Interconnected
In this weekend's Gospel reading we have Jesus speaking of the Father and the Holy Spirit as tomorrow is Trinity Sunday. This is the only Sunday of the church year devoted to a doctrine. This makes interconnectedness or communion at the heart of who God is in three persons yet one God.
100 years ago, Albert Einstein wrote a scientific paper that changed the world of physics. Among other things, Einstein proclaimed that light was both a particle and a wave. This notion was so radical that it took 20 years to really be acknowledged and even longer to be adequately validated by research to become part of a scholarly consensus.
Einstein's work was at the forefront of what we now call Quantum Physics. As physicists dove under the layers of the visible world to explore subatomic particles, they found in their mathematic equations an interconnectedness that surprised and sometimes frightened them.
The problem with light had been described in either-or terms. Light was either disconnected particles or an interconnected wave. But Einstein theorized and others proved that light is both particle and wave. Neither particle theory nor wave theory can describe light. This understanding of light has now become scientific dogma. In fact, this discovery has been part of the push in Quantum Physics to understand the interconnectedness of all things.
In the Quantum universe, relationships are more important to study than the particles themselves. We once saw the world as filled with more than 90% dark matter, or the absence of stuff. But now scientists can find and show connections between particles where no matter connects the two. There is an essential connectedness among all things.
These understandings from Quantum physics would not surprise St. Patrick, or early Christians for that matter, who understood God to be both three persons and one God. Neither the idea that God is three, nor the idea that God is one, could work alone to describe the attributes of God. God is three persons so completely interconnected as to be one. And we, who are made in the image of God, long to be part of that interconnectedness, that koinonia (the New Testament Greek word for communion). This is why St. Augustine wrote, that our hearts are restless until they find rest in God. We who are created in the image of God’s communion long for communion with God and with others.
We act out this Christian belief in koinonia each time we celebrate a communion service. Each of us comes as an individual (particle). We bring our own uniqueness. Through the words and actions of the service we are drawn together (wave). We say the same words, in order to commune with God. Through that communion with God, we realize that as children of God, we are brothers and sisters to all the other people on earth. Our connection to God allows for a deeper connection to other people.
peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor
100 years ago, Albert Einstein wrote a scientific paper that changed the world of physics. Among other things, Einstein proclaimed that light was both a particle and a wave. This notion was so radical that it took 20 years to really be acknowledged and even longer to be adequately validated by research to become part of a scholarly consensus.
Einstein's work was at the forefront of what we now call Quantum Physics. As physicists dove under the layers of the visible world to explore subatomic particles, they found in their mathematic equations an interconnectedness that surprised and sometimes frightened them. The problem with light had been described in either-or terms. Light was either disconnected particles or an interconnected wave. But Einstein theorized and others proved that light is both particle and wave. Neither particle theory nor wave theory can describe light. This understanding of light has now become scientific dogma. In fact, this discovery has been part of the push in Quantum Physics to understand the interconnectedness of all things.
In the Quantum universe, relationships are more important to study than the particles themselves. We once saw the world as filled with more than 90% dark matter, or the absence of stuff. But now scientists can find and show connections between particles where no matter connects the two. There is an essential connectedness among all things.
These understandings from Quantum physics would not surprise St. Patrick, or early Christians for that matter, who understood God to be both three persons and one God. Neither the idea that God is three, nor the idea that God is one, could work alone to describe the attributes of God. God is three persons so completely interconnected as to be one. And we, who are made in the image of God, long to be part of that interconnectedness, that koinonia (the New Testament Greek word for communion). This is why St. Augustine wrote, that our hearts are restless until they find rest in God. We who are created in the image of God’s communion long for communion with God and with others. We act out this Christian belief in koinonia each time we celebrate a communion service. Each of us comes as an individual (particle). We bring our own uniqueness. Through the words and actions of the service we are drawn together (wave). We say the same words, in order to commune with God. Through that communion with God, we realize that as children of God, we are brothers and sisters to all the other people on earth. Our connection to God allows for a deeper connection to other people.
peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor
posted by King of Peace @ Saturday, June 02, 2007
2 Comments:
At 6/02/2007 9:15 AM,
Anonymous said…
Interesting to have Trinity Sunday so closely located to the study on American religious beliefs. Is that a coincidence? Or are there truly no coincidences?
Perhaps having more fundamental doctrine "days" in the calendar would help resolve some of the conflict over just how accurate that study was. Get more people more grounded and at least the relatively small percentage of people that do go to church wouldn't show up as confused in the polls.
I do agree with a.b.t that I think the results are high. People are claiming knowledge they don't really have. Just as a for instance, I get chain emails from people who should know better saying that God will provide a miracle if I forward the letter to 10 people within 20 minutes. God isn't a vending machine but that's what he's getting relegated to by people who would say they are lifelong, well-grounded Christians.
At 6/10/2007 7:00 PM,
Mike Rizzio said…
Boy is interconected an understatement! As a lay member of the Roman Catholic Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity I applaud your efforts Pastor Frank.
One might say that I have a little more than a passing interest in this area of thought/truth.
I have recently posited a statement that I hope will spur study and reflection. I pray that it will elicit a response from those whom in God's Providence I meet either in person or on the web.
SUBJECT: On the critical importance of radiating Marian-Trinitarian spirituality in this the Third Christian Millennium.
To this end, I have worked to put together a graphic of triune realities in our midst...I am up to 300 and it keeps growing, Some are inspired and positive (Way, Truth and Life); others mundane, yet interesting (clarity, brevity, completeness) and still others are downright negative (sex, drugs and rock 'n roll).
The scope of the effort is meant to paint a picture of the forgotten war of the Trinity and anti-trinity (1/3 of angels that fell).
This work links up with another project of mine. I offer you the following, so that you may ponder what I hope will help serve the Church as the Holy Father continues his "Universal Bridge Building" project.
Over the past three years I have received spotty support for my efforts, and yet I know that where there is opposition, there is the Cross and there is something worth pursuing, until a final judgement is made by Holy Mother Church.
If you have a few minutes please go to the following sites and see what I have been "compelled" to work on since 2004.
http://eucharist-emc2.blogspot.com
http://soltlaity.org/breadoflife.htm
http://soltlaity.org/slideshow.htm
Sincerely yours,
Mike Rizzio, SOLT
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