Both science and theology are, at their essence, motivated by the exploration of Reality. Any unbiased look at the Creation, either through telescope or microscope, will eventually lead a person to the Creator of all things . . . and it’s a beautiful thing when an unbiased look captures something spectacular at the heart of the entire universe.
On Wednesday April 10, 2019, scientists produced the first image of a black hole in a “nearby” galaxy called Messier 87 (M87 for short). Actually, it’s not an image of the black hole, but essentially the shadow or silhouette of the hole against the surrounding glow of the event horizon, since the center itself cannot be seen. It’s located about 55 million light years away, is wider than our entire solar system, and its mass is calculated to be about 6.5 billion (with a b) times the mass of our sun. At the center of this supermassive black hole is what scientists call a gravitational singularity, where all matter is crushed into an infinitely small space, and where space and time cease to exist as we know it.
Imagine a supermassive star, billions of times the mass of our sun, being condensed down to a piece of candy that you can place on your finger, and you’re starting to realize the photographic phenomenon that has scientists around the globe recognizing a breakthrough of preposterous proportions. Einsteins’ theories of general relativity are getting a huge boost forward by these amazing visuals.
You’ve probably seen images similar to the ones below floating around, either on your TV, phone or computer. I’ve been taking in the scientific chatter for several weeks now, and it’s creating an amazing buzz around the world. The other night, I put down the articles, set aside the YouTube clips, and took a break from the worldwide coverage in the scientific community . . . to simply look up at the stars and lose myself in the miracle of Creation, the silence that sings of His Presence.
Wow, Lord. What are You showing us?
You may be familiar with the classic image of a message in a bottle. Someone on an island far away slips a critical message into a glass bottle and sets it out to sea. Their intense hope is that the message would make its way across the far reaches of the ocean into someone else’s hands. In the same way, God has put messages into different vessels of creation for us to uncork and “read.” Some of these messages travel across oceans of starlight and unfathomable stretches of time in hopes of reaching our eyes. This black hole is one such vessel that has just recently hit the shoreline of our telescopes.
As I reflect on these cosmic wonders of our galaxies and discern the messages within, here are three thoughts to come to mind:
- Black Holes are confirming that Christ is the singularity in which the entire universe exists. This is a major reframe to the way we think about and “do” our theology. In Genesis 1:1 we see the overarching theme of the Creation narrative – in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But this is not a God who creates, surveys His handiwork, and then heads off to heaven to remain at a distance. The whole of Creation was created IN CHRIST. All that exists – time, space, matter, energy, consciousness and existence itself – was created and is sustained and held together in Christ, at this very moment.
This demolishes any notions of possible separation between man and God, because we cannot be separate from the very One who is the Source and Sustenance of our existence, of ALL existence, the breath that gives us life. Yes, man believed he was separated from God in his mind, but this simply wasn’t true. We are slowly waking up to the Truth of our Original Genesis in Christ, and science is helping affirm our need to start the story in Genesis 1 with God and man in union, and not in Genesis 3 where we started seeing God and ourselves through distorted lenses. Black holes are taking us back to the very beginning, when all that existed was contained in Christ, ready to be expressed as the Creation of the universe.
Col 1: 16-17 (Amplified Bible)
For it was in Him that all things were created,
in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen,
whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities;
all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him.
And He Himself existed before all things,
and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).
John 1 (The Voice Bible)
Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God.
This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator;
His speech shaped the entire cosmos.
Immersed in the practice of creating,
all things that exist were birthed in Him.
His breath filled all things
with a living, breathing light—
A light that thrives in the depths of darkness,
blazes through murky bottoms.
It cannot and will not be quenched.
Remember, a black hole is the collapse of a massive star – a supernova – into a single point, what scientists call the “singularity.” Imagine now the ENTIRE UNIVERSE condensed down to a single point, where all that exists BEFORE the creation of the universe (time, space, energy, matter, etc) is contained in Christ. From the depths of this “Christ” singularity, there is an incredible expansion in the quantum realm – try to imagine a black hole in reverse – as Creation explodes into existence. The Genesis account features the “incarnation” (the invisible becoming visible) of God as He reveals Himself in the universe as it is being formed and fashioned.
All that exists is STILL in Christ today, and will be forever. We are in a mysterious, glorious union with the Source of All, who fashioned us in His image, branches on the vine of the One in Whom we live, move and have our being. And Creation, as always, is leaving us clues.
Abba, help us see.
- Inside a black hole is . . . incredible mystery. This huge breakthrough is telling us that we are just scratching the surface of what we know about our universe. We are like toddlers staring at complex differential equations and hyperbolic paraboloids on the whiteboard, recognizing the hints of a few letters and shapes and colors and pretending we understand what we’re seeing.
In the same way, Christianity is only in its infancy. We are but a few thousand years into our study of God, but we believe we have come to see and experience all of Reality. We have gazed intently with our tools and technology upon a drop of water and believe we have captured the secrets in the depths of the world’s oceans.
When we operate from a confident certainty in these times that invite us to explore and embrace mystery and wonder, we are effectively silencing our voice in society. Black holes invite us back to a place of childlike curiosity and awe, desperately calling out for us to infuse those qualities into our theology. God is not the “unknowable” – He is the “endlessly knowable” and we have been given the gift of eternal discovery that can begin now and last forever. We have been given the joy of sharing Christ’s Beauty with the joy of a child discovering a world full of delights enough for everyone . . . let’s not turn that into a set of strict regulations and beliefs in order to get on the inside of God’s favor.
Abba, give us childlike humility and joy.
- The EHT (Event Horizon Telescope) project is a consortium of over 200 scientists that have been working together for over 20 years. It affectionately takes its name from a black hole’s famous point of no return, the boundary beyond which absolutely nothing, not even light, can ever escape its gravitational hold.
In order to make the necessary observation, there was no single telescope on earth that was capable, so the team had to get creative. The researchers linked up radio telescopes in Arizona, Mexico, Antartica, Spain, and other locations around the world in order to form a virtual instrument the size of the entire earth.
“Doing physics is a dialog with nature,” one of the researchers said in describing the process of collecting and analyzing the massive amounts of data necessary to generate these images. What a conversation this has been, and will continue to be! They believe that these photos have the ability to change the way we perceive ourselves as humans, and our place in the cosmos.
At the same time as the EHT towers were collecting data, another instrument in space – the Chandra X-ray observatory – was focused on this same black hole’s home galaxy for the past 20 years as well. Four ultra-sensitive mirrors on Chandra, as it orbits the earth, captured the X-ray radiation of multi-million-degree gas shrouding M87, coming from the high-energy particles that the black hole was flinging into space. This allowed Chandra to take a “wide-angle” shot of the same black hole, and all that surrounds it.
“We have the mind of Christ,” Paul tells us. Scientists across the globe created an “earth-sized telescope” with which to see this Black Hole.. No one telescope could have done this on its own. They needed to merge the views from ALL of the individual lenses, integrate the information, then carefully display what was being shown.
God is inviting us to envision a “global lens” through which we can see the Beauty of Christ. We’ve seen over the course of history what happened as we received insights and revelations about God, and then started gathering around those revelations. 41,000 denominations, and growing by the hour! Instead of gathering around our individual revelations, what if were able to freely share with others, not to prove WHO is right about our insights, but to discover WHAT is beautiful about Christ? Look at what 15 globally placed telescopes were able to “see” as they freely shared what they saw individually. . .for 20 years! No competition, no barriers, no pride from individual insights – just a common desire to see what couldn’t be seen by any one source. When each site saw its role as contributing to a larger vision, the whole scope of what was possible expanded dramatically.
Black Holes are drawing us into a much larger shared vision of what is possible when “we” (Paul didn’t say “I” have the mind of Christ) join together in contemplating and then expressing the Christ. We can find a glimpse of this vision in John 17.
The Chandra observatory expands on this idea by telling us that there are higher-level revelations meant to zoom out and give us the bigger picture; a way of joining together the multitude of individual revelations being received across the globe. I believe we’ll recognize these as they come forth, not to elevate any individuals above others, but to honor the functions of those in the Body gifted with prophetic and apostolic vision meant to propel us forward. This won’t look like the doom and gloom versions we’ve come to expect in Christendom, but rather a brand of grace-infused passion infusing those who follow Jesus with a confident, humble sense of Original Identity and Eternal Purpose. They will help us see how we each uniquely fit into God’s ridiculously beautiful plan to make all things new, the ultimate reconciliation of all things – the Singularity of Christ, expressed without deception or distortion, when the veils are finally lifted and we see the realm of heaven merging with earth.
It has already begun.
Abba, paint your vision into our imagination!!
Cover image: Artist’s rendering of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
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