“And I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy 

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime 

Of something far more deeply interfused, 

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 

And the round ocean and the living air, 

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.” 

Wordsworth “Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” 1798 

The second law of thermodynamics, in its simplest form indicates that disorder (or entropy) can only increase if things are left without intervention. Stephen Hawking’s scientific view is that if there is a God at all, then that God takes the form of a Creator who having created the universe “allows the universe to evolve according to a set of laws and does not intervene.” The Christian view is that God created the universe and remains intimately involved in it at every level, particularly with regard to human beings. 

This involvement begs the questions as to whether God intervenes in miraculous ways. Many scientists believe that God, if there is one, would not intervene on a miraculous level as to do so would require the breaking of natural laws that God had made. But if God is God, then it is possible that natural laws could be broken. 

When we look at our world, the intricacies of nature, the workings of the human body and the balance and calibration needed for life to exist on our planet, the world is still “very good” and full of wonder and awe. It is this sense of awe which points us to something bigger and beyond the material and is “the sense of sublime” of which Wordsworth speaks. 

We live in a busy world where we easily become preoccupied with deadlines and schedules and where there always seems to be a million things to do and it is easy to forget how much the material world is still “very good” even after our best efforts to destroy it. The taking of time out to consider the magic of stuff can release us from the tensions and stresses of life so that we can see again the mystery and wonder that is God. 

Dn Jill Scott