I remember my first wormhole.
Do you remember yours? Was it The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis? Maybe A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle? Long before I read either of those wonderful books, though, I encountered my first wormhole in a more traditional sci-fi novel: Robert A. Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky.
What’s a wormhole? Einstein would call it a space-time bridge. For Lewis, it was a way through a magical wardrobe from a British country estate to the Land of Narnia. L’Engle used a tesseract to move children from one side of the universe to the other. Stephen King calls it a thinny. Heinlein called it a gate. Online Gamers would likely say portal (That’s also how Native Americans thought of it).
However you term it, the definition is the same: a kind of doorway leading from one place to somewhere that’s usually far, far away. This kind of “travel” is often called teleportation.**
But, these are all fictional ... right? So, what does it really matter?
Well, it turns out scientist believe they have, indeed, teleported something from one place to another. Mind you, it was just a particle (so nothing as complex as, say, Schrödinger's cat). Plus, there is some debate about whether the particle actually went anywhere. One theory suggests what really happened was that the process disintegrated the particle, sent only the information about the particle ... and then made a new, identical particle at the other location.
Whatever it was that happened in that lab, something very similar happened in this week's Acts 8 scripture. God used the apostle Philip to lead the Ethiopian Eunuch to belief in Jesus as the Messiah (Christ) and then teleported Philip to Azotus (about 30 miles away).
Now, you might pooh pooh my belief that God used teleportation to move Philip from one place to another. Let me know if you can find another answer. To me, it looks like God needed Philip elsewhere on short notice. And it reads like Philip experienced it, too.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Acts 8:39-40
So, was it teleportation? Did God send Philip through wormhole?
I don’t know. There’s no reason that can’t be the explanation. But, that’s not the point of the tale, is it? I think the takeaway is something else, entirely; something found in the “bookends” of the story. It begins with God sending Philip to proclaim the good news to someone. And how does it end? Apparently unaffected by his miraculous journey to Azotus, Philip just heads north and keeps on telling folks the good news about Jesus.
And isn't that always the point?
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** “the transfer of matter from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them”
Deeper Dive - Teleportation in the Bible:
Even Deeper:
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We are deep into the Season of Easter and are enjoying our time to discuss the related scriptures. Join us Friday morning at 8:00 on Zoom for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. It’s truly an hour like no other.
Blessings,
Steve
Contact me for the Zoom link
NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera if you don’t wish to be seen and to mute the microphone if you don’t wish to speak.
SCRIPTURES FOR THE COMING WEEK
Find them here:
Fifth Sunday of Easter (May 2, 2021)
Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:25-31
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
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