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Sermon 365 St. Martin’s 121 (Riverway) 9/30/24
Hubble Deep Field
The Hubble Telescope has been one of the most extraordinary tools for learning about our universe, but it had a bumpy beginning. It was launched in April of 1990 after years of construction and delays.
Within weeks of being in orbit, a serious flaw was detected as the images being sent back were a bit fuzzy and grainy. They quickly realized they had polished the primary mirror into the wrong shape.
It took years before astronauts were able to correct the issue by adding a corrective lens to the telescope while floating in space. By 1994 it was up and running the way it was supposed to.
Time was now of the essence. Years had been lost and astronomers and astrophysicists were desperate to start analyzing the vast expanse of space.
It was then a bold move by the project director to point the telescope at one particular spot for ten consecutive days. There was a long list of things to see, and wasting more than a week looking at one very empty part of the Ursa Major constellation just didn’t make sense to his colleagues. There had already been so many failures with the mission, and this was likely to be yet another one.
But once the ten days were up, Hubble sent back this image. What you are seeing are 3,000 different galaxies. Not solar systems, not the Milky Way, but 3,000 individual galaxies.
The only way to get a shot like this is by letting the telescope gaze deeply at one spot over a long period of time. What was thought to be empty space was actually filled with countless planets, moons, and stars.
There’s a story that when this image was presented at the American Astronomical Society in 1996, the room instantly fell silent. No one had ever seen anything like this before. After a few moments, there was a lone voice that could be heard whispering, “My God, we know nothing.”[i]
The vast complexity of God’s created order is astounding and impossible for us to comprehend. Time and again, when we humans are faced with the infinite, the magnificent, and the eternal, we become much like Job who said after his encounter with God:
“I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.”[ii]
Angels Angels are a part of this unfathomable complexity within God’s creation. Though the Bible doesn’t tell us when God created them, or why, their presence spans the entire length of the Bible.
Though they never stay for very long, their appearance brings about similar feelings as the images of our universe: fear, wonder, and awe.
The Book of Genesis tells us that angels guard the entrance of Eden, three appear to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre, Jacob wrestles one in the Jabbok, and they appear quite often in the prophet’s dreams.
They visit the likes of Zechariah and Mary, and they tell the wise men to go another way. Shepherds are graced by the multitude of the heavenly hosts, and they care for Jesus after he is tempted by their fallen counterpart.
God gives them the tremendous task at the empty tomb of telling the women that Jesus is alive, and they appear to the apostles moments after Jesus’ ascension.
They visit Peter in prison and call on Ananias to go baptize a man named Saul. And they play a significant role in the Book of Revelation. Each of the seven churches mentioned has its own guardian angel.[iii]
From the beginning to the end, angels are around. They have been given a task that is different than ours. God has called them to serve as his distinct messengers and to help lead all creation in worship.
The Church Fathers spilled much ink considering the role of angels. They’re relationship is different to time and space than ours; they are not omnipresent like God but they have a freedom of movement within space and time that we simply do not have, according to Athanasius.[iv] And Chrysostom said that angels serve God to our salvation.[v]
Angels then are for us, in that they share in Christ’s work by encouraging us onward to our salvation.
Setting aside a day to consider the role that angels like Michael and Gabriel play in our lives—and the life of the church—may seem strange, but that’s only the case if we’ve forgotten how strange all of this really is.
God’s creation doesn’t always make sense—we come to the edge of what we know and are left to imagine what else is out there; what is just behind the veil of our comprehension.
Is this why Jesus tells us to be like little children who have yet to put limits on their imagination?
The Feast Day of St. Michael and All Angels forces us to think bigger; to not put a limit on the infinite simply because we cannot understand it. There is more out there, just beyond our reach.
In this way, we are more open-minded than the atheist who says, “This is all there is,” without having the faintest clue what all is out there.
Belief in angels—and their active role in our lives—is not a relic of a bygone era, but another key to unlocking the vast creativity and wonder of a God who created us out of his own love and wonder.
Think bigger. Think grander and you will be closer to the truth.
And let us give thanks that we have messengers from the other side working for our salvation.
[i] "The reaction was pretty much unanimous astonishment, excitement, and wonder. It's interesting that Robert Williams, the director of the project, went ahead with it despite the number of colleagues who tried to discourage him from wasting 10 days of expensive telescope time on what could have been just an empty region of space. The potential for yet another Hubble public-relations embarrassment was huge. There was no guarantee the final images would show much of anything. I remember reading somewhere that when the original Deep Field image was presented publicly for the first time - at a session of the American Astronomical Society in 1996 - the entire auditorium went absolutely silent at first in pure shock. It was said a lone voice was heard whispering in that silence, "My God...we know nothing." I can't document that, and probably the story was either apocryphal or somewhat dramatized. Nonetheless, it fairly well sums up the overall reaction of a majority of astronomers and astrophysicists. As far as the rest of the world, well, National Geographic put it like this: "The image now known as the Hubble Deep Field captivated pretty much everyone. To say it was a triumph would be an understatement." (http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/24/when-hubble-stared-at-nothing-for-100-hours/) The owner of the Deep Astronomy website wrote: "Probably more than any other image I've ever seen, the Hubble Deep Field has profoundly changed my perspective on the universe and our place in it. When I first saw the image, and then learned how it was taken, I was forever changed by it."Reference: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/what-was-the-reaction-to-the-hubble-telescopes-pictures.925461/
[ii] Job 40:3-5, NLT
[iii] https://livingchurch.org/covenant/st-michael-and-all-angels/ “The cherubim guarding the entrance to Eden, Abraham at Mamre, Jacob in a dream and then a wrestling match, Balaam’s ass and then Balaam, Manoah, Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, Joseph in dreams, Zechariah, Mary, the wise men, the shepherds, Peter in prison, Paul, Ananias, and of course Jesus after the temptation in the wilderness, in the Garden of Gethsemane, to the women at the tomb on Easter morning, and to the disciples after Jesus ascends into Heaven. Jesus speaks of children having angels who behold the face of God (Matt. 18:10) and promises that he will return in glory with God’s angels (Matt. 16: 27).”
[iv] Church Dogmatics III.3 Doctrine of Creation p. 382
[v] Church Dogmatics III.3 Doctrine of Creation p. 383
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