Sermon “Evolution” The Rev. Rali Weaver

First Church and Parish in Dedham

February 22, 2009

As you may already be aware this year marks the 150^th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of the Species as well as its author’s 200^th birthday.

This book as well as the theories it articulates has been controversial for every one of those 150 years. Despite the countless proofs verifying the truth of this powerful theory it was only this year that The Church of England issued an apology to Darwin.

What could be so offensive in a theory that it would take 150 years to issue an apology?

Put quite simply it was the idea that the diversity of the earth has arisen out of an organic process of evolution through the mechanism of natural selection-- Natural Selection instead of the hand of God.

For reasons, which are difficult for me to wrap my brain around, the idea that God is not part of everything that happens in life is offensive to many human beings.

To believe that God is at the helm and will punish the bad and reward the good seems illogical to my brain and Darwin’s suggestion that this creation was set into motion and has “continued to cycle along according to fixed” laws seems a much more rational and as a result more comforting idea to my mind.

Since the beginning of human thought minds have been trying to make sense of the mechanisms of the earth. Why does it move, how are the volcano’s formed and why do they erupt, what causes the shifts in seasons and in tides. All these mysteries were once described in myth and with religion and are now more fully explained through science.

Reconciling the boundaries of faith with the facts of science has been a more modern dilemma and while Darwin’s Origin of the Species was not the originator of this tension or the first articulator of Evolution Theory it has worked as a divining rod polarizing the conversation for 150 years. The disconnect between what is believed to be true and what is proven to be true has lead to the rejection of either faith or science by thousands and perhaps millions or billions of people and lead the church to take a stand and to reject Darwin’s theories out of hand.

In his book titled Original Blessing Matthew Fox examines the ideas of the fall and redemption through the lens of a creation centered tradition, while asking the question “In our quest for wisdom and survival, does the human race require a new religious paradigm?” Within the first chapter he explores how “God’s Word” was perverted to mean only the literal word. He goes as far as to claim (quite dramatically that) “In the West the word of God has practically killed the word of God.” He goes on to explain that the Hebrew word “Dabhar” has been translated as the literal “word” without the true context of the meaning which is more akin to wisdom or truth beyond words.

I believe that much of the conflict that has arisen for Creationist leaning Christians around the text of Darwin’s Origin of the Species is the limits that Natural Selection puts upon their concept of the truth as they see it written in the “word” which in their minds is limited to the Fundamental truth as it is written in the bible.

If Matthew Fox and others are correct and this idea of Dubhar as the Word has in fact been a misunderstanding of the deeper truth, which may actually be reflected in the Theory of Evolution. This deeper truth being of course that the word of god is in fact also the word beyond words, which is revealed and being revealed though all life.

A few years ago now I was with my sister’s family visiting Acadia National Park in Maine. If you have never been there I highly recommend it I belive it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. As some of you know my sister’s family is Fundamentalist Christian and so as you can imagine when we are together there are many things that are off the list of topics I can discuss with her children. My niece Kristy at a very young age was often questioning what I believe and trying to make sense of it in the context of what she had been taught.

On that beautiful day in Acadia, as we were standing by the ocean I realized I had a perfect moment to help her to make sense of my point of view. As we looked out at the waves she couldn’t stop gushing about how beautiful it was. Acadia is most beautiful. But after some time of listening to her I realized I had a perfect teaching moment and during a pause in her gushing I jumped in. I said to her that day “Kristy, I am so glad that your family came to share with me this special place. I am so glad that you agree with me about how beautiful it is. You know it is so big and so vast and so beautiful I do not think we could truly capture it in photographs no matter how many we took.” She of course agreed with me. Acadia is so vast it would be difficult to capture more than just a fraction of it on film. And then I said, “You know if we tried to write about it I am not sure we could find the right words to describe exactly how beautiful it is.” This too she agreed was true. A few minutes later I interjected again “Kristy you know how it would be impossible to articulate the beauty of this place, or to capture it’s beauty in writing, well I think that God’s love is the same as that. I believe that God’s love is so big that you cannot completely wrap your arms around it and I believe that God’s love is so magnificent that you cannot completely capture it with words.” To this she agreed as well and we walked the rest of the day in silent appreciation of the beauty that surrounded us. And when Kristy returned home she wrote in her family newspaper about the beauty so large you cannot grasp it, and it made it past my sister the censor to publication.

I believe that this is the truth of Darwin’s natural selection. The process as he describes it is both simple and magnificent creating countless variations throughout nature. And I agree with his words

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.”

What a magnificent view of life, which sees the continuance of life beyond our own needs and desires and into a larger context of existence.

If we take the long view what new ways of being might we be able to live into?

When traveling in other countries I have always been struck at the vastly different concepts of planning in each culture towards the generation that follows.

The most dramatic for me to date was on a trip to France when it was described to me that Truffles take over 100 years to grow. This made sense to me at first because I was thinking of their cost. Black Truffles from France cost about 250 to 350 dollars per pound so it makes sense that they are complicated to grow.

As I reflected upon this later I realized that if I were to set about to grow truffles I would need to grow them not for my own benefit but for the benefit of the generation to follow me. As I looked around I began to see other ways in which the French people were preparing the ground for the generations to follow. Deep in rural Province I saw houses that were built to stand for thousands of years and vineyards that were planted to stand for generations and in the heart of the city I saw government systems providing for rest in the middle of the day as well as regulated work weeks established to help people live full and productive lives. Everywhere I turned in France I began to see a people prepared to live according to ways that would not simply be valuable in their own time but to prepare for the generations to come after them.

I believe that much of the controversy in Darwin has stemmed from a misunderstanding and seeing natural selection as an impassive force that left human beings without choices.

But this of course is not what his writings suggest at all.

I believe that when we develop a deeper knowledge of the natural laws that surround us we can live in right relation to them.

If like Darwin we can take the long view and participate in our time in history not with the blinders of our own needs but in the perspective of all that will come after us, what changes might we make in our daily lives? And how might we live with an eye of abundance for our children’s children? What houses might we build? What government systems might we advocate for?

What changes might companies make if their main concern was not the dollar they make today but the dollar they make 100 years from now? How might perspectives shift if the focus was on our impact not upon our lives today but upon the lives of future generations?

How might that simple shift of focus change our day-to-day lives as individuals and our long-term responsibilities as a community?

I don’t know the answers to this question of course. What I do know is that when we look at the history of the world we know that human life is but a small fraction of the whole of the life on this planet that spans more than 4 and a half billion years. If we can stay focused on that truth it is easier to take the long view, knowing life on this planet will continue in some form or another for countless years to come.

This does not make it any easier to make sense of cataclysmic events over which we have little control. And yet somehow the knowledge that it was not God who cast his finger creating that tragedy but instead an endless cycle of life that ebbs and flows as do the tides makes it easier to understand.

Life is imperfect, and even Darwin’s theory of evolution does not denote a straight line of progress. When we can look at the natural selection and the theory of evolution and begin to take the long view and not only act in accordance with its truths, but live in deeper understanding of the words that are beyond words that draw us to an unknown goal we can adapt to change in thoughtful ways.

Imagine the difference if the levies that were initially built to protect New Orleans had been built with the long view in mind? What if their replacements were being built to stand for 10000 years instead of 100 or 10 or just today? How might the long view change the evacuation strategy? How might the long view change the plans for development upon that fragile area? A Hurricane such as Katrina might not be stopped but by taking the long view and funding the long view and preparing for the long term solution we might mitigate the effect of a hurricane on those who need protection the most.

If we truly embrace the ideals of Evolution and Natural Selection we will have the faith to know that although tragic and disappointing if we asses catastrophes through the lens focused upon future generations we will find solutions not available to us when we are focused only on the profit of today. Whether we choose to work with it or to avoid it natural selection is the idea that nothing on earth can be out of alignment for long and everything over time does evolve toward the greater good not just our idea of good but the greater good of all creation.

May the pathways of all beings on this earth be made smooth by our actions on this earth. May our sights always be focused upon the goal beyond our seeing.

May our legacy be the seeds we plant for distant harvests. And may hardships we endure be the ground of possiblity.

Amen.