Newspaper Columns by The Rev. Canon Bill Lewellis
Out of the chaos
Unknown connections make differences in life
Bill Lewellis
Express-Times
Friday, March 18, 2005
I love reading about, thinking about and playing creatively with notions of chaos theory. Unlike the ordinary meaning of chaos, the theory is an attempt to understand the underlying order of complex systems such as the weather and the stock market.
A basic principle of chaos theory is that, in complex systems, seemingly small happenings affect the outcomes of distant seemingly unrelated events in a big way.
Because I think it applies also to persons and relationships, chaos theory notions keep me working hard at preaching.
When I was a young priest, preaching three times a week during the 1960s, the math suggested that 20 years down the road I would have preached some 3,000 sermons.
I decided then that I would pray and work hard on every sermon. Because of the possibility of reaching someone in some small way, I'd never wing it.
Before returning to college a few months ago, my son left behind a book whose title both turned me off and drew me to it.
I don't value sweet or sentimental spirituality. Like sugar, it doesn't work for the journey. I thought the title seemed somewhat sappy. "Five People You Meet in Heaven."
Still, the words on the spine stared back at me. The audiobook showed up on my computer. At a rental store, the video caught my eye.
On one level, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is about the joys and sorrows of ordinary lives, about war, about bad choices, love, loss and misperceptions. I found it also to be a chaos theory parable, happenings at one end of a chain of events resulting way down the road in incredible though not always discernible outcomes.
Eddie, a war veteran, felt trapped in a meaningless life of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. His days became a dull routine of work, loneliness and regret. He died in a tragic accident at the park on his 83rd birthday.
He awakened in a nondescript existence where his earthly life was explained to him by five people who were in it. Some were close to him; some were strangers. Each changed his path forever. They also explained how he had a hand in changing the life of others.
After they unbound him he became one of five people to explain how he affected the life of a newcomer in heaven.
When you finish reading or listening or watching "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" you find it isn't about life after death -- it's about life after birth, about seeing things on Earth with new eyes.
I recently reflected with my wife on how something small -- the weather, a flat tire -- might have put her in another place rather than where I was the day we met. Something small, 26 years ago. As a result, however, I would not be where I am today. I would not be an Episcopal priest. I would not have three sons I love.
Every reader of this column has a similar story. Play with the idea.
Although my preaching life was interrupted for a time, I have preached at least 3,000 sermons. Chaos theory intrigues me all the more because I hope to meet five people in heaven who will tell me how they allowed the Holy Spirit to work with something I said or something they thought I said. Something small, perhaps making a world of a difference.
God knows. Out of the chaos comes mysterious meaning.
Bill Lewellis, Communication Minister/Editor, Diocese of Bethlehem
Be attentive. Be intelligent. Be reasonable. Be responsible.
Be in Love. And, if necessary, change. --Bernard Lonergan
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