Greetings, WesleyNexus Colleagues:
Lent is a time for stepping back, slowing down and reflecting on the “big” issues. From dust we come and to dust we will return. But just as important is taking time to recognize that our world is one of continual, energetic change. We need to focus not only where we have been but where we are going and how we fit into the world we encounter now. This month we include a broad range of reflections, including contributions from WesleyNexus Board of Directors. We hope they will provide you with some insights into the big issues.
Contents:
IRAS Webinar: Apprehending the Sacred Quality of Nature in an Age of Scientific Materialism with Dr. Gregory Derry
IRAS Webinar Series
Lovett Weems to speak at WesleyNexus Breakfast
Discovery & Faith: How the Faith-Science Relationship Impacts Faith Formation
Book Reflections from ORTLINE Conference
Mystery Without Magic: Finding Faith in a Secular World by Russel Pregeant
Respondents: Joshua Petterson, Tori Owns, Ulrick Refsager Dam,
The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey
by Ilia Delio (From the book introduction)
Respondents: John Pohl, Bethany Sollereder, Philip Averay, Maynard Moore
Lenten Reflection: houghts on Lent in the Context of Science Ricky Ballew
Lenten Reflection: Thoughts on Spirit by Wendel Thompson
Lenten Reflection: Thoughts on Lent in our age by Maynard Moore
Lenten Reflection from Rev. Dawn Stewart
Thanks continue to go out to our generous contributors. We encourage you to share comments, articles and insights that will help us all weather these difficult times.
Blessings,
Rick Barr and the rest of the WesleyNexus team
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March 14, 2023 Webinar
Apprehending the Sacred Quality of Nature in an Age of Scientific Materialism
with Dr. Gregory Derry
Respondent: Frank Schaeffer
5:00 Eastern, 4:00 Central
Presentation Overview:
Science plays a central role in our culture, and this has been accompanied by a rise in scientific materialism. This materialism, in turn, threatens to drain the meaning and sacred quality of our encounter with nature. The argument of this presentation is that the acceptance of the validity of scientific materialism need not contradict the reality of the sacred in the world. These are, instead, complementary propositions that are both true despite their apparent contradiction. Emphasis will be placed on Niels Bohr’s epistemological analysis of complementarity to resolve contradictions in quantum theory, and how Bohr’s argument needs to be generalized so that it’s appropriate to the present case, outside the empirical sciences. Several examples will be included to demonstrate how such complementarity works in particular cases.
About the March 14 presenter:
Gregory Derry is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Loyola University Maryland. He holds a B.S. from Union College and a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University, both in physics. His research specialties have included experimental ultrahigh vacuum surface physics, nonlinear dynamical studies of physiological systems, and epistemological issues in the science/religion relationship. He has also had a strong interest in improving the science education of students not majoring in the sciences. He has published 33 peer-reviewed articles and two books: What Science Is and How It Works (Princeton Univ. Press, 1999) and The Only Sacred Ground—Scientific Materialism and a Sacred View of Nature Within the Framework of Complementarity (Apprentice House, 2014).
Respondent: Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen fiction and nonfiction books, a Religious Reform Activist and regular guest commentator on The ReidOut on MSNBC with Joy Reid, and is a frequent guest of Rachel Maddow. His latest book, Fall In Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save The Planet, Be Happy, emphasizes the importance of quality human relationships for a joy-filled life, and the science that backs that up. His podcasts and video blog (In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer; Love in Common; and It Has to Be Said, respectively), have garnered millions of streams (and counting), from over 260K followers on various Social Media platforms and beyond. Visit his website at: www.lovechildrenplanet.com.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cbV8zsjbSDi-EZbwaexfPw
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The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS)
IRAS is an international society of learners and thinkers, natural and social scientists, philosophers, theologians and people from many other backgrounds and professions. IRAS cultivates a community of informed and respectful inquiry and dialogue at the intersections of science with religion, spirituality and philosophy in service of global, societal and personal well-being.
IRAS Webinar Series
For 65 years, The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) has held summer Conferences on Star Island, off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Due to the pandemic, we had to postpone our 2020 Star Island conference until the summer of 2021. In order to continue to engage with IRAS themes and the IRAS community, with Star Island’s generous support, we launched a live webinar series: Science, Religion, & Society.
https://www.iras.org/webinar-series.html
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Baltimore Washington Annual Conference
Lovett Weems to speak at WesleyNexus Breakfast
On June 2 at the annual WesleyNexus breakfast event, Dr. Lovett Weems will be the featured presenter for discussion. Dr. Weems, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership at Wesley Seminary will summarize his forthcoming report on the churches that have dis-affiliated to join the Global Methodist Church, and respond to questions from attendees. All persons, lay and clergy, are welcome to attend at no extra charge by selecting the special meal option when registering for Annual Conference. A meeting room will be assigned in the BWCUMC program material.
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Book Reflections from ORTLINE Conference
On February 10 and 11, a significant conference was held online discussing books by scholars representing the broad perspective of Open and Relational Theology. This movement encourages thinking that provides both scholars and non-academics an opportunity for doing theological reflection that captures significant insights from the Judeo-Christian tradition while addressing issues that arise when that tradition is viewed from an evolutionary, dynamically creative understanding of the cosmos. This month, two books from the conference program have been included. The conference provided each author five minutes to summarize their book followed by respondents reflecting their impressions and asking the authors follow-up questions about the books.
Select the link below to view comments by the authors followed by the respondents.
Without Magic: Finding Faith in a Secular World by Russel Pregeant
Respondents: Joshua Petterson, Tori Owns, Ulrick Refsager Dam,
The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey by Ilia Delio (From the book introduction)
Respondents: John Pohl, Bethany Sollereder, Philip Averay, Maynard Moorehttps://wesnex.org/wp-content/uploads/202Mystery3/03/I-Delio-Hours-of-the-Universe.pdf
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Discovery & Faith
Sixty Percent
How the Faith-Science Relationship Impacts Faith Formation
Saturday, April 29, 2023
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Perceptions of conflict between faith and science have long been known to contribute to the loss of 60% of our youth from the both the church and the Christian faith. This workshop will discuss how those perceptions of conflict impair faith formation in children and youth. We’ll explore practical approaches and solutions to this challenge that can be implemented within your existing ministries and budget. Participants will be equipped and resourced to help their students experience a better, healthier understanding of the faith-science relationship. This workshop will be offered in a hybrid format, in-person and via Zoom.
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for details about registration.
Hosted by the Frederick District of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church.
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Thoughts on Lent in the Context of Science Ricky Ballew
Richard (Ricky) Ballew graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Ph.D. in chemistry (physical). He has worked in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries at companies including CuraGen, Celera Genomics, Covance, MedImmune, and AstraZeneca, where he has held positions in technology development, laboratory automation, and information technology, as an individual contributor and in management. He is a Certified Lay Servant in the Central Maryland District of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Among Christians, Lent is a period of prayer, fasting, and giving. For many, this is a time of intentional and focused engagement and renewal through which the foundation of our beliefs in the incarnation, sacrifice, and resurrection in the divine person of Jesus Christ are made real in our lives. Lent is a time of repentance and increased awareness of those things which separate us from God and from living according to the example of Christ.
Prayer focuses us on our relationship with God and how God seeks that all of Creation be reconciled with God’s self. Prayer time clears our heads from the day-to-day and accumulated distractions that separate us from God.
Through fasting or giving up some part of our regular lives and routines, we recognize Christ’s sacrifice and make time and space in our lives for new or renewed dimensions in our relationship with God.
By giving or doing good works for others, we reflect God’s grace and mercy and live into our blessing to be a blessing to others. Giving can uplift both the giver and the receiver.
Lent is meant to be an intentional reset to the routine. Lent is intended to challenge us to think and act differently.
How do these concepts of prayer, fasting, and giving extend to the context of science? Let us consider each of the spiritual disciplines, in turn, and explore potential analogues in the scientific realm.
Prayer – Reflect on the big picture. How easy is it to be distracted by the minutiae and lose sight of the key purpose and our sense of wonder at the amazing and mysterious world that we explore as scientists! Prayer is a time to quiet ourselves and our personal motivations and to listen and to think differently. How do the day-to-day experiments reconcile with the higher purpose that called us into the field of science?
Fasting – Set aside something to make room for something else. Create space for a new approach. Again, breaking the routine and setting aside our preconceived ideas, our biases, and even the firmly engrained perspectives of our individual scientific disciplines opens us up to new perspectives. By taking off the lenses through which we traditionally see our world, we can put on another’s perspective and see our world, and our research, in a new light.
Giving – Neuroscience tells us that giving is beneficial to health and happiness (1, 2). Science supports the enhanced value of relational giving, going beyond the transactional exchange of goods or services.
1. Brain Imaging Reveals Joys of Giving by Vicki Conti
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/brain-imaging-reveals-joys-giving
2. The Neuroscience of Giving: Proof that helping others helps you by Iva Retvo, MD
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/vitality/201404/the-neuroscience-giving
There is also an interesting article related to the idea of creatio ex nihilo. There is no “nothing.” There is always something, and it can be measured.
“Nothing” doesn’t exist. Instead, there’s “quantum foam” – Big Think
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Lenten Reflection by Wendel Thompson
Wendel Thompson comes from a long line of German Wesleyans (Evangelical Association, Evangelical United Brethren, United Methodist). The compatibility of science and religion was embedded in his family history. Wendel graduated from Westmar College, Le Mars, Iowa and later acquired a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, Department of Speech and Dramatic Art. He worked at the US Information Agency carrying out surveys for the Voice of America and retired from the Energy Information Administration where he oversaw the Residential Energy Consumption Survey.
He has been a member of Bethany United Methodist Church, Ellicott City, MD since 1975. He led Volunteers in Mission Teams to Puerto Rico in 1988 and Alaska in 1991. He was a team member to Bosnia in 2004. He has been in a leadership position with People Acting Together in Howard County (PATH) and FISH of Howard County, an emergency assistance program.
Thoughts on Spirit
My wife has just died after a short period in which she quit eating and drinking. She had lost a great deal of her memory which led her into depression. Her spirit was leaving her and on February 1, she took her last breath. Her granddaughter had flown out to Maryland from Chicago two days before as she could not bear not seeing grandma one last time. As Carolyn took her last breaths, Manon spoke into her ear the names of those who loved her as I stood on the other side of the bed and said, “Goodbye sweetheart”.
What can science tell me about the whereabouts of my 60-year companion? My father was a philosophy teacher. His philosophy was called personalism, that what is ultimately real is personality, what I call spirit. I sign my emails “The spirit gives life.” I felt her spirit at the memorial service as people showed up without any expectation on my part. Carolyn had touched them in some way. Spirit is power; it moves us.
Was that Carolyn’s spirit that energized the attendants at the memorial service or was that God’s spirit. That was God’s spirit, and we mustn’t mistake it for Carolyn’s spirit. Carolyn gave birth to God’s spirit in her energy and love of life and so it is easy to slip into saying it was Carolyn’s spirit. But when we assign the beauty and power of God’s spirit to a human we are in trouble. From there we begin to attribute the good things in Carolyn’s life to her, leaving God out of the picture. Isn’t that so human? We jump to the center always. I said to myself this morning, “Carolyn, why did you want to leave me?” See how I jump into the center. She didn’t want to leave me, she wanted to leave the pain and depression of her being.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there;
If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast.
This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine . . . No, it is not my light, it is God’s light that shines in me.
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Thoughts on Lent in our age by Maynard Moore
Even though I value this period on the church calendar, I am somewhat ambiguous about Lent as a time of waiting. This being said, the actual practice of waiting provides an important lesson for us, especially when we are immersed in a culture that promotes instant gratification. The fact that Lent comes in the Springtime is, itself, instructive for us to contemplate. Spring worldwide is a period when all peoples (in the Northern hemisphere at least) think about the advent of new life, a time of regeneration, a time of new possibilities. But, those of us in the Christian church are told we must be satisfied to wait for the advent of the Resurrection and the borning again of new life. In this region, we have to wait for the cherry blossoms to progress though five stages, we have to wait a while for the birds to return from the South, we have to wait for Spring vacation weeks, we have to wait for the baseball season to open, and so it goes. I remember some puzzlement the first time some forty years ago when I saw “Waiting for Godot” the first time. It remains one of the strangest plays one can experience. The main character never turns up, and the actors have to improvise all night. It makes you think about the way you might be improvising in your own life. In fact, that might be the very point that Samuel Becket was seeking to convey. At times we might be floating through life without even realizing it, waiting for some great moment of awakening, or some great job offer, or some extraordinary person to appear to sweep us off our feet. The moment always seems to evade us. There is something missing in our lives. It can be tragic if we become satisfied with this emptiness in our life. Loneliness might be the great wound in the universe. It can be the mental grip that embitters us (like The Man Called Otto). But it can also be a springboard to spiritual growth. During Lent we are called to radically review our habitual perceptions of self and others. Instead of floating along in the flatland of material possessions and satisfactions, we are called to refine our sensibilities to become aware of the treasures that pop up before us in every new day. This is how Lent can lead a person into the depth of our own self-worth. And that is simply the beginning. That is how waiting can renew the spiritual dimension that that so easily becomes smothered by the superficial rewards or anxieties that tend to numb our minds and spirits. Sure, waiting can sometimes be hard to accept, but waiting can also be a blessing as well. Once we focus in faith and with purpose, we should then be ready on Easter for Resurrection.
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Lenten Reflection from Rev. Dawn Stewart
Dawn Stewart is pastor of Covenant United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She was ordained as an elder in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference in 2015 and has been in ministry since 2010. She has a Ph. D. in Mathematics from Virginia Polytechnic and State University and has taught mathematics in both high school and at the Air Force Academy.
Lent is a time for looking within, for doing shadow work. Shadow work, as described by psychologist Stanislava Puač Jovanović “is based on Jung’s concept of the shadow, which, in its simplest, represents the parts of our personalities we would rather not possess.” She points out that we do possess shadow parts and that they guide our actions. According to Juovanovic, “shadow work is essential if we are to become fully conscious of why we do the things we do.” Parker Palmer reminds us that while we like to think we have an inner life and an outer life, the reality is our worlds cannot be separated forever. What we are on the inside affects who we are on the outside and the outside world works on who we are on the inside. Lent is an opportunity to allow our shadow work to transform us into greater awareness and greater compassion – to ourselves and to others. You can find Jovanović’s reflections on shadow work and the benefits it brings at https://www.happiness.com/magazine/science-psychology/what-is-shadow-work/
Blessings,