From the Rector…
We like order. It helps us to know what to expect and what is expected of us. It offers a sense of security and comfort. We don’t like disorder—that feels chaotic. As Creator, God is also an organizer. He takes the chaos and orders it in a particular way to invite structure and security into the world he creates. The trouble is that his order is not static. Part of creations structure is disorder followed by a reordering of the world. History tells this story again and again. Science affirms this process. We experience it. God never meant for creation to be static. Instead through the process of order, disorder, and reorder we are invited into growth and opportunity—into the new thing God is always doing in the world.
Order – Disorder – Reorder is an ancient expression of how to understand God. It comes fully into realization in the words we profess in the Eucharistic Prayer each Sunday, “Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.” We understand the order of life as birth and death. The language “Christ has died” highlights what we understand about the order of life. To say “Christ has risen” is to give voice to the disordered world that is suddenly turned on its head. The order of life is not death then birth, yet Christ does just that—he disorders what we understand about life and death. Finally, Christ reorders our thinking and experience by telling us that he “will come again”. Now we know the new ordering, or the reordering, of life. We are to live into his coming not into death. We are not preparing for death in this life, we are preparing for eternal life with Christ.
There are many examples of this “order – disorder – reorder” structure in scripture and our prayer book. Their purpose invites us into a deep theological truth about God—God is always creating. God created in the beginning and God continues to create and calls us into partnership with him as co-creators. When we get stuck in a static place and resistant to those things which are different or new, we fall out of relationship with God. We discover life becomes dis-eased and it is difficult to know that peace beyond all understanding that God promises us much less to participate in whatever “new” thing God is doing.
None of us likes disorder, but the more resistant we are to the disordering, the less accepting we are of the reordering. There are a lot of things I dislike about the current order of things, but living into disorder can feel scary and overwhelming at times. Knowing that the disorder is a requirement for reordering offers some hope and peace that though things will be different that doesn’t mean they will be worse or better—they will simply be different, and we will learn to navigate this new aspect of life. This is the way that growth happens. It is the way that the creative processes of God play out through us and all of creation.
This order – disorder – reorder structure affects us as individuals as well as in the community. We experience periods of disorder throughout our life. We can look back at those moments in life that we might call turning points—times when we shifted our approach to the world. There are the big moments like graduation, moving, marriage, birth, retirement, death and there are all the small moments that have powerful impact and determine how we want to live in the world.
Right now, I think we are living in a period of disorder. The amount of technology and information we are exposed to has reshaped our world. We have allowed ourselves to devolve into anxiety, despair, and darkness. Instead of seeking a life of appreciation and gratitude, we complain that our expectations are not met and do little to transform unjust structures or even work toward solutions in our neighborhoods and communities. I don’t think it is because we don’t want to help. I think we have been so focused on the disorder of the world, we haven’t been intentional in seeing the possibilities for the reordering of the world, clinging only to the nostalgic sense of order that looks to the past instead of to our future.
Trust in God’s creative and ever unfolding purposes. Look for the order – disorder – reordering of life not only personally but in the world around you. It will only serve to increase your hope and discover your peace.
Light and Life,
Candice+