BANG!!

Big News!?   “Big Bang theory does not contradict role of God,” so says a late October headline describing Pope Francis’ address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.  Okaaay.  Since when did we think it was a contradiction?  

Actually, not too many people understand the Big Bang (who can blame them?) when 13.8 billion years ago our entire visible universe was contained in an unimaginably hot, dense point – a billionth the size of a nuclear particle.  Say what!!??    Then “BANG!!”  Our Milky Way Galaxy is one of 100 billion galaxies all flying apart as the universe expands.  Now the farthest observable edge of our expanding universe is 47 billion light years away.  Beyond the edge is unknown to us.  Say what??!!   

Consider that the Milky Way alone has up to 400 billion stars of different size and brightness.  The Way is about 120,000 light years across meaning that light traveling at 186,000 miles per second takes 120,000 years to get from one side to the other.  If we traveled at the speed of light we’d circle the Earth 7 ½ times in one second.  This imaginary journey provides some perspective on light speed.

For most people the Big Bang is as hard to understand (impossible) and is as believable as the Adam and Eve story that, of course, is inconsistent with the process of evolution that Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict, both have addressed.  For example, Pope Francis said to the Academy at its October meeting: “The beginning of the world is not the work of chaos that owes its origins to something else, but it derives directly from a supreme principle that creates out of love…The ‘Big Bang’ that today is considered to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the creative intervention of God; on the contrary, it requires it…Evolution in nature is not in contrast with the notion of (divine) creation because evolution requires the creation of the beings that evolve…”  We should expect this insight provided by a chemist, i.e., Pope Francis.

So, when we say God is “up there,” we’re left wondering: where?  It’s far better and more satisfying for us to focus on what we believe to be true for all of us, and that is: God is within us and around us.  God is part of us through the Holy Spirit. 

We are all sacramental, as is the natural world.  Our God pervades all of creation including everything created by the Big Bang. Our evolving universe and all its creatures/beings that evolved and continue to do so are God’s dwelling place.  That's a lot of places!  Such is the wonder and glory of God!

Deacon David Pierce