‘I believe in God, not the God of the mystics and the theologians but the God of nature, the great geometrician, the architect of the universe the prime mover, unalterable, transcendental, everlasting.’ That is Voltaire, telling us in plain language what his religious faith is. It is of course, the true voice of deism. And it is what many people in the UK mean today when they are asked:’ Do you believe in God?’ and reply ‘Well, yes.’
And we can understand that view of things. Addison’s hymn gives sublime expression to it. ‘The spacious firmament on high’ and all the heavenly bodies in it ‘their great Original proclaim’. This is basic religion. Our Maker, ineffable, unimaginably great, beyond space and time rules supreme over the universe he has created and looks down upon the spread of stars planets and humanity. There is no complicated hierarchical framework linking us to our Maker. There is no divine intervention. It is hardly possible to disagree with this formula, surely?
To be a deist is to escape vulnerability. A God who is aloof, inscrutable cannot be argued out of existence. We may think the world as we find it is a poor creation that betokens mismanagement and muddle on a huge scale. But even that is better than believing the firmament is no more than a random concatenation of events, one thing after another, with no purpose or meaning to it. Better an untidy universe with manifest shortcomings than a flicker of light in a darkness that is here today and gone tomorrows. We inhabit our ‘dark terrestrial ball’ for our allotted span and then say farewell. That is all we can possibly entertain as a possible stance in the 21st century. Or is it?
Often, as we seek explanations of our being and destiny, we find that simple answers do not quite match the nature of the problem. The planets move in elliptical orbits, not circulars ones. Nuance is all. Paradox and oddity are in the warp and woof of our being.
So when we come to Trinity Sunday and worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we turn from deism to revelation. We see God in the person of Jesus. We find God in the depth of our nature as a Spirit energising and motivating us and endowing us with creativity. We are not enmeshed in a fabrication of theologians; we are aware that we are driven remorselessly to the conception of Trinity by pointers in the New Testament documents. As we say this, we know that we are thereby offering ourselves as a target for sceptics. That cannot be avoided. What is important to us is that in the Christ we encounter in the New Testament we can be in touch with God’s beneficent purpose.
IN THE RHUBARB TRIANGLE
The Rhubarb Triangle, west Yorkshire is the world centre for the production of forced rhubarb. There was a time when ‘rhubarb specials’ took the rhubarb by train to London. No longer. The triangle is now the site of a sizeable grouping of parish churches with Arun John leading the ministry team. Leading the ministry team is Arun John. He was born in Jodhpur, north India, has extensive experience of inter-faith dialogue and has produced Gospel music in Urdu and Hindi.
KETTERING ARTS
A thoroughgoing refurbishment is in view at St Andrew’s, Kettering as we emerge from Covid-19. Everything from the floor upwards is due for replacement. Kitchen facilities will be included; so will staging and lighting. The church building is one of Street’s and is host to Kettering Arts Centre; it sees itself as at the heart of the community. It has a full programme and a website that is not only eye-catching but is kept up-to-date. Tom Houston is the recently appointed Vicar.
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