Safe Places from the Storm

There is no doubt that chaos and decay tend to be the natural or default state if things are left to themselves. Just stop doing the housework for a month and see what happens, or leave a two-year-old without parental intervention. Order needs to be worked at, whereas chaos continues to do its relentless work when left unchecked. 

The process of bringing order was the first job given to humankind at our creation. ‘God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order’ (Genesis 2:15, MSG). God planted a garden, he created three rivers, he formed trees and shrubs, animals and mammals and silver and gold—all found in the garden. God didn’t plant a neatly trimmed box hedge. No, God’s order was much more organic. He created meandering rivers with inlets and eddies and lush vegetation ready for both animals and humankind to enjoy and consume. But maintaining that order was given to humans, who were told to subdue the earth. 

The Church is also tasked with saving people from chaos, and to do this we need to ensure we have the welcome mat out and the light on in the window. On page 8 in this edition, you can read about the Rolleston Corps Plant who have created a place of acceptance for anyone who may come to them to shelter from the storms of life. Captain Stu Duxfield says of the Church at large: ‘Sometimes we try to do the work of restoration without establishing this safe place’. 

Rolleston Corps Plant has created a safe place so that the Holy Spirit can work on healing and transformation in people’s lives. But for this to happen regularly, we need to be intentional in ensuring sanctuary for those who have suffered: to allow them to come as they are; to allow them to stop and start and stop and start again; to commit to walking beside them and lovingly and tenderly helping them to create order out of the chaos, not like the box hedge-type of order but the organic spontaneous growth of a garden, just like Eden.

Vivienne Hill, Editor