If you haven’t gone to mass or service or Unitarian discussion group yet or if you have gone already or don’t intend to go, here’s something to mull.
Provocative opening shots:
* “In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” — Douglas Adams (1952-2001)
* “Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a Providence to an humble and grateful mind.” — Epictetus (55 – 135)
* “It is with a certain awe,” says William E. Carroll (“Aquinas and the Big Bang,” First Things, November 1999), “we read that magnificent chapter in [Aristotle’s] Metaphysics in which he demonstrates the existence of a Prime Mover and First Principle of all things. That a pagan philosopher, by the unaided light of reason, should acquire so clear a conception of the Godhead in Its unity and simplicity, is marvellous.
…………………….
“[I]n a chapter only less sublime than that we have been contemplating, he clearly asserts the unity and simplicity of God: “The Prime Mover is indivisible; is without parts; and has absolutely no kind of magnitude”{Physics, VIII. xv. § 26}.
. . . . What Aristotle fails to see is the nature and operation of God as Cause. He fails to see that the highest act of causality is creation. He fails to see how the preservative act is a continuation of the causative act.
Creation didn’t happen just once, it keeps happening.
About Aquinas:
* In the thirteenth century . . . scholars such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas wrestled with the implications for Christian theology of the most advanced science of their day — namely, the works of Aristotle and his Muslim commentators, which had recently been translated into Latin.
Following in the tradition of Muslim and Jewish thinkers, Aquinas developed an analysis of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo [from nothing] that remains one of the enduring accomplishments of Western culture. His analysis provides refreshing clarity for our often confused contemporary discussion of the relationship between science and religion.
Then Chesterton, from Orthodoxy:
* My own positive conviction that personal creation is more conceivable than material fate, is, I admit, in a sense, undiscussable. I will not call it a faith or an intuition, for those words are mixed up with mere emotion, it is strictly an intellectual conviction; but it is a PRIMARY intellectual conviction like the certainty of self of the good of living.
A first principle, we might say. Which is hard to argue with, yes. And one man’s insight is another raw impulse. On the other hand . . .
Blithe Spirit 
Thanks for the cliff notes: Aristotle, Aquinas and GK, it’s a privilege to be in their company. I’d say the Holy Spirit was working while you listened.No need to fret about what to say (think), the words (thoughts) came to you. Thank God ,also,for your education.
I once attended a Unitarian memorial service for the mother of an old girlhood friend. It was held in a venue named the Community House. The recessional hymn was Oklahoma. . . . at least they didn’t sing The Internationale. That was another funeral.
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