5th
Tuesday in Ordinary Time
St. Luke’s
Institute
February 12,
2013
GOD’S
ORDERING ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
“Making order” is a quick way of describing
God’s creative work
Ø
God spends five days out of seven ordering time,
space, and the first interactions of created being
Ø
Only then does God set human beings down into an
ordered cosmos, suggesting that a certain amount of order is essential to human
survival
ORDERING AND CHAOS
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
But God is not tied down to the kind of linear
order laid out in your typical planner
Ø
And God’s creative work always starts with
chaos:
o
The rather terrifying primal chaos of Genesis
1:1-2
o
The degenerate human chaos before the prophets’
promised return from exile in Babylon
o
Or the world gone awry which Christ came to put
right
CREATIVITY AND CHAOS
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
So when God says, “Let us make humankind in our image,” that image necessarily begins
with creativity
Ø
As creative people, we must start where God
starts: with chaos, with that I call “the
seething cauldron of possibilities” as yet unnamed, unsorted, apparently
purposeless
Ø
Too often, though, we see “chaos” as an enemy to
be confronted with the whip of our planners and licked into submission so we
can get on with life
Ø
Human beings do need order, especially the truly
primal order of purpose, to survive
Ø
But I wonder what would happen if I were finally
to succeed in wrestling every breath of time, every corner of space, every
piece of paper and dust bunny in my own small universe into the kind of careful
order for which I seem to hanker
CONCLUSION
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
I wonder if I would find that excessive order,
neatly packaged in linear rows, is sterile
Ø
And that chaos is the perpetual treasure chest
from which spill out all the possibilities that fuel creative work in all its
forms
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
