Stardust

Stardust
February 11, 2007
Westminster Unitatian Church
Rev. Barbara Fast


Opening Words

I read on the internet that the Poet EE Cummings and Buckminster Fuller got up and waited for sunrise ... after it rose up upon the darkness  they chanted thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

So an EE Cummings poem:

and Maggie and Milly and Molly and May
went down to the beach (to play one day.)
and Maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and
Milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and Molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles;
and May came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose  (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea.


I hope you find yourself here..So much the better for you and me ... for us.Whoever you are, however you are, welcome.


Stardust Story Intro

I read years ago that:
Scientists create our images of the world and theologians create our images of ourselves.
These days I wonder sometimes if that has not been reversed ...
Two events came together and that is why I chose this Sunday as evolution Sunday ...

1- This is Evolution Sunday in over 500 Christian congregations in the US. 
2 - An evangelical evolutionist Michael Dowd, and UU Connie Barlow who calls herself a  Cre- atheist ... presented their workshop at the UUM BCD retreat.  Michael used the terms, as a helpful way to think of Relgion and Evolution. Day language and night language ... Day language is the language of science and night language is the poetic metaphoric language of the Bible ... night language - are speaking to the same reality ... our understanding of it as far as we can tell up to now ...  MD- Great radiance. CB- Big Bang.

I myself have preached about this Truth- THE BIG IDEA.
CB does a whole program about it.
SCIENCE tells us this really good news ...  You are stardust.
We are stardust.

MD- Great radiance.   CB- Big Bang.
Whatever you want to name it- This is your creation story ...
This is our sacred creation story ...

Barbara's Reflection:

Physicists Wonder - Did the Universe ìknow" we were coming?
What if we belong here? They wonder because of the physics of the Big Bang.
Because If the big bang / great radiance was bigger and a bit faster- everything would have spun into space - gone!
If it were just a bit slower- gravity would have gathered it all back, and poof!  Darkness, no time, no space, no things.

Stephen Hawking and other physicists are amazed about the earliest seconds of our universe. ëThe exact rate of expansion and the precise numerical values of the force fields ... that hold things together  (nuclear/ electromagnetic /gravitational) and the particle/anti- particle ration. Those initial conditions of the universe are so fine tuned for the development of life - in some regions of the galaxies, at some time.'

Thomas Berry - In his perception the human being is seen as a mode of being of the universe, as well as a distinctive being in the universe. The human is that being in whom the universe comes to itself in a mode of conscious reflection.

Human beings- you and I- is the Universe being conscious of itself ... and then imagine this -
Is that what the Universe wanted - end point- all along?

Theologian, Sally McFague, author of The Body of God ... imagines and wonders about a model of the universe as God's body ...
Uniting - imminent and transcendent - near and far.
You can't get much closer than being made from the same stuff ...
there is no you or me or stones. Otherness - earth, grass, animals ...
there is no one way (!!!) we are all the way.
When we are one body that we are called upon to understand, honor, protect and care for, celebrate in all its forms.

In our lives- we are gathered in one strong body- though most of the time we are in denial. It is easier that way. To exploit. To argue. To be unkind. To ignore. We are gathered here in one strong body ...

When cosmologists tell us that the atoms in our bodies were born in the supernova explosions of early stars they are confirming this continuity of the material base of all that exists; body is a model that links us with everything in the most intimate way. 
Infinite particularities in one common union ... .
"Thus ìthe common creation story is both common and uncommon."

Common because it is the story of everything that is. How it began and how it evolved over billions of years. How hundreds of billions of galaxies evolved ... of which our Milky Way is one. Everything that is ... has a common beginning and history.

Everything is related to the other ... in fact there is no otherness ...  we are the universe ... in an intimate relationship with the universe. And as Sally  McFague  says we are ëkissing cousins" with oceans, plants  and other creatures on the earth.. Our DNA and that of the earthworm is 90% the same.
 
Let's wonder about this reality - this big idea of radical unity, with infinite particularity ... individuality ... .all related to the whole ... ever changing and whirling ... .all is interdependent.

ì The universe as God's body, your body as God's body, invites us to celebrate the awesome mystery, and the intimate nearness. It is very good ...  Dust to dust ... reads the bible ...  becomes a marvel not a dirge.
Becomes stardust to stardust ...

Whether you use day language such as at 100 billion degrees C. no stable particles can take shape, as this ë-initial plasmic wave cooled, so did the microscopic stuff of stars, planets and DNA molecules begin to weave themselves out of the initial chaos'. [Adapted from David Toolan ìThe Big Bang and Anthropic Principle - The Amazing Journey" adult Ed Program.]


In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6

 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God saw that it was good. 11

And God said, and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let there be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; and then male and female - he created them. 25 And God blessed them.
 And God saw every thing that he had made; and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.


The story of  Stardust, of the Universe, of creation, of you, is an epic story.  

We are the Universe conscious of itself ... seeing itself, finally.
Praise it - and as Joseph Campbell said- actually feel the rapture of being alive.

We gather here in one strong body- gather here in the mystery and the power ... when we feel the rapture of that truth - that we are connected - in, and through, and with, in everything and everyone and everywhere ...

What are our Responsibilities?
What are we supposed to do about them?

I believe - out of that gratitude - we are supposed to practice
becoming more generous people - in spirit and in fact.
Becoming more generous and more caring.
We are invited to see into the deep mystery and out of it we do become more caring of ourselves, each other, and the world.
Take care of your body, your being, and each others being.
It matters how we treat each other, and ourselves, and this earth.
We have become the responsible ones.

When we look up, we think- I am so insignificant ... it's lonely ...
I am just a speck ... not even !
But such a speck of stardust ... 
That is why this is sacred and very good.
We are the Universe, conscious of itself. And it is very good.

I will CLOSE with a letter - an e-mail letter from an astronaut a star sailor,' which is what astronaut means. A UU- Space Shuttle Columbia astronaut <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/01/sprj.colu.profile.clark/index.htm" target="_blank">lLaurel Clark</a> died four years ago, Feb 1, 2003, on the return trip from a successful 16-day mission when the shuttle blew apart. Laurel and her colleagues died instantly.

Subject: Hello from 150 NM above the Earth,

Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth. The perspective is truly awe-inspiring. This is a terrific mission and we are very busy doing science ëround the clock. Just getting a moment to type e-mail is precious so this will be short, and distributed to many who I know and love.
I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon with the city glow of Australia below ...  the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn, rivers breaking through tall mountain passes, the scars of humanity, the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America, a crescent moon setting over the limb of our blue planet.  ... .

Every orbit we go over is a slightly different part of the Earth. Of course, much of the time I'm working back in Spacelab and don't see any of it. Whenever I do get to look out, it is glorious. Even the stars have a special brightness. I have seen my "friend" Orion several times ... I feel blessed to be here representing our country and carrying out the research of scientists around the world.

It still takes a while to eat as gravity doesn't help pull food down your esophagus. It is also a constant challenge to stay adequately hydrated. Since our body fluids are shifted toward our heads our sense of thirst is almost non-existent.

Thanks to many of you who have supported me and my adventures throughout the years. This was definitely one to beat all. I hope you could feel the positive energy that I beamed to the whole planet as we glided over our shared planet. 

Love to all,

We are stardust, we are a billion year old carbon,
we are golden and we got to get ourselves back to the garden.
To some semblance of a garden.   ( Joni Mitchell)

With all the loss, and the rapture ... the story is a good one, it is very good.
Love to all
END

Copyright Barbara Fast 2007
May be used with attribution.


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