I am toying with kicking off a new thing in 2023. Monday Mornings with Jesus. As many of you know, I take notes in church for the sermon. I write down things that occur to me, questions that come to mind, and observations. But I’ve never really followed up with any of that. They became moments in time while sitting in the pew in church, and nothing more happened. Those questions should be answered, I think. What appears as insight should be shared and observations expanded upon. Monday mornings are a fine time for that, so what was shared and thought about on Sunday might take deeper root throughout the week.
I will try to summarize the sermon for those not in attendance at East Cobb UMC. For now, this will be sporadic as I work out the format, layout, and function. It may become something. It may become relegated to the failed idea scrap heap. That depends on many factors. We’ll see.
Feel free to discuss, weigh in, and comment below.
Associate Pastor Joe Palmer delivered the sermon Sunday, October 23, 2022. His scripture was Genesis 1:1-5. I’m not sure what translation he used, but I will use the KJV for this because it’s what I like, and I use NASB everywhere else. You’ll just have to muddle through or look it up in your own translation, as this is mostly an exercise for me that you all get to participate in.
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1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:1–5 (KJV 1900)
Pastor Palmer used a clip from the Pixar animated movie Monster’s Inc from the restaurant scene, which can be found HERE. In that scene, the monsters of Monsters Inc are enjoying a dinner out when a little girl who has been brought into their world appears. They all react to the child as though a true monster has been released, terrorizing them. Pastor Palmer’s question was, “who is the monster?”
"Light chaos" by kevin dooley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
I don’t think he realized the implication, but the idea occurred to me that we humans are the real monsters. His sermon title was The Monster of Chaos, and he opened by talking about how there really are monsters akin to fantasy and science fiction monsters contained within the Bible. He shares a passion for SciFi and Fantasy like I do and had me at the outset with his introduction.
However, the idea that we, as human beings, are the real monsters was implied in the clip he showed. That wasn’t the intention. The chaos that ensued from the child’s appearance and the lighthearted nature of the scene was, but his real question was, “What is a monster?”
Through the sermon, he brought up the Hebrew words behind the highlighted words in Genesis, “without form” and “void.” You know I like digging into the words behind scripture, so I had to come home and look them up. The following are Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary entries from my Logos software. I have included both the KJV and NASB entries for “without form” because it includes the word “chaos,” which is the point.
Hebrew Strong’s Number: 8414
Hebrew Word: תֹּהוּ
Transliteration: tōhû
Phonetic Pronunciation: to’-hoo
Root: from an unused root meaning to lie waste
Cross Reference: TWOT - 2494a
Part of Speech: n m
Vine’s Words: None
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
vain 4
vanity 4
confusion 3
without form 2
wilderness 2
nought 2
nothing 1
empty place 1
waste 1
[Total Count: 20]
From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), i.e. desert; figurative a worthless thing; adverbial in vain:- confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.
James Strong, “תֹּהוּ,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
8414. תֹּהוּ tohu (1062c); from an unused word; formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness:—chaos(1), confusion(1), desolation(1), emptiness(1), empty space(1), formless(2), futile(2), futile things(1), meaningless(2), meaningless arguments(1), nothing(2), waste(3), waste place(2).
Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).
Hebrew Strong’s Number: 922
Hebrew Word: בֹּהוּ
Transliteration: bōhû
Phonetic Pronunciation: bo’-hoo
Root: from an unused root (meaning to be empty)
Cross Reference: TWOT - 205a
Part of Speech: n m
Vine’s Words: None
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
void 2
emptiness 1
[Total Count: 3]
From an unused root (meaning to be empty); a vacuity, i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin:- emptiness, void.
James Strong, “בֹּהוּ,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
The point: Order, law, and God’s ways are all Good. Confusion, Chaos, and moving away from God’s ways are all bad. The sermon finished with a question printed on the bulletin with space to write an answer. The question was this;
“What is the Chaos in your life that God can handle?”
I’ll be honest. I’m struggling with this. Those who know me know about my project manager background. My personality tends to be more than a little OCD leaning on borderline CDO (if you get the joke, you get the joke.) At the moment, things are going very well for me. All my writing is moving in a direction I believe is where Gog wants me to go; my wife is doing well as her career advances, and most other things, with one notable exception, which I will keep private, are doing quite well. It makes me concerned that I’ve missed something or that something is just waiting to pounce, almost like a monster lying in wait to ambush me.
My prayer right now is that I continue to walk His path, that He continues to strengthen my wife, and that He continues to keep His protecting hand around my children. I take great joy in the things He is blessing me with at this moment and thank Him for that daily. If I have a prayer about Chaos, about the formless void that threatens my little world, it would be that God keeps it at bay. That would be my prayer for you as well.
So, I invite you to answer Pastor Joe’s question today, “What is the Chaos in your life that God can handle?” I would add to that as you go through your week to contemplate where you might also be the answer to removing or reducing someone else’s Chaos. Can humans be the monster the Pixar clip suggests? Yes, we can, but we can also be the hands and feet of Jesus if we choose.
12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:12–17 (KJV 1900)
Thank you so much for the kind words and thoughtful reflection on the Scripture and the text. As for the Monsters Inc clip, I think there's a definite undertone of humanity being monsters. I thought about highlighting that fact, but wasn't feeling led to expound on it too much, and didn't want to just drop that grenade and walk away in the middle of the sermon. I think it's why I'm really intrigued by the Freudian idea of unheimlich. The monster is anything that doesn't belong in the house, coming into your house. And many of those monsters are real, and many of them are (or from) other humans. And sometimes the monster of chaos isn't bad/evil, it's just chaos, and I feel like so many humans don't handle chaos and disorder well at all.