"Uncertain" | Reflection by the Rev. Charles Lemert

To begin, consider this: E = mc2 , Or: Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Now consider this: Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again. Both are formulae of incalculable importance to those who understand or believe in them. Both refer to basic uncertainties of the universe in which we live.

Uncertainty is a normal fact of the cosmos that includes our world. Many will recognize that E = mc2 is the formula of Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity. His theory shook the scientific world with the idea that all things everywhere are relative to each other. In college I was a science major. I studied E = mc2.  Still, I don’t quite get it. However physicists deal with it, I can only take it on faith.

I have the same problem with the lines we recite weekly during the Eucharist. Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again. We repeat them as the basic facts of our faith. Yet, only the first is historically factual. There is no evidence that the other two might be real. They are uncertain. We repeat them by faith. Faith is not factual. It is belief, therefore ultimately uncertain.

So this week we acknowledge Christ’s death and resurrection in the belief that somehow or another he will come again or, at least, that one day when dead we will come to him. Of this we cannot be certain. We can only trust.