Originally posted July 5, 2011, at sinibaldo.wordpress.com. Republished with permission of the author.
On April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit Earth from space. He was quoted as saying, “No god up here.”
It is a quote that shook the West, and shook the church community worldwide. Gagarin died in a flight crash in 1968.
In an article written in 2006, Gagarin’s friend, Col. Valentine Petrov, associate professor of the Gagarin Air Force Academy stated that his quote is not something that Gagarin, a Christian, would have said — but was a fabrication by the Soviet regime under Nikita Khrushchev.
Petrov went on to discuss a trip where they had visited St. Sergius Church in Lavra and Danilov Monastery and viewed a model of the Cathedral in Moscow, destroyed in 1931 by orders of Josef Stalin. Petrov remembered:
“Quite unexpectedly Yuri said, ‘Valentine, just think over the words — who art in heaven.’ I stared at him wide-eyed. ‘Yuri, do you know that prayer?’ He replied, ‘Do you think you are the only one who knows it? Well, you also know how to keep quiet.’ This was 1964, the year that Khrushchev publicly promised to show us ‘the last priest.’”
‘No God down here either’
Our understanding of the universe has changed enormously over the centuries. The Bible speaks of the heavens and the Earth in Genesis 1.
For centuries we understood a three-tiered universe with heaven above and hell below.
Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Einstein and countless others explored through scientific discoveries of a much wider and expansive universe than we could have imagined.
For many people this has led to a “God of the gaps” understanding that God can only dwell within the places we have yet to uncover or explain — with the fear that one day the gaps will one day grow too narrow to maintain.
For many the possibility of God in heaven seems too antiquated, too trite and too cute to be something any reasonable 21st century person could possibly believe.
“No God up here” gets translated to everyday life as “No God down here either.” How could we possibly talk about faith with such a barrier to overcome?
Expanding our view as we pray
We don’t need a new version of a controlled three-tiered universe — with God above us, and hell below. What would help us is a wider perspective on the heavens and the Earth God so beautifully creates.
Jesus promises that he is with us until the end of the age, and that where two or three are gathered he is present (Matthew 28:20; 18:18). We are drawn into closer proximity to God in the revelation of Christ — not pushed further away, even with new understanding and discovery. Prayer calls us into that discovery.
We sing in the Marty Haugen hymn, “Gather Us In” (“Evangelical Lutheran Worship” #532), “Not in the dark of buildings confining, not in some heaven light years away — here in this place the new light is shining, now is the kingdom and now is the day.”
When we pray to “Our Father in heaven” we are being drawn into the wonder, the sense of excitement, the awe, the mystery, the discovery, the view of the horizon of a spinning orb called Earth against the amazing backdrop of a universe designed and called into being through God’s word, and it is by the power of a word we are given to enter into God’s presence.
Gagarin knew it — he saw it with his own eyes. Petrov saw it in the eyes of his friend. We see it in the eyes of one another. We hear it in the prayer Jesus gives, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
Find a link to Geoff Sinibaldo’s entry at sinibaldo.workpress.com at Lutheran Blogs.
I never expected a Marty Haugen song to be quoted this early in my life. Wow... I suppose it's a sign that I'm getting old.
I think "No God down here" is a crucial question and I'm glad it's raised here. I'm surprised, though, that the solution is "we need a wider perspective" and the promise is that "Jesus is with us", without any explanation of what that promise actually means. "No God down here" is solved by God in the incarnation-- God becoming human in Jesus. And yet, Jesus suffers and dies for us, and is raised by God. This is where God is down here. At the cross, suffering and dying, and yet living and giving us life is where God is found. When God finds us, we do have excitement, discovery, awe, mystery, even repentance and faith.
Anyone catch the news article that the UCC, our full communion partner, has taken "Heavenly Father" out its governing documents? Yet Luther in his Large Catechism calls God's name our "greatest treasure." Are we saying there is no heaven and that our only hope is in this life? That's not the hope the Word gives. If God is omnipresent, He can be in "dark buildings," but not confined by them. He is in the heavens (with a small "h") light years away, but not there only. Most certainly He is in Heaven (with a capital "H"),and our hope is that He will take us there one day too. Anyone who thinks Heaven is too antiquated, too cute, too trite, needs to re-think that, and think biblically again. God's Word has no expiration date.
What the UCC has done involves the use of non-inclusive language. I know of at least one Lutheran Church where the female pastor will not refer to the First Person of the Trinity as "him" or "he." The Trinity is "Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier." Isn't it time we start using the intelligence God the Creator gave us?
I also should say that what the UCC has done involves seeing God as both father/mother, but I think most people know this. Can't we look to another figure in the Christian Faith to show us the "feminine side" of God: the Virgin Mary?
Karen V.
It’s not just the UCC that calls God mother. Take a look at the good folks out in SF, CA that worship the risen Crist sophia goddess. They are ELCA Lutheran.
www.herchurch.org.
For just $35.00 you can get a blessed figurine of the goddess.
Uh, please correct me if I'm wrong, but a few hundred years ago, didn't the Reformers have a big problem with statues of, like, the Virgin Mary and the Saints -- and didn't Luther himself have a big problem with folks selling religious stuff, uh, like Indulgences?
I just went to the link "herchurch." I confess that I have been away from my Lutheran roots, the LCA (now ELCA) for a bit (about 30 years), but I am totally shocked. They even sell "rosaries." Dang! Where is my dang heart attack medication?
Karen V.
Relax, and enjoy the ride. Everyone is going to heaven anyway; why stir the pot?
I welcome the support from the shrinking moral minority, or dare I say "fringe", of the ELCA. This is "bound conscience" at it's best! The ELCA leadership is aware…
Maybe you want to ask your Pastor....
Thanks, davebob. I have my meds handy now -- before recklessly clicking on to another Lutheran website. I was troubled, but calm, when I read "'hermeneutics' and paradigms.... valid and irreconcilable." I don't expect anyone to agree with me, but I sorta like the question: Who has the authority to interpret Scripture? (I think just maybe it gets to the "Core.")
In this reprinted article by Geoff Sinibaldo, we read about how the comment of Yuri Gagarin: "No god up here!" was probably fabricated by the Communist regime. That was a sad era of censorship and repression. What happened to davebob's comments? Where did they go? (No comments down here!)
Karen V.
Apparently links to other sites that draw folks away from "Living Lutheran" are now forbidden, even if they are to another official ELCA site. I guess we can still talk about the ELCA's own Ebenezer Lutheran church in SF, CA, better known as her church, as long as we don't show folks how to access their site. I wonder if anybody out there reading these posts are from her church. They probably would like the extra publicity.
I just checked online -- HerChurch has a Wikipedia site. HerChurch is 100% ELCA. Among other things, Wikipedia says that Megan Rohrer is the Associate Pastor. She is a regular blogger on Living Lutheran. I don't understand. Living Lutheran allows things that curl my hair, but not a reasonable diversity of opinion?
Karen V.
I do not understand the desire for so many to be silent on this issue. When you have three ELCA bishops presiding over a (sophia) lord's prayer that starts out "Oh mother within us, many be your names", it is appropriate to openly discuss this; even if it is embarrassing. Either we should proudly hold sophia worship up and proclaim "God is doing a new thing, or we should openly discuss the possible problems with such belief. I wonder what Luther would say. Huh oh, do I hear crickets again? Isn't it funny how people draw Luther out like a gun and start blasting away (LUTHER! LUTHER! LUTHER!)at certain things; and all you hear is crickets when something as big as bowing down and praying to the risen goddess sophia is mentioned. I wonder what Luther would say?
davebob,
I think outside of CORE and a few congregations in San Francisco, most people just don't care. There are probably also some who are weary of conflict, especially in light of the last CWA and how CORE is dealing with that compromise.
Some people probably think it isn't helpful to discuss it, because if it's anything less than 'stop this or else we're throwing you out of the church', the discussion won't bear any fruit. Possibly it will be better now that the most extreme elements on that side have left for NALC, but I don't see that many people on either side open to changing their mind on this, and the people in the middle care even less than they do about sexuality.
Peter: I know you are addressing davebob, so forgive me for intruding, but you wrote "the people in the middle care even less than they do about sexuality." What? I do not know if I'm in the middle or an "extreme element," but I care a lot about sexuality! Doesn't every psychological study ever made say that all people think about is sex?
Getting back to this sophia thing, which nearly gave me a stroke -- I had no idea how bad things were in the ELCA -- I think all you need to do is look at the photo at the top of The Lutheran Magazine online. (I have brought this up before.) When I first glanced at it, I thought the lady-priest, because of the red lighting, was reverently holding a Communion Chalice, with its stem reverently wrapped in a pure white cloth. Man, did I get a shock! Then, taking a closer look at the photo in the article, I see her feet entangled in toilet paper. Is this a metaphor for the mess in which the ELCA finds itself? Or more seriously, did the ordination of women lead to goddess worship in the ELCA?
Peter,
There are a great many people that do care about this, and yes, they are much tired of conflict.
It depends on what you mean by "better" when considering the condition of the ELCA after the departure of the "extreme elements from the other side". Remember, there are still other extreme elements that will now have no check and balance to maintain equilibrium. It will no doubt be easier to get things done, that’s for sure. The questions that remain "now that they're gone, what's next on the agenda, who is left to dissagree?".
This practice will grow under the radar until it's ready for prime time. The extreme elements have already been at work on this issue for years. They have already softened the soil and the seeds are planted. There is an army of good folks out there, in many churches that are feeding and watering on a daily basis.
Define "the people in the middle caring even less" in the context of a fractured church.
The "social statement on sexuality" passed church wide by .666 %; the barest of bare minimums.
Luckily, the four resulting resolutions did not have meet this 2/3 standard, or resolution 2,3, & 4 would not have passed.
They did care. They still care. And yes, they are tired of conflict.
Karen V.
The sexuality my friend Peter was referring to was the(ELCA Aug/2009 church wide assembly vote on sexual issues in the context of same gendered relations) I don't know if you are aware this vote; if you are not, search it out, it's easy to find...I wonder if I can post a link to the official ELCA site regarding this issue without my post disappearing
Karen,
Intrude away. By sexuality, I meant the issue of ordaining and/or marrying people in same-gender relationships and whether or not homosexuality is a sin as a big deal. My experience in the ELCA is that about 1/5 of the church is solidly against, 1/5 is solidly for, and 3/5 in the middle doesn't really care. They may have opinions one way or another, but they don't see it as an important issue in any sense of the term.
The Sophia stuff really isn't as big a deal as CORE is trying to make it out to be. Personally, I think this one is going to back-fire big time on CORE for three big reasons. One is that the way they're bringing the issue up-- they're agitating, and that instantly puts people on the defensive. Two is the way they handled their side of the homosexuality discussion. Due to that, a lot of people are inclined to assume CORE is wrong by default. The third reason is that most people in the ELCA don't know/care anything about this, and coupled with the last two issues, CORE's publicity of the issue won't end well for them. I can tell you from my own perspective that what little I have encountered about 'sophia' and herchurch has primarily come from CORE-leaning people (with the one exception being a Facebook friend's friend who is a universalist, though I don't know she's actually affiliated with herchurch either).
I think a better strategy for CORE to adopt would be to enter into dialogue directly with herchurch. Instead of coming at it from 'this is clearly heresy and goddess worship', they should learn what concerns these prayers are addressing and work with them to address the Confessional issues. As a starter, I think they should invite someone from herchurch to their convocation for theological discussion.
Peter and davebob:
Thanks so much for correcting me. As soon as I hit the "Submit" button the other day, I realized I had misunderstood Peter. As you both have probably guessed by now, I am suffering from a Rip van Winkle effect. My family was strongly LCA; my great-grandfather was a prominent minister, but I chose another path around '72. I started following the ELCA situation again in '09 after I saw a photo in the news of a Lutheran church in Minnesota where the cross on the steeple had been turned upside down by a small tornado.
I totally agree with Peter about "thread hijacking," and I don't want to add that to my long list of sins! I think that if my comments relate to the subject of the blog post, they should be OK.