IN MY previous column I have stated that we are a layman or laywoman not only inside the church but outside the church as well, in our social and political life. To be a layman is to be a beginner, a learner, unskilled, because it means getting in touch with your own self, where in the same time you get in touch with the divine. This is a lifetime process for the ordinary man, skilled or unskilled, professional or non-professional.

The French Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), who was a scientist and theologian in the same time, did an extensive research on the world as God's creation. Teilhard came to the conclusion that God is present in the world through his Spirit and that he continues his creation through the individual efforts of all men in order to bring his creation to completion.

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When you hear this statement of Teilhard the Chardin it sounds beautiful but at first sight it has little meaning for us laymen. But for Teilhard de Chardin these words had real meaning.

To start with man himself, God created man with the capacity to work with a free will and according to his own imagination and vision. Through his work and through all his individual actions, good or bad, man himself could create and thus become a co-creator with God the Creator himself. With every human being that comes into the world creation starts anew. As a geologist and paleontologist Chardin studied the mysteries of the earth and the ancient remains of the plant- and animal-world and for him the human being was the crown on GodÆs creation, a creature equal to his very own being. That is the meaning of the saying: God created man in his own image and likeness.

Of course, it was not only science that brought Teilhard de Chardin to this discovery. Teilhard was in the same time a theologian with great faith and in that sense he was truly a Christian. Through that faith he saw the interconnection between matter, the human soul and the Risen Christ. He saw God's grand design of bringing his work of creation to its fullness in the final Reign of God. We human beings are working like atoms, but very real, adding a small particle to the total building up of the Kingdom of God in this world.

As Christians we were privileged to get to know Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God, our Redeemer. Thus we are privileged to see this grand design of God in its fullness. But even non-Christians as human beings are able to see that they are born creators. The Jews, the chosen people of God from the Old Covenant, have Yahweh as their God. And our Muslim brothers and sisters, inspired by the great prophet Mohammed, have Allah as their God.

Again, it is good to remember that we are layman and laywoman also outside the church and therefore, we are co-creators also when we get involved in social and political life. Through our involvement in the elections of 2010, either as voters or as candidates, we are building up the Reign of God in our midst. (For your comments email: arnvv@yahoo.com)