PILLARS OF CREATION from James Webb Space Telescope
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” — Genesis 1:1. We also read the beautiful words of Psalm 19:1-2: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they declare knowledge….”
These words are filled with mystery. They are foundational to our faith. I do not know about you, but I often find mystery challenging. It is beyond my imagination! Old Testament theologian John H. Walton suggests Genesis chapter one uses temple language as God speaks of Creation – heaven and earth – as God’s temple. The Father, Son, and Spirit together — brought about the created order. The God of Creation is a God of righteousness, love, grace, mercy, compassion, and order …. Psalm 19 celebrates that Glory!
When I, a scientist, turn to the pages written in Creation’s “scientific” history, I continue to find mystery. Perhaps it is just my relatively small mind that cannot comprehend the beginning some 14 billion years ago when all the “stuff” that comprises the entire universe is thought to have been condensed into a mass the size of a marble. My friend, Dr. David Bradstreet, an astro-physicist, suggests in his book Star Struck: Seeing the Creator in the Wonders of Our Cosmos, that science can trace the beginning back to a fraction of a second before the “big bang” when, in Bradstreet’s view, all that is present is the fingerprint of God. Can you comprehend all the mass of the universe contracted into a marble sized object? Neither can I. What was before that? God, a marble-sized mass, and …nothing? My mind demands something! It cannot comprehend the absolute of nothingness!
When we consider the “stuff” in that original marble-size mass, science tells us that it was composed primarily of hydrogen, some helium, and a little lithium. Following the big bang and the subsequent expansion of the universe, this primordial material started to condense into gravitational masses that ultimately became the 1st generation stars – thermo-nuclear fusion generators of the first heavier elements. In short, the bulk of the stuff you and I are composed of was birthed in a star. We are made of star stuff! The first-generation stars led to second and third generation stars with new star formation continuing today.
Now some 14 billion years later, we have the James Webb space telescope orbiting one million miles above Earth. As this telescope scans the heavens, we are learning amazing things about God’s creation. The universe (the stuff of the original creation) continues to expand. What does it expand into? The nothingness of nothing? Again, I am having a bit of a problem here! Our current technology can “see” approximately 45 billion light years to the edge of the “visible” universe. Beyond that?
The “stuff” of that visible universe is totally amazing! Earth is a member of one solar system in one galaxy. It is estimated that there are at least 100 billion galaxies! Within our own galaxy, known as the “Milky Way”, it is estimated that there are 100 thousand million stars! Most of these stars are thought to have planets orbiting them. Only recently has our technology allowed us to “see” planets outside of our solar system – currently more than 5000 have been recorded! Then there are pulsar stars, the super dense collapsed core of supergiant stars that have a diameter of only 12 miles or so and rotate at nearly 1000 times per second. When I begin to think of black holes, my mind nearly goes blank. Mystery! What is the James Webb telescope telling us about Creation and God’s Glory? How big is your God?
Psalm 8: 1-6
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise….
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? For you made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
For you made him ruler over the works of your hands; You put everything under his feet.”
Prayer for today
Lord, as we bow in utter amazement at the glory of your Creation, we ask you to guide us in our care of this precious and holy place. May we be filled with Your wisdom and Your love as we tend Your holy garden – Your temple. Amen.
Thanks for listening.
— Joe Sheldon
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