Cliff Loesch November 18, 2007 Consecration Sunday Psalm 139:7-18 Out of the Chaos      I get to have some really amazing conversations with students at Friends University.  In addition to class discussions and some talks with individuals, they also write me papers and I read them and then I get to write back to them-in dialogue with what they have written to me.  It's like a little conversation.  The paper they wrote for me about a month ago was on the topic, "Does God Exist?"  It's a question that philosophers have struggled with through the centuries.  Without the ability to prove God's existence through scientific experiment, many have tried to construct logical arguments that could convince anyone of God's existence.  But it's also hard to come up with an argument like that--one that convinces everyone.  The students were asked to present their arguments for or against God's existence.      One student, after some discussion, said that she does believe in God largely because of consciousness-that is, how could our conscious existence have evolved out of nonconscious matter?  And I agree with her: it's very hard to imagine how that could have occurred.  But she also made the point that she feels there is virtually nothing that we can know about God since we are simply God's creations.  We are finite and not mentally capable of comprehending God.  In reply, I said that yes, there is a lot of truth to this.  We are not capable of fully understanding God.  But I also made the point that if you accept the existence of God and also recognize that God had something to do with creation, that I think there are actually several things that we can know about God simply by observing the universe around us.  For instance, as we look around us we can say that God is really into beauty; and God is very big.  God also appreciates great variety.  And God likes order and balance--yet at the same time God leaves room for some chaos.  You don't have to think about it very long to realize what I am saying.  We live in a universe full of order and balance and symmetry (not to mention beauty and variety and distances too large to comprehend)--but at the same time we live in a universe where stars collide and where stars burn out, or even explode.  And we live on a planet of immense beauty and variety that has many intricate systems that support and sustain life.  But at the same time, we live on a planet that experiences tornadoes and earthquakes and floods.  Chaos.  And while we can certainly envision a universe without chaos--that's not the universe we got.       About a week ago I was reading some observations about the fall of humankind--a commentary on the account in Genesis of the encounter with the serpent and eating the apple from the wrong tree and all that.  The authors, Jacqueline Bergan and Marie Schwan in trying to say something about this passage start by simply saying, "Something went wrong with the human family to which we belong."  "Something went wrong." [Forgiveness: A Guide for Prayer, Ijamsville, Maryland: The Word Among Us Press, 2004, 35.]  Once again, chaos.      And it occurs to me that much of the work that God has done and is doing now involves bringing order out of chaos.  In creation, out of the formless void, God brought order and beauty and balance and life--and today out of the chaos around us God works-is working-to bring wholeness, reconciliation, healing and hope.       It also occurs to me that whenever we work to bring order out of chaos that we are participating in God's work.  In fact that could almost be the very definition of ministry: bringing order out of chaos.  But not just order-beauty, creativity, and all the things I mentioned earlier: wholeness, reconciliation, healing hope--and at the core of it all is helping people to become aware of the constant presence of Christ and God's all-encompassing love.      On Friday night I went to the dress rehearsal for the Wichita Symphony and the Symphony Chorus and I worked on the thoughts that I'm sharing this morning while listening to some incredibly beautiful music.  There were times that I felt completely wrapped inside the music-totally enclosed by it.  Every instrument was busily at work creating patterns of sound while the choir was singing loudly.  There were layers and layers of harmonies with melodies and counter melodies, punctuated by cymbal crashes and harp glissandos.       And this idea of being wrapped inside the music is very much the same feeling you get in Psalm 139 where the psalmist asks, "Where can I go from your spirit?"  And then the writer goes on to say that whether in heaven or Sheol or soaring on wings or at the farthest limits of the sea-God is there.  We are completely enfolded in God's presence.  In your worship folder today I've included a prayer by St. Patrick where the all-encompassing presence of Christ is obvious.  He prays, "Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left…"  It's a prayer to be completely saturated with the presence of Christ.  And like St. Patrick, and like the psalmist, may we come to realize the presence of Christ in every part of our lives and at every time in our lives-perhaps even in those times of chaos.      This beautiful psalm (Psalm 139) mentions chaos.  I didn't include that part in what I asked Carol to read a little while ago.  But it's there.  And it's intense.  In verse 19--of one of the most beautiful psalms in the Bible--the psalmist offers his own response to chaos and says, "O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me…  Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?  And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?"  There are four verses here that are a little jarring when you read them.  They hardly seem like they fit in this beautiful psalm.  But they are this psalmist's human response to the chaos in the world--or the chaos that affects him personally.  Our response to chaos might be less intense (I said "might be") but we all have the same struggles and questions as the psalmist--except our questions for God would also include, "Why haven't you already done something about this?"  Or "Why did you allow such chaos in the first place?"  And the answers are not easy to find. But surrounding the chaos in Psalm 139 is the awareness-and the celebration-of the all-encompassing presence of God.       Out of the chaos, God works to bring order and harmony.  And the work of ministry for you and for me is to help others experience God's presence, to discover friendship with Jesus Christ-and to see that living completely enfolded in God's all-encompassing love is indeed a way through any chaos we might encounter in this life.  On this day of consecration when we think about the giving of ourselves--every part of us and every area of life--to God, may we also have a greater awareness of the all-encompassing presence and the never-ending love of God.