Tag Archives: Chaos

Holy Spirit vs Chaos

Living in the Spirit
October 4, 2018

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. –Hebrews 1:1-4

My Sunday school class is exploring the Holy Spirit. After some discussion of the Genesis opening: 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 face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2), one of the participates observed that chaos is the opposite of the Holy Spirit.

We are surviving in a world caught in chaos and we do not know how to what? manage it, defeat it, bring order to it.  I could not swim when I went on my senior trip. At a motel pool where we were staying one of my classmates teasingly propelled me into the deep end of the pool where I flailed around frantically bobbing in and out of the water for what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds when the guilty party grabbed my hand and one of the other girls pushed me toward the side where I was extracted. I had never been more than my arm’s length from the edge as I created my own chaos.

We find ourselves daily, it seems, being drawn into chaos created by others just as we may be creating it for ourselves or others. In many instances, chaos is a smoke screen to keep us from seeing what is really happening in the world about us.

My college required all students to prove they could swim or take swimming as a mandatory course. You can guess where I landed. I did learn the mechanics of swimming, but I never practiced actually breathing and swimming at the same time. I passed the test because by the end of the semester I had gained the ability to hold my breath the length of the pool while turning my head appropriately. I fear we face the chaos of the world in a similar manner, avoidance of the real problems.

After graduating from college, I moved to a town that had great city swimming programs and I saw in the paper they offered a fraidy-cat class for folks like me. I signed up and encountered a kind and understanding, no-nonsense trainer who said she could teach me to swim while breathing at the same time and she did.

We serve a kind and understanding, no-nonsense God who loves us just as we are and can and will save us from the chaos of the world even enable us to help others out of that chaos.

By the way, the Hebrew word for spirit, ruach, and the Greek word for spirit, pneuma, also means wind and breath.

Prayer: Lord, create in us the order of your love so we are not overpowered by the chaos that surrounds us. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Master Plan

Agape loveEastertide
May 16, 2015

Scripture Reading: John 17:6-19

I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. –John 17:9-12

Jesus’ prayer is poignant. He obviously loves his disciples as God loves them, what the Greeks call agape love, but this prayer has a sense of brotherly love in it, the love one sibling has for another. Jesus knows he is releasing these dear people into the world to face it as he has faced it. Historically, we know that the only one that was not lost (the word also could be translated killed or perished) because of their connection to him was John, perhaps the writer of this gospel.

The only disciple that died before Jesus died was, of course, Judas. I fear that the translation of the Greek word apollumi as “lost” calls forth our vision of judgement for Judas more than it recognizes him as one of Jesus’ disciples. In this prayer, Jesus describes Judas as a part of a greater plan. Chronologically this prayer occurs in the gospel of John before the betrayal.

It seems to me that God works most often through the normal aspects of life: weddings where the wine runs out, enough food for all, the return of mental stability, healing at the touch of a garment’s hem. It is a paradox but it seems to be a truth also that God does have a master plan that orders life even in the midst of what appears to be chaos. Paul may have said it best, In Romans 8:28: We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Prayer: Lord, the world continues in chaos to this day. Draw us near to you so that we may not fear what we do not understand but grant us your spirit so that we know you have our backs. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.