We are creatures of habit. Our lives are built around routines. We get up and we go to bed; we have times in the day when we eat; we have daily jobs; there are trips out to the shops, or for exercise and a breath of fresh air, or to walk the dog; there are appointments in the diary. Our lives may be patterned by the ‘working week’, or school times, or visiting family and friends, or perhaps by the fixture list or a favourite series on TV. Even the most disorganised of folk still follow some form of routine, though to the outside observer it may not be obvious... We can find it very difficult when our routines get upset and changed. Some are better at adapting than others. I suppose that virtually everyone is seeing pretty big changes now and many may well be finding it hard going to adjust. We need to learn to adapt and form new routines for our own good. And not just for our own good but for that of everyone else. The Prime Minister said yesterday, "One thing I think the coronavirus crisis has already proved is that there really is such a thing as society." You could think of ‘society’ as being a name we give to the relationships and routines of life that exist within a community of people. Disorder in society makes us at the very least uneasy; order in our society is for everyone’s good.

I suppose lots of us are reflecting on life more than we have done. I wonder, have you ever thought about why it is that we are creatures of habit, of order and routine? Why is that it becomes difficult for us when our structures are undermined and our routines changed? I believe the answer to questions like those must begin with the Bible’s teaching that we are created by God and that we are made in the image of God. The opening two chapters of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, describe the creation of all things including human life. There is order and structure to what God did in bringing the universe, this planet earth and life on earth into being. We still see divinely instituted order everywhere and all the time: in the cycle of day and night, sunrise and sunset; the rhythm of the seven day week, and in the changing of the seasons from springtime to summer to autumn to winter and back to spring. Look up at the night sky - even in London we can see the moon, planets and stars – and see their patterns and regular movements. You can literally set your watch and find your way by them. Even the way birds and animals behave signals to us the idea of habit. The divine imprint of orderliness is everywhere.

The Bible teaches us that ‘God is not a God of disorder but of peace’ and says that ‘everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way’ (1 Cor. 14:33,40 NIV). That chapter of 1 Corinthians particularly concerns how churches should conduct themselves, but the basis on which they are told how to behave is the orderly character of God Himself. That explains why ‘everything’, not just church life, should be orderly. It is right, it is how things should be. Disorder, confusion and chaos are signs that something is not right. We feel it, we experience it and we try to adjust to overcome it but, in the end, we cannot succeed. So where does disorder come from? The answer is spiritual, and the problem lies in the fact that we are sinful at heart. Our sin is the great ‘disorderer’ of life and the robber of peace, primarily because it has destroyed our relationship with God. Try as we might, it is beyond us to restore spiritual order. There is good news though. God Himself can put matters right again. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came to restore genuine peaceful relationships between people and God (John 14:27) – a relationship we can only have by faith in Jesus as our Saviour. Built on that foundation, we can experience order and peace in our hearts and then, in that restored relationship with God, we have the means to be able to genuinely cope with changes to our daily routines.