One and two
23/01/16 05:12
I have a friend from college days who is a mathematician. I can still remember quite clearly his excitement over doing calculus problems and thinking of mathematical challenges. At the time, my primary fascination was philosophy. We both were active in campus ministries and both took many classes in theology, Bible and Christian thought, but there was a significant amount of time where our brains were occupied with different challenges: his pondering the relationships of numbers, mine studying systems of organizing thought.
I’ve never thought of myself as much of a mathematician. I am competent with basic algebra and geometry and use math for a host of everyday purposes including balancing the checkbook, developing budgets and planning the amount of time it takes to travel particular distances. But I accept the math that others do when it comes to thinking about the distances between stars or predicting the presence of dark matter and dark energy. Increasingly, also, I rely on devices such as GPS and my phone to do mathematical computations for me.
There are, however, two basic numbers that represent a huge depth of meaning for me.
You might not think of one as a very significant number. It is the beginning of counting and is understood by very young children. But the concept of one God over all of creation was very long in appearing in human history. For generations and generations, when people shared religious experiences and thought about the nature of the universe, they assumed that there must be multiple gods. The glory of a sunset is somehow quite different than the miracle of drinking water. The vastness of the night sky appears distinct from the love of a parent and a child. Different places have different meanings. Different people have different needs. It seemed obvious to many of the ancients that there would be multiple gods.
In the stories of our people the realization of the reality of a single God came with the journeys of Abraham and Sarah. When they left the land of their ancestors to journey to a new place, they discovered that the same God traveled with them. The God they experienced in their old home was also with them as they traveled. That same God met them in foreign lands where people worshiped different gods. They were delighted with that God and subsequent generations spoke of the God of our ancestors: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It took many generations, however, for our people to understand that there is no other god. The religious experiences of others are manifestations of the same God. The inventions of other religious systems are not the same as the God of all creation.
It sounds mundane in our generation after so many years of people pondering God’s nature, but radical monotheism is one of the great contributions of the Abrahamic faiths. It is not unique to the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but our faith has made unique contributions to the understanding of a single God over all of the universe.
In our generation, as scientific discoveries push our understanding of the nature of the universe and we discover that it is much larger and much more complex than our forebears could understand, we are challenged to enlarge our vision and develop a conceptual understanding of God is much bigger and much more vast than previously viewed.
We light a single Paschal candle each week in worship as a reminder of the single nature of God.
But two is also a critical number and part of the contribution of our corner of faith.
Even when we avoid religious language, two is essential for all of life. From a biological perspective every human being has two parents. It is the way that the vast majority of living things reproduce. The number two even figures into our understanding of God, because God exists for relationship. God is God in relationship with people. The same God who is creator of all that is takes a deep personal interest in each individual. Each of our relationships with God is deeply personal and unique.
I am no expert on world religions, having lived my entire life immersed in a particular corner of Christianity, but I believe that Christianity has made a unique contribution to religious thought in the understanding of Jesus as at once fully divine and also fully human. We light two candles on our communion table each week as a reminder of the dual nature of Christ and our understanding that God exists in relationship.
In my personal life, ones and twos carry deep meaning. Without extending judgement to other shapes of families or the reconfigurations of families that others experience, for me a single life-long marriage with one woman has been deeply meaningful. Each day brings a new depth of discovery of this partner who remains as fascinating as the day that we met. I know that there will be more to learn when the decades bring us to the end of this life’s journey. I thrive on the uniqueness of that one relationship. It doesn’t mean, however that there aren’t other loves in my life. I grew up in a large family. I have two sisters and two brothers who are still alive. We have two children and two grandchildren. Our children have spouses. We have formed deep friendships with others. I have been blessed to serve four congregations in three phases of my life. I have fallen in love with each congregation that I have served. Being committed to a single love in no way limits my capacity to love others. Rather, it expands my capacity to love.
I know that someone interested in numerology would talk of three persons of the trinity, of 12 disciples, of 40 days and nights of temptation in the wilderness, and of all sorts of different numbers. For me, however, pondering the significance of one and two offers enough complexity and wonder for a lifetime of faith.
I’ve never thought of myself as much of a mathematician. I am competent with basic algebra and geometry and use math for a host of everyday purposes including balancing the checkbook, developing budgets and planning the amount of time it takes to travel particular distances. But I accept the math that others do when it comes to thinking about the distances between stars or predicting the presence of dark matter and dark energy. Increasingly, also, I rely on devices such as GPS and my phone to do mathematical computations for me.
There are, however, two basic numbers that represent a huge depth of meaning for me.
You might not think of one as a very significant number. It is the beginning of counting and is understood by very young children. But the concept of one God over all of creation was very long in appearing in human history. For generations and generations, when people shared religious experiences and thought about the nature of the universe, they assumed that there must be multiple gods. The glory of a sunset is somehow quite different than the miracle of drinking water. The vastness of the night sky appears distinct from the love of a parent and a child. Different places have different meanings. Different people have different needs. It seemed obvious to many of the ancients that there would be multiple gods.
In the stories of our people the realization of the reality of a single God came with the journeys of Abraham and Sarah. When they left the land of their ancestors to journey to a new place, they discovered that the same God traveled with them. The God they experienced in their old home was also with them as they traveled. That same God met them in foreign lands where people worshiped different gods. They were delighted with that God and subsequent generations spoke of the God of our ancestors: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It took many generations, however, for our people to understand that there is no other god. The religious experiences of others are manifestations of the same God. The inventions of other religious systems are not the same as the God of all creation.
It sounds mundane in our generation after so many years of people pondering God’s nature, but radical monotheism is one of the great contributions of the Abrahamic faiths. It is not unique to the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but our faith has made unique contributions to the understanding of a single God over all of the universe.
In our generation, as scientific discoveries push our understanding of the nature of the universe and we discover that it is much larger and much more complex than our forebears could understand, we are challenged to enlarge our vision and develop a conceptual understanding of God is much bigger and much more vast than previously viewed.
We light a single Paschal candle each week in worship as a reminder of the single nature of God.
But two is also a critical number and part of the contribution of our corner of faith.
Even when we avoid religious language, two is essential for all of life. From a biological perspective every human being has two parents. It is the way that the vast majority of living things reproduce. The number two even figures into our understanding of God, because God exists for relationship. God is God in relationship with people. The same God who is creator of all that is takes a deep personal interest in each individual. Each of our relationships with God is deeply personal and unique.
I am no expert on world religions, having lived my entire life immersed in a particular corner of Christianity, but I believe that Christianity has made a unique contribution to religious thought in the understanding of Jesus as at once fully divine and also fully human. We light two candles on our communion table each week as a reminder of the dual nature of Christ and our understanding that God exists in relationship.
In my personal life, ones and twos carry deep meaning. Without extending judgement to other shapes of families or the reconfigurations of families that others experience, for me a single life-long marriage with one woman has been deeply meaningful. Each day brings a new depth of discovery of this partner who remains as fascinating as the day that we met. I know that there will be more to learn when the decades bring us to the end of this life’s journey. I thrive on the uniqueness of that one relationship. It doesn’t mean, however that there aren’t other loves in my life. I grew up in a large family. I have two sisters and two brothers who are still alive. We have two children and two grandchildren. Our children have spouses. We have formed deep friendships with others. I have been blessed to serve four congregations in three phases of my life. I have fallen in love with each congregation that I have served. Being committed to a single love in no way limits my capacity to love others. Rather, it expands my capacity to love.
I know that someone interested in numerology would talk of three persons of the trinity, of 12 disciples, of 40 days and nights of temptation in the wilderness, and of all sorts of different numbers. For me, however, pondering the significance of one and two offers enough complexity and wonder for a lifetime of faith.