Photo credit: Allison James
I’ve often wondered if our best worship leaders shouldn’t be coming from the scientific community.
When scientists investigate the endless frontiers of creation — probing upward in the universe and downward into the microscopic intricacies of the atom and DNA — it makes sense that they would be the first to fall on their knees with songs of praise to the Creator, whose wisdom envisioned, planned, and created such marvels.
The legendary sufferer Job wasn’t a scientist, but that’s exactly how he responded when God took him on a nature walk. Somehow, contemplating God’s creation and how beautifully it all works together under his all-seeing eye reminds us that our God is a Master Architect who knows what he is doing, even when his ways are baffling to us.
This is why we must continue pouring over those blueprints — the ones he spread out in the opening chapters of the Bible.
—Half the Church from Chapter 7, “The Blessed Alliance”
So how many scientists are on your church’s worship team?
Carolyn Custis James 
Carolyn Custis James, your question is a good one. Having distanced myself from church denominations which seemed too focused on defining In vs. Out groups, I was surprised to experience awe and wonder via studying biochemistry and nutrition science. Then, when entering the medical field and participating in introductory training which emphasizes equal dignified treatment for all regardless of gender, politics, skin color, economics, etc., I found myself wondering why some churches didn’t seem to feel similarly. More recently, healthcare, education and the justice systems are beginning to adopt trauma-informed practices based on two decades of research–another area of inquiry in which the church could both learn and participate.
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Not only “learn and participate.” The church should be leading in these areas instead of resisting or trying to catch up. Science is a huge part of the cultural mandate, not a threat to God’s kingdom.
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Well, in case you haven’t noticed, the theologically conservative church is not a particularly friendly place for scientists these days. Even those who love Jesus and see God in every bit of His creation.
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Leaves me scratching my head. We are all the poorer for our disinterest in (and/or fear of) science. Every day we benefit from scientific research and developments.
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In my mind, it all goes back to the evolution wars which seem to have intensified in the 1980’s. Before that there was more of a live-and-let-live truce between seven-literal-days-creationists and other believers. That’s pretty much gone now. The amount of cognitive dissonance that comes from being both a scientist and a theologically conservative Christian can be overwhelming. I really admire the Christian biologists (I am a chemist, and a physical one at that). I am glad that it was not like it is now, back when I was both a budding scientist and a new Christian.
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It’s sad that we take the Genesis creation narrative as fodder for debates. It’s supposed to take our breath away, reveal the goodness, generosity, and love of God and inspire us to explore, cultivate, experiment, learn, imagine, utilize the earth’s vast resources and horizons. The narrative is, among other things, a call to science. Naming of the animals was the beginning of zoology. We truly have lost our way.
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My youngest brother is a genetics researcher and he has determined that the more he learns about the intricacies of the cell the more evidence he finds of a Creator. And . . . he is a powerful worship leader! Big sis is so thankful
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I’m not a scientist (although I came close to majoring in biology), but watching the beginning of autumn in Pennsylvania (in fact all the seasonal changes) inspires me to worship.
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Please check out Michail Tyrell and his research into frequencies, worship music, and how it affects the human body. He is a worship leader and musicologist. His music has changed my life.
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There are certainly more worship songs written about the heavens than about atoms and DNA; probably because we can look up at it and more pictures are published about the universe than about microc-science. We take for granted that the things around us evolve from those depths. A typical Christian’s response to worshiping God because seasons change or skin gets older or water turns to ice and steam and evaporates? “We shouldn’t worship the earth.” Sad. Truly we should learn to see that the “God of wonders” put amazing wonders beneath our fingertips. My goodness…even the keyboard I’m using to type this reply. 🙂 Where are you scientific worship leader!?
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Botany class did it for me! So much going on. We are unaware.
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My wife hasn’t gotten to this yet, because just after the copy of “Half the Church” she bought came, she started her second 6-month phase of chemo and, being stronger, it’s hit her much harder. Sometimes, very scary. She’s getting to rest a lot, but not read much. We’re making sure at least one of us is with her as often as possible.
But this theme resonates with me: first, because of finding out from Strong’s concordance that the Creation Story word for “day” has a whole paragraph full of meanings, including a geological “age.” That fits well with what I see out in the mountains. Second, when I worked as a master planner on an advanced radar design, we learned it wasn’t possible to improve our design one change at a time, even when those changes were intelligent. Doing it one-at-a-time just made our whole system crash. We had to put in correct, carefully planned, precise changes to EVERY subsystem, ALL AT THE SAME TIME, to make improvements work. (And every life form, even simple ones, has MANY subsystems and sub-subsystems than our radar did.) It may take a few decades for everyone to accept that, but we learned (the hard way) that it was true.
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Please give my best to Yvonne. I pray for her and for you in this battle. The book can wait. Rest is best for now. You probably need some yourself! Thank you for your post. The way the world works–the systems, subsystems, beauty, power, majesty, and sustenance. The mastermind behind it all. Frighteningly wonderful. Worshiping the Creator makes total sense!
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Yvonne says thanks for praying for her. She had a really scary episode with side effects Saturday but is better now.
I too marvel at creation – sometimes especially the drawings of our anatomy in doctor’s offices – and much more so since what that experience with working on that radar taught me. It’s just so much MORE marvellous now.
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