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Well… I’ve been reading about physics again, and we’re all in trouble. You’re in trouble because you’ve got to listen to a preacher, with absolutely no training in the subject, attempt to explain to you the so-called “Anthropic Principle.” And, I’m in trouble, because being a preacher with absolutely no training in the subject, I’m going to attempt today to explain to you the so-called “Anthropic Principle” – and, more importantly, to relate it to the calling of these nine individuals, as deacons of the Park Road Baptist Church.[1]

Like many of us, physicists look at the stars at night and wonder: How? and Why? Unlike most of us, who just answer “God” and go on with it, physicists want a better answer. Even for the many physicists for whom “God” is the right answer, they still want to know how. And why. They want some formulas to understand it all. One formula would be nice, actually, one grand unifying theory to explain the reason for the universe and its structure.

Since the rise of the scientific revolution many physicists have rejected the notion that human beings happened for any particular reason. They say that our world is too small in this immense, even infinite universe, and that we are certainly too insignificant to be the reason for the existence of all things. For these observers, a purely mechanical understanding of the world adequately explains the evolution of all life without the idea of purpose or reason, certainly without the idea of plan or design. And the idea of “God” is out of the question. “We are, said Bertrand Russell, but ‘a curious accident in a backwater’ of the universe.’”[2]

Thank God there are also physicists, born with the same intellect, driven by the same curiosity, the same intense yearning for logical explanation, who are also wise enough to see something more than the answer in their formulas, to recognize something more than a self-sufficient system in their beautiful theories.

According to particle physicist, Stephen Barr, there are “many features of the laws of nature that seem arranged, even ‘fine-tuned,’ to make possible the existence of life…”[3] The Greek word “anthros” means “man” or “humanity.”[4] So, he says, “At least on the face of it, these so-called ‘anthropic coincidences’ would appear to support the idea that we were built-in from the beginning.”[5] Barr reviews several of these complex coincidences -- from the chemical composition of the universe itself, to the nuclear forces which hold together atoms and bind molecules, to the fact that our universe has three dimensions and not two (or twelve) – and sees in them something more than coincidence.

The “Anthropic Principle” dares to suggest that life exists, not as a by-product of mechanical chance, but because “a hundredth of a millionth of a billionth of a second” is exactly the right amount of time required for three heliums to crash together to form one carbon. Without the element carbon, there would be no life – and in the center of burning stars, where carbon is born, “a hundredth of a millionth of a billionth of a second” is all that is allowed. Coincidence?

Several months ago, following this church’s established procedures for the nomination of leaders, the Chairs of our Supervisory Committees met at our home to consider the leadership of Park Road Baptist Church for the year 2002. We considered, prayerfully, the positions needed to fill our committees and the diaconate. In making nominations for the diaconate, we considered persons who were faithful. Committed. Active. Gifted. Mature. We considered persons who had already demonstrated these traits in their relationship to this church.

Everyone we considered was already busy. Everyone we considered was already committed to important things. Everyone we considered… was imperfect – which is the only way we were able to recognize that they, too, might be able to lead this church. And when the people on that list were called, some said, “No. I’m too busy,” and we trust that they were. Some said, “Thanks, but, I have other commitments,” and we respected their honesty. Some said, “I would like to serve, but now is not the right time,” and we accepted their rejection, because we believe in right timing.

But you said “yes.” You nine “men and women in good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom,” for whatever reason, said “yes.” This service of ordination and installation is a celebration, today, your gifts. We celebrate, today, your faithfulness. And perhaps most of all we celebrate, today, your willingness to lead in this place through service.

No system of selecting leaders is faultless, but I believe that in our process (however it might be criticized), something more is at work.

Esther, who was a Jew, was chosen Queen in a pagan land simply because she was beautiful. There was nothing mysterious or holy about that. But when the Jews faced the threat of genocide, Mordecai saw something more at work. “Who knows, Esther? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” The presence of the Jewish community in our world today is a testimony to the something more at work.

There is no royal dignity in being elected a deacon in a small Baptist church in North Carolina. But who knows… perhaps there is no coincidence either.

Your calling as deacons this day is filled with something more – and that something more the providence, the purpose, the possibility of God.

[1] The idea for the sermon, and most of the information on the anthropic principle, is from an article entitled “Anthropic Coincidences,” by Stephen M. Barr, which appeared in the June/July 2001 edition of “First Things.”

[2] Barr, quoting Russell, p.17.

[3] Barr, p. 18.

[4] The word is translated as both gender specific (a male human) and gender neutral (“humankind”).

[5] Barr, p. 18.