Reflection:  Hear the heavens speak!

The scientific revolution, which gave us the techno-scientific world we see around us, was brought about largely by Christians. Johannes Kepler is typical. Famous for his laws of planetary motion (the planets revolve in ellipses, not circles, he said), Kepler was going to be ordained in the Lutheran church. But he decided he could glorify God more by being a scientist, uncovering the wonders of creation.

For many Christians in science, this psalm captures their sense of vocation. For them, science is a worthy pursuit uncovering the truths (the Creator’s truths) of the natural world and putting that knowledge to good use.

How sad that many people today think that science and faith are opposed. If only they would hear the voices of Psalms such as this, or the voices of Christian scientists of history. Google Graeme Clark (bionic ear inventor) or Ken Freeman (cosmologist)—both eminent living Australian scientists—or Francis Collins (who led the human genome project and now runs the largest medical research organisation in the world) or Jennifer Wiseman (responsible for NASA’s amazing images of the universe).

Prayer:  We pray for Christians who are scientists around our country. We pray that they will seek to glorify God in their vocations. And we pray that they will have the courage to make it known that they are both committed to Christ as well as their scientific vocation.

We pray for the impact in schools and churches and the media of ISCAST–Christians in Science, which draws together people exploring the interface between science and Christian faith.

We pray for people around us who do not know you but who look with awe and wonder at the stars and the mountains, and the knowledge revealed by science. May they seek the Creator as they are moved by the glorious creation.