ORDER OUT OF CHAOS

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the waters.”  - Genesis 1:1-2

I love this awesome story of creation from Genesis.  It is one of the foundational stories of biblical faith.  I will share with you this morning what power, I believe, this story has for life.  But before I do, I will touch on a larger issue this scripture passage raises. 

 Christians often turn this scripture into an issue of contention.  The world-wide Christian church is not of one mind, and never will be on this side of heaven, when it comes to the interpretation of this story, and I might add, numerous other issues of faith and life. 

 There is a spectrum of interpretation when it comes to this story.  At one end of the spectrum are those who interpret this scripture quite literally, saying it is an actual scientific and historical account of creation that occurred over a period of seven earth days.  At the other end of the spectrum are those who say this story is not a scientific or historical record of creation, but a story that functions more like a parable or metaphor affirming key theological truths.  And there are others who take various positions somewhere along the spectrum between the two ends.

 Should we be surprised by that?  We often act is if we are!  We are sometimes scandalized by other faithful believers who do not come to the same conclusions about certain things as we do.  But, I doubt there is much of anything that everyone is this room could agree on this morning, other than Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.  I’m with the apostle Paul when he says in Romans 10:9, “…if you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” For Paul that was the center and nothing else. Paul made no mention in Romans that we must all agree on everything from a political party to a particular view on scriptural interpretation.   Paul put the lordship of Jesus at the center and nothing else. 

 What is unfortunate is that we drag into the center our particular views  on issues and things, and sometimes we advance our views so far as to condemn other faithful believers who have seriously and prayerfully considered the same issues and arrived at different conclusions.  At that point, meaningful dialog, healthy debate and mutually respectful disagreement ceases, and we arrogantly retreat into our camps pointing fingers of judgment and scorn.  Of all the people on this earth, Christians ought to be people who model how to get along with differences, but often we are very poor witnesses when it comes to respectful disagreement within the body of Christ.

 We know what can happen?  You may have read about the pastor a few weeks ago on the east coast somewhere, (North or South Carolina - somewhere out there), who dismissed nine members of his congregation because they voted for John Kerry.  The pastor displayed an attitude of exclusivity, narrow-mindedness and disrespect that is the anti-thesis of what Jesus Christ is all about, and who we are to be as God’s people; the church; the body of Christ. 

 I have very definite views on everything from politics to a plethora of social issues. I apply my Christian Faith to virtually all these issues.  However, I will never use this pulpit to suggest to you that unless you adopt a particular viewpoint that is harmonious with mine, you are not authentically Christian, or at best a second class citizen in the kingdom of God. To do so would be blasphemous to the truth of the gospel. This is a setting of worship where we gather in word and sacrament to celebrate the reconciling and saving work of God in Jesus Christ – that truth which supersedes all of our diversity and disagreement and brings us together confessing and acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior.

I believe all the boiling debate about the scientific and historical authenticity of this story distracts us to the point that we overlook the real power and truth of this story.

 A hobby of mine is creating and managing websites.  A few years ago I created a website for a friend and her business, but after a while her site grew to the point that it became too time consuming, so I gave it up.  I logged on to her website last Friday and saw that it had been completely transformed from the work I had done.  I really liked the new presentation, much better than what I had done, so I sent her an email saying how much I liked the new design of her website.

 Within hours I got a rather frantic and harried reply pouring out her heart at how totally chaotic things were in her life right now: recovering from surgery, battling warranty issues on car repairs, feeling overwhelmed by her work, her house and office were a mess - chaos had set in and she was quickly sinking in it.  

Chaos!  To understand this Genesis story we need to see it from the perspective of an ancient Hebrew world view. The ancient Hebrews who first read this story believed that the world originated from a watery abyss, "the deep."   “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the waters.”  (Genesis 1:1-2)

To the ancients the oceans were the domain of sea monsters, sometimes known as chaos monsters. The waters of oceans and seas were the dark and fearful abode of chaos.  Knowing this we can begin to understand the powerful and profound influence this story must have had upon them, for here is their God, at the beginning of the universe, busy at work subduing the very abode they feared. From the very beginning God was about the business of transforming chaos and ordering it in such a way that life and goodness was the result. This is the nature of the creative power of God, and a key truth of this story. To worship God the Creator meant to affirm that God had transforming power over all chaos. Beginning with nothing but the raw material of chaos, little by little, day by day, God pushed back the disorder and chaos until God’s great good work was completed. It was truly a labor of love that sprung from the awesome imagination and creative energy of God.

Think what power this story must have had for those people, particularly at those times when their lives and nation seemed to be sinking in chaos, especially from oppressors and invaders that periodically overran them: the Egyptians; the Assyrians; the Babylonians; the Greeks; the Romans – to name a few.  A major aspect of the history of God’s people in the Old Testament is a history of war and invasion and the ensuing chaos.

But they confessed a Creator God who did not will for chaos and evil to rule permanently, but they believed in the power of their Creator God to restore order and goodness.  And also for them, God’s creative activity was ongoing, not just something way back at the beginning. 

I believe we see evidence of God’s ongoing creative activity all around us.  In spite of the ways we violate and wreak havoc on the environment and even our own bodies, God has built in an incredible mechanism for life to renew itself time and again.  On a personal note, I am amazed that I can have 16 screws, two rods and a plate in my spine, and can stand before you here this morning relatively pain free.  It is not merely a testimony to human technology, but an even more glorious testimony to the renewing and healing energy that God has put within the human body with help from sound technology.

It’s no different with planetary issues of environment and ecosystems.  If we exercise wisdom and prudence, and apply sound environmental principles, the earth does have the ability to renew itself because behind it stands the ongoing creative energy of an awesome Creator God.  But if we choose sinful self-indulgence and short-sighted exploitation, we also have the power to decimate the planet.   

On Saturday I received another email from my friend.  She was doing better.  The warranty issues were resolved.  She invited a friend over and to help her get some things organized.  As a result of yielding to the outside power of a friend, a little goodness and order was returning to her chaos.

That’s exactly the truth of this story and a thematic thread that weaves its way through the entirety of scripture, repeating over and over again. 

After creation, it didn't take long and chaos the chaos was making inroads back into the picture. In Genesis 3 we read about Adam and Eve, who present the repeating human story of every age and every life. It was through their sin and disobedience that chaos made inroads back into the picture, casting all their relationships into chaos: with God; with each other; and with the earth.  When they yielded to the Creator, a measure of order and goodness returned.  The Bible is the repeating story about God's continued and ongoing creative efforts to push back and subdue the chaos that human sin and evil introduces, just like God did at the very beginning.

Have you ever had a computer virus?  I remember a few years ago our church office computer was invaded by a virus. It was a subtle and devious thing, making its way through the files and folders of the hard drive. Just about the time I was confident that I had purged the system, it would pop up in another place and begin to wreak its chaos and havoc. For two days I waged a heroic battle against the chaos, time and again purging the virus from the system only to have it come back in another place. After two days I waved a white flag of surrender and yielded to a higher power, our computer guru Tim Patrick, who took it home and was able to restore order and goodness from the chaos.

To me that incident is a good analogy of the power and truth of this scripture. If there's one thing we all know and have experienced, it is that chaos is never very far away. It's always just lurking around the corner, prowling and sneaking around looking for an opportunity to intrude and cast life into disarray and confusion. It never stops. It never tires. It's insidious and incessant!

We could say there are all forms of viruses around us and in us whose purpose it is to invade and bring chaos: spiritual, emotional, physical, social, and economic chaos.

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art there is a sculpture entitled "The Hand of God" by the French sculptor Rodin (1840-1917). It is the sculpture of a hand, strong and sensitive, working with a lump of clay, fashioning a man and woman out of the inordinate, chaotic mass. It's an artistic testimony to our Creator God who brings incredible expression of life and order and goodness out of chaos - our God who uses the raw material of chaos to create goodness.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses another of Rodin's works entitled "The Hand of the Devil." The hands of the two pieces are essentially the same. But where the hand of God is creating humanity from a lump of clay, the hand of the devil is working to distort and destroy the human shape in its grasp.

It's unfortunate that these two sculptures cannot be displayed side by side, best portraying this tension within which we all live: on the one had the pervasive power of chaos; and on the other hand the creative, redeeming power of God.

People are flocking in record numbers to see the sixth and final movie in the 30 year old Star War Saga. One of the main underlying themes of the Star Wars series from the very beginning has been the cosmic struggle between the powers of good and evil; chaos and creativity.

You are I are subject to that same struggle. We are involved. We are caught up in it everyday. It runs right down the middle of our lives.  This past week has seemed to be a particularly tough one for a whole bunch of people that have crossed paths with me. The list of reasons is long: work issues; interpersonal conflicts; school issues; family issues; consequences of choices made, health issues; loss; grief; a sense of betrayal were among the lamentations I heard this week. It seemed as if the power of chaos was making significant inroads.

It’s exactly at those times, when we are feeling at the mercy of chaotic powers bigger than us, that we need to recall the truth of our faith that our God is hard at work subduing the chaos. Just as our Creator God little by little brought order, goodness and purpose using the raw material of chaos, so God promises to work for the same result in your life and mine as we yield to our Creator God.

As Christians we proclaim that the greatest defeat of chaos stands at the very center of our faith. The cross of Jesus Christ hangs high above us in this sacred place.  It reminds us that even when chaos unleashed its unbridled power and hideous might against God's only Son - it could not prevail.

In the face of whatever way chaos has made its way into your life right now, know this: all of your problems will likely not be magically solved. You may have to continue to live with a good deal of the wreckage left in chaos' wake. But know that your awesome creator God, through his only Son Jesus Christ, can even use the raw material of chaos to create hope; new purpose; new insights and wisdom; a rekindled love; a second chance; the promise of a future.

It's God's tireless labor of love.

In the beginning, the Creator shaped chaos into goodness.

Later, in Jesus Christ, God transformed the chaos of a hideous cross to an instrument of grace and salvation.

In your life and mine, right now, God promises no less.  Amen.