In ancient cultures, especially those surrounding the Mediterranean Sea (ie Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Babylon, etc.), water was frequently used as a symbol for two things: purification and chaos. Ponder that one for a moment.
Water is always on the move. Rain forms ponds, ponds overflow into streams, streams form rivers, rivers run into seas or oceans, currents move that water around until it once again evaporates back into the sky. When water stops moving, it does one of two things: it either stagnates or it evaporates to start its journey all over again. Water is perhaps one of the most chaotic natural elements we experience. The expression "you can never step into the same river twice" is very true, because the river has no stable existence. It is not 'ordered' in any real sense of the word. Like water, our lives are chaotic, and necessarily so. No two days are exactly the same, no matter how hard we try to make them seem that way sometimes. When our lives become stagnant, they lose meaning. We need new experiences, new joys and even sorrows if they're meaningful. Newness is always chaotic, but newness of life is exactly what we are called to.
The entire notion of choice hinges on chaos. Choice implies there is no mechanical order to reality. On the larger scale, science seems to be backing up this very point. Quantum physics continues to side with the unpredictability of the universe. Decades ago, the Uncertainty Principle showed it impossible to ascertain both the location and the velocity of a subatomic particle. Recent discoveries seem to show every particle blinking in and out of existence, so not only can we not grasp components, but we can never be sure when they are even truly there. However, the grand scale at which we experience these infinite chaotic events appears to be relatively stable. Sufficient chaotic events, when viewed together, miraculously turn into miraculously stable patterns. It need not be this way, but so it is. Perhaps more interestingly, the second law of thermodynamics states that entropy (chaos for all intents and purposes) always increases. Today, there is more chaos in the universe than there was yesterday. Unless there is some major change, it seems that our entire cosmos is designed to slowly creep into greater and greater levels of chaos, until eventually it will need to be remade into a new heaven and a new earth. Conveniently, God told this to people centuries ago, and now we're realizing at a slightly different level what that means.
We have created elaborate theologies to evade the simple assertion that God is chaos as well as order. The critical feature is that God is living water, not stagnant pools. The majority of our frustration comes from our unwillingness to accept chaotic events in life, and through that frustration God calls us to to be washed over by chaos and come out clean, vibrant, and joyfully prepared to begin new work. Water breaks up dirt and grime, and our baptism in it is designed to break apart our preconceived notions of how the universe is supposed to work, our psychological walls which prevent us from loving one another, and our hardened sense of self so that we can enter into something greater. Chaos is central to our significance as beings, and is central to God's activity in our lives. In a universe of escalating chaos, the teachings of Christianity, and the acceptance therein of the chaos around us, becomes increasingly critical for our spiritual survival.
*Ezekiel 47:1-12
The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water was knee deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in -- a river that no one could cross. he asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds -- like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for good and their leaves for healing."
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