In the
beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless
and empty, darkness was over the surface of chaos, and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was
light. God saw that the light was good, and he 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. (Genesis 1:1-5)
That text is the beginning of the first creation account in the Hebrew
Bible. I’ll bet that some of you know it almost by heart! If you do, you may
have noticed that the second verse of the creation story is translated a little bit
differently than usual. My own translation says “…darkness was over the surface of chaos”
instead of “…darkness was over the face of the abyss.” There’s a reason for that translation. The Hebrew word in that verse is “tehom,” It means
something that is completely chaotic and out of control. The word is usually
translated as “abyss”; which has the same kind of feel to it, and certainly fits
in the creation story. When I imagine an abyss, I imagine something a
bottomless pit where everything is dark, confused, and chaotic; and that is the
only thing that existed when God decided to create the universe. The point that
I want to make is that from the very beginning of the Bible, God is described
as someone who can control the forces of chaos! As the creation account in
Genesis 1 begins, God summons light – I imagine a hanging workshop light so God
can see what he is doing. Next comes the sky, as God separates the chaotic
waters, making a space for something other than chaos. Now God has a workshop!
Then God creates dry land and day and night; and space and time come into
being. Finally, in his workshop, God creates all the plants and trees, all the
fish and birds, all the animals and creepy-crawlies; and at the very end, God
creates humans! God defeats chaos by controlling it step by step; and all in
only 28 verses of scripture!
That’s not the only place in the Hebrew Bible
that the word “tehom” – chaos – is used; although it’s certainly the most
famous place! The book of Deuteronomy describes God as rescuing God’s people
from another kind of chaos – their slavery in Egypt. As I read this text, you
will hear that God “found Jacob in a barren and chaotic waste.” “Jacob” is a
poetic way to say “God’s people,” “a barren and chaotic waste” is a description
of Egypt, and the rest of the text describes their journey to the land of
promise. In this way, Deuteronomy 32:7-13 describes God’s control of chaos not
as God creates a universe, but as God creates a people.
Remember
the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he
will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. When the Most High
gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all humanity, he set up
boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the Israelites. For the
LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land
God found Jacob, in a barren and chaotic waste. God shielded him and cared for
him; God guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up her
nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and
carries them aloft. The LORD alone led Jacob. God made him ride on the heights
of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. God nourished him with
honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag. (Deuteronomy. 32:7-13)
God creates out of chaos, whether that creation
is a universe or a people. Where there is only darkness, confusion, and
disorganization, God brings light, understanding, and structure. So, why am I telling you this? Who cares,
anyway, what God does with chaos? I tell you this to reassure you; because I
think that all of us could use a lot of reassuring right now! We are all in the
midst of so much chaos that it is almost overwhelming just to name it. Over
100,000 people have died in our country alone as a result of COVID-19; and that
number is nearly 4 times as great worldwide. Because of the public health
sanctions that were put in place to protect the most vulnerable members of our
society, the nationwide unemployment rate is hovering around 20%. Last week
alone nearly 2 million people filed
for unemployment benefits for the first time. Our health care system is
crumbling under its own weight; and because so many people are denied health
insurance; the rising cost of medical care is a huge factor in bankruptcy
filings. And that’s only the medical news. During the past weeks, we have come
face-to-face with the effect of racism in our country. People of color are
afraid to interact with the police, to go jogging, even to go bird watching because
they fear for their lives. This past week, peaceful assemblies protesting that
racism were met with riot police, with tear gas, and with rubber bullets; while
some people joined those assemblies not to protest peacefully, but to riot, to loot,
and to incite violence. And I haven’t even mentioned the global warming that is
heating us up like an oven! It’s all too much! I don’t know about you, but it
makes me want to roll up in a blanket like a cocoon and hide in my bedroom.
Let’s consider that cocoon for just a moment.
Cocoons may offer a place to hide for us human beings, but they are an
essential part of the life process for moths and butterflies. You all know that
moths and butterflies start out life as caterpillars. When you come upon a
caterpillar one hot summer day, it is probably creeping along a plant, drinking
the sap and chewing on the leaves. But one day, it will stop eating and spin a
cocoon; and in that cocoon it will change completely! And what comes out of a
cocoon but a beautiful butterfly that bears no resemblance to the caterpillar
that went in. How in the world does that happen? Well… I don’t know for sure.
What I DO know is that if we would open a cocoon in the middle of that process,
we would see neither a caterpillar nor a butterfly, but a chaotic mess of goo.
Every single caterpillar has to go through chaos before it turns into a
butterfly! At the risk of being trite, there is a lesson here. God does God’s
best creative work in the midst of chaos. The universe was created out of
primeval chaos. The community of God’s people, the Israelites, was created out
of the chaos of slavery. The early Christian church was created in the midst of
the chaos of Roman persecution. Is it possible that out of the chaos that
surrounds us now, God is forming us into something new, as different from what
we were in the past as a butterfly is from a caterpillar?
I believe that’s exactly what’s going on right
now! I trust the Spirit too much to believe that God has left us alone in our
misery, choosing to punish us for the sins of our past. Oh, we are surely
reaping what we sowed! The consequences of what we do always catch up to us!
But through the chaos of those consequences, God is offering us a better way
forward! If you look hard, you can catch glimpses of it, through all the bad
news that is offered up daily by TV, radio, and Facebook. Here’s a great
example! When last week’s protest in Troy, Ohio threatened to become
disorderly, a young black man named Arik Viney used a police radio to plead for
the protesters to calm down and remain peaceful. Young black men are rarely
portrayed in the media as peacemakers; but this time, the media that covered
the event focused on his positive example! His words were heeded, by the way,
and the demonstration remained peaceful. But what about the economy? While unemployment may be
skyrocketing, small businesses have become incredibly creative in marketing
their products and adapting them to current needs. That creativity is leading
to employment in places that we never imagined! Although behemoth retailers
like J C Penney and Neiman-Marcus are filing for bankruptcy, many small
businesses who are committed to helping the environment are thriving despite
the economic downturn. And scientists tell us that the air and water around the
world is noticeably cleaner following the global shutdown after the appearance
of COVID-19. The canals of Venice, known for their filth, are now clear and
have fish living in them again! It is not inevitable that we ruin our
environment; we just need to have the will to do something about it!
Right now, we are in a cocoon; and we are
surrounded by chaotic goo that is neither caterpillar nor butterfly. It’s an
uncomfortable place. We don’t like chaos. We like structure in our lives, even
if it is structure that binds and pinches and hurts like shoes that are a size
too small. Is it possible that in the middle of this chaos, God is saying,
“Enough is enough! Take off those shoes that don’t fit anymore! Out of the
chaos that you are experiencing right now, I will create something much better
than the past – so much better, in fact, that you can’t even imagine what it
will look like!” As we have trusted God in the past, I invite you to trust God
once again, and to echo what the psalmist wrote: Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, you who have done
great things. Who is like you, O God? Though you have made me see troubles, many
and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the chaos of the earth you
will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.
(Psalm 71:19-21)
May it be so, gracious God. May it be so. Amen.
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