My next three vIcar writes should be read as companion pieces to the the current mini-sermon series on Psalms 19.
Psalm 19 is a well-structured psalm with huge themes which even three sermons will not be able to adequately cover. This Psalm can be divided into three parts:
1. Creation v1-6
2. Word v7-11
3. Personal v 12-14
In my sermon on the first part i.e verses 1 to 6, Through the World, I will briefly look at how science and faith need not be contradictory. I want to encourage Christians, especially those who are aware of the latest in science, to learn to reconcile and integrate these knowledge with their faith. Failure to do so can lead to a lost of confidence in our faith or an abandoning of it altogether. Going beyond apologetics (i.e the need to have a basis for our beliefs), often knowledge discoveries can lead to a greater sense wonder at God's creation and enrich our lives as we develop an integrative worldview.
There are good resources which one can go to if you are interested to delve deeper on these issues.
Stephen Meyer's "Return of the God Hypothesis" explores how what we know today points to a Designer. There are also rich resources from the Discovery Instituite at https://www.discovery.org. The Biologos website (https://biologos.org) , founded by the preeminent US scientist, Francis Collins, is also very rich with podcast, videos and articles. As always, listen or read with a critical mind and you don't need to agree with everything you hear. The British scientist, John Lennox's "Seven Days that Divide the World" gives a helpful overview of the different views that Christians have on evolution and creation.
Recently, I read the German astrophysicist, Heino Falcke's fascinating "Light in the Darkness", where he wrote on the breakthrough photo project of a Black Hole. I was pleasantly surprise that he is a committed Christian and he shared the basis for his faith in the closing chapters. There is also an interesting Netflix documentary, "Black Holes: The edge of all we know" which tracked the Event Horizon Telescope Project which successfully took the first image of a black hole.
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