By Ajung Sojwal

I have friends who insists that the earth is barely 6000 years old and genuinely believe that humanity’s scientific endeavor is the devil’s scheme to lure us away from God. If I had half the kind of passionate curiosity about God as do scientists about their field of study, I would never be able to forget that indeed, ^“neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38-39).

John Polkinghorne, physicist, theologian and Anglican priest said, “The remarkable insights that science affords us into the intelligible workings of the world cry out for an explanation more profound than that which itself can provide. Religion, if it is to take seriously its claim that the world is the creation of God, must be humble enough to learn from science what the world is actually like. The dialogue between them can only be mutually enriching.”

I have always been fascinated by the doggedness and beauty of scientific inquiry. It is, in many ways, a powerful metaphor of God’s relentless pursuit of me and God’s determination to make my life hospitable to the whole process of evolution that we, Christians, call transformation. God’s mandate for us in Genesis, “Go and multiply,” is not just about populating the earth with our descendants. It is, I believe, more importantly about living the abundant life. For me, the abundant life is about becoming ever more conscious of God’s gift of life in all its diversity and expressions and to be able to participate gratefully and gracefully.

There is a profound mystery surrounding both God and science. My faith in God’s goodness and mercy calls me to be filled with wonder and gratitude at both scientific and theological mysteries unveiled, mysteries that remain, mysteries that emerge, and through it all, to believe in the unconditional love of God that engages with me personally — a mere speck of dust in the magnitude of an unfathomable universe. Indeed, as the psalmist realized thousands of years ago, “what are human beings that God is mindful of them, mortals that God cares for them?”(Ps.8:4). I believe, it is in God’s care for us that the gift of curiosity is given and also that in God’s care for us that the gift of science is given.

Our faith in the indomitable God can only be strengthened if we learn to see science as God’s gift to our ever curious and insatiable human spirit that will continue to inquire and seek for answers as long as there are mysteries. For me, the greatest of all mysteries is this, that I continue to experience the goodness of God no matter how precarious my faith in God sometimes can be. I long for the day when I too can get to touch the scar tissues on Jesus’ hands, feet and side for real and behold God’s mysterious science of evolution that leads me from one glory to another.

Ajung Sojwal is Rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Hempstead, NY.