Last month I mused that maybe instead of praying to a God out there in Space somewhere, we might focus our minds nearer home and on the presence of God already within us. Since then I recalled a sermon I heard some years ago in which the preacher said, “I can’t understand the infinite” and, whilst I knew what he meant at one level, he also prompted my thinking in another direction.
To fully understand something we have to get our minds around the subject and so encompass it within the confines of our minds. However, the concept of infinity is such that it is without limit and so, by definition, because our minds are finite we cannot contain infinity. This is why early writers described God as being infinite.
However if, as we also discussed, there is already an infinite godly presence within us, then it is just possible that occasionally we might have a teeny glimpse outside of our minds and into infinity. If this is right, it may be an explanation for those moments when we sense a godly presence, and could also explain why miracles happen and why there is such a thing as a genuine prophet or prophetess.
But another important point comes to mind; if there is a presence of God already within us, then it is highly likely some people have unwittingly advanced godly things unknowingly. It would also explain why some folk who don’t go to church nonetheless live their lives in a Christian way.
I would like to explore this further, but know that some readers are also interested in the money being spent on HS2. I recently re-read a book written in 1969 By Dale Schurmer and Eugene Walter in which they forecast a global crisis in agriculture due to, amongst other things, water being wasted. They said that underground water tables in Britain were falling and so, 50 years later, their comments came back to mind as I read that only 4% of water now falling on the UK is actually being used or saved, and that 96% is channelled immediately back to the sea.
Could it be that the £ billions being spent on saving twenty minutes between London and Birmingham by rail, might be better spent on saving rain? Especially as our fifty year old problem is not too little water, but the collection and storage of what is already available. As Shakespeare might have written, “HS2 or H2O that is the question.”
National water storage is a job for politicians and we already know that they rarely prepare for the worst; however that is not a reason that we as individuals should be like them. So with this in mind, and despite having no symptoms, I had a test for Prostate cancer in April. The normal reading for the Prostate Specific Antigens in the blood is 0 – 6.5 but my PSA was higher. By June an MRI scan had revealed some irregularities but a biopsy showed clear, However in order to be sure, they will take more samples in October. I share this personal tale only to alert male readers to the fact that as one ages, the prostate get bigger and is susceptible to a cancer which usually has no symptoms. I guess a PSA blood test for readers over age 65 is advised. I can add that, so-far the procedures have been painless although the MRI scan was very noisy.
Usually when concluding my monthly column I print the piece out and then try to link the various thoughts with a touch of humour. This month, I started with thoughts about the hope inherent in prayer and ended it with one of the fears often facing older folk, and so hope that readers will get a chuckle as they spot that link in; … The tale of the Jewish Elbow:
A Jewish grandmother in Brooklyn is on the phone giving directions to her grandson who is due to make his first visit.
“There’s a panel at the front door of the apartment block. With your elbow, push button 301. Get in the elevator and with your elbow, push the second floor. When you get out push my doorbell with your elbow.”
“OK Grandma” he replies, “That’s easy, but why use my elbows to hit the buttons?”
“What, she yells, ‘You’re coming empty handed?”
View from the Pew 