Neutral. Well, that's not really what's been bothering me and making me curious this week.
It was something I heard at a church gathering. Between two ministers of different denominations. One asked the other how today was going. The response was, "I'm trying for chaotic neutral." Now both these people are millennials. I have one in my household now since he is helping with Pam's needs and mine; especially around Pam's Parkinson's. What puzzled me was what they knew about something I heard nearly 50 years ago. They weren't even born then. Now if all this is gibberish to you, let me tell you that it has to do with Dungeons and Dragons. Good, evil, neutral, chaotic, and lawful all developed as character traits early on. And that set me off down an entirely different path. What was allowed and what was not; especially in relationship to how we practice our faith.
Some 50 years ago we were a very different nation. I could spend several blogs on that alone. What was morally and socially acceptable or not was very, very different than where we live now. And "D and D" was on the hit list of evil things for the fundamentalist, literalist Christian folks. It was banned. And I am pondering this now from our current situation and perspective, trying to reconcile that exclusivist stance with what our gospel readings are from last week and this coming Sunday.
We have Jesus saying he is the Good Shepherd in John 10. We have Jesus saying he is the True Vine in John 15. I am particularly struck by who Jesus says are part of the flock. Again, I am fascinated by who are the branches and what happens to those who are not. And I hear and see him setting the model that the disciples follow after he is gone. Two examples here suffice. There is Philip in Acts 8. He is reluctant, yet persuaded of the rightness of his actions. We have Paul (chosen as a disciple in Acts 9), talking about his faith to so many people in 1 Corinthians 9. I would ask that you especially note the last verses in the chapter.
I have come this week to see that being chaotically neutral is just where we are at this moment. We have the chaos of so many conflicting ideas and opinions swirling around us that it has many people in neutral. Climate anxiety is just one symptom of this. Our antidote to all this is Jesus. He says, "I got this. I am here, I am with you. I love and care for you and I want your wholeness and salvation." How that happens is as different as each of us are from one another. Now then, how chaotically neutral is your life right now?
Pr. Scott
