Ferns, Friends, Fractals and Faith
Good Morning Friends,
During this last week, Holy Week, we have been immersed into the true heart of the matter for those of us whose faith is shaped by the creative force of Jesus. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ are the way God transforms us. And behind it all is the repeating patterns connecting into a larger whole of reality that can be seen in scripture and nature as well as mathematics. Just as the shape of the whole tree, trunk and branches, is repeated in the larger branches, and again in the smaller branches, and in the twigs so too, we as new creatures in Christ, are to repeat acts of creativity according to the law of love in Christ so we might produce fruit. Here each small part tells you what the whole looks like, and the whole is a grand version of the part. It is a fractal mystery that God enacted in Jesus the larger pattern, in the law of love so that it might in turn shape, bless, and transform us through the Spirit into the newness of incarnate love. Here the multiple authors of scripture become one. Here the Word made flesh shows forth themes that focus and form the complexity, coherence and creativity of God patterns not unlike what we see in the growth of Ferns, Friends, Fractals and Faith.
Scripture: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:15-17 (NRSV)
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Hebrews 1:1-3 (NRSV)
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
John 15:4-8 (NRSV)
1The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. 3There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; 4yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, 5which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. 6Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat. 7The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple; 8the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes; 9the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. 11Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. 13Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19 (NRSV)
Message: The word, “fractal” was first used in 1975 by a mathematician named Mandelbrot, who noticed a recurring pattern in some electrical interference in data cables. Since then, fractal geometry, with the aid of computer graphics programs has gone on to change our lives in many ways. What has been learned in fractal geometry has allowed mobile phone designers to build a super-efficient antenna that doesn’t stick out of your phone. It is fractal-based software that enables Hollywood to create fantastic moving images that look like they are a reality. Mandelbrot himself went on to use fractal geometry to successfully explain the behavior of financial markets. Research is also being done on the fractal patterns found in the human heartbeat to enhance diagnosis and treatment. Once you know what they are, you will find fractals everywhere. One cannot help but think that they are somehow tied to the way we experience God.
For example in today’s Psalm David tells us why he believes in God and it relates to connected and repeating patterns. Much like the fractals we can see in ferns, broccoli, coastlines, mountain chains, rivers and lakes, galaxies, lightening and branches of a tree and at the risk of being told my head is in them, clouds. David, I believe, had a sense that these physical realities we now know are shaped by mathematical laws, existed before humans. David may not have seen fractals with such clarity as we do today and yet he did see order in nature and the creative replication of a Creator God as written in Psalm 19. The truth is that maybe we cannot see God but neither can we see numbers and yet they exist…real ones and imaginary ones that are equally real despite their title. So if you have ever wondered why the physical universe obeys mathematical laws, maybe it is because things inherit some of the self-similar properties of that to which they are connected. David seems to have thought of God in that way but so too John and Paul. Just look at today’s scripture as you contemplate how God picks up the pieces of our lives and brings restoration and regeneration. Friends, out of the little deaths we experience each day God is forming and molding His new creation. We get resurrected into new Christ-like selves. We live in our small, fractal way the large pattern of God’s love, mercy, and justice, which Jesus made larger than life. By being visible examples, of this way of life in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection we continue the fractal. Out of the dry bones in us is breathed the new life of Jesus, the Word and Way made flesh. You can you hear the stones shout it and the honeycomb shows its replicated order. Friends, the common themes and ideas that are important to God are visible throughout the Bible—appearing both in the most obvious of places as well as in the most unexpected. Together, they help us to see a bigger picture emerging from the sacred text that could be missed if we aren’t expecting it – a bigger picture that we see reflected in even the “smaller pictures” presented by the text. And once we know to look for it we can see in it the natural attributes of God…the immutable, eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient qualities of character and the very personality reflected in the mathematics of creation itself. Friends, God made the world…He made man and He made life so that we might share in the abundance even as it continues to unfold.
Here the reproducing pattern of fractals like those at work in discipleship determine outcomes. The key is to focus a discipleship in the right social learning patterns that can scale up. In Psalm 19 we see examples of the building blocks. It is not hard to picture Jesus as the cornerstone.
Pray we inspire and challenge each other to look at the beauty of God’s involvement in creation and to consider and respond to God’s open invitation to collaborate in re-creative work. Pray we realize that Jesus patterned the best ways of change. Pray that our meditations of worship, wonder and adoration turn into actions that transform us and the world. Pray we learn experientially to live a pattern of helping others with their devotional life, helping others to become Christians growing and discovering Jesus, the Word and Way made flesh. Pray we rejoice in the Psalmist as in Psalm 34:3 breathing, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Pray we become empirical proof that God exists.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Link to more about fractals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivRQDbAduoM
Daily Devotionals 