Seminary Conclusions.

Stormy Seas a Comin'

Here is my sermon for Pentecost 3B.
Mark 4:35-41

Almighty God, Calm the storms in our hearts and minds so that we may hear your words for us, that we may know of your love and grace. Amen.


In High School, I was part of a class that went on a canoe trip each year. As part of the requirements, we were to be paired up with someone, and work as a team. For those who didn’t know how to canoe, they were taught in the indoor school pool, and this would be their first big outing onto a river. I was paired with a girl named Erin. Now Erin was about 5’2, and had never canoed before in her life. She was jittery, and I kept telling her to just be calm. As the experienced canoeist, I took the back. I explained to her again how we needed to work as a team, she needed to watch for things coming up ahead, and tell me how to steer us. We were towards the end of the boats that were launched into the river that day. Erin kept talking about how she didn’t want to tip in, because she was terrified of it, and how I needed to make sure not to tip us. I assured her that I had never intentionally tipped a canoe before and we would be fine, she just needed to sit still.


Well there is where I went wrong. Erin was so nervous, that she literally could not sit still. She jumped at every little movement around her, she swayed back and forth when she remembered to put her paddle in the water. Then we got to a part of the river where there was faster moving water, and trees that dangled overhead. Being that I was already 6’1 in HS, I of course got lots of branches in the face, lot’s of bugs all over me that fell off the branches, but the worst was listening to Erin scream about the spiders. She couldn’t handle the bugs falling on her, she freaked out, and began to squirm even more. Needless to say, she tipped us.
But that wasn’t the last time we would be in the water that day, Erin caused us to tip about six more times that day. Her fear had overtaken her and she was no longer thinking rationally.


That same fear of the water is tangible in the words of the disciples that we heard from the Gospel of Mark for today. You can almost hear the panic in their tones as they run to Jesus, asking him why he is sleeping while they are going to perish. They fear the storm that has cropped up, and for good reason too.


The location of the water that they disciples were boating on, lies behind a mountain range, and is quite shallow. Although Mark refers to it as a “sea” it’s actually a lake. This lake is well known for the bad storms that come across it. Because of it’s geographical placement, storms come quickly without warning, they are fierce and dangerous, and usually do not last very long. The fishermen would have known all this information, they would have known that this lake was well known for it’s storms, they would have been watching in fear from the moment they stepped on to the boat.


These disciples put no trust in their own knowledge of boats to save them from this storm that popped up. Instead they turn to look for their leader; they turn to look for Jesus awaiting his words, awaiting his commands. Although they had more experience on the water then Jesus, although the fisherman of the bunch had known the dangers of the waters for their whole lives, they turn to the man that they have been following, the man that was raised as a carpenter, and persuaded them to leave their jobs and follow him.


The fear over took them, and they could only panic and run to Jesus. When they find him sleeping calmly, they yell out to him. They accuse him of sleeping while they are perishing. They accuse, because they don’t know what to do, they feel abandoned by their leader, and are not trusting in his previous words, but instead need an action from him now, in this moment. They feel the peril that approaches them through the storm, and they don’t know what to do.


Having spent a good amount of time on the water myself, I know that it is a dangerous place. Storms only increase the danger of being at sea. I’m sure most of us have heard of all the different vessels that have been lost at sea. Stories pop up about the Bermuda triangle, and boats that vanish. We have heard of storms that have torn ships apart, run them aground, and sunk them. People, and all kinds of crafts get lost at sea. The water can often be a dangerous place.


We encounter storms on a regular basis during our lives. Yes, we encounter natural storms like thunderstorms and tornadoes, but we also encounter different kinds of storms. Storms that shake our foundations, storms that change life as we know it.


Storms in our lives come in different ways and at different times. They can be building storms, or can pop up without warning. We come to encounter storms such as death, loss, broken hearts, rejection, pain both physical and emotional. Storms in our lives can be the death of loved ones, struggling with depression, finding knew ways to survive, being turned down for a job because of who you are, feeling alone and separated from those who you love.


Storms cannot always be predicted, sometimes we are influenced by the people that surround us, sometimes people abuse and use us in ways we didn’t see coming. We get lied to by someone that we trusted with everything, and we are suddenly left alone in a mess we didn’t create.


There are times when we don’t deserve the storms of our lives, when we question what’s going on around us.


We like the disciples can wonder where God is during our storm? How can we be left feeling alone, and feeling as if we are perishing, and God not be beside us giving us direction?


As Jesus is awoken by the disciples, he stands up and calls out off the boat, “Peace. Be still.” Three words, and everything is calm. The winds and waves have stopped crashing, the beating hearts have steadied, and the worried minds have relaxed. With three words, the storm and the disciples are calm.


In the Gospel, Mark says that Jesus states these words to the wind and water, but I think they were meant more for the disciples. It wasn’t that Jesus had to physically control the natural elements, he was calming the minds and hearts of the disciples, he was giving them peace and stillness, not the waves. The storm would have passed in it’s own time, but the disciples fears needed to be calmed.


Jesus offers them peace in the midst of turmoil, he offers them calmness in the face of danger.


Jesus continues on to question the disciples, asking them if they have faith, how come they didn’t trust in this situation. Although he chastises them about their reaction, he still took the time to calm them. He knew that what they needed was peace of mind, they needed to feel safe, and he gave that to them. He brought to them a peace that not only calmed the storm in front of the, but calmed the many storms to come. He brought them a peace that will forever give them salvation, that will forever give them stillness, because he brought them a peace the surpasses all understanding. A peace that is offered in his death on a cross.


There is a great song, with the chorus line of, “Sometimes he calms the storm, and sometimes he calms his child.”


Jesus does this for the disciples. He may have controlled the earthly elements, he may have stopped the waves in their tracks, but he most definitely calmed his people.


God does this for you too. God is there, through it all. The comfort may not always come in the ways we want it to, the storms may not always disappear instantly, but God is with you.


The storms in our lives can come and go, they can stick around and they can reoccur, but through it all, God is there. Even when we think there is no help for us, that we are perishing, we can take comfort in our tiny seed of faith, that we are cared for that we are loved.


Just as Jesus spoke peace to the disciples, so God speaks peace to our lives. Speaks peace to the fears and dangers in our lives. Speaks peace to our worried hearts and minds.


Water can also speak peace to us, remembering God in the waters, we can have peace. Peace from the waters that God used to create the world, Peace from the waters that God used to save our ancestors the Israelites when He parted the Red Sea, waters that God used to baptize his Son Jesus Christ, waters that he uses to baptize us and claim us as his children, to claim that he will be with us always.


So let us take comfort in the fact that God is with us, through the storms through the joys through days and through the years. Let us be calmed by the glorious message that we are children of God, that we are a loved people, that we have been redeemed through the indescribable love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.


You are a loved child of God, a child that would not be allow to perish alone in a storm on the seas of life, for God is with you through all you do, through all the trials and through all the struggles. Living and breathing in and around you.


May the Holy Spirit blow peace into the storms of our lives, may Jesus be the calm conductor of our boats on the choppy seas of life, and may God be our guide and companion keeping us close as we worry and fear. Amen

Labels: child of God, Jesus struggles, sermon, storms

posted by Dana @ 7:03 PM