God At Work

In Baja, the Mexican peninsula just off the southern tip of California, strange things are happening with whales.

Ever since first known by humans, whales have occupied a vast landscape in our mythology, culture, and practical life. Researchers have discovered that whales' brains, like human brains, hold large concentrations of what are called "spindle cells." These cells in human brains are known as the cells that make us human. They play a role in higher intelligences like self-awareness, sense of compassion, and language expression. Whales, however, evolved these cells 15 million years before human beings did.

There is just something about whales; we've revered them, been in awe of them, sensed a deep mystery in their astonishing intelligence, and slaughtered them nearly to the point of extinction. Over the centuries whales learned that human beings couldn't to be trusted. They became
fiercely protective of their young in our presence; have learned to avoid places where humans are found; and fight back powerfully when threatened.

But off the coast of Baja California, grey whales are now swimming up to boats, traveling along side these boats for miles on end, inviting people to lean over and scratch them, and literally introducing their young offspring to awestruck onlookers. Hundred-ton whales dawdle beside these boats and actively seek eye contact with anyone who dares to look them directly in the
eye. The increase in this behavior relates directly to the general end of commercial whaling. People who witness these interactions - who have looked into the enormous, soul-filled eyes of a grey whale - come away from such contacts, as they report, changed forever.

I have a number of wildlife biologist friends. Folks like this who study wildlife strongly resist the human tendency to "anthropomorphize" wild animals. They say that comparing wild animal behavior and consciousness to that of human beings, is a big mistake. Yet Toni Frohoff, a wildlife biologist and an expert on whales, says after studying these astonishing interactions, "I'd put my professional career on the line and... say that these whales are... actively seeking and engaging in a form of communication." She asserts, as a trained scientist, that whales clearly
show evidence of emotions like joy, anger, frustration, and distress, as well as the ability to be self-aware, use tools, and form complex friendships and protective alliances. In her careful, scientific way of speaking, she offers the view that this new behavior on the part of these
whales is - get ready for this - an act of forgiveness.

Forgiveness: this is God at work. A scientist might not put it that way, but I have no difficulty in believing that this is so. This is how vast, and awesome, and united God's house is. We cannot build a house big enough or grand enough to contain this kind of wonder. This is God saying, "Not only are all people my children; all of my creatures are my children. And if you don't believe me, get on a boat and float out into a lagoon in Baja; look one of my grey whale children right in the eye. Experience that whale coming into a new understanding of who you are; that you are, as she is, a child with whom I am well pleased."

[from a sermon by Alan Parker, Pastor of the United Church of Craftsbury (UCC); posted on PRCL-L@LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU #2009-567]