I like patterns.
As an electrician working with my dad, I saw the patterns in electrical currents. As a biologist I saw the patterns in nature, in both plants and animals.
As a chemist, I saw the patterns in atomic and molecular science. As a pastor, I see the patterns throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.!
In nature, we see the Fibonacci spirals (a mathematical formula where every number is the sum of the two previous numbers, i.e., 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.) in sunflowers, nautilus shells and pinecones. We see the hexagons in honeycombs, the fractals in Romanesco broccoli, the hexagonal lattice in a snowflake, the iridescent eyespots on a peacock’s tail, the body stripes on a zebra, and the intricate webs of spiders which all are deeply rooted in mathematics, science, and survival.
In fact, all those patterns give evidence of a mind at work. They are for me the best evidence for the existence of a loving God. The Psalmist wrote, “How clearly the sky reveals God's glory. How plainly it shows what he has done.”
We’ve read through the Bible, taking a book every week, and now we’re reading through the Bible more slowly in Sunday school. Verse-by-verse the Old Testament lays the foundation for the redemption of God’s world. In worship, the New Testament chapter-by-chapter tells the story of Jesus in the gospels and then tells the story of the church in the epistles or letters.
It’s like peeling back the layers of an onion or a cabbage — both of which follow the Fibonacci sequence.
We peeled back the Bible and found the testaments. We peeled back the testaments and found the books. Now, we’re peeling back the books to find the chapters and verses uncovering the patterns at every level of the Word of God — going deeper and deeper into our faith.
For instance, the epistles, written by several authors over several decades, appear in three groups.
The first group from Romans to Galatians focuses on the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second group from Ephesians to Philemon focuses on the church which is the body of Christ. The third group from Hebrews to Revelation focuses on the battle between good and evil.
So, we have four gospels and four epistles focusing on the gospel, and we have nine letters focusing on the church and nine letters focusing on the battle with good and evil.
And now we’ve come to the “church group” and Paul begins the first letter in the “church group” in Ephesians.
“From Paul, who by God’s will is an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God’s people in Ephesus, who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus: ‘May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.’” — Ephesians 1: 1, 2
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
