Its hard at times to understand
the feelings you hold inside
to name them with such confidence
is most difficult at times.
Sometimes you sit in wonderment
with heaviness inside
hoping I will provide for you
the answers you want to find.
Your face is so pensive
as you ponder all your thoughts
silently sitting staring out in thought.
Venturing out to express
those words that you have found
can lighten up the burdens
that are painful for you inside.
As each word is spoken
it travels through the air
not to be lost in the atmosphere
nor fall on deafs ear
but to be embraced with empathy
by a trusted friend who cares.
The words you speak are scared
and will treated so as well
Please do not hesitate to share your feelings
for I am here to listen and I do it quite well.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sermon: Jesus Calming the Storm
The Trust Fall
March 1st 2007. An EF3 tornado came spinning out of the thunderstorm and struck the small town of Americus, Georgia. The storm came on quickly with little notice. The tornado destroyed everything in its path. Even the only hospital in town took a direct hit. The hospital crew went into immediate disaster mode. Mother’s with newborn infants were evacuated away from windows just in the nick of time before the windows were blown out by the wind. Fortunately, none of the hospital staff or patients were killed during this event. While much of the hospital was destroyed including the roof, windows and walls, one room remained intact, the chapel. The stain glass window in the chapel remained in one piece and the Bible on the lectern was left undisturbed along with the cross and two candles.
Now I have never been through a tornado and the only hurricane that I went through was when I was about 3 months old and I have no recollection of the event. However, I have witnessed the incomprehensible damage such a storm can cause. I have heard the terrifying stories, and seen the painful looks on people’s faces who have lost everything they owned. Many of them ask the basic questions: “Where am I going to live?” “What am I going to do?” “Is there anyone who will help me?” Other people simply stand in shock as they look at the pile of wood that was once their home.
Storms are one of the most frightening natural phenomenons that occur on earth. This is as true today as it is for the disciples in Mark’s gospel. We know that at least four of the disciples were fisherman before they dropped their nets to follow Jesus. Being fishermen these disciples would surely have run into storms on the sea before. Thus the terror of the disciples and their rebuke of Jesus saying: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing,” certainly tells us of the severity of the storm they were facing. As Mark tells us “a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.” The boat was slowly sinking as it was quickly filling up with ice cold water. The disciples are in panic and in fear for their life, a feeling many of you may be able to sympathize with all too easily. While this storm is raging on, Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat. Jesus, their protector, teacher, healer, and miracle worker is comfortably asleep.
How could Jesus be asleep during all this commotion? How could Jesus be asleep while his disciples are perishing in a boat swamped with water? The disciples are certainly asking the same questions of their leader and miracle worker. Mark’s gospel even tells how the disciples rebuke Jesus out of anger and say to him “Do you not care that we are perishing!?” After the disciples said this, Jesus got up and he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” After Jesus spoke these words the wind ceased, and there was dead calm.
Now if this scene is familiar to some of you it’s because a similar account occurs with the prophet Jonah. Jonah, as he is escaping God’s call, gets on boat headed to Tarish. During the travels Jonah is found sleeping in the bottom of the boat during a mighty storm. The sailors who are on the boat pray to their gods with no avail. Then the sailors wake Jonah up and demand that Jonah pray to his God to stop the storm. Jonah knew that the storm was caused by his disobedient behavior so he told the sailors to throw him overboard and the storm would stop. The sailors did this as they spoke to God saying, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life.” When Jonah splashed into the sea the storm ceased.
The storm ceased and there was a dead calm. This goes to show just how powerful God is that even the wind and sea obeyed the Lord. Seas that were considered at that time to be a black hole of chaos and associated with demons, and even death. Even those seas obeyed God. What power God has over nature. The disciples even recognize this power as something amazing when they stand in awe and say to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Moreover, after Jonah is thrown overboard and the storm dies down, the sailors who were praying to their other gods now recognize the power of the one true God and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
But what about Jesus’ remark to the disciples in Mark’s gospel: “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples, after all, have seen firsthand all that Jesus has done, all the miracles, the teachings, and the healings, yet they still have no faith in Jesus.
Faith in Jesus also means trust in Jesus during storms or stress or persecution. As we can see by the words Jesus to the disciples, the disciples lack this trust element in Jesus. If they were to do a trust fall exercise where they freely fall backwards with Jesus behind them to catch them they would fail. They would put out their foot to stop themselves from falling instead of trusting that Jesus that would be there to catch them safely.
The good news in this gospel, you might be wondering, is that the words Jesus spoke to the storm he also spoke to the disciples: “Peace! Be Still.” Jesus is saying I am here what are you worried about, you will not perish.
These are comforting words because we too have storms of our own kind today. In our lives we face an unstable economy, the loss of jobs, illness, surgeries and sometimes death. Jesus gives us the same message he gave the storm and his disciples, “Peace! Be Still!” Jesus says to us: Have faith in me, trust me, I will be there to catch you, to hold you up, and to carry you forward through the storm. During our storms, whatever they may be, Jesus is our rock and our stronghold and he will not let us fall. As the psalmist tells us “The Lord is a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you….the Lord does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” Scholar Clinton McCann notes that God values human life, and God remembers those who entrust themselves to God and who cry for help. He also notes that the word afflicted describes people who know they are not self-sufficient. They know they need help and therefore entrust their lives and future to God. Elsewhere these people are called righteous. They know and have trust in Christ that he will help them in times of anguish and heartache.
This same message that the Psalmist, the prophet Jonah, and Mark all portray of God is still true today. God still reminds us that God is here through it all and nothing is to powerful for the Lord. Nothing can consume God’s power. Nothing can defeat or snuff out God’s love and care for us. Christ is here, Christ’s light is shinning in our darkness, lighting up our path that we might persevere in times of trouble. Christ can hold up us and will catch us when we fall. Christ is never going away.
March 1st, 2007 an EF3 tornado struck the small town of Americus Georgia and destroyed most the Sumter Regional Hospital, but the one thing that the tornado was not able to consume or destroy was the word God laying open on the lectern in the hospital’s chapel.
To God be all glory and honor this day and everyday!
Amen.
March 1st 2007. An EF3 tornado came spinning out of the thunderstorm and struck the small town of Americus, Georgia. The storm came on quickly with little notice. The tornado destroyed everything in its path. Even the only hospital in town took a direct hit. The hospital crew went into immediate disaster mode. Mother’s with newborn infants were evacuated away from windows just in the nick of time before the windows were blown out by the wind. Fortunately, none of the hospital staff or patients were killed during this event. While much of the hospital was destroyed including the roof, windows and walls, one room remained intact, the chapel. The stain glass window in the chapel remained in one piece and the Bible on the lectern was left undisturbed along with the cross and two candles.
Now I have never been through a tornado and the only hurricane that I went through was when I was about 3 months old and I have no recollection of the event. However, I have witnessed the incomprehensible damage such a storm can cause. I have heard the terrifying stories, and seen the painful looks on people’s faces who have lost everything they owned. Many of them ask the basic questions: “Where am I going to live?” “What am I going to do?” “Is there anyone who will help me?” Other people simply stand in shock as they look at the pile of wood that was once their home.
Storms are one of the most frightening natural phenomenons that occur on earth. This is as true today as it is for the disciples in Mark’s gospel. We know that at least four of the disciples were fisherman before they dropped their nets to follow Jesus. Being fishermen these disciples would surely have run into storms on the sea before. Thus the terror of the disciples and their rebuke of Jesus saying: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing,” certainly tells us of the severity of the storm they were facing. As Mark tells us “a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.” The boat was slowly sinking as it was quickly filling up with ice cold water. The disciples are in panic and in fear for their life, a feeling many of you may be able to sympathize with all too easily. While this storm is raging on, Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat. Jesus, their protector, teacher, healer, and miracle worker is comfortably asleep.
How could Jesus be asleep during all this commotion? How could Jesus be asleep while his disciples are perishing in a boat swamped with water? The disciples are certainly asking the same questions of their leader and miracle worker. Mark’s gospel even tells how the disciples rebuke Jesus out of anger and say to him “Do you not care that we are perishing!?” After the disciples said this, Jesus got up and he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” After Jesus spoke these words the wind ceased, and there was dead calm.
Now if this scene is familiar to some of you it’s because a similar account occurs with the prophet Jonah. Jonah, as he is escaping God’s call, gets on boat headed to Tarish. During the travels Jonah is found sleeping in the bottom of the boat during a mighty storm. The sailors who are on the boat pray to their gods with no avail. Then the sailors wake Jonah up and demand that Jonah pray to his God to stop the storm. Jonah knew that the storm was caused by his disobedient behavior so he told the sailors to throw him overboard and the storm would stop. The sailors did this as they spoke to God saying, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life.” When Jonah splashed into the sea the storm ceased.
The storm ceased and there was a dead calm. This goes to show just how powerful God is that even the wind and sea obeyed the Lord. Seas that were considered at that time to be a black hole of chaos and associated with demons, and even death. Even those seas obeyed God. What power God has over nature. The disciples even recognize this power as something amazing when they stand in awe and say to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Moreover, after Jonah is thrown overboard and the storm dies down, the sailors who were praying to their other gods now recognize the power of the one true God and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
But what about Jesus’ remark to the disciples in Mark’s gospel: “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples, after all, have seen firsthand all that Jesus has done, all the miracles, the teachings, and the healings, yet they still have no faith in Jesus.
Faith in Jesus also means trust in Jesus during storms or stress or persecution. As we can see by the words Jesus to the disciples, the disciples lack this trust element in Jesus. If they were to do a trust fall exercise where they freely fall backwards with Jesus behind them to catch them they would fail. They would put out their foot to stop themselves from falling instead of trusting that Jesus that would be there to catch them safely.
The good news in this gospel, you might be wondering, is that the words Jesus spoke to the storm he also spoke to the disciples: “Peace! Be Still.” Jesus is saying I am here what are you worried about, you will not perish.
These are comforting words because we too have storms of our own kind today. In our lives we face an unstable economy, the loss of jobs, illness, surgeries and sometimes death. Jesus gives us the same message he gave the storm and his disciples, “Peace! Be Still!” Jesus says to us: Have faith in me, trust me, I will be there to catch you, to hold you up, and to carry you forward through the storm. During our storms, whatever they may be, Jesus is our rock and our stronghold and he will not let us fall. As the psalmist tells us “The Lord is a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you….the Lord does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” Scholar Clinton McCann notes that God values human life, and God remembers those who entrust themselves to God and who cry for help. He also notes that the word afflicted describes people who know they are not self-sufficient. They know they need help and therefore entrust their lives and future to God. Elsewhere these people are called righteous. They know and have trust in Christ that he will help them in times of anguish and heartache.
This same message that the Psalmist, the prophet Jonah, and Mark all portray of God is still true today. God still reminds us that God is here through it all and nothing is to powerful for the Lord. Nothing can consume God’s power. Nothing can defeat or snuff out God’s love and care for us. Christ is here, Christ’s light is shinning in our darkness, lighting up our path that we might persevere in times of trouble. Christ can hold up us and will catch us when we fall. Christ is never going away.
March 1st, 2007 an EF3 tornado struck the small town of Americus Georgia and destroyed most the Sumter Regional Hospital, but the one thing that the tornado was not able to consume or destroy was the word God laying open on the lectern in the hospital’s chapel.
To God be all glory and honor this day and everyday!
Amen.
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