When in Ministry one of my favourite activities was setting up and running a Church Tent at a County Show. I was involved with the Devon County Show, the Royal Cornwall Show, the South of England Show and then the Staffordshire County Show over very many years.
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A day or two before the Show
a team would arrive with a van load of equipment, gazebo’s, decorations,
covers, flags, banners, catering equipment and all sorts of bit and pieces.
This was then dumped in the
middle of the marquee, a huge pile of ‘stuff.’
Then the work of sorting and building and creating a special space began.
After several hours of hard work all
this stuff began to take an ordered form. The display, the catering area, a
small staff room where volunteers could put their bags securely while serving. Very
often, a dedicated Prayer Space or Quiet Area, often a boon to
nursing mums. Order, beauty, creativity and functionality brought out of this
pile of ‘stuff.’ (I often thought about the Israelites building the Tabernacle)
Interestingly I spotted a flyer
in the café where we have just been having lunch. A lady is offering her
services to help other ladies sort out their clothes, to be their personal
stylist. The flyer said, your personal stylist will help to make getting dressed
in the morning a breeze, because all your wardrobe will be sorted and you will
know what goes well with what and what suits you the best given the circumstances
you are going into.
On Wednesday of last week, I took part in some initial training with Futures Unlocked. This is a charity with an active base in Rugby who seek to help prisoners upon release.
https://www.futuresunlocked.org/
It was noted that those in
prison are often from chaotic and dysfunctional background. The prison regime
brings some order into their lives. However, the difficulty then can be that
after having their lives so regimented whilst in prison, it is hard to adjust
to life where they then must make decisions and order their own lives again. Part
of the ministry of ‘Futures Unlocked’ is to help prisoners make that transition
by offering mentoring support for those being released. If possible to do a ‘gate
pick up’ after some initial contact prior to release.
On Friday I was part of a
discussion group who are working through a book by David Ford, ‘Meeting God in
John.’ Part of our discussion was based upon John’s account of the feeding of
the five thousand. We noted that following this story there is the account of
the storm and the disciples fearing for their lives, but then Jesus miraculously
walking on the water. Jesus bringing order out of chaos. First in the chaos of
having no provision and feeding the five thousand, echoing the chaos of the Israelites
in the desert, and then the chaos of the waters.
For the Israelites, water was
the place of chaos, reflected in the creation narrative where God brings order
out of chaos.
Not only in that story do we
read of God bring order out of chaos we also read of Adam and Eve being
charged with the same command, to partner with God in bringing about and
establishing order out of chaos.
This theme runs throughout the
Scriptures sometimes explicitly and sometimes implied.
In the story of Noah, we see God allowing the forces of the chaos, symbolised by the waters, to return in a de-creation story.
However, in Genesis 11 we
read that it is not just any order that is okay, there is an ordering of things
that is not good, an ordering that brings violence and destruction.
I am currently reading a book,
‘A Short History of the World in 50 Tyrants.’ The tyrants, or dictators, all
brought a certain degree of order. But in so doing they also destroyed and brought death and destruction to thousands and in some cases, millions of others as
they seek to force their understanding of order onto others.
This is the story of the
Tower of Babel. The human enterprise to build a kingdom where they could reach
the heavens and make a name for themselves, to become all powerful. Very quickly the story of how this had ended
before had been forgotten, Genesis 6.11 ‘Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight,
and the earth was filled with violence.’ (Leading to the story of Noah as
above) On this occasion, the Tower of Babel, we read that it is God who once
again bring disorder and chaos back into play, this time by confusing their
languages so that they sounded to each other as if they were babbling.
Currently across our world we
are witnessing a chaos unleashed. We see tyrants and bullies trying to establish
their understanding of order upon the world. And we are witnessing death and
destruction as a result.
We may wish that God would
intervene, send a flood, confuse their languages, thwart their plans. However,
in Jesus we see not a violent revolution, but a loving revelation.
And as God’s people that is our calling, the same commission given to Adam and Eve. To seek to bring order out of chaos. That may be helping someone stepping out of prison. That may mean being careful about what we post on social media, asking ourselves if this is going to help bring order or create yet more chaos. Thinking about our conversations and discussions, are they helpful in creating an order.
I volunteer with a charity called The Farming Community Network. www.fcn.org.uk. Part of their ministry is seeking to help those in the farming community in times of stress and trouble. Very often what a farmer needs is to hear themselves laying out everything that is an issue and then being helped to find some order out of the chaos.
(CAP, Christians Against Poverty, also work on the same principle - Home
| CAP UK)
Lent provides a good
opportunity to take stock and to check on how our lives are reflecting an ordered
life, seeking to live according to the just and gentle rule of God.
‘Finally,
brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’ Philippians 4.8
That is an excellent antidote
to doom scrolling and catastrophising.
As God’s people let us in simple
trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea, the gracious calling of the
Lord, let us, like them, without a word, rise up and follow thee, and let our
ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.
May you know, live in and express shalom in the week ahead.
https://youtu.be/y47vEE1zbDE?si=ArQeCVw2iqvnipDm
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