I have spent a lot of time with people trying to find their way through chaos. Some situations are just so daunting you wonder if anyone can see a way through to the next step, let alone an exit to clearer space where the air is fresh and the whisper of freedom can be heard. And this is on a one to one scale. What if its a whole community that is so enmeshed in the thorns and brambles of an impossibly bleak scenario?
Today’s text from Isaiah enters Jerusalem’s destruction in 587 B.C. As in yesterday’s text, memory is the antidote to despair. As the community is carted off into exile in a strange land with an alien culture, leaving behind all that is familiar and all that constructs their identity, they are called to a deep and intimate recollection of the author of the faith that is at their core. Profound disappointment and desolation have an antidote, and it’s only as far away as our collective memory of the Creator’s preference for we who are the created.
As we through our callousness ignore and forget those around the world who are seeking asylum and safety, let us see amongst them their capacity to recall the core of their faith, simply by remembering. And let us do the same.
Wondering Pilgrim 
Yes
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In a pure sense, as I see it, creation itself is order from chaos.
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Indeed, this is our true starting point when reorienting our perspectives on a range of unsettling contexts,
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I was privileged to hear the late David Jenkins, former bishop of Durham speak on this very thing, he titled his four presentations “God in the chaos.” Made immediate sense to me in my chaos.
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Just did a search for it on-line but nada. Sounds interesting.
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Yes – it would have been 1996 Wollaston Summer School or even earlier. I don’t think I have it anymore as I did have the cassette tapes, sigh.
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It shows this was a hot topic in the last millennium!
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Yes, I’d agree, I think it was. Ironically it became far more chaotic afterwards, and hence the message should be on a loop 🙂
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