June 7, 2020: Between Chaos and Creation
Between Chaos and Creation
Genesis 1:1-5
Rev. Dr. Rhonda Blevins
June 7, 2020
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. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
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Today I begin a summer series I’ve entitled, “The Summer Between: Adventures in Liminality.” Liminality is a state of transition between one stage and the next. This Summer of 2020 seems like liminal time to me, particularly as we emerge from lockdown due to a pandemic, but before a second wave that many experts predict. There are other ways I sense we’re living in liminal time this summer. But before we get too far into that, let’s consider the liminality of creation itself as depicted in the first chapter of Genesis.
We just read that on the first day, God created light, and separated it from the darkness. Genesis 1 goes on to tell us:
• On the second day, God created the sky.
• On the third day, God created the sea, and the earth with plants of all kinds.
• On the fourth day, God created the sun, the moon and the stars.
• On the fifth day, God created the birds of the air and the creatures of the sea.
• On the sixth day, God created land animals and God created humankind.
• On that sixth day, God looked at everything God had made and decided it was very good.
• Then, on the seventh day, God enjoyed a staycation.
But before there was creation as we know it, there was darkness as well as what the NRSV calls a “formless void.” Like how my husband looks sometimes when I try to talk to him. Or what my teenager’s room looks like. Or, for a more refined example, think of a lump of clay before it takes shape in the skilled hands of the potter. “Formless void.” Other translations use the words: empty, barren, desolate, waste. It’s hard to conceive of what was before what is. This “formless void” is translated from the ancient Hebrew tohu wa-bohu (תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ). Modern Hebrew translates it simply as “chaos.”
We know something of chaos during this “Summer Between,” don’t we?
We know something of natural chaos:
• We know something of the chaos that comes with living in the middle of a pandemic. The disruption. The turbulence. The hoarding of supplies like toilet paper (which I still don’t understand).
• Living in Florida, many of us know something of the chaos that ensues when a hurricane is heading our way, or worse, we know what kind of chaos a hurricane can leave behind.
We know about internal chaos:
• We know what it’s like to be confused, the chaos created when we don’t know who we can trust. Or after a major life event when our lives have been turned upside down. What do we do next? Where can I find some clarity?
• We understand the internal chaos from fear and anxiety. I’ve spoken in recent weeks with people terrified of coronavirus or fearful about the economy or both.
And we know something about civic chaos.
• These past couple of weeks we’ve witnessed the widespread outrage over George Floyd’s death in police custody. Peaceful protests turning to riots. Government’s reaction turning to overreaction. Civic chaos.
• And let us not forget the civic chaos we endure every four years when we hold a presidential election. The ginned-up outrage. The sparks of animosity fanned into flames.
Welcome to 2020! The year of chaos. All we need now are something like “murder hornets” to complete the chaos. Oh, really? We’ve got those too? 2020: the year of chaos. Tohu wa-bohu.
If you agree with my assessment that 2020 is a year of chaos (and even if you don’t agree with me), why, I wonder, are we so surprised when order devolves into chaos? We know that creation was born out of chaos—we learn that in the very first chapter in the very first book of the Bible. It’s also true, just for fun, in Greek mythology where we find “Chaos” as the first created being. Everyone—everything—is born out of chaos. Chaos is the primordial stew of creation. We’re all children of chaos. Moreover, God is the creator of chaos.
But God doesn’t leave things in chaos. Do you remember the first thing God does to subdue the chaos? God speaks, “Let there be light!” And there was twilight and there was dawn, to mark a regular pattern of liminality between darkness and light, chaos and order. Both created by God, both inhabited by God.
This week I watched a TedTalk by a physicist talking about chaos theory. He helped me understand the benefits of chaos, that chaos can be healthy and empowering. He used the example of the human heart with its measurable degree of chaos in its rhythm, which may have given us an evolutionary advantage.
Imagine we have gone back in time and we are hunter/gatherers out foraging for food—our hearts are at a resting heartrate. Then we spot a saber-toothed tiger. What happens to our hearts? They shift from a resting heartrate to a rapid heartrate on a dime. That’s difficult for non-chaotic systems. Chaos can save our lives by allowing our heart to react to a changing environment. We need regularity with our heartrate for daily living, but we also need some amount of chaos. This mix of chaos and regularity is a balance we might call “the edge of chaos.” In science and systems, this “edge of chaos” tends to create optimal outcomes.
Even though chaos can be beneficial, we tend to eschew chaos. We reject it. We label chaos “bad.” We don’t like it. We prefer our resting heartrate, thank you very much. We like our daylight and our sunshine. It’s why we like winters in Florida for crying out loud. Chaos, darkness, tohu wa-bohu . . . no-hu thank you-hu!
But let us not forget, God is in the chaos, creating whatever comes next. Everything that is—all things bright and beautiful—was born of chaos.
So when we look around and all we see is chaos, we must remember that God is up to something. God is in the potter’s studio, ready to make something beautiful out of the lump of clay. Chaos today. Light tomorrow.
What’s our role in the chaos?
We are to join God in the chaos. We are to become co-creators with God. And as co-creators with God, we get to have a part in shining light into chaos.
What does it look like to shine light into chaos here on planet earth?
Someone was telling me this week about a friend who lives in Minneapolis in the neighborhood where peaceful protests turned into riots, perhaps with the help of outside agitators. This person participated in an impromptu neighborhood homeowners meeting. These residents gathered together in daylight in a public park, neighbors who had never spoken before now working together to save their own homes as well as each other’s homes. Together, the residents of the neighborhood decided to resist those who would do damage to their property using non-violent means. They filled buckets with water so they could work together to put out fires. They took turns keeping watch throughout the night. And then, there was the light. Recognizing those who would do harm were doing so only under the cover of darkness, the neighbors decided to light up the neighborhood. They turned on porch lights. They used shop lights to illumine dark alleys. They strung up Christmas lights around an empty house. Together, they worked to shine light into the chaos.
And that’s what we’re all called to do. To recognize God in the chaos, and to join with God in creating light.
Whenever chaos comes near you this week, shine the light of Christ there, between chaos and creation.
I close with the prayer of St. Francis to further help us understand our marching orders:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen
[1] Andrew Maris, “What Jurassic Park Gets Wrong
About Chaos Theory,” TedX Talks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD1M2DkrI4c.