Do you keep a calendar? Or some kind of schedule to help keep track of your life and the commitments you make? What do you feel when you look at that weekly to-do list?
Sometimes I feel important. Look at all I have to do and all who are depending on me! More often, however, I feel a bit of dread. Look at all I have to do! And as I attempt to go about completing the list, more gets added. Surprises arise. Chaos ensues. The world, it feels, conspires against me.
At the beginning, in Genesis 1, we are told there was nothingness, a void. I guess that is the opposite of my full calendar. But then God swept over the face of the waters and started to put things in an order. First, light. Then, sky and water and land. After six days, God looked at this ordered creation and considered it very good. Good enough to stop creating for a moment and rest and just soak it all in.
At the beginning of the gospel of John, the author has a similar view of creation but puts his emphasis on the source of such a very good creation. The author labels this source “the Word.” Brian McLaren labels it as logic. This logic is the key, the Rosetta Stone, for understanding the purpose of flowers, birds, mountains, trees, stars, and you and me. And it is essential for finding a path out of chaos to wholeness and rest.
And chaos is the link between Genesis 1 and John 1. In Genesis, disorder is put into order through the word/logic of God. In John, the logic of God enters the chaotic world as a human – Jesus, to a place – Nazareth, and to a people – Israel. And those people who had strained to do everything possible to please the God of creation in large part missed him. Were they too busy to notice? Too important to be bothered?
We modern people tend to find our value based on the state of our busyness. Often our conversations begin around stating how busy we are. We may sound frustrated, but we wear it like a badge of honor. Look how important I am! The world around me wouldn’t function without the strain and toil I give! But often such toil doesn’t lead to our flourishing. It leads to bitterness and exhaustion. And for what? To toil more? Ecclesiastes labels such a posture as pure vanity. A chasing after the wind. Pointless.
God’s creative work has a point. And it leads him to a moment of sabbath when he can rest by enjoying what he has created. Isn’t that what we really want, too? Work that leads to fulfillment and joy? A part of who we are is wrapped up in how we contribute to the world in which we are placed. A flourishing world leads to a flourishing life and vice-versa. But when our work doesn’t contribute to a healthy society, we become disappointed, discouraged, and even depressed.
Light and life followed Jesus, the logic of God, wherever he went. And to many his logic seemed too gratuitous. He ate with sinners, partied with tax collectors, let women anoint his feet with costly oil, and paid attention when children, leapers, and foreigners came near. None of his attention was in an effort to gain approval from the institutions of his day. But all he did pleased God, his father. It even led a Roman guard to proclaim that, “surely he was the son of God.”
We too are God’s children. Can others tell?
- Where do you see logic and order in our present day?
- Where do you see disorder and chaos?
- Who or what is responsible?
liminalpilgrim 