This is WAY overdue… flash back to Friday, Feb 6th!
I left work early and headed to a Metro Station to ride out to Maryland. I met up with a woman from Great Britain, 2 seniors from Georgia Tech and a graduate student from Baltimore. We rode an hour and half out to Osprey Point in Royal Oak, MD to the Trinity Forum Academy for the Integrity Weekend. The retreat ran more like a conference, but it was still a great time to get away and allow God to rejuvenate and challenge me. “Challenge” is really an understatement…
My first impression: Beautiful location on the Chesapeake Bay. The “conference center” looks more like a coastal bed and breakfast.
My second impression: Feelings of intimidation and inadequacy. I was surrounded by passionate already successful people who are going places, and i was anxious to see how God was going to use the weekend.
The weekend was planned and hosted by the 12 fellows who live and study at the Trinity Forum Academy. They are mostly Ivy League graduates all in their mid to late twenties. They all live together in a true “learning community, and they are all way more intellectual than I am. But again, this was one of the challenges I faced this weekend.
The retreat highlighted two speakers who both delivered a keynote address and then fielded a Q&A panel discussion.
Dr. Francis Collins. He is a scientist renowned for his contributions to finding the genetic basis of disease and for his leadership of the Human Genome Project, which successfully completed a mapping and sequencing of the human genome in 2000. He recently retired as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and is now working on a new project- BioLogos. Dr. Collins’ book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, outlines a very scientific approach to evolution and his faith and belief in Jesus Christ.
Kelly Kullberg. She is the founder and director of project development of The Veritas Forum which she first organized at Harvard in 1992. She teaches senior electives at Harvard and serves as a chaplain to the Harvard Graduate School Christian Fellowship for 9 years.
The two speakers had an interesting contrast- man vs woman. analytical vs abstract. factual vs emotional. And I could strangely identify with both of them. Retreats are supposed to be relaxing, rejuvenating. But this was unlike any retreat I have ever been on. While I did not do too much to extend myself physically, my brain felt like it went through a triathlon (and I use the triathlon metaphor rather than a marathon because I used parts of my brain that I didn’t even know existed). I was exhausted.
Dr. Collins spoke about science as a form of worship. God created everything; therefore, God created science. Uncovering the awesomeness of God is an act of worship and a way to connect deeply with the Creator. He highlighted a particularly interesting passage in Scripture. It’s one that you and I have read many, many times and probably never pulled out this nuance.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength” -Deuteronomy 6:5
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind” -Matthew 22:37
Jesus adds to the greatest commandment to love God withall your mind. His main platform was that you do not have to choose between faithand science. He grew up agnostic, then turned to Atheism and was drawn to field of medicine where he interacted with dying patients. One woman in particular asked him if believed there is a God, and he had no answer to that. So, he did what any analytically minded man would do- he explored all of the options. He approached a Methodist minister. He read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. He obtained a rational basis for faith. And he found salvation in Jesus Christ. He outlined the following points of how nature provides interesting pointers to God…
- There is something instead of nothing
- The Big Bang- the universe has a beginning
- The precise tuning of physical constants in the universe- gravity as an inverse square law
- The Moral Law- concept of right and wrong
He then addressed the question, “isn’t evolution incompatiblewith faith?” (Personally, I always thought that it was…), “is there room for God in evolution?” But Dr. Collins then said that “science cannot uncover anything that will threaten God.” (This is so true!)
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrew 11:1
“Atheism is most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative.” GK Chesterson
Dr. Collins proposes that God’s plan included evolution. He presented several arguments depicting the discrepancies between chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis. God is not limited by time, nor is he inefficient. Evolution is not a random process. Scientists do not promote the argument of “intelligent design” as truth. Dr. Collins has founded the BioLogos Foundation- Greek for “life happened because of the world.”
Dr. Collins’ talk was very thought provoking. I realized that, for the most part, I had just accepted everything as it was presented to me and that my thinking was very compartmentalized. How did science/logic overlap with faith? Had I not asked the hard questions? Had I not searched for Truth on my own? That was a lot to sleep on…
Both Saturday and Sunday mornings we participated in something called, Matins. It is the morning worship service held every day by the Fellows. Dr. Collins is a fantastic guitar player- finger picking is his speciality. The neck of his guitar even has a double-helix! It’s wonderful! How amazing to have an acclaimed scientist, author and noble prize nominee humbly join in songs of praise to God with all of the participants at the conference. On Sunday, Kelly also led worship- what a treat!
Kelly started off Saturday morning… In the first 30 seconds of her talk, she used the words: “pontificate”, “glean” and “extrapolate”. It took me 30 seconds to realize that I was in way over my head. Kelly shared her story of growing up and experiencing her parents’ divorce and falling in love with Christ as a high school student. She is so intellectual. She had a passion to bridge church and the academy in an effort to bring her dad back to church and to engage the secular world with the Truth. In her undergrad, she discovered that Harvard was founded so that people would know Christ, but over the years, it has strayed from its original purpose. Kelly accomplished a lot in her early years. But what was the most special is when she shared about her personal journey and opened up about her own struggles. I felt like she was speaking directly to my heart. She talked about how she had been deeply hurt by love. She was leading thousands of students, but she was burned out. She was hailed as a leader, but she was barely getting by. She moved out of the city and into the country to escape. It was here that God touched her. Her narrative of this experience appealed to all the senses- the words were beautiful. She experienced healing and revival and was brought back to life. She paralleled her personal story to the desperate need to bring Life back to the university. And outlined a way to “change the world”…
- pay attention to Scripture- prayer, creation, silence, forgiveness
- let go, relax, accelerate, cultivate
- expect to suffer
- believe that Jesus is preparing a place for you
- have a general posture of creativity
- draw others in
- welcome, smile, share
Dr. Collins and Kelly also graciously sat on a candid panel. Their answers were to genuine. I am still amazed that I had the opportunity to experience the greatness of Christ in theses acclaimed individuals. They truly directed all the glory back to God.
I was inspired by the fellows, and I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with them throughout the weekend. They not only had direction but also a way to get there. This “family” environment cultivated a certain way of thinking. It was something that I found myself longing for. A deep reflection, an insatiable hunger for the Word and Truth, encouragement, commitment, inspiration. These are the questions I asked myself: What excites me? Does it evoke a new excitement? What awakens you to your calling? I’ve always felt that the deepest passion in my heart is motherhood, but I realized this weekend that nurturing can extend so much further (and it should) past your own home and immediate sphere of influence. It encompasses hospitality to everyone, an insight into the image of God. It made me want to examine the role of women more. The role of women in the home, in the church, in the workplace. What is the modern expectation of a woman? How can you function in a secular world but still remain true to your calling as a child of God, a disciple to all nations, a sister in Christ.
Sunday night I attended the longest church service I have ever been to- it was 2 1/2 hours long. It’s called Church of the Resurrection. It’s about 5 blocks away from my house, and Joey, my associate pastor from Starkville, MS, recommended it to me. The congregation is mostly young professionals and newly married couples. This was my first experience in an Anglican Mission in the Americas church. There were two guest sermons by Bishop Nathan from Rwanda and a Reverend from Chapel Hill, NC. The worship was great- familiar hymns to a folky/contemporary beat. It was wonderful to worship in a church with such a warm body of believers. I may check out another Presbyterian church next week called Grace DC.
