20230730 There must be more than this¶
Welcome¶
Good morning, my name is Clifton Bartholomew, and I am a local preacher here at UMC.
It is always so good to share with you all. Welcome again to any visitors and to all our online guests as well.
I always like to say before I preach that I am a teacher by training and so I am very used to being interrupted. If anyone is brave enough to raise their hand and ask a question or give an input, it is warmly welcomed.
Introduction¶
I wanted to start this morning in a bit of a weird way. I want to practice convincing non-religious people that there is more to life than that which meets the eye, that there must be more than this. Can we pretend for a moment this morning that we have all just met for the first time and that we we are all atheists and I am the weird guy who is trying to convince you that there is a force or being or spirit or evolutionary law or divine energy or a God that is moving in and around the the universe, moving everything forward. Would that be okay?
So, my goal is to convince you that throughout human history, we have experienced this force or spirit or great power for millennia and that our ability or willingness to think about or "see" this force has diminished due to our perceived great knowledge of how the world works. I also want to convince you that it is possible to align ourselves with or relate to or pray with or meditate on this force or spirit or being and that doing so will change your life and the world.
Jab 1 - We sense something more¶
So let us start the argument with some archaeological evidence. Evidence that ancient humans sensed some form of divinity from sources as old as 30 000 years ago.
Sungir Russia - a 30 000 year old burial site. A boy and a girl are buried with 5000+ ivory beads, a fox-tooth hat and belt of with 250 fox teeth (60 foxes worth) and various other statuettes and ivory objects. With a skilled artisan taking 45 minutes to craft one bead, it would have taken 7500 hours of work or 3 years of labor.
Venus of Willendorf in Austria dating to around 25 000 years ago. Speculated to be an early fertility goddess.
Spanish cave of the hands is dated over 7000 years old with the most recent additions being dated at 1300 years old. There are over 2000 hand prints.
Callanish Stones in Scotland, aged over 5000 years old. These are massive, 7 ton stones that give no practical value or purpose but would have taken great effort to erect.
Some of these creations took significant human effort to create and which offered little practical utility. Why would we go through the effort? These sorts of findings occur all over the world in locations that are incredibly far apart. There are findings in Australia, South America, North America, Europe, Asia, North Africa, South Africa. This is certainly evidence that we as a species have a sense that we are a small part of a large universe, that there is something more to this life than just the physical. And that we have felt this way for tens of thousands
But we may ask the question: "Are these just the primitive beliefs of those who do not know better? The worshipping of a mountain god, a river god or a fertility god?
Jab 2 - Knowledge has made us blind¶
As athiests we may argue that this is cave man thinking right? What did they know, we are modern humans. We have technology and science. These things can be explained with our knowledge. The thing is, the more we know, the less we see. We think we know a lot but our perceived knowledge blinds us to the mystery of the world that surrounds us. We think we know a lot but we actually just know the names of things. And that gives us a false sense of power.
Jab 3 - The intelligence of life¶
I can control my hand and make it open and close because of the electrical signals that are passing from my brain, through my nerves, to my hands which then contract my muscles and close my hand. I can digest my food because my brain releases hormones into my blood for my stomach to produce hydrochloric acid which helps break down my food throughout my digestive tract. A tree grows because it can absorb nutrients in the soil through its roots, carbon dioxide from the air through its leaves and energy from the sun through its leaves. A baby is made when sperm from a man reaches the egg of a woman during ovulation. An apple falls from a tree to the ground because of the force of gravity that pulls objects towards heavier objects.
Does the knowledge of these things mean I actually know them?
If you had to ask me a follow up question on any of this, I would not be able to answer. It is clear that there is an intelligence that exists in the world. There is an intelligence that exists within our bodies. In how the planetary water cycles work. In how the planet rotates around the sun. In how culture shifts and changes. How do trees know how to grow? How does my body know how to digest food?
Right Hook - There must be something more¶
There is a force of life that is moving everything forward.
And you can move with it or against it. I picture it as a flowing river that cannot be stopped. Life giving. Powerful. Always moving forward. A spring of living water.
We see how unstoppable this river is. History, the world, nature, it only moves one way. If you cut down a forest it will eventually grow back. It you ever try to oppress a people, eventually they will be freed. Slavery has not lasted. Evil has not survived. Empires have not lasted. If something tries to move upstream, it will eventually run out of momentum and have to start to move the other way.
Explanation¶
How would I describe this force of life?
Teaching Point 1 - The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.¶
This flowing river is powerful and it is everywhere. It is unstoppable. Ever below the surface of life waiting to burst through. Its almost like how from a tiny mustard seed a massive tree can burst forth. Or like how a tiny bit yeast can permeate through a mountain of dough.
Teaching Point 2 - The kingdom of heaven is like treasure or a pearl¶
It is like a living spring of water. Life giving. Life changing. The source of life. Once you are aware of it, you admire its mystery and beauty. It warms you and gives you peace. It feels like it is sometimes hidden from the world. That it is not obvious. But discovering feels like a thirst that is quenched and a hunger that is filled. And you would do anything to drink of it and eat of it. Kind of like finding a hidden treasure in a field or precious pearl at a market, you would do anything to keep it, even if it involves selling everything you own.
Teaching Point 3 - This revelation can't be taken away¶
And once we experience it once, we realise that it is in us. It cannot be taken away. We are always aware of the ever present river of life flowing through all and in all. Hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword cannot get it out of us. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from it.
Application¶
So, fellow Atheists, is there more to life than this? Are you convinced that throughout human history, we have experienced this force or spirit or great power? That our ability or willingness to think about or "see" this force has diminished due to our perceived great knowledge of how the world works?
I ask one thing of you today. That you can open your heart to the possibility that there exists a power greater than yourself that is active in the world. And that knowing this spring of living water will give you peace beyond understanding, power beyond understanding, purpose beyond understanding.
I believe in:
But you don't have to start there. You can start with the wonder that exists in the intelligence of life around us.
Here are three actions that you can use to open your heart to life.
Action 1 - Ask¶
- Investigate, pause, be curious.
- In asking you admit that you do not know.
- Questions open our hearts. Questions enable participation.
- Without a question there is no seeking the answer.
- Ask and it will given unto you. For everyone who asks receives.
Action 2 - Seek¶
- You can't find something you are not looking for.
- A treasure hunter doesn't find a treasure they are not looking for.
- A merchant doesn't find a pearl they are not looking for.
- Learn to see again.
- Seek and ye shall find. The one who seeks, finds
Action 3 - Knock¶
- Ask to enter.
- Ask to be a participant.
- This can be difficult, it involves something other than yourself and your thoughts.
- You are asking to be part of something.
- Be brave by being vulnerable.
- Knock and the door will be opened. For the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
One Liner¶
There must be more than this