Palm Sunday 2020

    Today would be a perfect day to continue the St. John's and Grace Lent series: Lent is Not Rocket Science with another familiar and yet confusing scientific principle, Chaos Theory. Chaos Theory is an interdisciplinary theory, which means it applies to almost every known realm of study. The Chaos Theory is usually summarized like this: "When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future." Underneath the summary is mathematics which show that even chaos has patterns and interconnectedness which cannot be seen. It is Chaos Theory which makes so much of good science fiction writing possible. We can write about a future which COULD happen, but that doesn't mean it necessarily will. 

    However, on the surface, even Chaos Theory looks like it's name: chaotic. And if there is one thing we feel from today's Passion Gospel it usually can be classified in the same realm: chaos, confusion, turmoil. The Passion Gospel defies all our ability to close it in and compartmentalize it. As a story, it is turmoil, chaos, and hubris. As the hearers of the story, we go through many emotions and states just listening to the story! Not to mention what the people going through it must have felt. 

    I think we all have a little better understanding of what it means to be living in turmoil right now. Every day brings something new and nothing feels the way it should. Fear and anger and discomfort seem to have taken over all sensibilities. While we usually like to ignore these types of feelings, we do need to acknowledge them and put them into God's hands.

    Similarly to the situation in the Passion Gospel, God did not cause the chaos and turmoil in the human realm right now. Yet again, similarly, God works through the chaos and turmoil. God is in the midst of all this confusion, finding ways to share with us the Good News of Love, even as God works through the crucifixion of Christ to show us the Good News of Love. 

    The journey is not a straight one. No journey through chaos is. It is not a easily mapped out or seen journey. Thankfully, it is a journey with God. God walks with us through the chaos, the turmoil, the confusion. It is more of one of those epic journeys written about in fantasy legends, The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings. Journeys through chaos, which do have a pattern and a richness, and a trajectory towards good.

    Life is full of complexity. In times of complexity and chaos, it is helpful to remember that we are not to judge, we are called to serve God and walk on his way. Though we cannot see where this journey is leading us, like the journey of the cross, we are called to put our faith in Jesus and walk with him, so that in the end, we might find the resurrection. We journey to follow Jesus and his way of love.