Exploring the Pillars of Creation
The Christmas story looks to the sky, through the role of the star. The dialogue between science and faith is very much alive, says Rev’d Jane
Christmas is a church season when we look to the night skies. The Christmas story glows with heavenly angels — messengers with good news to share about the incarnation. And of course there is the Bethlehem star, guiding the Magi from lands afar. It is usually an angel or star that tops the traditional Christmas tree.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the days are short, and the nights are long. There is maximum opportunity for star gazing during the festive season.
Light pollution for those of us in urban settings has hidden many of the stars. Our ancestors would have experienced a night sky brimming with light. When Jesus spent 40 days and nights alone in the wilderness, half of it would have been under a breathtaking canopy of thousands of twinkling stars. An experience like that must change you.
In Biblical times, the stars were understood to be a sign of God’s handiwork and speak of the creator’s glory, and there are many passages in scripture that testify to this.
The night sky has inspired science, religion, philosophy, mythology, art, and literature. It is one of the natural wonders that has the power to wake us up to life’s bigger questions. We can feel insignificant when we gaze into the heavens, but there is also the sense that life is bigger than our problems, and more miraculous than we dare imagine.
The Pillars of Creation
We are truly blessed by the discoveries that have come from space telescopes. We can now gaze upon extraordinary images, like the famous ‘Pillars of Creation’ — trunks of interstellar gas and dust, some 7000 light years away from Earth. And science tells us how stars are formed, and how each of us is made up of elements that were made in the stars and have come through several supernovas. We know too that the universe is unfinished, and continually on the move.
Over the centuries, the relationship between science and religion has ranged from conflict to collaboration. The Catholic Church famously tried and convicted Galileo for heresy after he published works, like Nicolaus Copernicus before him, arguing that it is the sun that is the centre of our solar system and not the earth. Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life, and his books were banned.
At its best, science and religion are in dialogue, and mutually enrich each other. They are simply approaching the truth from different perspectives. I was fascinated to learn recently that the Vatican now has its own observatory and astronomer. And it was a Catholic priest and cosmologist, Georges Lemaître, who discovered the Big Bang Theory.
The more that science learns about the cathedral of the universe, the more remarkable it becomes, and the more it calls for a renewed sense of divine mystery.
So, do make an opportunity this Christmas, like the Magi, to gaze at the stars, and as you do so consider these words by professor of cosmology Brian Swimme: “The earth was once molten rock and now sings operas.”
Merry Christmas and a happy 2025.
