The Mad Scientist and the Apple Tree

Today, I want to tell you a story about a man called Isaac. One reason is that he was born on Christmas Day. What a terrible day to be born- you either got birthday presents or Christmas presents, but certainly not both! He was a bit like me,something of a mad scientist; if you look at his picture on the children's page of our web site, you will see that glint in his eyes- he looks every inch a mad scientist.  And he would have fitted right in with the wise men- he was always making his own telescopes, and writing little papers about the movement of the stars and planets, or why the  things on his desk looked particular colours. But this story is about the end of summer; Isaac had put on his old clothes, and he was lying on the grass in the cool shade of an old apple tree, thinking of all sorts of wonderful inventions. It was a very hot day, and I think he must have dropped off to sleep. But suddenly, there was a CRACK; it sounded as if someone had hit him with a big hammer. OUCH! He felt his head. MY, it was sore, and there was an ugly great lump coming there. Then he saw the big red apple. He wondered, was there a bear up in the tree throwing things at him? Then he woke up properly, and he realized he wasn't living in Squamish. This was Lincolnshire. The only bears were Paddington and Winnie the Pooh. And they were nice, kind bears; they didn't throw apples at people.

Suddenly, there was another KUPLONK, and a second big apple hit the ground. And then another. "I guess I wasn't too smart to lie under this tree when the fruit was ripe," he thought. And then he began to wonder- why DO the apples always fall downwards? Why don't some of them fly UP into the tree? He looked again, and he saw more apples; they were all falling in the same direction. Then he had a brainwave. "I know," he said, "God must have made the world in such a way that there is a strong force that always draws apples- and anything else that is heavy- towards the earth." So he put on his best trousers, and pulled a big silver wig over that ugly bruise on his head, and off he rushed to the Mad Scientists Society in London. He told them all about his discovery. "Brilliant!" they cried- "we'll name it after you- we'll call it Isaac Newton's Universal law of Gravity."

Now I don't think he really was the first person to discover that heavy things fall towards the ground. Jesus knew all about it too. One day, he was wondering how to get people's attention, and he had a bright idea. "Why, if I jump off one of those high towers in the temple, God will make a big miracle to save me. I shall float gently down to the ground, and everyone will know that I am someone special." But then he thought and prayed about it some more, and he realized that God's world could only work with fixed rules, like the first law of gravity. If he jumped off a tall tower, he would fall to the ground and kill himself. God couldn't alter the rules for him, or for anyone else. What would happen if you jumped off the garden step, and sometimes, instead of landing on the lawn, you went sailing upwards into space? How would you get home for lunch? One of the things we do when we pray is learn to live with the rules God has set for the universe.

Many years after Sir Isaac Newton, a Russian astronaut called Yuri Gagarin

defied the force of gravity, as he used a great big rocket to send him sailing off into space. He was very proud of himself, and he started bragging that he didn't see any God up in the sky, as he whirled around the earth. But when it was time to bring his spacecraft back to earth, I think he was pretty glad that God's first law of gravity that Isaac had discovered was pulling him back down to the ground.

Astronauts can't alter God's rules, and neither can we! We might sit under a heavily laden apple tree and say a long prayer asking God to feed the hungry people of the world. But God's law of gravity will still bring those apples crashing to the ground around us, and pretty soon they will either rot or be eaten by a bear. If we stop praying for a moment and listen, I think God is telling us to get to our feet, find a basket, pick up those apples, and take them ourselves to those who are hungry.

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Dear God, Thank you for giving us a world with rules that make it such a special place. Help us to see how we can work within your rules to make it an even more wonderful place for all who live in it. AMEN