April Fools’ Day post on April 2. I feel like such a fool.

The psalmist declared, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’", (Ps 14:1) so I’ve always been tempted to suggest that April 1 is the founding feast of Atheism. But then Jesus came along and said “...anyone who says, 'You fool !' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matt 5:22), so we all have to be very careful here. Jesus does have a knack for spoiling the fun sometimes.

Anyway, this idiotic battle between Evolutionists and Creationists has been going on since long before any of us arrived, and I’ve spent my ministry just staying out of it. There are serious questions about God’s existence, but these folks seldom get to them. They’re actually all about science and politics. But every once in a while the battle rises to a level of slapstick that’s worth watching.

The actor Kirk Cameron, (TV series Growing Pains and movie series Left Behind, which I always thought was a Christian show about turning the other cheek), together with his friend Ray Comfort, have been dissing Charles Darwin lately. They have a bunch of stuff on Youtube, an ongoing battle with Richard Dawkins, and recently they released a very funny bit called the Atheist’s Nightmare. Click on the link and check it out, it really is pretty funny.

Well, I’m afraid the humour was lost on Richard Dawkins and his friends (surprise, surprise), and now they are calling Comfort “Banana Man”, and spending their time teaching the actual history of the development of the banana. Interesting, but dumb.

Now, if you’re one of those who didn’t get that this is a joke, don’t feel too bad; it took me a while too. So much of the “serious” Creationist stuff is so ridiculous that it’s hard to pick out the jokes. In fact, if you’ll click on the link, Richard Dawkins’ Nightmare, Comfort, himself, admits that you really need a laugh-track to tell when a Creationist is joking.

Look here fellas – Creationists and Evolutionists alike – JUST SETTLE DOWN!!! It’s only fun till somebody loses an eye. And use your indoor voices. Some of us are trying to think.

The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth; that’s everything, folks. But it doesn’t really say much about how he did it. It’s fun to speculate about the “how” questions, but it’s just speculation. And the “specs” keep changing.

For a while the earth was on the back of a turtle, then it was floating in water, then it was fastened to whatever, with everything going around it, now it’s fastened to nothing, with everything going around everything. People have always had theories (the dreams that stuff is made of) but they’re theories, just theories.

And here’s my theoretical contribution:

On the eighth day God got tired of resting,

so he created Evolutionists and Creationists.

Evolutionists to test our faith;

Creationists to try our patience.

THE FIRST FULL MOON OF SPRING

In recent years I have become an early riser, almost always up by 6 o’clock, and usually by 5. These morning hours have become my favourite of the day. Suzanne is the comparative night-owl now, so the apartment’s quiet in the morning. I can pray and write and think.

This morning I got up at 5 o’clock and did something that I haven’t done for many months. I took my cup of coffee and went out on the balcony, nine stories above the city streets. Still dark and quiet for another hour or so. Still cool. And what a moon! Full and bright, hanging like a batless bat-signal in the western sky just beyond the next apartment buildings. “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky”, God said, “to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.” (Genesis 1:14) This batless-signal is there to tell us something, for this is the first full moon of spring.

Last night the Jewish side of the family was celebrating the first day of Passover, as we have for 4000 years, beginning at the first full moon of spring. – This evening Suzanne and I will lead a Passover meal at our little church on the U of A campus. – And next Sunday, the first Sunday following the first full moon of spring, we will be celebrating Easter, as we on the Christian side of the family have done for 2000 years. We will be celebrating the resurrection of the one we believe is the Messiah for both sides of the family and for all the world, while the Jewish side remains doubtful to say the least.

This is, of course, one of the great ironies of faith. But in these latter years I’ve grown to love more than the early hours of the day. I love spring, and the first full moon thereof, along with Passover, Easter and all the rest. And I love the comedy and tragedy, the story and the poetry, the symmetry and irony that tie it all together.

Did you know that March 14th is Pi Day?

Most people probably don’t know this, but the mathematical constant that describes the relationship between the diameter of a circle and its circumference is Pi, representing approximately 3.14 (actually 3.14159265358979323 etc., etc. forever). This means that the circumference of any circle is within an infinitesimal smidgen of its diameter multiplied by 3.14. Of course many of you are inwardly protesting “I KNEW THAT!!!”, and you probably did. We all “knew” that. But lately I am becoming increasingly aware of the difference between knewing and knowing. Which is, of course, why we have Pi Day. Today, and for the next few weeks, we’ll all know what we once knew about Pi. Over the next year, of course, we’ll come to knew it again, and then next March 14 (3/14) we will all know it again for a while. Education is a wonderful, if fragile, thing.

But now here’s something I’ll bet most of you don’t know, and never knew. Albert Einstein was born on March 14, Pi Day. Of course the only thing that makes this interesting is that he was a mathematician and Pi is mathematics. He doesn’t really have any more to do with Pi than you or I but, like most coincidences, it all happens in your head.

Some people say there is no such thing as a coincidence, implying that there is an unseen mind behind all of the “coincidences” they observe. And they actually have a point. Many, if not most coincidences are simply illusions, tricks of the mind. And the mind behind them is your own.

So “Happy Pi-day!” to all, and “Happy Birthday!” Albert Einstein, wherever you are. And I trust that isn’t cake beneath all those candles.