The Story of an Artist, a Scientist and a Clergyman

An Artist, a Scientist and a Clergyman began bumping into each other regularly, although these meetings were never arranged.

The Clergyman met the Artist first and they became friends, talking about politics, war, religion, society and, particularly, art. The Clergyman then met a Scientist and they talked about religion faith and, particularly, science.

The Artist and the Clergyman shared their own expertise with each other, shedding light on the others' passions. The Artist explaining about the great artists and their styles, the Clergyman explaining the scenes of religious paintings.

At thier first encounter the Scientist challenged the Clergyman about beliefs in God in the face of suffering. The Clergyman admitted to also being challenged by such thoughts but said that faith is not always about knowing everything. This surprised the Scientist whose profession was to know everything about everything but who noticed that there were some things which could not be fully explained. The Scientist and the Clergyman talked more and discovered a shared interest in the origins of the Universe. The Scientist was surprised to hear that the faith of Clergyman did not depend on Six days of Creation. Eventually the Scientist and the Clergyman talked about a Big Bloke in the Sky.

One day the Scientist had mentioned to the Clergyman that he had heard of an abbot who suggested to his novices that they have three books on the go at once: one a spiritual book, one a book on a hobby and the other a novel. The Clergyman agreed that this would be a great idea and accepted the Scientists offer of a book called "Physics of the Impossible" by physicist Michio Kaku. The Clergyman offered "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian McLaren. A matter of weeks later the Scientist and Clergyman bumped into each other and both declared they were enjoying the books that they had swapped. "Who knows", said the Scientist as they left each other "I may become born again!". The Clergyman laughed out loud.

Some weeks later another book swap occurred while the Clergyman happened to be talking to the Artist. The Clergyman gave the Scientist a novel, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, which was reciprocated by a copy of a book showing how Art has influenced Science and vice versa, Cosmic Imagery by John Barrow. The Artist was naturally very interested in the latter and, for the first time, the three had an open conversation about spirituality. The Clergyman also gave the Artist the book on Jesus.

The following week the Scientist gave the Artist a book about Christian meditation with the Clergyman nowhere in sight!

Where will this story end? Who is pulling all these things together?
No idea how this story will end, but isn't it interesting how far a converation will take you.