Holy Brains

Holy Brains

Sermon manuscript for Green Lake Church of Seventh-day Adventists

For March 8, 2014

This is a preliminary version. I expect to revise it later this evening or in the morning. Any critical comments before tomorrow morning are most welcome.

Mark 12:28-34

Synopsis.

Intelligence has enabled humans to produce a surplus of food, cure disease, ease pain, create the wonders of technology, invent calculus, write stirring literature and music. It is one of the greatest gifts. Used appropriately, human intelligence is the source of wonderful blessings. Misused it can wreak havoc. God calls us to cultivate our minds to the highest possible level and to use our intellectual prowess for good.

I called my sister in Boston this week. She works for a pharmaceutical company named Genzyme. I asked her which of her company's products has the best story. She told me to check out Cerezyme.

With the help of google, here's what I found.

Cerezyme is used to treat a genetic disorder called Gaucher's disease. Some of the problems this disease causes are anemia, fatigue, enlargement of the liver and spleen. It causes the bones to weaken. Patients have lots of trouble with their shoulders and hip joints.

For a hundred years after it was discovered, there was no treatment. The best doctors could do was to keep you company through the heart-breaking course of the disease.

Then some really smart people, researchers, figured out what was happening. The problem was a lack of a particular enzyme, glucocerebrosidase. If you don't have this enzyme, another chemical (a lipid, a fat) called glucosylceramide, accumulates in the bone marrow, lungs, spleen, liver and sometimes the brain.

Wow. How did they figure that out? Can you imagine the brain power involved in designing the experiments to figure this out?

Other really smart people figured out how to make a substitute for this missing enzyme. If patients are given this substitute they live normal lives. The problem becomes entirely manageable. They can live normal lives.

Information source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263370.php

That's the power of holy brains.

Intelligence is one of our greatest treasures. With our brains we can change the world. We can cure disease. We can make things better.

A few weeks ago, I invited a friend to go out to dinner with my daughter and me. I paid with my credit card, then John insisted on paying me for his share of the meal—with Bitcoin. If he had offered me cash, I would have been more stubborn in resisting his offer. But this was too cool.

I, of course, have no idea how Bitcoin works. I just handed him my phone. He downloaded and installed a program. Then he did whatever you do to pay someone with Bitcoin. When I checked yesterday, my vast portfolio of wealth now includes Bitcoin worth approximately $14.98 (as of 3:45 p.m., March 7, 2014).

When I stop and think about this transaction, I am dazzled at the brain power that brought it into existence.

How much intelligence went to work creating the internet and the devices? How many thousands of hours of sharply-focused brain power went into creating the code that makes Bitcoin work?

I read an article in Newsweek about Satoshi Nakamoto. The author of the article believed Mr. Nakamoto was the prime creator of Bit Coin. Mr. Nakamoto refused to talk to the reporter—or anyone else for that matter. So the reported talked to everyone he could find who might know something about him. I loved this description of Satoshi by his brother: "He is the only person I have ever known to show up for a job interview and tell the interviewer he's an idiot - and then prove it."

Source: Leah McGrath Goodman. Newsweek, March 6, 2014.

http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto.html

I laughed with delight when I read that. Here is a smart aleck who is really smart.

In the creation story, God told Adam and Eve to fill the earth and “subdue” it. They were to bring order to it. That is they were to use their minds and their muscles, their brains and their brawn to make things better. Can you imagine that? Even in God's perfect world, humans were supposed to use their brains and their brawn to make it better.

When we come to the Gospel stories about Jesus, we find the same vision. This time the problems are glaringly obvious. Jesus steps into a world where people are hurting. They suffer from physical disease, mental disease, hunger, pain, disability. Jesus goes about making things better. Then he commissions his disciples to carry forward his work.

Today, our worshiped has featured Cypress Adventist School. Faculty and staff, students and parents, we are delighted to have you with us today. We thank you for your work all through the school year. Supporting education is one way we show respect for the amazing gift of intelligence.

God wants all of us to do all we can to cultivate the gift of intelligence he has given us. Then God calls us to participate with him in making the world a better place, a more beautiful place, a healthier place. A happier place.

I was in a book and map store in Wallingford on Thursday morning. It's a dazzling place, full of all kinds of information about all kinds of exotic places all around the world. I was looking for a map for a backpacking trip in Grand Canyon this spring. The young woman helping me asked a few questions about Grand Canyon and we fell into conversation. It seemed pretty obvious that working as a clerk in a map store was not her highest ambition, so I asked her what her dream job would be.

“I'd like to work for a nonprofit in the developing world doing something to improve people's health.”

I asked about her major in college: It was international finance.

The most powerful force in changing the health of communities is raising their economic well-being. When the economy of a society goes up, every other measure of well-being also improves. Which brings together to brilliance of the software engineers who created and sustain Bitcoin and the brilliance and education of the scientists who provide a substitute for the missing glucocerebrosidase in people with Gaucher's disease.

What are you doing with your intelligence? What are you doing to participate in cultivating the intelligence of our young people?

Are you contributing to tuition assistance funds at Cypress Adventist School or other schools where our young people are learning?

Would you do a good job as a volunteer tutor?

Are you providing hospitality support for our student outreach programs, led by Pastor Andreas?

Once a scholar asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment. Jesus' answer:

“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

The lawyer replied,

The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

Our minds, our intelligence, is the most powerful tool humans have. The religious question, the spiritual question is this: what are we doing with the brains God has given us?

Are we making our world better, more beautiful, happier. This is the work of holy brains. For smart people, it is an essential part of loving God and loving people. Don't waste the brains God gave you.