I have committed myself to living a grateful life. I want to remember how fortunate I am to have my family, my home, and to live in Canada. I have asked God to keep reminding me how fortunate I am. Every once in a while He does. Today was one of those days. Our dishwasher began to fail and we had to buy a new one. This morning, Mike installed the new dishwasher and took away the old one. As he worked I detected an accent and asked him about his home country. He said he originally lived in the Soviet Republic of Czechoslovakia but had escaped from communist rule in 1985. One day, he and some other men grabbed a few possessions, put them in water-proof bags, and wrapped them around their waists. They jumped into the Danube river by night, avoiding the guards who patrolled the border, and swam across to Austria. They turned themselves in to the Austrian police and he was surprised when the police officer allowed him to walk on his own to the police station a few blocks over. He had expected hand-cuffs.
They spent six months in a political refugee camp while they tried to determine where he should go. He asked to go to Canada without knowing much about the country; but he knew he would be free. He was told that he would be sent to Vancouver as the city prepared for the world fair. He had never heard of this place and could not even pronounce the name. He arrived in Vancouver and went down to the Expo 86 construction site. He had enough English to talk to the boss and say, “I am Mike. How much?” When they answered “four,” he agreed to work for four dollars an hour. Once the construction was done he worked during Expo in the kitchen of the Ukrainian Pavilion. He worked hard and went home smelling like cabbage and turkey; but the food was good and occasionally he would get some German beer. After three years he managed to get his Canadian citizenship. Soon after that the Berlin Wall came down and he could go back to Slovakia to visit family.
This is the second time in a few weeks that someone has told me their story of escaping from a country so that they could live in Canada. Those of us who grew up in this country seldom reflect on the lottery we won when we found ourselves born as Canadian citizens. It is easy to complain about things or wish for a different life. Ethan Baron, a columnist in The Province on February 23, 2011, commented on how many in Vancouver appear to be “Miserable in Paradise.” He says that
The qualities that make Vancouver so “livable” are certainly impressive. Our economy is stable, we can get into a good health-care clinic or emergency room any time, we have excellent roads and schools, we’re surrounded by world-class natural beauty. Yet everywhere you go in Vancouver, people are frowning. Rarely do strangers talk to each other in public. When two solitary people pass on a sidewalk, they avert their eyes and say nothing.*
Hmmm, Mike, thank-you for reminding me how fortunate I am. I think I will go outside and smile at some people.
*Ethan Baron, “Miserable in Paradise;” February 23, 2011; © Copyright (c) The Province.
“We must live what we talk, even in places where we cannot talk what we live.” – Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002, p. 231.
According to one of the greatest mathematicians of our time, “there is no picture- or theory-independent concept of reality.”* What Stephen Hawking means by this is that we are all limited in our perception of reality. He compares all of us to a goldfish living in a bowl with curved sides. Gazing out, the fish has a distorted view of reality. He points out that if the goldfish had sufficient time and brain-power, it might be able to work out a series of laws that describe the way things appear from inside of a fish bowl. We, on the outside of the bowl would find these goldfish descriptions of the world overly complicated and would simply point out that the fish lives in a bowl and cannot see reality in its true form. Hawking says, “might not we ourselves also be inside some big goldfish bowl and have our vision distorted by an enormous lens. The goldfish’s picture of reality is different from ours, but can we be sure it is less real?” Hawking then suggests that we might be living unknowingly inside a virtual reality created by intelligent computers as described in the science fiction film, The Matrix. He adopts a view which he calls “model-dependent realism: the idea that a physical theory or world picture is a model (generally of a mathematical nature) and a set of rules that connect the elements of the model to observations.”
Now I suppose it is not surprising that a mathematician would come up with a mathematical way of describing the universe. But that is just it, it is a mathematical description of the universe. The greatest strength of his argument ultimately makes it weak in explaining the hows and whys of the universe. For, his is just one way of seeing the universe as is the goldfish way of seeing the universe. He certainly can develop such a model and use it to describe the universe as he sees it. Where he strays too far is in saying that his is the only way to view the universe and that philosophers and theologians have nothing to add to the story. His mathematical models have great predictive value for describing how electrons, protons, neutrons, and quarks function in the universe. He would like this same model to predict how the universe came into existence and why the universe came into existence. Here his model is less helpful. Just as the goldfish in the fish bowl cannot be sure of the reality of her world-view (even if she could create models that described her observations), neither can Hawking be sure of the reality of his world-view. It is equally as possible that his model works inside of the universe (or even inside the multi-verse that Hawking goes on to describe) and also inside a greater, over-arching, plan of a creator God. Here is precisely where philosophy, theology, and epistemology come into the discussion. Despite what physicists and mathematicians might think, mathematics is not the only valid tool of inquiry or description that we can use to understand our universe.
*This and other quotes in this article are from Hawking, Stephen, and Leonard Mlodinow. The Grand Design. New York: Bantam Books, 2010, p. 39-43.
Many of us believe that a “true north strong and free” includes the ability to speak freely and listen carefully to others. I want to be one who listens to other voices, other perspectives, and other world-views. I want to understand what others see as the future of Canada and work together for a great country. This can be challenging when we will most certainly disagree on major issues and it is challenging in a climate of rhetoric which generates strong emotions.
I appreciate an article written by Don Hutchinson on the Activate CFPL blog site. He quotes government house leader John Baird who says that
We think it is tremendously important in a pluralistic society like Canada to always reach out to people of different backgrounds, and we make no apologies for it.
It is a good reminder that we all need to take seriously our responsibility to speak to the issues of our country. Religious, atheistic, and agnostic viewpoints should be spoken and heard.
The article goes on to speak of another occurence in Ottawa last week. Mr. Hutchinson calls it a “wacky week” in Ottawa but that is perhaps just an unfortunate choice of words. He goes on to speak of Liberal Member of Parliament Carolyn Bennett who has chosen to sing her own version of the national anthem. I will leave it to others to decide if this is an appropriate way to make her position known or if it is impolite to sing different words when we have all previously agreed on the way we will sing a song together. It does bring to mind questions of unity and manners.
What I will say is this MP deserves to have her opinion heard. She would like to suggest that our national anthem should be free of gender and religious bias. I am also free to disagree with her but I want to listen to her concerns. It is important to have rational debate and rational debate requires listening as well as talking.
Oh Canada, our home and native land, may you truly be our true north, strong and free. We stand on guard for thee.
John Robert Wilson (June 10, 1953 to February 4, 2011).
The words I spoke at the funeral of my friend, John Wilson.
2 Timothy 2:11 and 12 says, “If we die with Jesus, we will also live with Jesus. If we endure hardship, we will reign with Jesus.”
For the last couple of weeks, all of us have been coming to grips with living in a world without John Wilson. It is never easy to figure out when someone will leave this life; but it has been even more difficult with a man like John. In these last few weeks when most people thought he was approaching the end of his life, John was making plans for the future. He was planning trips, he had projects he wanted to complete, and he had new projects he wanted to start. We began to wonder if he might actually accomplish several of these things yet. He seemed so positive, so hopeful. But it was not to be.
Selfishly, I wonder what my world will be like without John. John is one of my closest friends. For about ten years while I lived in Calgary we met together with another friend, Warren Horricks, once a week to pray with and for each other. It was an anchor point for my spiritual disciplines. We prayed for others; we sometimes confessed our failings as husbands, parents, and church leaders to each other. And we kept each other on track so that there were fewer failings than there might have been. We prayed for healing in people’s lives and saw some miraculous answers to prayer. And then came the day when John told us that he had cancer and our prayer times became a real laboratory of prayer. We worked hard to figure out what we could ask of God and what prayers God would answer and we struggled when God said no. For about ten years we prayed that God would take away John’s cancer. And although God gave John strength through all of the procedures, and extended his life several times, God never completely healed him here on earth.
John was always suggesting books for me to read. I have often quoted John’s statement that “Leaders are readers!” He challenged me to take on tasks that were bigger than I could accomplish on my own. He was my biggest supporter when Maureen and I planted a church in Calgary and when we decided to move to Vancouver and do it again. We still connected by phone and continued to pray for each other. Every Wednesday at 1:00 pm an alarm goes off on my phone and I remember to pray for my friend John and a few other people. That alarm will mean something different now. Even two weeks ago, John was still challenging me and offering me support in some of the things I was tackling. He still had plans. He wanted to write a book, he wanted to contribute to a website we were starting, he planned to attend our daughter’s wedding in March. He had other trips he wanted to take.
I imagine that John did accomplish quite a few things in the last two weeks of his life. John had a rich prayer life. In the last couple of years we would often catch John talking to someone when no one appeared to be around. When he knew we had seen him talking to himself he would joke and say, “I’m on drugs.” But I think there was more to it. The spiritual realm was getting more real to John as his physical body failed and his prayer life grew. In the last two weeks, John slept a lot but I imagine he and God were doing quite a bit of talking in those times. As his body was getting weaker, his spirit was getting stronger and was getting more prepared for entering eternity. John and his Lord probably had some good conversations in those last days and hours. I suspect John prayed for his family, his church, and many of you here in this room today.
I am just one person who has been touched by the life of John Wilson. There are many more who were affected in a similar manner. Many of you were challenged and supported as you took on things bigger than you could accomplish on your own. John’s ministry at Alberta Bible College was about teaching and mentoring the next generation. For more than 30 years he had a particular passion for church planting. He planted a church himself, participated on Church planting teams, boards, and agencies including Partners in Atlantic Canada Evangelism; Alberta Church Planting Association; the Calgary Church Planting Network; and Genesis Canada. John generally encouraged church planting teams and church planters. Because of these efforts, a number of new congregations exist today.
I have had lots of heroes in my life and I have often been disappointed by heroes who have failed in their mission. But John was one who was faithful to his mission. He was faithful to the end. He worked hard to be a good husband, a good father, a good elder, a good leader, a good teacher. He taught others how to deal with adversity. He taught us to pray for more opportunities to serve God and he taught us to keep on going and planning for the future. John challenged us all to rely upon God and pray for His strength.
We will all have to carry on in this world without John Wilson. But I know that John would want us to take up the task for him. He would want us to be the next ones to plant churches, lead others, teach others, support others, challenge others, bring hope to others, and pray for others.
There are some words in 2 Timothy 2: 2 that speak to the kind of ministry that John had and that we can now have in his place. “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”
When our daughters were little we found lots of great kids’ music at the library. Joe Scruggs, Charlotte Diamond, Fred Penner, and Alan Root were some of our favourites. We spent many hours listening to and singing along with these great songs. Many of them were quite educational and certainly contributed to our girls’ present love for music.
One of the songs on an Alan Root recording caused a great deal of discussion around the dinner table. Alan Root is a Christian minister and children’s performer and subscribes to a young earth, seven day understanding of the creation of the universe. Here are the lyrics to his song, “Chicken Soup.”
Chicken Soup (words and music by Alan Root)*
In the beginning so the scientists say
The planet was covered with soup
According unto them it started up when
The seas were sort of like slimy green goop
That became DNA so the storybooks say
Nobody really knows how
Single cell creatures kept finding new features
Til your great-grandfather climbed outBut you can’t make a chicken from soup
Chickens didn’t come from any slimy green goop
You can make soup from any chicken in the coop
But you cannot make a chicken from soupAtheists say long ago and far away
Everybody used to be fish
Then we landed on the land and – ala ka zaam
Promoted to potatoes with a satellite dish
The Bible says the foolish man doesn’t fear God
Time to look around and get a clue
It takes more resolution to believe in evolution
Than the seven day story that’s trueBut you can’t make a chicken from soup
Chickens didn’t come from any slimy green goop
You can make soup from any chicken in the coop
But you cannot make a chicken from soupIn the history of science and a civilized world
No new critters have advanced
No matter what you think we’re missing missing links
Chromosomal language couldn’t happen by chance
Einstein said God doesn’t role dice
Your future is determined by your past
Either you’re the masterpiece of a master-mind
Or the accident of hydrogen gasBut you can’t make a chicken from soup
Chickens didn’t come from any slimy green goop
You can make soup from any chicken in the coop
But you cannot make a chicken from soup
In our household, I was a proponent of theistic evolution as a means of creation. In other words, I believe that God did create the universe and He used evolution to accomplish this. I agree with many scientists who would say that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old and that the universe is about 13.75 billion years old. So we had conversations at the dinner table which discussed why this song was written, what it was talking about, and various theories and ideas of how our universe came to be. The statement with which we would often conclude was, “How the world was created is not as important as the fact that the Bible tells us who created the world. In the beginning, God created.”
I like much of the song-writing of Alan Root and even his “Chicken Soup” song is clever and humorous. It was a great discussion starter in our family. However, I would encourage us all to look at the songs we are singing with our kids and investigate what they are really teaching. Are they encouraging our kids to think for themselves and search after the truth of God? We want children to grow into adults who are self-feeders who will search for truth themselves rather than simply agree with whatever the person at the front of the church, university class, concert-hall, or the person on the You-Tube video says to them.
*Lyrics transcribed from www.alanroot.com audio. Listen to it here.
Becky* has been cutting my hair every four to six weeks for the past two years. She works at one of the many beauty salons in Historic Chinatown just five blocks from my home. Although her English is good she is fairly quiet and does not say much about herself. Over the two years I have learned that she lives in an outlying suburb with her two sons who she thinks will never get married or move out. They say, “Momma, it is too expensive to get married and buy a house.” She has told me a few other things about herself as well. She was born in China, took schooling in Hong Kong and eventually travelled to Canada. She is now a Canadian citizen. I used to pay ten dollars for my haircuts and give her a five dollar tip. Recently, the price went up. I now pay eleven dollars for the cut and still give her the five dollar tip.
Today, Becky told me an amazing story. She told me that when she was fifteen years old she swam from China to Hong Kong. I asked her how far that was. She could not work out how to explain the distance in English. She spoke to her co-worker in Cantonese but he did not know either. She said it took her ten hours to swim.
I asked Becky if she was part of a team or if she was on her own. I thought perhaps it had been a competition or an endurance record. She told me that she swam it with two sisters and two brothers but that her one brother had been taken out of the water by the government. It slowly became clear to me that she had escaped from China by swimming from the mainland to Hong Kong. I have since looked it up, the distance is around twenty-seven kilometres. With this kind of athletic ability she could have probably qualified for the Olympic team.
Becky told me that at that time, the government in China was not good. There were no jobs for young people. There were many who were poor and the prospects for her future were bleak. For weeks leading up to the day of their escape they swam for eight hours a day. They were training because their lives depended upon it. Her father was a journalist who worked for the government. They never told their father or mother of their plan. If the parents had known they would have been arrested after the escape.
She made it to Hong Kong then travelled to Canada. She worked hard and eventually got her Canadian citizenship. It took ten years before she could travel back to China to see her family. Her mother will soon be ninety years old and still lives in China. Becky plans to take a trip there this year to celebrate with her. She feels that the Chinese government is much better now and her mother has a good life in China. “Things have changed a lot.”
Becky’s attitude is amazing. I have immense respect for her. She says that, “Canada is a great country. If you work you will get a job and make money. It is a fair place.” I wonder if I should tip a little more.
*Not her real name.
Western culture in general has a high degree of emphasis on the individual. Individual rights and values are often allowed to trump societal benefits and norms.* Some would say that this is a direct result of western Christianity and the changing relationship between Church and State.#
Faith, in particular, has become much more about me and my relationship with God and less about community and serving my neighbour. I am not sure which came first, the cultural tendency toward individualism, or an individualism of faith that influenced an entire culture, but it is an anomaly. In the latter part of the 19th century George MacDonald had this to say about our faith:
Till we begin to learn that the only way to serve God in any real sense of the word is to serve our neighbor, we may have knocked at the wicket-gate, but I doubt if we have got one foot across the thresh-hold of the Kingdom.^
How might we turn the tide of individualism which is sweeping both church and culture? Could we start with these words of Jesus?
“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:25-28 (New Living Translation)
*I believe such statements to be somewhat self-evident but if the reader wishes to investigate this further they may look to Wikipedia.
#For example see this abstract.
^George MacDonald in Beautiful Thoughts, First published in 1895.
On many a January 25 I have quoted from Robert Burns’ “To A Louse (On Seeing One On A Lady’s Bonnet, At Church).” The final stanza, the most well known from the poem, is full of insight into humanity.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!
Yes, if only we could see ourselves as others see us.
But today, on the 252nd anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, it seems somehow more appropriate to quote from “To A Mouse (On turning her up in her nest with the plough, November 1785).” I won’t quote the entire poem. Those who wish to read it in its entirety can readily find it elsewhere with a translation into more common English. But let us pause for a moment and listen to the last two stanzas.
But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
Certainly, in this poem, Burns has captured many of our human fears. The best laid plans of mice and men often do go astray. Yet, in the midst of this we catch a note of hope. For the same God who cares for mice and sparrows cares for you and me. Raise a toast to Scotland’s Bard: Robert Burns.
Stephen Hawking says that philosophy is dead. In his new book, The Grand Design*, he asks questions like, “How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves?” “How does the universe behave?” Where did all this come from?” “Did the universe need a creator?” Then he states, “Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.”
We all know that Stephen Hawking is a brilliant man who can do the math and show the formulas that describe eleven dimensions and multiple universes. But with three sentences he discards a whole intellectual field of study and proclaims that it is worthless. Someone should tell Peter Singer and John E. Hare to quit their day jobs. And just when did this death of philosophy occur? I don’t recall seeing the obituary. Did it occur before or after Rene Descartes?
No, we must understand Hawking’s three sentences for what they are. They are logical sleight of hand. He is asking us to agree to his conclusions before he makes his arguments. If we agree that philosophy is dead and that science is the only true field of study, then all that Hawking presents will be all that we can discuss. There will be no room for other voices. No room for philosophical questions or philosophical answers. He is seeking to preclude all conversations of a metaphysical nature and limit all discussion to what can be seen, felt, heard, tasted, or smelt. But as an article in the Guardian newspaper says, “who let Stephen Hawking choose the rules of the game?”
I am continuing to read The Grand Design; but I will be aware of the path down which I am being led and will recognize that a good portion of the pursuit of truth is being left out. Even brilliant minds have their limitations. Dr. Hawking does not have the final say on cosmology, philosophy, religion, and science. There are other voices to be heard.
“The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once.” Rene Descartes (French Mathematician, Philosopher and Scientist, 1596-1650)
*Hawking, Stephen, and Leonard Mlodinow. The Grand Design. New York: Bantam Books, 2010, p. 5.