At a recent conference, a colleague shared this insight from 1977 Nobel Prize-winning chemist Ilya Prigogine:
“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.”
I invite you to read and “inwardly digest” this insight once again, perhaps even a bit more slowly this time:
When a complex system … is far from equilibrium … small islands of coherence … in a sea of chaos … have the capacity … to shift the entire system … to a higher order.
I invite you, if you can, to close your eyes for a few moments, enjoy several deep nourishing breaths, and pay attention to what arises in your mind-heart-consciousness when you focus on the word-concept of coherence.
What does coherence mean, to you? What images come to mind? How does this insight resonate with your own lived experience? How might it be helpful in what you are experiencing today, individually? In what we are experiencing together, communally and collectively?
Earlier today, I sat in a room with about 20 other clergy and lay leaders at our monthly BUILD caucus. Our round table included several pastors from various denominations, two rabbis and an imam, from various backgrounds and ethnicities. Our hearts, likewise, were weighed with various concerns and heartaches for our congregations.
Some of us are ministering to people who are afraid of losing their jobs; or afraid of not finding jobs, now that they no longer have one. Some are ministering to people who are weary of living in a neighborhood full of vacant and abandoned homes and lots. Some minister to people who worry that if they leave our country to travel abroad, they will have trouble upon reentry.
A focal point of our conversation was the upcoming opportunity for us to gather with people from our different congregations on Sunday, June 8th at 3pm at Greater Harvest Baptist Church, when we will hear updates about and continue our efforts to Build One Baltimore together. June 8th also happens to be our Christian feast day of Pentecost, a celebration of when peoples from different nations all heard God’s word in their native tongue after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. Pentecost is associated with the Jewish feast day of Shavuot, celebrating the revelation of the Torah to God’s people through Moses.
As we talked with one another today, images of “unity amidst diversity,” “home”, “pilgrimage” and “being on the way together” arose. The words of God through the prophet Isaiah, “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7), were offered out loud. We each promised to bring as many people as we can with us, to Greater Harvest on June 8th.
Redeemer has promised that we will show up 70 strong.
Will you come and be part of this growing island of coherence?
Again, from the prophet Isaiah:
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
Amen. So it is. So it shall be.
Love,
Cristina