I wonder how you reacted when you heard about 'Big Bang Day' as it was called?

My initial reaction was to think that it was such a huge amount of money to be spending on the kind of research that would not prove or disprove anything!

But during the lead up to it I found myself thinking that it could well be an opportunity for scientists to study in detail some of the crucial questions of the composition and early evolution of our universe. I also realised that this gift of science makes it possible and I was in anticipation at the prospect of knowing a little more about how God did it.

The news from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research a few days ago that, due to a technical fault in the Large Hadron Collider, this piece of research would be put back to early Spring next year means that the anticipation goes on.

I believe that God is not a god of the gaps, but is the One who holds the whole scientific story in existence by enabling the laws of physics to be maintained.   The universe is ordered in an incredible and remarkable way and I am reminded of the words of Psalm 19 when it says: 'the heavens are telling the glory of God and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.'

It is probable that this research will reveal ever deeper structures and pose new questions and the agnostics will have a field day interpreting the findings in a negative way. However great or small the revelation will be, I hold on to my belief that the universe is an intimate expression of God's wisdom and beauty by whatever means He, as its creator, has brought it into being, whether through the Big Bang or not.

I thank God that true religion is not at war with science, and that He gives us the gift of science to discover more about the composition and ordering of the universe and the origin of its mass.

As we stand on the threshold of a new era of scientific discovery, there is so much that is yet to be discovered and revealed. Within that, there lies a challenge - to live with what we do not know about the universe while responding to both the wonders and constraints of it.