{"id":589,"date":"2021-03-19T10:13:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T14:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=589"},"modified":"2021-03-19T10:13:38","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T14:13:38","slug":"slowly-invisibly-relentlessly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/19\/slowly-invisibly-relentlessly\/","title":{"rendered":"Slowly, Invisibly, Relentlessly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth. <\/strong>

When Carole King sang \u201cI feel the earth move under my feet\u201d back in 1971, she was half right.

Earth\u2019s crust is certainly moving.  But it\u2019s plugging along so slowly that none of us can feel it.  That is, unless we experience the sudden jolt of an earthquake. 

Today there\u2019s consensus among scientists that the Earth\u2019s surface is a bit like the shell of a hard-boiled egg that\u2019s been dropped on the floor.  There are 8-12 large crustal \u201cpieces\u201d or plates, with 20 smaller plates interspersed among them.  The surprising thing is that all of these pieces are moving \u2013 some comparatively quickly, others rather slowly, and none of them in precisely the same direction.  Some of our planet\u2019s most exciting recurring events \u2013 volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis \u2013 happen at the places where the plates are rubbing against each other or plunging one beneath the other.

During the first half of the 20th<\/sup> century, a few renegade geologists suspected something like this was true.  They were roundly jeered by the geological establishment.  In 1963, when a Canadian researcher submitted a paper documenting the evidence for \u201ccontinental drift\u201d to the venerable Journal of Geophysical Research<\/em>, he was scolded: \u201cSuch speculations make interesting talk at cocktail parties, but it is not the sort of thing that ought to be published under serious scientific aegis.\u201d  This the kind of rejection letter that comes back to haunt an editorial board.

As recently as the early 1970\u2019s, about the time Carole King was beginning to light up the charts, the highly regarded textbook The Earth<\/em> declared that plate tectonics was a physical impossibility. 

But of course it\u2019s not.  Contrary to what everyone had always assumed to be true, the Earth\u2019s crust moves \u2013 invisibly, slowly, and relentlessly.  The average tectonic plate shifts about two inches a year, roughly at the same pace your fingernails are growing. 

A number of other things are happening invisibly, slowly, and relentlessly. 

The moon, for instance, is gradually moving farther away from the Earth.  Every year it retreats about one-and-a-half inches deeper into space. 

A fine layer of dust is continually settling on our planet\u2019s surface.  Apart from active intervention, even large cities eventually disappear.  The ancient metropolis of Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey) was abandoned a few centuries after Christ.  It wasn\u2019t rediscovered until the mid-1800s, when a railroad construction crew excavated dozens of feet of soil and found houses, theaters, and broad avenues.  On Good Friday, when Christians annually process along the Via Doloroso in Jerusalem (Jesus\u2019 presumed pathway to Calvary), participants may not realize that they aren\u2019t really walking where Jesus walked.  The first century streets of Jerusalem lie buried 60 feet beneath the current city. 

Glass may seem to be solid.  But it\u2019s always being dragged down, in extreme slow-motion, by the gravitational tug of the Earth\u2019s core.  If you remove a window from a medieval cathedral, the glass will be significantly thicker at the bottom.  That\u2019s because it\u2019s \u201cflowing\u201d downward.

All the atoms in your body \u2013 countless trillions of them \u2013 are slowly being replaced.  Biophysicists estimate that human molecular components are completely swapped out about every seven years.  So if you feel like a whole new person compared to the first day of spring 2014, it\u2019s because you are.  At least from a molecular perspective.

These are not trivial developments.  But we don\u2019t even notice them.  They\u2019re happening invisibly, slowly, and relentlessly \u2013 within us, around us, and under our feet \u2013 every hour of every day.

That\u2019s reminiscent of how Jesus describes God\u2019s work in the world. 

It\u2019s always happening.  We just have no way of seeing or comprehending it.

\u201cThen Jesus said, \u2018God\u2019s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows\u2014he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps\u2014harvest time!\u2019\u201d (Mark 4:46-29, The Message<\/em>)

The farmers in Jesus\u2019 audience no doubt smiled at this illustration.  They knew they didn\u2019t \u201cmake\u201d their own crops grow.  Their job was to throw the seed.  And then go to bed.

When it comes to God\u2019s reign on earth, God himself is in charge.  We have a role to play \u2013 we get to sow the seeds of spiritual life wherever we go \u2013 but in the end this is God\u2019s show, according to God\u2019s plan, happening according to God\u2019s timetable. 

Bible scholar Klyne Snodgrass points out that there is \u201can appointed order for growth, which cannot be altered or evaded.\u201d  There is a sequence.  First the seed, then the stem, then the bud, and finally the grain.  We might become restless.  Shouldn\u2019t we be doing more?  Shouldn\u2019t we be speeding things along by trying to make something happen? 

But Isaiah 55:8 reminds us: \u201c\u2019For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,\u2019 says the Lord.\u201d  His plan is better than ours.  We must be patient. 

There have been moments when God\u2019s people have looked around the world and wondered if God\u2019s Light was flickering, and whether the kingdom was actually on the ropes.  You may have looked at your own family, workplace, and community and wondered the same thing.

But God\u2019s work has always been moving forward \u2013 invisibly, slowly, relentlessly \u2013 on a schedule that he alone comprehends. 

We do know a few things, however. 

We know that the surface of the Earth is always moving.

And we know that even when we can\u2019t see it or feel it, God\u2019s got the whole world in his hands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth.  When Carole King sang \u201cI feel the earth move under my feet\u201d back in 1971, she was half right. Earth\u2019s crust is certainly moving.  But it\u2019s plugging along so slowly that… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[86,177,178],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-parables","tag-patience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":591,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions\/591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}