QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.”

~Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), French mathematician and thinker

“[T]he mass of two hydrogen atoms that is released as energy when they fuse to produce helium is 0.007 (0.7%). That is the source of the heat produced in the sun.... It is the amount of mass (m) that is converted to energy (E) in the famous Einstein formula E = mc2, and it is a direct measure of the strong nuclear force. If the strong force had a value of 0.006 or less, the universe would consist only of hydrogen—not very conducive to the complexities of life. If the value were greater than 0.008, all the hydrogen would have been fused shortly after the big bang, and there could be no stars, no solar heat—again, no life. As Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow put it in their book The Grand Design, ‘Our universe and its laws appear to have a design that both is tailor-made to support us and, if we are to exist, leaves little room for alteration.’”

“There is an erroneous idea that while scientists are always open-minded and searching for new ways to see truth, people of faith think they have it all figured out—they believe they know the final truth, the dogma that cannot change. In reality, open-minded people are open-minded about science and faith, and close-minded people are dogmatic about both.”

~Sy Garte, The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith

“There are two kinds of people in the world, the conscious dogmatists and the unconscious dogmatists. I have always found myself that the unconscious dogmatists were by far the most dogmatic.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), writer and literary critic

“If you dwell on your own feelings…rather than dwelling on the faithfulness…of God, then you’re likely to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Our feelings are very fleeting and ephemeral, aren’t they? We can’t depend on them for five minutes at a time. But dwelling on the love, faithfulness, and mercy of God is always safe.”

~Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), author and speaker

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 93 (ESV)

1 The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty;

the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.

Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.

2 Your throne is established from of old;

you are from everlasting.

3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord,

the floods have lifted up their voice;

the floods lift up their roaring.

4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters,

mightier than the waves of the sea,

the Lord on high is mighty!

5 Your decrees are very trustworthy;

holiness befits your house,

O Lord, forevermore.