Join us sundays at 8:00 & 10:30 AM

From The Pastor

September 13, 2019 by Rev. John Hartman

“God of Wonders”

Did you know that if you hold a dime at arm’s length against the night sky, behind that dime are around 15 million stars? And, if you could see out that far, that all those stars are within our Milky Way galaxy? The sun is 93 million miles away. There is a giant star, Antares, so big that if Antares were where our sun is, right now we would be inside the star Antares. Tonight, if you look up at the sky many of the stars you see don’t even exist. When they did exist they were so far away, their light is just now reaching our solar system. So we look and see a star that hasn’t existed for millions of years. Or, think of it this way: the Big Dipper is a star cluster 75 light years away. It takes light from the Big Dipper 75 years to get to us. So if you are 75 years old tonight you can go out in your backyard and look up and see the Big Dipper as it was on the day you were born. If you look at the star cluster Hercules, you're looking back 27,000 light years. The point is, as we gather in the sanctuary on Sunday, we are but a tiny slice of an infinitesimal dot within a minor galaxy of a universe created out of nothing by God.

The legendary pianist, Vladimir Horowitz, was once asked, “What is your greatest thrill?” Was it when he was performing at Carnegie Hall, where he loved to perform, when at the end the audience jumped to its feet, roared their approval, and clapped their hands together in a standing ovation? “No,” said Vladimir Horowitz. His answer surprised many people. He said, “My greatest thrill is when I finish a great piece of music and there is that moment of stunned silence, – before the applause.” If you’ve ever been to a great concert you know that moment, that instant of hushed awe, when the earth seems to stop on its axis. You may have had that moment in nature, perhaps in a national park, or at the beach, or in the mountains or woods. Here’s what’s funny: in a crowd of strangers, nobody dares say a word. It’s like church. Atheists feel a holy tingle. It’s why we humans keep coming back to that spot. We feel a vast invisible Presence saying, “Be still and know that I am God.” The theologians call it “the mysterium tremendum.”

Friends, when we stand and say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth,” the issue for us Christians is not the mechanics of how the universe got to its present state. It’s the Who behind it all who alone tells us why we are here. God is big, God is smart, and God is always present. Please join us for worship this Sunday at either 8:00 A.M. or 10:30 A.M. as I continue my sermon series on The Apostles’ Creed, and talk about us believing God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.

Pastor John

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Quote of the Week

“God dwells in His creation and is everywhere indivisibly present in all His works. He is transcendent above all His works even while He is immanent within them.”

A.W. Tozer

Aiden Wilson Tozer was an American Christian pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor. For his work, he received two honorary doctoral degrees.