Miracle?

We were talking in the Youth meeting tonight about Epiphany. We centered the discussion around the Wise Men scenes in the movie The Nativity.

If you've seen the movie, you may remember that the Star over Bethlehem is explained by the conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and a star, making a bright star appear. That started me wondering -- Do I like that kind of explanation? Is it comforting to have miraculous events explained to us? Does it make faith easier or harder?

Is it easier to believe that the 5000 were fed with meager loaves and fishes if you believe that the miracle was that everyone shared what they brought rather than Jesus causing extra food to spring from scarcity?

Is it a shorter leap of faith to think that the parting of the Red Sea for Moses was some kind of climactic change rather than miraculous parting of water?

Are we more likely to believe that Peter escaped from prison because the locks were rusting?

I think that I don't want the miracles explained. I think I want to continue to believe in the mysterious. God does work throught the natural world, and there may be some easy explanation to what we think are miracles, but I don't need the explanation. I like the mystery.