What is Real? ...

Wednesday, June 8, 2016. Is life but a dream? What is reality? Is it our scientific knowledge and our social statistics, which is the basis of knowing what is real, what happens, how things are interconnected and how things can be controlled? How to think about this world, about our environment, our society, and our own life?

Reality …

Reality has always been a fascinating topic for me. You will have realized this, when you came more often to join us and think about faith. What is it that is? How are things working? And what is the role of faith, of spirit, of dreams, of vision? What is going on in the spiritual world, which we cannot measure with our scientific tools, but we live in it, we experience it day by day. Are things merely a question of interpretation? But how do we interpret the data? Even the scientific method has its limitations, it always needs a mind to design the questions, the experiments.

We live in a world which is governed by natural laws. It is also governed by human decisions, by social processes, by desire, passion, emotions, love and hatred, frustration and motivation. But there is more. Let us read a story from the gospel of John, a miracle story:

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. (John 6)

Wonderful World …

The story sounds like a dream. Jesus is walking on the lake. Then, he is getting into their boat. And they are were at their goal immediately. Wow. What a story! What is it that happened here? Once we had someone attending our bible study group in the UK who thought that it is not a story about reality, rather a story about a dream. But this opinion does not fit the context and the way of how it is told. It is a story about the power of God in and through Jesus.

The story has a sincere message to tell. It is a message about reality. It says: we are in our little world, symbolized by this boat. We have our difficulties, here symbolized by the strong wind. But Jesus is not bound by all of it. He is there, he comes into our world, into our life, into our personal boat. It is us who he tells not to be afraid. It is said for our life. And when he enters, reality changes. His power changes our life, our environment, our reality.

I believe that the wonders which are in this story are a template for our own personal life. Yes, we live in a world governed by natural laws. But God is not bound by them, in now way. He wants to be the wonderful God of our life as well. He wants to enter your boat and my boat. And when he comes, things change. Our world will be full of wonder. And it is! Reality is much more amazing than we usually think, on all of its levels, from natural science to human love, God's spirit and God's wonders. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts