The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

Intelligent Design Podcasts

Whatever side of the Intelligent Design debate you tend to lean toward, you ought to check out a few of these podcasts by a handful of microbiologists, chemists, and astrophysists who are bucking the trend of blind acceptance of unpurposful natural selection and simply asking questions based on recent research into the impossibly complex elegance of the universe from the micro to the macro.

Like it, hate it, disagree with it, find holes in it, question it.

Just don't ignore it. If you're going to be working with kids who are learning science from a teacher who hasn't read any research on genes since they were in college in 1966, you really need to know there are intelligent folks looking at the world on a "just the facts, ma'am" basis and finding that classic Darwinian natural selection can't account for all the protiens gathering together in the proper order for the creation of even single celled bacteria, let alone the human brain.

http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/

Tornado

Something from Nothing A tornado tears into a Boeing factory and picks up all of the parts for a 747, slaps them together and deposits them an the runway with engines firing ready to go. Could this ever happen? Given enough time in an endless and eternal universe, one might say it is theoretically possible, yet highly unlikely. But wait - there is no factory. A tornado tears into the earth, digs up enough raw copper for 10,000 feet of wiring, enough silicon for 60,000 computer ships, enough tin for a 300 foot plane, mines it all and throws a monstrous flying machine together. It also picks up 25 cows and tans their hides, putting them together for seats in first class. Could this ever happen? Given enough time in an endless and eternal universe, one might say it is theoretically possible. Yet, this, too is highly unlikely. But wait, there is no earth. For your “chance created the universe” argument, you would have to go with this one: A tornado tears into nothing... But there is no tornado yet. You would have to argue: “Nothing tears into nothing... and out came everything.” Does this argument work for you?

Senior High Late Night Communion

I had the opportunity to chat with Truman Capote at length one night thirty years ago when I was running a writers conference. I asked the strange little man, "How do you become a writer?"

I'll never forget his answer. He said, "You write." 

How will our young people become leaders in the church? They must lead. They must be given opportunities and responsibilities and multiple chances to slip into leadership roles in the church. Handing out bulletins once a year at a youth service isn't going to cut it.

At FINK we've suggested churches find ways to redefine youth ministry as youth DOING ministry rather than youth doing programs. One aspect of this redefinition we have suggested over the last five years is a monthly worship that youth create, lead, and own.

We've suggested the event, but until today have never told churches how to do it, or what materials and orders of service to use. We wanted them to experiment, try different models for this worship and then teach us what worked, didn't work, etc. Well, the five years is up and jury is finally in on how the experiment is going. With the FINK network's feedback, we're finally ready to tell you our best suggestion for how to do the new senior high model. The suggestion below will attempt to integrate the senior high ministry directly into a leadership role in the confirmation ministries of your church. Here's how it looks:

1. WHAT IS IT? An evening candle light worship service owned and operated by the youth of the church. The kids need to be in charge of the whole deal. Adults are welcome to help them set things up, organize speakers and leaders, etc., but once the worship starts, adults are not presiding or leading. They slip into the background and let the youth run the whole thing.

2. THEMES: We suggest you use the EXACT same themes, theme songs, and key verses that  their younger brothers and sisters will be using in confirmation the next month. If you wish, cut slides from the Head to the Heart PowerPoints to form the core of this worship.

3. AMBIANCE: Enter the sanctuary in the semi-darkness, with a wreath of candles lit around the front of the church and soft music playing.

4. SETTING: Invite youth to sit on the floor inside the altar railing - NOT IN THE PEWS!

5. ORDER OF SERVICE

    A. OPENING MUSIC: Start with generic campy music – stuff they can easily sing without music sheets - for 10 to 15 minutes
   B. OPENING PRAYER: A youth leads a free prayer, or the litany which goes with the FINK theme. Hold hands for Safe Touch!
    C. THEME VERSE & SONG: Teach and sing one or both of the confirmation theme songs for the next month. Since the FINK Themes are all built around Bible verses put to music, have youth open their Bibles and mark the verse. The Bible is now their hymnal, and their hymnal is the Bible. FINK is moving toward sign language for every verse. If you have a signer in your congregation, have them teach a youth to lead the verse by signing key words.
    D. MESSAGE: Have two or three youth give short talks on the theme and how it relates to their lives. In the confirmation model, we call this a "Life Line." This could be a good dry run for what they will be asked to share on the theme with their younger brothers and sisters in confirmation. (Always open off Broadway!) If it's any good, why not drag them into the regular worship to share their faith story, too!
    E. PASTORAL CARE: Break into pairs for highs and lows, then have pairs join into groups of four to share their partner's highs and lows. Join hands with your quad and pray a short prayer for the person on your right.
    F. TEXT to CONTEXT: Father in the large group and have one person from each group share the highest high and the lowest low in their group. Designate a recorder to write these comments on a piece of newsprint, then ask another leader youth to think on their feet and relate the theme scripture for the night to the highs and lows of the group. How might God - through the Scripture - be saying to them? How might God's Word relate to the real issues of their lives?
    G. PASTORAL PRAYER: Have another youth pray for the highest highs and lowest lows of the group. Turn their praise and prayer into the prayers of the people. End by joining hands and praying the Lord's Prayer.
     H. HOLY COMMUNION: Break the bread, pour the wine, do the Words of Institution, and celebrate the Lord's Supper. In this model, you want the youth to be in charge of everything from start to finish. If, in your tradition, a pastor must preside over Holy Communion, this would be the only time an adult is leading a part of this event. If you wish to explore having youth lead this, and you have a presidence for lay distribution of Holy Communion at nursing homes and among the home bound, you may wish to discuss the possibility of commissioning specific youth to take the meal to their friends for this monthly worship. The elements could be consecrated by the pastor in a regular worship service, then given to the commissioned youth leader for that week's worship.
    I. CLOSING PRAYER: Have a youth lead a post-communion prayer from your tradition, or a free prayer for their friends, their church, and the world.
    J. CLOSING SONG: Sing the theme song again, but make it mellow, mellow, mellow.
    K. BLESSING: Use the thematic blessing from our confirmation theme. Have youth repeat the blessing with a leader, then bless at least six other youth before leaving. Add Safe Touch by tracing a cross on the forehead or hand of each friend, then reciting the blessing.
     L. POSTLUDE: Keep the mellow theme music playing until the last youth has left.

That's our new model. Use it. Test it. Change it. Tell us how it works!

Rich

(By the way, if you haven't seen "Capote" yet, do it. The actor does a rather amazing job of portraying the strange little man.)

Late Night Candle Light Senior High Worship

I'm looking for some churches to test a once-a-month “Late Night Candle Light Communion Worship” by youth for youth after the first of the year. Here's the format:

Gather in the sanctuary with soft music playing and lights low. Maybe a decent guitar is picking a theme song for the night this month A single flute next month A single violin the next. Etc.

Sit on the floor inside the chancel if you can get away with it - rather than in pews. Sing some simple tunes that don’t require hymnals or hand out sheets. The soloist and song leaders are youth - not adults.

One or more youth lead opening prayers and/or litanies with simple responses. A team of youth pick the topic for the night and lead the reading of scriptures. Leave plenty of quiet space in between the readings for the Holy Spirit to let the message to soak in. Kids give the talk for the night - maybe one short reflection after each scripture. Then silence or the single  instrument playing the theme song.

Break into small groups to apply the theme to the kids lives. First do the standard FINK one-on-one “highs and lows” for a couple minutes. Don't leave the room for this. Then turn back to the small groups and have kids share their partner’s highs and lows with the group. Join hands and pray for your partners out loud. Next have a youth designated in each group to ask three questions:

1. What is one new thing we heard tonight?

2. What is one thing we already knew that is worth repeating?

3. What is one thing we want to know more about?

Choose someone to report to the whole group, as well as someone to write three short prayers praising and thanking God for the highs of the group and asking the Holy Spirit to be with kids going through specific lows.

Turn small groups back toward the large group and sing another quiet song. Invite each group to share their 1, 2, 3 thoughts (above) and pray their prayers. Keep the soft music playing during prayer. If Holy Communion is desired, break out the bread and wine and consecrate it. (In most traditions, a pastor will do this part. If you can consecrate the bread and wine in worship and train youth to distribute it like you'd commission a lay minister to deliver it to the nursing home, all the better.) Other than communion, no adults should be leading any other part of this. Let the kids own it! If adults are used, use them to help coach and encourage kids prior to the event.

Close with another soft song, the Lord’s Prayer, and a blessing. Let each youth bless at least five others before they depart. Keep the soft music going until the last kid leaves.

That’s a simple design. Test it and tweak it in any way you want, then let me know how it went. I'm hoping for at least 30 test churches to commit to try it between January and May.

 

Sherri Harris - Day 7

Our Friend Sherri writes: "You may want to include this prayer that I use when presenting or writing about Time as Sacrament."

We cry out with the Psalmist:

“Oh God, my times are in your hands…” (Ps 31:15, NIV). Take my time and order it to your Divine purpose, Lord. Teach me to lay down my need to be busy as well as my tendency toward mindless, frenzied activity. Help me to shut out the messages of the culture that shout to me that I am what I do. Help me dwell within your divine rhythm of time. Help me to be still and know that you are Lord. Help me to sort through the ‘shoulds’ and listen for your direction. Open me to the wonder of the world around me. Teach me to be fully present and fully available in every moment of time. Help me to approach time as the sacrament it is - a sacrament that is with me each and every moment of my life.  Amen."

Two Tidbits

Here's a couple links you might find interesting on a Monday morning:

1. Heart Health and Touch: Newsweek shows that your chances of dying within six months after a heart attack are four times greater if you are lonely or depressed. It  concludes that community, spirituality and purpose are essential to health. (and a little touch, too). This would tell you who you want at the core of every intergenerational group for Advent this year - someone who has experienced a significant loss in the last six months.

2.  Gallup on Evolution/Creation:  According to Gallup, a large majority of Americans believe there is a Creator, and that Creator should not be kept out of schools. I'd like to  ditch a lot of the excess baggage in the term  "Intelligent Design"  and simply redefine it as the First Article of the Apostles' Creed. If that's our starting point as Christians, and we can agree that there's a Creator, then, as Einstein said, "The rest is detail." ID is a hot topic right now. It was featured on West Wing last night with Jimmy Smitts making a classicly flawed argument - although eloquently. He said that, as a Catholic, he believes in a Creator, but that faith is faith and science is science and one has backing and the other one doesn't.

I don't happen to agree. I believe one can have confidence in the Creator based on evidence. Read your Bible. Read the stars (astronomy, not astrology). Read the rocks. Read the intricate, elegant, ellaborate micro-machines inside a single cell bacteria. Read everything, then come to your conclusions. Even Anthony Flew, the world's premier athiest and debator with C.S. Lewis, now believes there is an intelligent first cause.

The word "confidence" is Latin for "con=with" "fidae=faith". You don't have to check your brain at the door to go to church, or your faith at the door to go to your science class.

Whether you believe this debate is best done in the school, in the home, or in a science fiction or philosophy class, I believe it should at least be done at church on a weekend with teens.

We're working on "Why God?" weekends and have two more scheduled this year, with a dozen or so after the first of the year to give high school kids some time to wrestle with the issues.

Science Hooey?

I'm off to San Diego to start hitting the 15 biggest cities in the USA and learn what I can, show what I can, and eat what I can.

(Not necessarily in that order)

Tomorrow I'm at Carlton Lutheran Church in Santee, my host is a friend who hosted me a long, long time ago, Rev. Rick Schowalter.

As I leave, I'm looking at a letter from a former FINK user who doesn't understand what we mean by Intelligent Design and seems to be lumping us in with some of the farest right folks when we use the term.

Seems to me, if you believe and confess the First Article of the Apostles' Creed, you're saying you believe in my definition of Intelligent Design.

The "Creator of Heaven and Earth" and the "all things visible and invisible" from the Nicean Creed make you an ID person in the best sense of the word.

At the risk of sounding brass, I think some people may be judging us without enough information. Maybe they suppose we’re going along with someone else’s definition of Intelligent Design. I’m not sure, I’d love it if you would grace me a momentary benefit of the doubt. I’d value your honest critique of what we’re really doing based on what we’re really doing, not on what someone might prejudge us as doing because of all of the baggage that goes with the term Intelligent Design.

If I might be a friendly pest, here’s a little history:

As I've said before, I've been fascinated by the complexity of the universe all my life - from the micro to the macro. I've also been dismayed by folks who:

1. Don't think I have a functioning brain if I confess in the first article of the Apostles’ Creed and thereby question the universe creating itself, or

2. Others who don't I'm a proper Christian if I don't believe the earth was created in six literal 24 hour days.

I take issue with both groups, although I enjoy wrestling with them both in a respectful, informed way. In the words of the old Episcopal newspaper campaign, “Jesus Christ came to take away your sins, not your brain.”

As I've also said before, whether or not people believe this belongs in the schools, in the churches, or in realm of science fiction, it's a hot topic right now and I believe and it shouldn't be ignored or bypassed by people working with senior high youth. A good discussion on the complexity of the universe and the philosophy of how it may or may not have happened is usually worth the time with kids.

In our version of Intelligent Design, we teach, among other things:

1. The heavens are telling the glory of God… if we listen. And when we listen with the best measurements currently available, we see that the Universe looks 13.7 billion years old. A “day” (yom) in God’s time may not be the same as a day in our time. God could have done it in six literal 24 hour days. God is God. However, in Hebrew, a day is "sunrise, sunset" so it might have been 12 hour days. Anyway, if you read the Bible and you read the heavens, they both proclaim God did it. How God did it is another matter.

2. From the macro to the micro, this amazingly complex universe is mathematically improbable. Yet here we are. It may be more rational to believe that there is a grand designer behind this grand design than to believe that random, purposeless chance is responsible. Einstein: “I want to know God’s thoughts. The rest is detail.”

3. Either God made it, or it made itself. But since a system cannot create itself, Houston we have a problem. Chance – a concept – cannot create a thing. Chance is no thing. Nothing. And we all know nothing comes from nothing. At the end of science we enter philosophy. At the end of philosophy we enter either God or nothing. Take your pick.

4. Life at its smallest forms is infinitely and intricately designed – not a glob of plasma as postulated a couple centuries ago when Darwin did his work. There are elegant micro machines responsible for every system and sub-system from the single-cell bacterial flagellum that oscillates at 100,000 rpm to the advanced system that makes your blood clot. Again, such grand designs may have evolved… but in a random, purposeless fashion? There simply was not enough time since the earth cooled 3.9 billion years ago.

5. The human is not simply another animal – the sum of our parts. There is an eternal soul, created in the image of God.

We expect to get flack from the six day Creationists and lose many of them as customers. We also expect to get flack from those in the church who confess the First Article every Sunday but don’t really believe it. Through it all, we hope to engender a great and respectful discussion, put a new spin on the term Intelligent Design (it’s actually a wonderful phrase), sadly lose some old friends and make some new.

In the process, we hope to help a lot of kids think.

And when they go off to college, we hope to keep them in the faith.

That’s the basis of everything we’re developing. After this comes “Why Jesus?” and after that comes “Why the Bible.” We’ll need designers to help us get started, writers to help us flesh them out, and testers to help us see what needs to stay and what needs to go,

Now, to get to the specifics (and take on all honest critiques of our logic, our research, and our conclusions) one of the reasons we’re hitting 60 cities is to get the discussion going. This is a work in progress, so if you’re at all up for it (and whether you think 1 – 5 above is a pile of hooey) I would be extremely pleased and honored and delighted to grill you a burger on the deck of our office in Stillwater some Tuesday or Thursday in Sept/October or buy you a subway sandwich in San Diego, LA, San Fran, Phoenix, Boston, Long Island, Phillie, Milwaukie, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, or Charlotte in the next six weeks and get your honest appraisal of what we have created, as well as suggestions as to how to make it even better.

Some Further Intelligent Design Discussions

We've had some interesting emails, calls and contacts on every side of the intelligent design debate this week. Some folks are upset that we're even covering the themes with our new senior high stuff. Some folks are upset because we don't side with them on every little point. Some folks put us in an immediate idiot category and group us - prejudge us - along with folks that even we consider unreasonable. Some don't want any debate at all.

Seems to me, the only two people who are afraid of debate are those who don’t have enough confidence in their argument, or those who know they are wrong.

“Come let us reason together…” is a good verse.

Much better than, “I’m right and you’re stupid.”

Makes for a slightly better starting point for a cup of coffee and a Danish.

Intelligent Design Further Flak

I just got a "I don't believe in this crap" style letter on "why the h-e-double-toothpicks" is Faith Inkubators messing with Intelligent Design. I answered it something like:

I've been fascinated by the complexity of the universe all my life - from the micro to the macro. I've also been dismayed by folks who don't think I have a functioning brain if I question the universe creating itself and others who don't I'm a proper Christian if I don't believe the earth was created in six literal 24 hour days.

As someone who has worked with teens and people who work with teens for 30 years, I've also enjoyed a myriad of late-night around the campfire discussions and cafeteria debates over whether or not (now this enters the realm of philosophy) all of this is some kind of random cosmic accident.

If there is a God, it is incredible. If there is no God, that's incredible, too.

In my experience, teens love to talk about this. That's why we've spent the better part of two years creating a "Why God?" weekend with four themes - the universe, the origin of life, the human brain, and the question of the existence or non-existence of the soul. Whether or not people believe this belongs in the schools, in the churches, or in realm of science fiction, it's a hot topic right now and I believe and it shouldn't be ignored or bypassed by people working with senior high youth. A good discussion on the complexity of the universe and the philosophy of how it may or may not have happened is usually worth the time with kids.

This may be an angle to the discussion that will draw flak from the left and the right, but I believe it’s a reasonable course to take, and the right time in the debate to add our take to the mix.

Jesus or the Bible?

We've had some fun discussing and debating whether "Why God?" (a third of our new senior high apologetics couse) should be followed by "Why Jesus?" next or "Why the Bible?" Here's a letter, followed by my response:

Dear Rich,

I  seems to me that it makes more logical sense to go on to "Why the Bible" as the second installation, and then "Why Jesus" as the third.

If you think about it from the standpoint of logic, it seems that in step one (Why God) you answer the question: Is there a Creator God?  Once that is answered in the affirmative, it seems the next question to answer would be: "What God is He - Do any of the world's holy books stand up to the test of logic at revealing who He is?" (thus, Why The Bible).  The answer to this would narrow the choice down to the God of the Bible (at least the Jewish or Christian God).  Then you answer "Why Jesus?" to show how Jesus fulfills all the aspects of the Christ, the Lamb of God.  It seems impossible to answer Why Jesus if you don't establish first the reliability of the Bible as the source book of information about Jesus.

Am I missing something with this analysis? 

(name)

Dear (Name)

We spent an hour on the partner retreat mulling over what we should develop next: Jesus or the Bible.

Jesus won.

There are strong arguments for going both ways.

The partners felt that going straight to Jesus – at least in the development and roll out stage – made the most sense. It is Jesus who saves us. It is Jesus who they must know. It is Jesus who they have to deal with once way of another. And knowing him as Lord and Savior, you naturally want to get to know his words and wishes. Yes, Jesus turns some folks immediately off. Yes, Jesus is rather controversial and his radical claims are an offense and a stumbling block to the Jews, Gentiles, and skeptics. But the argument for developing this next is this: once you see who he is –not a caricature that popular culture portrays – the experience is  transforming. Our partners wanted to get beyond the stumbling block arguments some people might have with certain Biblical facts and figures and confront kids right away with the stumbling block of Jesus and his claim on their lives. In this line of reasoning, once hearts and minds are won over to Jesus, those new followers will be hungry for the rest.

On the other hand, as you point out below, it is probably a more logical step to go from “Why God?” ( “okay, there is a God, but what does he look like?”) into a search for God through a study of each of the world’s holy books. For that reason, we decided to make a search for the savior and a look at other key religious figures and their holy books a full  ¼ of the “Why Jesus?” four themes… probably session 3. We will also include another angle of that discussion as part of  “Why the Bible?” concentrating less on the life and words of Jesus (although that will be a part), and on the world’s religious books as a whole.

All of this may be a moot point once the writing and testing phase of all this is complete. When we have three solid years of material and three types of conferences underway, individual congregations can decide for themselves if they want to send their kids to three years of “God/Jesus/Bible” or “God/Bible/Jesus.”

We are, of course, open to further discussion, arguments, and debate. The partners were virtually unanimous on developing Jesus next, however.

Jesus won. They wish to see Jesus next.

rich