Would it Make any Difference?

As I was shaking hands with people in the vestibule after taking a service recently, an elderly man picked up on something I had said in the sermon and expressed his conviction that quite soon now the scientists would discover that there is definitely a God. As it wasn’t quite the right time to start a deep discussion about theories of science and religion, and I didn’t want to appear dismissive of a thought that was evidently important to him, I simply smiled in a non-committal sort of way.


I may be wrong, but I don’t personally think such a discovery will ever be made. To explain why would need a lot more time and a deep theological discussion. My feeling is that faith and science are two different ways of looking at the same world. There are hints of a connection between them, but their criteria of “evidence” and “proof” are different. Faith is a way of looking at everything, including science, but it can never expect to be proved by science.

What disturbed me more was what the man said next: “They’ll be flocking into the chapels then!” Somehow that seemed even m ore unimaginable than his first statement! Even if the existence of God became an absolute certainty, I cannot believe that thousands of people would suddenly want to come and fill the pews of our Victorian churches and chapels to sing hymns and listen to someone preaching to them from a pulpit. Again, I may be wrong . . .

Even without the “proof” there are already signs of a revival of spirituality. People are eager to talk about the meaning of life and the universe. They meet together to practise meditation, alternative healing, life coaching, personal development and so on, and to discuss religion and issues of peace and justice – all looking for something more than conventional values, materialism and consumer culture. But, apart from some Christian fundamentalists, they are not flocking to church.

For me, as a Christian minister now fairly long in the tooth and still stuck in traditional ways to some extent, this is a disturbing thought. What is it about our way of “doing church” that makes it irrelevant to the real spiritual quest going on today? And why do I think it would still be irrelevant to most people even if they had absolute proof that there is a God?