Monday, May 28, 2007

Cosmic Wind (redux)

Craig said I was being too hard on the church. Well, he didn't quite say that, but he said that my posts did not reveal my deep love, hope, and commitment to what he knows I believe could be a life-giving force in the world.

So, let me introduce you to the galaxy M82.


This is another amazing photo from the Hubble Space Telescope, this one depicting a starburst galaxy with a supergalactic wind. The deal is, a recent encounter between M82 and another galaxy disturbed M82 and started a massive wave of star formation. The new, hot young stars are creating the cosmic wind (seen here in red) sweeping out into space.

***
Since 2001, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has started over 500 churches, making us the fastest growing mainline denomination in the United States. (um, actually, we are the only growing mainline denomination).

Here are just a few of the new, hot young stars, I mean, ministers creating this mighty wind sweeping our land:

These are my friends and colleagues. And they do give me hope.

1 comment:

David Reese said...

This is a nice metaphor. It's particularly good because the creation of hot young stars entails the fiery, terrible destruction of hundreds of other solar systems.

I mean, right?

If we're going to transform denominations, there's going to be a lot of new glowing lights (and it's great to hear that the DoC is growing!) but that will also entail fiery death for old structures.

Jesus will be so happy.