Join us for our first service of the new year as Rev Steve Edington asks, What Is a Miracle?

 

On Christmas Eve an article ran in the New York Times titled “How Would You Prove That God Performed a Miracle?” It actually had little to do with some of the “miraculous” accounts that are part of the Christmas Story, and focused instead on seemingly inexplicable acts of healing, like brain tumors, in the lives of certain individuals. The piece brought back some of the questions I raise in a chapter on miracles in my book God Is Not God’s Name. I’ll revisit some of that, taking this NYT piece into account. I happen to believe in miracles of a sort, as we experience them in the workings of our natural world and universe; but ascribing them to an intentional Deity creates problems for me. A passage from the writings of the Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh—who passed away this past January—helps to frame up my thoughts on this matter.