The Next Generation will always be my favorite Star Trek series but Deep Space Nine is way up there. DS9 told a story that was so different from every other Star Trek series that both preceded and followed it. DS9 was mostly confined to a space station and showed a darker and less utopian side to the 24th century. At the center of DS9’s gripping story was the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant.
In reality wormholes are theoretical shortcuts through spacetime. In the Star Trek universe wormholes aren’t theoretical and can be found throughout the galaxy. The problem with most of Star Trek’s wormholes is that they are unstable; the shortcut never starts and stops in the same place. The Bajoran wormhole in DS9, though, is stable; it always starts and stops in the same place. No matter how far someone traveled into the Gamma Quadrant there was always a way back.
God is a lot like a stable wormhole; he always provides a way back.
We’re going through the Old Testament with our youth group. This week we looked at the sin and rebellion of Adam, Eve, Cain and everyone on earth other than Noah. Since the beginning of time people have always chosen their own path away from God. The creator of the universe wants to be a part of our lives but we often don’t want him to be a part of our lives. Instead of walking through our days with God we walk away from him altogether.
Though every time we walk away, God always provides a way back.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, God spared them and provided for their needs.
When Cain killed Abel, God provided for and protected him.
When humanity had reached unfathomable levels of wickedness, God preserved life through Noah.
God started the pattern of always providing a way back when we wander off in our sin. That pattern reached its fullness in Jesus Christ, who provided the ultimate way back from our sin. It is because of the grace and mercy poured out on the cross that we can come back no matter how far we wander off.
Which is way better than a stable wormhole, but I wouldn’t mind a trip to the Gamma Quadrant.
How else have you seen God provide a way back, either in your own life or in the Bible?
Nice reflections, Scott. It also occurs to me that God’s stable way back is also, at the same time, a way forward! “Do not consider the former things, or the ways of old; see, I am doing a new thing; even now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?”
God as Wormhole. Love it!
A stable wormhole is also one of those things in Star Trek that should not exist, but does. We can’t explain it, but there it is! To me, this has always reflected a human encounter with something supernatural, or even Divine. We can’t explain it, but we can’t deny it either.