Please see post from June 28 if you want to know more about the current sermon layout.
To read the Bible passage the sermon is based on, click on the link & you'll be taken to a site with that passage!
Council devotions
A story from today
All resonate with sense of needing a break & not being able to find one
even our teenager/youth rep. said he felt that way
We all know this feeling of being overwhelmed by the demands of our lives
work, family, housework, errands, keeping up with friends
Old Calgon commercial – the traffic, the boss, the baby, the dog! That does it! Calgon, take me away!
We want Jesus to take us away from
stress/anxiety/worry/trouble/demands
& Even when we find those quiet times, distractions follow –
we can never quite escape
Meditation story of Tuesday morning
Disciples must have felt that way too
just returned from 1st solo missionary trip w/o Jesus
sent out 2 by 2 two weeks ago (before Herod & John the Baptist)
Come back filled with stories and experience that they need to share
Must look worn out, in need of some downtime, to absorb what they have seen and done
Jesus sees it in their faces -
Come away to a deserted place by yourselves & rest a while. Take a break!
Only problem w/ that, of course, is that on the way to their retreat, people find out & follow them there!
Actually arrive there 1st!
And when they go to Gennesaret, the same thing happens –
people at once recognize him, and rush around gathering up all the people who are sick, bringing them to wherever Jesus was.
The needs of the people were urgent
They knew what Jesus & his disciples could do – they wanted what they had to offer
They're beating down the doors to get to Jesus & his followers
And we hear this story, with its invitation to rest
and then see that the disciples never quite get that break
& we who are so starved for that quiet place, the chance to rest,
wonder how they kept on doing it without burning out.
Esp. when we realize that we are followers of Jesus too –
that he has sent us out into the world to bring the good news,
to work for healing, to bring hope to the hopeless
And we feel so overwhelmed with the demands of our already busy lives –
can't begin to fathom how we can add anything else in,
to work for the kingdom;
Fine for the disciples – they had no work, left their families behind, etc.
Difference b/w them and us is their sense of purpose –
so much of what we do feels like busy work, doesn't it
A lot of it isn't, but a lot is
We know that a lot of what we do isn't making much of a difference in the world
The disciples know that they are changing lives
They have felt the joy of knowing that what they are doing matters,
that they are a part of what God wants to do in the world
to feed the hungry & heal the sick and love the unloved
And the great news for us is that we don't have to go out of our way to be part of God's mission to love the world
opportunities are all around us wherever we are
Jesus didn't have to look for people to help
Wherever they heard Jesus was, they went
Jesus sees the great crowd. He sees
people who are hurting,
people who are in need
people who are longing for guidance, hope, compassion
And Jesus has compassion for them – he teaches them, he heals them
God can use us wherever we are
to bring life and hope and healing to a broken, desperate world,
filled with people who need what Jesus has to offer
With our grandchildren, with our golf buddies – seeing people & having compassion, reaching out to them with the love of Jesus
And so we come here each week –
this is a chance to come away to a quieter place
– to tell Jesus what we have been up to out there, all that we have done & taught
to rest a while with Jesus & with each other
to be fed, to be renewed, to be strengthened for the work God still calls us to
knowing that we are sent as the disciples were sent,
as changed people who
through the power of Jesus at work in our lives
are changing the world!
Amen.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
July 5 - Pentecost + 5
Please see blog from June 28 for an explanation about the current sermon format (notes vs. prose)
Also, to see the Bible passage, just click on it - it will take you to a Bible site w/ that passage.
Join the gospel – a story already in progress
Jesus has done much already in 5 chapters
Preaching, telling people to repent & believe in the good news
casting out unclean spirits, healing the sick, cleansing lepers; paralyzed man;
has taught in parables; stilled storm at sea;
just before this story - woman w/ bleeding, dead 12 year-old girl
Crowds gather wherever he goes
Comes to hometown & teaches in synagogue & people are astounded
where does this come from? What wisdom? Deeds of power? (word gets around, even w/o 24-hour news & internet)
And yet...
the people took offense at him
Hometown boy a little too familiar – who does he think he is?
Just a carpenter (status);
Mary's son; no training, education, etc.
Whether something in his words, or just the fact that they knew him when, something stops them from receiving what Jesus has to offer -
he could do no deeds of power there, except to heal a few
Cut themselves off from his healing, from the life change he can bring
Sound familiar? How often do we do this?
Take offense at Jesus
His is a tall order, to change our lives, to follow him, self-sacrifice;
Jesus calls for life transformation!
And we don't always want to be transformed;
The call to give to poor, feed hungry, serve others is a bit more than we want from him
An offensive message
Fear, rebellion, disbelief
So we push him away & cut ourselves off from all he has to offer, not just physical healing, but wholeness of life, restored relationships, peace, forgiveness
Good news is that he never stops reaching out to the people; It's not a limited time offer
People have been turning away from God from beginning of time:
Adam & Eve; Ezekiel passage;
the whole OT is story of people rejecting God & God reaching out,
sending messengers who point the way back to God,
remind people to turn back to God
who is loving and kind and merciful, God who wants the very best for us
Sent Ezekiel & all the prophets;
Sent Jesus
& Jesus sent out the disciples; even knowing that they would reject them
Jesus sent them out, just as they were, w/ no luggage, w/o a snack; no cell phone, no credit card, not even a change of clothes
just ordinary men (and women too) who had no special qualifications except that they had spent time w/ Jesus;
had felt him at work in their lives
had witnessed 1st hand how Jesus heals and loves and forgives,
had seen the way that Jesus turns lives around
“So they went out & proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
Through the power of Jesus at work in them, they went out and changed lives; they carried the healing and hope of Jesus with them.
Jesus still sending messengers into our lives
For all the times we may have taken offense, have found it hard to belief, Jesus is not done with us
He loves us too much to leave us as we are –
and if 1 set of messengers doesn't get through, he'll send another, and another, and another
Ordinary people who have seen the power of Jesus at work in their own lives,
who have felt his healing touch,
who have seen what Jesus can do
If you have felt that in your life,
if Jesus has changed who you are,
if you have felt him working in your life,
you are called to be a messenger of his love, an agent of hope and healing in a broken world
If you haven't, listen today;
Jesus has the power to heal and transform you too.
Also, to see the Bible passage, just click on it - it will take you to a Bible site w/ that passage.
Join the gospel – a story already in progress
Jesus has done much already in 5 chapters
Preaching, telling people to repent & believe in the good news
casting out unclean spirits, healing the sick, cleansing lepers; paralyzed man;
has taught in parables; stilled storm at sea;
just before this story - woman w/ bleeding, dead 12 year-old girl
Crowds gather wherever he goes
Comes to hometown & teaches in synagogue & people are astounded
where does this come from? What wisdom? Deeds of power? (word gets around, even w/o 24-hour news & internet)
And yet...
the people took offense at him
Hometown boy a little too familiar – who does he think he is?
Just a carpenter (status);
Mary's son; no training, education, etc.
Whether something in his words, or just the fact that they knew him when, something stops them from receiving what Jesus has to offer -
he could do no deeds of power there, except to heal a few
Cut themselves off from his healing, from the life change he can bring
Sound familiar? How often do we do this?
Take offense at Jesus
His is a tall order, to change our lives, to follow him, self-sacrifice;
Jesus calls for life transformation!
And we don't always want to be transformed;
The call to give to poor, feed hungry, serve others is a bit more than we want from him
An offensive message
Fear, rebellion, disbelief
So we push him away & cut ourselves off from all he has to offer, not just physical healing, but wholeness of life, restored relationships, peace, forgiveness
Good news is that he never stops reaching out to the people; It's not a limited time offer
People have been turning away from God from beginning of time:
Adam & Eve; Ezekiel passage;
the whole OT is story of people rejecting God & God reaching out,
sending messengers who point the way back to God,
remind people to turn back to God
who is loving and kind and merciful, God who wants the very best for us
Sent Ezekiel & all the prophets;
Sent Jesus
& Jesus sent out the disciples; even knowing that they would reject them
Jesus sent them out, just as they were, w/ no luggage, w/o a snack; no cell phone, no credit card, not even a change of clothes
just ordinary men (and women too) who had no special qualifications except that they had spent time w/ Jesus;
had felt him at work in their lives
had witnessed 1st hand how Jesus heals and loves and forgives,
had seen the way that Jesus turns lives around
“So they went out & proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
Through the power of Jesus at work in them, they went out and changed lives; they carried the healing and hope of Jesus with them.
Jesus still sending messengers into our lives
For all the times we may have taken offense, have found it hard to belief, Jesus is not done with us
He loves us too much to leave us as we are –
and if 1 set of messengers doesn't get through, he'll send another, and another, and another
Ordinary people who have seen the power of Jesus at work in their own lives,
who have felt his healing touch,
who have seen what Jesus can do
If you have felt that in your life,
if Jesus has changed who you are,
if you have felt him working in your life,
you are called to be a messenger of his love, an agent of hope and healing in a broken world
If you haven't, listen today;
Jesus has the power to heal and transform you too.
July 12 - Pentecost + 6
Please see the opening paragraphs posted for June 28 for an explanation of the current sermon format (notes, rather than prose)
Also, to read the Bible passage, just click on it - it should take you to an online Bible site with that passage.
Last summer + So You Think You Can Dance
Don't like “reality”/competition shows
But, sucked into the dancers & their stories & their ability to dance
even voted more than once for favorite
Mark's gospel – Ancient version of So You Think You Can Dance...
King Herod (not really a king) having a party w/ courtiers & officials & leaders of Galilee
Step-daughter is the entertainment
Comes in to dance & steals the show
Guests call in & vote – she wins hands down - Galilee's Favorite Dancer!
Mark says Herod & guests were “pleased”
a mild word, considering what he offers as the grand prize: Anything she wants; even ½ of his kingdom (the most a woman could own was ½ of man's property)
Herodias' (also known as Salome) dance was a dance of destruction, a dance of death
the seductive dance of wealth and power and privilege
a dance that corrupts almost everyone in its path
Leads Herod into temptation;
Leads Herodias (Sr.) to act on her grudge
B/c when she goes to ask her mother, mother finally gets her revenge on JBap for speaking out against her marriage, her adultery
Asks for John the Baptist's head on a platter
& Herod, who has been trying all along to protect John the Baptist, is forced to go along w/ his promise or lose face/honor w/ his guests (word as bond)
World invites us into a similar dance
A dance that is appealing and seductive
Leads us to want things that we know aren't right; that we know aren't good for us
The lure of money and sex and power;
World tries to convince us that this dance will satisfy us;
that if we partner with it, we can have everything we want, without consequences
Temptation – to cut corners; to cheat in business, on our spouses; to live out our anger, to seek revenge, to cut down those who block us;
& think we can get away w/ it
maybe not as bad as Herod & Herodias, but it's in us all
leaves us morally bankrupt, unsatisfied, still looking for more
Examples are all around us – Bernie Madoff; Gov. of SC, Mark Sanford
Looks good, but it is a dance that leads to our downfall
We look at John the Baptist & see that he's been dancing a different dance all along
His dance doesn't look very appealing;
More like Elaine Bennis (Seinfeld):
He “appears” in the wilderness in Ch. 1
Eating locusts & wild honey & wearing clothes made of camel's hair & proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins
Next time we see him, he's landed in jail for daring to speak out against Herod & his relationship w/ Herodias
And in this story, we hear how he died
But what's really important about this dance is his dance partner
So You Think You Can Dance – partners; different dance styles, etc.
-the right partner makes all the difference!
John's partner is Jesus
He's been leading this dance all along
Jesus' dance started before the beginning of time
a dance of love between the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
And his dance leads, not to our destruction or downfall or death – his dance leads to new life, true life, the life that never ends!
It's the dance Jesus invites us in to
teaching us every day how to dance with him; let's us stand on his feet & hold his hands
And he gives us so much more than the world can offer
Herod promised Herodias Jr. ½ of his kingdom – Jesus gives us the whole kingdom of God!
Herod gave Herodias John's head on a platter – Jesus gives us himself, saying “Take & eat, this is my body, given for you.”
Jesus invites us to dance with him, a new dance that the world can never defeat
Hymn that kept running through my mind; couldn't find it in our hymnals – don't know why I know it
Called Lord of the Dance
The last few verses & the refrain
I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.
They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
Refrain
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.
Amen.
Also, to read the Bible passage, just click on it - it should take you to an online Bible site with that passage.
Last summer + So You Think You Can Dance
Don't like “reality”/competition shows
But, sucked into the dancers & their stories & their ability to dance
even voted more than once for favorite
Mark's gospel – Ancient version of So You Think You Can Dance...
King Herod (not really a king) having a party w/ courtiers & officials & leaders of Galilee
Step-daughter is the entertainment
Comes in to dance & steals the show
Guests call in & vote – she wins hands down - Galilee's Favorite Dancer!
Mark says Herod & guests were “pleased”
a mild word, considering what he offers as the grand prize: Anything she wants; even ½ of his kingdom (the most a woman could own was ½ of man's property)
Herodias' (also known as Salome) dance was a dance of destruction, a dance of death
the seductive dance of wealth and power and privilege
a dance that corrupts almost everyone in its path
Leads Herod into temptation;
Leads Herodias (Sr.) to act on her grudge
B/c when she goes to ask her mother, mother finally gets her revenge on JBap for speaking out against her marriage, her adultery
Asks for John the Baptist's head on a platter
& Herod, who has been trying all along to protect John the Baptist, is forced to go along w/ his promise or lose face/honor w/ his guests (word as bond)
World invites us into a similar dance
A dance that is appealing and seductive
Leads us to want things that we know aren't right; that we know aren't good for us
The lure of money and sex and power;
World tries to convince us that this dance will satisfy us;
that if we partner with it, we can have everything we want, without consequences
Temptation – to cut corners; to cheat in business, on our spouses; to live out our anger, to seek revenge, to cut down those who block us;
& think we can get away w/ it
maybe not as bad as Herod & Herodias, but it's in us all
leaves us morally bankrupt, unsatisfied, still looking for more
Examples are all around us – Bernie Madoff; Gov. of SC, Mark Sanford
Looks good, but it is a dance that leads to our downfall
We look at John the Baptist & see that he's been dancing a different dance all along
His dance doesn't look very appealing;
More like Elaine Bennis (Seinfeld):
He “appears” in the wilderness in Ch. 1
Eating locusts & wild honey & wearing clothes made of camel's hair & proclaiming a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins
Next time we see him, he's landed in jail for daring to speak out against Herod & his relationship w/ Herodias
And in this story, we hear how he died
But what's really important about this dance is his dance partner
So You Think You Can Dance – partners; different dance styles, etc.
-the right partner makes all the difference!
John's partner is Jesus
He's been leading this dance all along
Jesus' dance started before the beginning of time
a dance of love between the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
And his dance leads, not to our destruction or downfall or death – his dance leads to new life, true life, the life that never ends!
It's the dance Jesus invites us in to
teaching us every day how to dance with him; let's us stand on his feet & hold his hands
And he gives us so much more than the world can offer
Herod promised Herodias Jr. ½ of his kingdom – Jesus gives us the whole kingdom of God!
Herod gave Herodias John's head on a platter – Jesus gives us himself, saying “Take & eat, this is my body, given for you.”
Jesus invites us to dance with him, a new dance that the world can never defeat
Hymn that kept running through my mind; couldn't find it in our hymnals – don't know why I know it
Called Lord of the Dance
The last few verses & the refrain
I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.
They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
Refrain
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.
Amen.
June 28 - Pentecost + 4
I've been lax on posting my sermons so far this summer. My apologies!
I haven't been writing out my sermons in a "manuscript" form this summer. We are worshiping together on Wednesday nights, using the coming Sunday's readings. Because of the different setting & atmosphere, I have been experimenting with just preaching from notes - both on Wed. night and Sunday mornings. So, the sermons for the coming several weeks will not be like reading one of my usual sermons. The basic ideas are there, but you'll really have to connect the dots for yourselves in order to make sense of the transitions, and so on.
Also, it dawned on me today that if you aren't in church, you won't have just heard the reading the sermon is about. You may or may not have a Bible handy to look it up either, which would make this even more difficult to follow. So, you can click on the passage & it should take you to the passage, if I've done it right.
If you're reading this, let me know how these sermons in note form are working for you... Thanks!
I haven't been writing out my sermons in a "manuscript" form this summer. We are worshiping together on Wednesday nights, using the coming Sunday's readings. Because of the different setting & atmosphere, I have been experimenting with just preaching from notes - both on Wed. night and Sunday mornings. So, the sermons for the coming several weeks will not be like reading one of my usual sermons. The basic ideas are there, but you'll really have to connect the dots for yourselves in order to make sense of the transitions, and so on.
Also, it dawned on me today that if you aren't in church, you won't have just heard the reading the sermon is about. You may or may not have a Bible handy to look it up either, which would make this even more difficult to follow. So, you can click on the passage & it should take you to the passage, if I've done it right.
If you're reading this, let me know how these sermons in note form are working for you... Thanks!
Jesus Is Never Too Busy to Save
Mark 5:21-43
Pentecost +4 - June 24 & 28, 2009
Ghost Town – Bertram who wakes up from colonoscopy to realize he sees dead people
And apparently, he's the only one who can; they want his help
Crowd around him, pestering him night & day to take messages to the living
Scene from gospel like Ghost Town
People crowding around Jesus, knowing he's the only one who can help them, pressing to get close, telling them their stories
1 woman is like a ghost, who no one else can see anymore
12 years of hemorrhaging;
Medicine has failed; religion pushed her away; society ignores her
So used to being invisible she doesn't even dare to ask Jesus, just sneaks up on him in the crowd to touch his cloak
How often have we felt like that; invisible, alone, desperate, hope almost gone
Or maybe you feel more like Jairus
A man w/ status & position, but none of it can help his little girl
Comes to Jesus, falls at his feet, and begs for help
And when Jesus comes, he gets interrupted along the way
stops to help this nameless, insignificant woman
Ever felt like you were begging repeatedly for help, waiting for it to come, wondering what the delay is, feeling like time is running out?
Or maybe that in all the prayers God gets, God can't respond to yours right away?
God too busy? We are too insignificant?
Jesus is not Bertram!
For most of the movie, Bertram doesn't want anything to do with any of the ghosts who need his help
But we learn from this story that Jesus cares about each & every one of us
Never too busy
No one is invisible to him; no one's needs go unnoticed
Jesus stops to find out who the woman is; could've kept on moving; but takes the time to find her, hear her story and offer her healing, peace, new life!
And we learn that it's never too late with Jesus
There is always enough time; even when it seems time has run out & all hope is gone
Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe”
Jesus heals Jairus' daughter; he touches her & raises her from the dead
Do not fear, only believe
believe in the one who will stop everything to find you
believe in the one for whom no situation is too desperate, for whom it is never too late
Believe in Jesus and come to him – receive the hope and healing only he can give.
Amen.
June 21 - Pentecost + 3
Jesus Stills the Storm
Mark 4:35-41
Pentecost + 3 – June 21, 2009
Mark 4:35-41
Pentecost + 3 – June 21, 2009
It's been a long few days for Jesus and the disciples as we join them in the gospel story this morning. Jesus has had a full calendar. It's been almost non-stop since he started his public ministry. He's gone from town to town, healing and casting out unclean spirits, and preaching and teaching. Everywhere Jesus goes, people follow him, crowds so big & so anxious to see him, to receive wholeness and healing, that their presence threatens to crush him. Last Sunday, we heard about how Jesus has spent this past day, teaching the crowds, telling them parables about the kingdom of God. But now, evening has come, and Jesus says, “Let us go across to the other side.”
“And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was” (v. 36). Everybody piled in, perhaps all a little relieved, glad to leave the crowds with all of their demands behind, thankful for a little downtime at the end of the day, ready for a nice leisurely sail across the sea.
Except, as it turns out, this is no pleasure cruise. Somewhere along the way, Mark says a great windstorm arose, and waves were beating into the boat, swamping it, threatening to sink them. Now remember, at least some of the men in the boat with Jesus were fishermen. Jesus called Peter and Andrew and James and John away from their nets to follow him, but the sea was in their blood. Sailing was part of who they were, it was what they did. Surely they have been in storms before. Surely they must have some idea of what to do in a storm.
But it seems there was something different about this storm, because before long, the disciples are panicking. The storm is overwhelming, and they don't know what to do, and when they look around them, there's Jesus – sleeping on a cushion, so sound asleep that they have to wake him up, and they say, “Teacher, don't you care that we are perishing?” Teacher, how can you sleep at a time like this?! Don't you see what's going on? Don't you know that our boat is sinking? Don't you care? Wake up! We need you!"
You ever felt that way? You're living your life, going about business as usual, thinking you've got it all under control, and all of a sudden, some storm blows up out of nowhere and swamps you. And all you can do is bail out the boat and wonder how you're ever gonna make it to the other side, as you fight against the wind and waves.
The waves of worry and anxiety come crashing in on our boats from all directions. A big wave lately, a tidal wave it feels like, is money. People are losing their jobs, or are worried about losing them. People are taking pay cuts or getting that extra week of unpaid vacation. There's worry about home values and mortgages and bankruptcies of big car businesses. There's concern over the viability of our banks. Yeah, those waves of money concerns have been beating into our boats pretty fiercely for a while now, and we're not sure when that particular storm is gonna abate.
But even when the economy is doing okay, there are other sources of wind and waves: health and medical problems, worry about kids or grandkids, or parents or grandparents, there are relationships in our lives that are strained and broken, or maybe it's lack of close relationships and support, a feeling of loneliness and being alone. Or maybe it's just the crazy schedules so many of us keep, running from one thing to another, over-scheduled, over-worked, overwhelmed.
And sometimes in the middle of all this, when we feel like we're all alone, that we are bailing out the boat and battling the waves all by ourselves, we want to say, “Wake up, Jesus! I'm drowning here! Don't you care that I'm perishing?!”
When the disciples ask that question in the gospel this morning, we can't tell from the English, but in the Greek that it was originally written in, the way they ask the question indicates that they expect him to answer, “Yes, of course I care!” And what he does next proves that he cares – Jesus wakes up, and immediately he stills the storm. He has the power to rebuke the wind, just as he had rebuked those unclean spirits a few chapters before. Jesus has the power to bring order out of the chaos of the storm, just as God did when speaking the world into existence, when the earth was a formless void and a wind from God swept over the waters, and God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Jesus rebukes the wind and speaks to the sea: “Peace! Be still!” - and the wind ceased and there was a dead calm.
You know, we were talking about this passage at our Bible study the other night, and we noticed a few things about this story. One is that Jesus was always with them in the boat. He was with them through the storm. True, his reaction was completely different – he was at peace despite the weather and the waves, and that could be a whole other sermon all on its own! But the point I want us to focus on this morning is that Jesus never left them. At the beginning of this story, Jesus says, “Let us go across to the other side.” He doesn't put the disciples in the boat and push them off the shore, wishing them good luck while he stays safe on dry land. Jesus is the one who invites them into the boat – and he stays with them the whole time. And when the storm gets to be too much for them and they cry out for help, he's there. He doesn't leave them to fend for themselves. He helps them in their need. As the psalm says, which I commend to your reading, by the way, he “delivered them from their distress. [He] stilled the storm to a whisper and silenced the waves of the sea.”
But just because the storm was over didn't mean that they were done with the journey. They still had to make it to the other side, because Jesus had work for them to do there. This isn't just a random boat trip – they are on a mission to carry Jesus to a new people in a new place, so that he may bring hope and healing there too. So, despite the fears that still remain (the way I read the story), the disciples have to press on. They have to keep going until they reach their destination, because that's what Jesus has called them to do.
It's the same for us. The storms of life will surely come. Following Jesus is no guarantee of an easy, storm-free life. But the promise for us is that Jesus is the one who has invited us into the boat. He has given us a mission, to carry Jesus and his life-giving, life-restoring word to new people in new places. This life of faith is not always easy, but when the seas get rough and the wind blows, we know that Jesus is in the same boat. He won't abandon us to the wind and the waves. He's right there with us, able to still our storms.
And when the storm has subsided, Jesus calls us to continue on, to trust him enough to risk the next storm, to brave the sea of life, trusting that we are with the One who has the power to say, “Peace! Be still,” into the chaos of the world and the chaos of our hearts, knowing that he will be with us and we will reach the other side. Thanks be to God!
Amen.
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