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July 31, 2016
Ezekiel 1
In
the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I
was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw
visions of God. 2 On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the
exile of King Jehoiachin), 3 the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi,
in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was
on him there.
4 As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great
cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually, and in the
middle of the fire, something like gleaming amber. 5 In the middle of
it was something like four living creatures. This was their appearance: they
were of human form. 6 Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7 Their legs were
straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and
they sparkled like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides
they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9 their wings
touched one another; each of them moved straight ahead, without turning as they
moved. 10 As for the
appearance of their faces: the four had the face of a human being, the face of
a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of
an eagle; 11 such were their
faces. Their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of
which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. 12 Each moved
straight ahead; wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as
they went. 13 In the middle of
the living creatures there was something that looked like burning coals of
fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was
bright, and lightning issued from the fire. 14 The living creatures darted to
and fro, like a flash of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the
earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. 16 As for the
appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the
gleaming of beryl; and the four had the same form, their construction being
something like a wheel within a wheel. 17 When they moved, they moved in any of
the four directions without veering as they moved. 18 Their rims were
tall and awesome, for the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. 19 When the living
creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the living creatures
rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they went,
and the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was
in the wheels. 21 When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the
others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with
them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was something
like a dome, shining like crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 Under the dome
their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another; and each of the
creatures had two wings covering its body. 24 When they moved, I heard the
sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the thunder of the
Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army; when they stopped, they
let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the dome over their heads;
when they stopped, they let down their wings.
26 And above the dome over their heads there was something like
a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a
throne was something that seemed like a human form. 27 Upward from what
appeared like the loins I saw something like gleaming amber, something that
looked like fire enclosed all around; and downward from what looked like the
loins I saw something that looked like fire, and there was a splendor all
around. 28 Like the bow in
a cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendor all around.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard
the voice of someone speaking.
Sermon: “Universally Amazing”
“Was Ezekiel chapter 1 actually the description of a
spaceship landing?”
That’s the question from our
little yellow box of sermon suggestions this week. Now, some of you are already leaning forward
in your pews, eager to hear about such a possibility.
Others of you are already
letting your skepticism overtake you, and perhaps wishing you’d just gone out
for brunch today.
For both of you, and those in
between, let me encourage you to embrace this question with an open mind and a
curious spirit. Because it really is a
fascinating question to ponder.
First, I feel I need to put
all my cards on the table.
I am a total sci-fi
nerd. You may not know this. (You may now wish you didn’t know this.)
I adore Star Wars and Star
Trek (and know the difference between them, and that one is more fantasy than
science fiction).
I find X-Files intriguing and
amusing.
I was made to watch Fire in
the Sky in school as a child and it absolutely terrified me.
Doctor Who – the British show
about an alien who constantly saves the earth from other aliens as peacefully
as possible – is probably my favorite television show.
So, you see, I come by my
nerd card naturally.
I honestly don’t know if I
believe in little green men.
I do know that the presence
of water on Mars means life in some tiny, infinitesimal form is a
possibility.
I don’t know if there’s some
massive government conspiracy to hide the reality of extra-terrestrials.
I do know that the universe
is constantly expanding, and there are 17 billion earth-sized planets in our
galaxy, and there are an estimated 500 billion galaxies in the universe.[1]
So, those three faithful words from last Sunday’s sermon are
very appropriate regarding other life out there: I don’t know.
Speaking of faith, let’s take
that route, shall we? Our question opens
up the possibility that the fantastical apocalyptic vision of Ezekiel was a
spaceship landing. I believe this theory
was made popular by German NASA engineer Josef F. Blumrich. He set out to disprove the theory that
Ezekiel saw a spaceship, and ended up confirming it, even designing a model of
the “ship” he read described by Ezekiel.
Before we look at what ol’
Zeke saw, we need to remember who he was, and what his world was like at the
time of his vision.
Ezekiel was a refugee. At the beginning of the 6th
century BCE, Babylonian armies had defeated Jerusalem. The temple, God’s dwelling place:
destroyed. The elite of society,
including Ezekiel: taken into exile.
They left behind all they knew: their families, their possessions, their
homes, their place of worship.
Ezekiel was a priest at that
place of worship, and God called him, in the midst of all this terror and
violence and displacement, to be a prophet.
His call story, which we just
read, makes the burning bush look like a parlor trick.
It was absolutely amazing.
Well-known Old Testament
scholar Walter Brueggemann writes in The Prophetic Imagination of why
amazement was so key to Ezekiel’s vision:
The hope-filled
language of prophecy, in cutting through the…despair and hopelessness, is the
language of amazement. It is a language
that engages the community in new discernments and celebrations just when it
had nearly given up and had nothing to celebrate. The language of amazement is against the
despair just as the language of grief is against the numbness. I believe that, rightly embraced, no more
subversive or prophetic idiom can be uttered than the practice of doxology,
which sets us before the reality of God, of God right in the center of a scene
from which we presumed God had fled.
Indeed, the language of amazement is the ultimate energizer…and the
prophets of God are called to practice that most energizing language.
The
language of amazement is the ultimate energizer. Zeke’s language certainly did that.
When
studying this text, something amazing leapt from the page for me: the word
“like” or “likeness.”
Did
you notice how many times I said those words in the reading?
25
times.
In
28 verses.
Over
and over again, Zeke describes other-worldly (or alien), heavenly realities he
saw. But over and over again, he
describes them using earthly, grounded
terms.
This
wild vision of wheels and creatures can only be described in language he
already has. So, he describes it as:
gleaming
amber
living
creatures
coals
of fire
torches
flashes
of lightning
a
crystal dome
the
sound of mighty waters
the
sound of an army
a
sapphire throne
a
human form
the
bow in a cloud on a rainy day
Then,
he finishes his impassioned amazement language with one key phrase:
“This was the
appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.”
And, no longer able to
comprehend such glory, he literally falls on his face. Plop.
Which is actually a common
response to God’s glory in scripture.
Moses and Aaron did it.
David did it.
Abraham did it.
Joshua did it.
Daniel did it.
Ruth did it.
The Wise Men did it.
Jesus did it.
When faced with the
overwhelming call of God and with the amazing glory of God, people fell on
their faces.
Because sometimes God’s work
is too astonishing for us to comprehend.
Especially if we find ourselves in a time of despair, hopelessness and
exile. The contrast between earth and
heaven could not have been more stark for Ezekiel.
Did he see a spaceship? I don’t know.
But heaven did come down that day, and he fell on his face before the
God of all creation and knew that there was more glory in the universe than he
could ever comprehend.
I think that’s why science
fiction stories about “life out there” are so compelling. I think that might be why this question made
its way into our little yellow sermon suggestion box.
Because when life down here
seems too heavy with grief, or too tense with conflict, or simply too boring
with the ordinary, the dream of other life somewhere in the universe is
actually a comforting thought (unless you have an Independence Day sort of
situation…).
And, though I can’t honestly
answer the question of spaceships in Ezekiel, I can answer the question of “is
there life out there?” with a resounding yes!
Because where there is God, there is life. And where there is life, there is always room
for amazement. So, let us take a chapter from Ezekiel’s
book, and trade our language of bitterness and anger for language of
amazement. Let us start describing our
visions of God in ways that name a new reality of heaven breaking into earth,
and be energized by such speech.
Heaven
breaks into earth in a spiritual sense, but also in a scientific, literal sense
and, though it’s not as fantastical as Ezekiel’s vision, it’s just as amazing,
if not more so.
When
we look at the evolution of our solar system, which, by the way, does not
compete with an understanding of intelligent design by a Creator, we find that
every part of this ordinary earth is woven through with something from the
heavens. They’re not sapphires or
crystals like Ezekiel saw, but something even more amazing: diamonds.[2]
When
our solar system was formed some 4.5 billion years ago, out of clouds and gas,
most original ingredients were vaporized.
But diamonds from supernovae, or exploding stars, were strong enough to survive. These tiny diamonds, so small that trillions
could fit on the head of a pin, are said to be the source of heavy elements to
form new stars and eventually, life on earth.
Mayne Ellis[3],
inspired by this research, wrote this poem, which calls us to be prophets of
amazement like Ezekiel:
But haven’t we always
known?
The shimmer of trees, the
shaking of flames
every cloud lined with
something
clean water sings
right to the belly
scouring us with its
purity
it too is awash with
diamonds
“so small that trillions
could rest
on the head of a pin”
It is not unwise then to
say
that the air is hung
close with diamonds
that we breathe diamond
our lungs hoarding,
exchanging
our blood sowing them
rich and thick
along every course it
takes
Does this explain
why some of us are so
hard
why some of us shine
why we are all precious
that we are awash in
creation
spumed with diamonds
shot through with beauty
that survived the death
of stars
This universe is shot through
with beauty that survived the death of stars.
Is there amazing life out there?
Sure. Is there amazing life
within us still? Absolutely. Amen.
[1] http://gizmodo.com/5974389/if-there-are-17-billion-earth-sized-worlds-in-our-galaxy-the-universe-is-bubbling-with-life
[2] http://articles.latimes.com/1987-03-12/news/mn-9346_1_earth-from-exploding-stars
[3] http://reflections.yale.edu/article/womens-journeys-progress-and-peril/scientists-find-universe-awash-tiny-diamonds
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