Phillips
Academy is an exclusive prep school (grades 9-12) located in my hometown of
Andover, MA. Notable alumni include
George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Bill
Belichick. Jeb and Bill graduated just
as I finished 9th grade in the Andover public school system. Nope, I didn’t know either one of them.
On
the edge of the campus, just a bit over a mile from my house, stands a chapel. I remember Cochran Chapel for only one
reason: At Christmastime my parents would
take me to live performances of Handel’s Messiah.
Handel’s music is superb, but the
libretto written by Charles Jennens is based on the King James Bible and is positively
glorious. One solo is a combination of these
phrases:
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel.”
(Isaiah 7:14)
“God with us.”
(This is the
interpretation of “Immanuel” given in Matthew 1:23.)
Some
scientists have a really hard time believing anything that can’t be supported
by evidence that complies with the rules that they have created. For example, when introducing string theory
in The Accidental Universe: The World You
Thought You Knew, Alan Lightman says that “to explain what we see in the
world…we must believe in what we cannot prove. …Such arguments, in fact, run
hard against the long grain of science.” Even so, sometimes those in the inner circles of
science discuss God anyway. Near the end
of The Meaning Of Quantum Theory, Jim
Baggott includes a section entitled “The hand of God?” Although he summarizes some philosophical
arguments, he doesn’t come to any compelling conclusion on the subject of God’s
existence, nor does he say anything about his personal beliefs. Lightman, on the other hand, readily
confesses that he is an atheist. Regarding God’s existence agnostics ask, “How
could we know?” As best as I can tell,
agnostics approach their lives in pretty much the same way that atheists
do. So, for all practical purposes,
agnosticism and atheism amount to the same thing: “Us without god.”
The
debate between those who accept “Us without god” and those who embrace “God
with us” may or may not be resolved in the near future. If God actually is with us, then wouldn’t at least some of us have some personal
experience with him?
One
of the choral pieces in Messiah is based
on this:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace.”
(Isaiah 9:6)
Life
with cancer, and an incurable one to boot, involves a lot of questions. The answers that satisfy me come from his truth
(the Bible), and indeed he has been a wonderful counselor. Only the Prince of Peace can give deep peace
to a deeply distressed soul. God is with me, and he is mighty.
Since my youth I have listened to Messiah
many times and it has been a profoundly positive influence on my soul. You can listen to it here for free (the parts referred
to above are the 6th and 8th tracks of the playlist).
