We are all members of one body – Christ’s body. Through Christ, we are redeemed from sin, we are reconciled to God and to one another, and we are renewed in body and spirit. And all of that applies to all humanity, and to all creation – all that exists.

But God is bigger than rules and doctrines, and bigger than human imagination. Science is beginning to show us just how big, how mind-blowing, the universe is. The more we see the intricate detail and the patterns; how the incredible complexity is woven in such precise interrelationship that it could not work if things changed even by one part in a million, or a fraction of a gram – the less it becomes plausible that this is all one giant accident of happenstance.

The philosophers of ancient Athens grasped something of this, in raising an altar to “an Unknown God” in Athens, which St Paul saw when he visited. Those great thinkers knew the limitations of human knowledge, even as they sought to expand it, and to understand the world as much as possible.

So often the Church has been unwelcoming to those who ask questions, swatting them away much as adults do the annoying child who keeps on asking, “but why?” It is one of the great sadnesses of Church history that this is so. Curiosity was frequently crushed in the name of conformity.

But we need the questioners, the doubters, the askers, the seekers. Those who say, I’ve looked at things from many angles, and this makes the best sense for me of my life and experiences and knowledge. We also need those for whom questions are unhelpful or even scary, who simply want to have the comfort of being held in knowledge given them by others, discovered by questions asked by others. We are all members of one body – and we need each other.

One of my joys as a parish priest is the engagement with those who enjoy thinking and talking about such things. Sometimes we agree, sometimes less so; but it’s great to ask questions and chew ideas over. Some people feel God is unknowable. I would say that it is through Jesus that God is indeed knowable and invites us into relationship. It is through the Holy Spirit that God speaks to us and dwells within our hearts. I see and feel God at work in so many people, all members of God’s family here in this benefice.

We are the body of Christ. We all need each other. Love is indeed what knits us together. In different ways, on different levels, we are all part of one another because we are all part of God’s family – though like any family we frequently disagree! But as one Body, we need to learn to work together – a body at war with itself becomes sick very quickly.

There is unity in diversity, a need for curiosity and discovery, and great joy in how everything fits and works together. And those gone from our sight, are still part of us – part of the Communion of Saints. We will be reunited, because of the redeeming work of Christ in reconciling all things to Himself through the Cross. Theologians have argued for centuries on exactly how this works. There is much to be curious about, ask questions, posit theories, investigate. The medieval age saw theology as a form of science. But we are knit together in love, and love never ends. We are part of one body, and all parts of that body are necessary, and are alive in Christ. And only Love, which is the true nature of God, makes that at all possible.

Revd. Talisker