Thou, whose almighty word
chaos and darkness heard,
and took their flight.
This hymn is one of the two hymns I had chosen for our Trinity Facebook page last Sunday.
I have spent my career in science and engineering and, whilst gaining a Ph.D. in mathematics, studying astronomy and cosmology as a hobby throughout my life.
chaos and darkness heard,
and took their flight.
But that is not entirely accurate, at least from the science that we have today (and, admittedly, science does change its ideas). Let’s go with the science that we have for now. It says something slightly different. It says that stars like our sun will eventually start to run out of fuel. They then go through a phase of becoming Red Giants. And, by Giant, I really mean that! The surface of the sun would be roughly where Earth is now and we would be swallowed up. Earth will crash and burn.
We will need to escape, I hear you say. Go to another planet, Then another, as that sun becomes a problem. And so on. Eventually, science tells us, they will ALL run out of fuel and then a long, slow, decline into darkness everywhere.
So, what to make of it all? What is left? Well, by that logic, life and love still remain. They are the only things, in the end, that remain. I am guessing now that this remaining life and love will overcome everything. It is, in a way, everything. It may even have happened before in a previous time to our universe and now permeate this universe.
It is (for me) the nature of God.
Spirit of truth and love,
life-giving holy Dove,
speed forth thy flight!
Move on the waters’ face
bearing the lamp of grace,
and, in earth’s darkest place,
let there be light!