
Swift justice or retribution

Down the long dark corridor
I hear from those who will wish me well
Those now standing at their doors
And those who wished I’d just go to hell

Over in an instant
Payment for a crime of passion
Punished to the full extent
Swift justice or retribution

It was over in an instant
Just another crime of passion
Punished to the full extent
Swift justice or retribution

Lyrics and music by Mike Charko and Keith Shields; Key of Zed Music, 2016;
SOCAN 2016.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Denisovan DNA




A recent article in the journal Science[1] gives further confirmation of the mixed heritage of the human species. Researchers compared the DNA of 35 Melanesians from the Bismarck Archipelago in Papua New Guinea to the DNA of ancient Denisovan DNA from a 40,000-year-old partially fossilized sample. They also compared DNA from other non-Melanesian populations and DNA from Neanderthal samples.

Denisovan is the name given to an ancient hominid people group that lived from 500,000 years ago until they became extinct approximately 40,000 years ago. They were a distinct race of people differing from Homo sapiens and continued to coexist with the human population in parts of Europe and Asia. It is a similar story to that of Neanderthals. Those human cousins also became extinct around 40,000 years ago and coexisted with Homo sapiens for approximately 450,000 years. There was plenty of time for the three groups to interbreed.

The paper by Pääbo et al. indeed shows that Denisovan DNA has made a significant contribution to the nuclear DNA of contemporary Melanesians. They suggest that “all non-African populations derive ~2% of their ancestry from Neandertals, whereas substantial levels of Denisovan ancestry (~2-4%) are only found in Oceanic populations.”[2]

I am always fascinated with this kind of research both at a scientific and a theological level. Theologically, what does this mean for the imago dei? If humans were created with the image of God and over long periods of time, we are talking about something more than our common ancestry or our DNA. The fact that the last common ancestor that all people on earth could claim is older than Neanderthals, Denisovans, or Homo sapiens, causes us to ask questions about the nature of the biblical concept of the first humans. Considering the DNA mixture that many of us carry how do we understand our relationship with Adam and Eve? At what point in this grand plan did God stamp His image upon His creation and declare the man and woman to be ha’adam (הָאָדָם) or human? Now, of course, some would say that we should not even be asking such questions. They would say that God created Adam and Eve ex nihilo (out of nothing) and placed them in a garden without any ancient ancestors. The question I would want to then ask would be, “Why did God create humans in such a way that it looks like evolution occurred?”

Works Cited:

Pääbo, Svante. "Excavating Neandertal and Denisovan DNA from the genomes of Melanesian individuals." Science 17 (March 2016). http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/03/16/science.aad9416.full
Saey, Tina Hesman. "Neandertal DNA may raise risk for some modern human diseases." Science News, 2016. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/neandertal-dna-may-raise-risk-some-modern-human-diseases




[1] (Pääbo 2016)
[2] (Pääbo 2016)

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Hearing from God



Hearing from God is both an individual and a communal practice. Gordon Smith, in his book The Voice of Jesus, makes it clear that there is danger in relying too much on ourselves or too much on the community of faith.

“The community, then, while it is essential to our individual identity, is also a threat to that identity. We do not find ourselves in isolation from the community and we do not find ourselves if we are subsumed within the community. When it comes to discernment, we realize that we do not know the voice of Jesus and the witness of the Spirit if we are lost within the community. The collective can become so strong that that we cannot hear what God is saying to us. We must be alone. We must remain ‘other’ from the community and not be absorbed into its powerful collective identity.”[1]

Personally, I have found that I hear from God best when I spend time in solitude with God first,  and then seek the input of the community. My time of solitude will involve reading the Bible, praying, listening to God, paying attention to dreams, paying attention to nature, and being alone with God. Then, I will go back to my trusted prayer partners, that is, my community of faith, for confirmation or correction in what I think I have heard from God. This has been a tried and tested method for me that I would recommend to others; but I also recognize that God works within our personalities and may function differently with others. Take a moment to respond to this blog and tell me the ways in which God speaks to you.

Works Cited

Smith, Gordon T. The Voice of Jesus. Downers Grove: InterVaristy Press, 2003.




[1] Gordon T. Smith, The Voice of Jesus; InterVarsity Press, 2003; p. 210.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

ExoMars




ExoMars is a "Programme to investigate the Martian environment and to demonstrate new technologies paving the way for future Mars sample return missions."[1] The European Space Agency successfully launched their two craft on March 14 on a Russian Proton M rocket and has received signals indicating that the launch was successful. The two craft will continue to travel together for the next seven months and will then separate for two unique tasks shortly before arrival at Mars. The orbiter will measure trace gasses in the Martian atmosphere and will particularly look for gasses such as methane that could be evidence of life on the red planet. The orbiter will also seek to identify the source of these gasses.

Three days before orbit insertion, the two space-craft will separate allowing the Schiaparelli lander to aerobrake, deploy a parachute, use its heatshields, and land in the Meridiani Planum. This area is known to contain "hematite, an iron oxide that, on Earth, almost always forms in an environment containing liquid water."[2]

The Meridiani Planum region is significant because it has been explored by the Opportunity Rover[3] and a good deal of information about potential locations of water and minerals has been determined. If significant amounts of water can be located, it may be possible to use that water to generate electricity and rocket-fuel so that a spacecraft might make a return voyage. To this point, all missions to Mars have been one-way trips. This is what ESA means when they say that this mission could “pave the way for future Mars sample return missions.” ESA, NASA, SpaceX, and the entire scientific community will be watching this mission for the next several months.

Works Cited:
ESA: Robotic Exploration of Mars; “ExoMars.”
Science News, March 11, 2016
Wikipedia, “Meridiani Planum.”


[1] Science News, March 11, 2016; "ExoMars Mission to Search for Signs of Life on the Red Planet"; accessed 2016-03-16; https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/exomars-mission-search-signs-life-red-planet?tgt=nr
[2] ESA: Robotic Exploration of Mars; “ExoMars”; accessed 2016-03-16; http://exploration.esa.int/mars/47852-entry-descent-and-landing-demonstrator-module/
[3] Wikipedia, “Meridiani Planum,” accessed 2016-03-16; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridiani_Planum

Thursday, March 10, 2016

The Still, Small Voice



I am preparing for a few days of solitude at Kingsfold Retreat Centre. How will I experience the quiet of this place? Will I hear from God? How will I know if I hear from God? Elijah, A.B. Simpson, Gordon T. Smith, and Teresa of Avila have insights. I will listen to the mighty wind, the earthquake, the fire, and the gentle whisper. I will silence other sounds and the noises in my mind, so that I might hear “the still, small voice.” I will allow Jesus to speak while paying attention to my emotions rather than cultivating “a particular emotional response.” I will ask for the fruit of justice and truth as evidence of effective prayer. I will take what You offer oh God of my life.
“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. - 1 Kings 19:11-13 New Living Translation (NLT)
“Beloved, let us take His stillness, let us dwell in ‘the secret place of the Most High,’ Let us enter into God and His eternal rest, let us silence the other sounds, and then we can hear ‘the still, small voice.’” (Simpson n.d.)
“. . . we cannot truly attend to the voice of Jesus if we think that the purpose of prayer is to cultivate a particular emotional response.” (Smith 2003)
Spiritual maturity “does not consist in spiritual delights but in greater love and in the deeds done with greater justice and truth. . . . It is in the effects and deeds following afterward that one discerns the true value of prayer; there is no better crucible for testing prayer.” (Teresa n.d.)

Works Cited

Simpson, A.B. The Holy Spirit, vol. 1 of The Old Testament. Harrisburg, Penn: Christian Publications, n.d.
Smith, Gordon T. The Voice of Jesus: Discernment, Prayer and the Witness of the Spirit. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
Teresa. Interior Castle. Avila, n.d.


Sunday, March 6, 2016

Celebrate This Heartbeat



The older I get the more precious time becomes. This morning as I was walking from my condo to my parking place, I realized I was cursing the amount of time it was taking me to get there. Minutes matter. I love life and I find that I don’t want to waste a single second; but, what does it mean to waste time?

Is down-time wasted time? When I watch a movie; when I sleep; when I make food; are these wasted moments? No, of course not! Perhaps it is those moments that we don’t enjoy that are the wasted moments. I have no trouble working hard, playing hard, or relaxing hard. I guess what I want to avoid is the moments that I do not enjoy. But even then, I realize that when I am visiting a loved one in the hospital or going through the grief of the death of a friend, I can make the most of these moments and even enjoy them at a certain level. I am remembering the memories of better times; I enjoy the sweet moments we have as life gets hard and the body hangs in the balance between this world and the next.

It comes down to this, I want to celebrate each hour; each minute; each second; each and every heartbeat. If I can live in such a way that even the moments walking from my condo to my car are celebrated, redeemed, and made significant, then my life will truly be good. It is about gratitude for each heartbeat; about choosing to enjoy moments rather than waiting for enjoyment to come. Give me a few weeks of seeking to live this way and I will let you know how it is going. In the meantime, listen to these words by Randy Stonehill.


I'm gonna celebrate this heartbeat
Cause it just might be my last
Everyday is a gift from the Lord on high
And they all go by so fast

I'm not shy, I won't hide
The happy way I feel inside
There's a love light shining down on me
And it's true, I can't lie
There is more to life than meets the eye
So I want to live each moment faithfully, yeah

I'm gonna celebrate this heartbeat
Cause it just might be my last
Everyday is a gift from the Lord on high
and they all go by so fast
So many people drifting in a dream
I only want to live the real thing
I'm gonna celebrate this heartbeat
And keep movin' on
Look toward tomorrow cause the past is gone

If I laugh, it's no crime
I've got great news on my mind
It's a hope that never fades way
Now I don't understand
All the mysteries of the master plan
But I'm sure the Master does
So that's okay, yeah

I'm gonna celebrate this heartbeat
Cause it just might be my last
Everyday is a gift from the Lord on high
And they all go by so fast
So many people drifting in the night
(Lonely people in the night)
I'm gonna keep the Morning Star in sight, alright
Celebrate this heartbeat and keep movin' on
Look toward tomorrow cause the past is gone

This world is in so much trouble
All of the sadness can break you down
But if you're ever going to change it
You must show them the love you've found

Hey now, everyday is a gift from the Lord on high
And they all go by so fast
So many people drifting in a dream
(Find the life that love can bring)
I only want to live the real thing
I'm gonna celebrate this heartbeat
And keep movin' on
Look toward tomorrow cause
The past is gone
I said the past is gone
Yeah, you know the past is gone
Oh yeah, oh, the past is gone
Movin' on

Written By Randy Stonehill
© Copyright 1984 by Stonehillian Music & Word Music (a division of Word, Inc.) (ASCAP)