Mark 4:35-41
Job 38:1-11
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
This is a good Gospel reading
for an outdoor service, I only hope the wind and the river continue to obey
him!
We might have thought this story
of the Disciples on the lake would be one that they would be at home and
comfortable, since several of them were fisherman and they were probably in one
of their own boats. But they usually
stuck very close to the side of the lake, and very close to their own side of the lake. I say “Their own side of the lake,” because
the other side was Samaritan territory.
It was a different country.
Job had stayed on the safe side
of his lake, too. He had been faithful
and followed all the commandments. He
was close to God, but stayed in calm, safe waters. He had no idea what was right around the
corner.
We like our safety, too. Who could blame the disciples? We like our little church, and our friends,
and our familiar hymns. We frequent the
same stores and cook the same food and like our peaceful lives. We are close to people like ourselves, same
culture, same race, same age, same socio-economic status.
But sometimes our little boat
gets pushed out into the middle of the lake.
Sometimes we find ourselves with a serious illness, or a close family
member is ill. Sometimes we lose
everything in a fire, or lose our job.
Sometimes our kids take away the car keys or invite us to move halfway
across the country to a place we’ve never known. We find ourselves very far from the shore we
have known so well. Suddenly we don’t
feel very safe. We don’t have control
over the forces and powers around us. We
might start to feel afraid as the storm whips up, as chaos swirls around us, as
our boat starts filling with water. We
don’t know if we will live another day.
We don’t know how we will live, how we will get across to the other side.
God is not afraid or absent in
the storm. God loves crossing over. I especially think of when God crossed over
the lake that is the division between God and humankind. Those waters of the womb surrounded the
little Jesus and when those waves crashed, he came into this world. It must have been a stormy beginning for a
stormy little guy, that turned into a stormy man, who crossed every river and
lake to engage every kind of person in the vision and work of God’s Kingdom. God’s work is about crossing boundaries, coming
together, and riding out the storms together.
The Israelites found themselves
out in the storm. They’d left a bad
situation, enslavement in Egypt. Now
they were out in the wilderness, in the chaos, afraid, feeling powerless, and
ready to exchange this storm for the misery that they had known before. They actually showed up at the land that God
was leading them to within a year or two from when they left Egypt, but they
got scared after sending in a group of scouts, and ended up doubling back and
spending 40 years wandering until they finally learned to trust God and begin
the new life God was offering them. And
then their trust and faithfulness was short-lived, very much like our own.
Job found God speaking out of
the whirlwind, storm. We might think
that storm was him losing everything and everyone he loved. Actually, that storm was his friends who come
along and instead of simply accompanying him and holding him in his pain after the
deaths of everyone in his family and the loss of everything he owned, tried to
explain that he deserved it and tried to theologize his situation and
pontificate until he’d just had it. Out
of that storm, God speaks. God actually
invites Job, who is crumpled on the ground, defeated, defenseless, hopeless,
God invites Job to stand up and have a conversation between equals, to look
each other in the eye and talk and listen and relate. And God shows Job what God sees, the bigger
picture, the power of God, the accompaniment and boundary-crossing of God.
In the same way, the disciples
in their storm, at first feel abandoned.
They wake Jesus up, who is asleep in the boat because he’s completely
exhausted from healing and being chased by the crowds like the Beatles in Hard
Day’s Night. I’ve seen these paintings
of Jesus in the boat calming the storm.
He always looks so powerful, regal, awake. This time when I read the story, I pictured
him rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. I
bet he was sleeping there, the disciples woke him up accusing him of not
caring, he sits up all sleepy like, then with a flick of his hand and a loud
voice says, “Silence. Be still.” He
accuses the disciples of being afraid and having no faith. Then immediately he returns to sleeping. This is the reason I think he goes back to
sleeping, because he exits the conversation and where is he going to go in the
boat. The disciples start talking about
him like he’s not even there, “Who is this, that even the wind and seas obey
him?”
If we are sailing in still
waters near the shore, if we are safe and comfortable, if we are in our
patterns, hanging out with people like us, God says that is not abundant
life. That is living in fear, clinging
to our side of the lake. Even if it
feels good, it is not working for someone else who is out on that lake or
waiting on the other side, in need of connection with us. If it is working for us, it is not
sustainable. Do we cling desperately to
the shore, or do we have the faith to go forth with Jesus to see what else this
world has to offer?
On the other shore of the lake
is the Kingdom of God, relating with people who are different, a view of our
life that reveals more truth, a wider view of what is most important and
life-giving. In between there might be a
storm or two, but it is nothing compared to the power and glory of God.
God invites us to cross the
borders, all the time. We are to cross
when we see someone in need. We are to
cross when we are comfortable. We are to
cross when God calls us to new life. We
are to cross to stand up against unjust laws.
Crossing is scary and dangerous.
But we can’t stay where we are, and in the crossing we learn faith,
practice faith, realize we can’t do it ourselves and that we’ve never done it
ourselves. That’s where we learn we are
powerless and God is powerful, relationship is powerful, we are more powerful
together.
The Bible is full of stories of
crossing over. Can you name some? Go ahead.
The wise men. The shepherds
visiting Jesus. The exodus. The woman at the well. Jesus with the children. The 23rd Psalm. We have countless stories of those who have
gone before to inspire us and keep us going.
If we are already out on the
waters and the storm is threatening to sink the boat, God is with us. God has been on many sinking boats, including
the arrest, and crucifixion of his own Son.
God does not abandon sinking boats, but goes down with the ship. But God also promises there is more than the
shore of this life. There is another
shore, which is new life and connection and peace.
This congregation has had so
many stories of crossing over boundaries and lakes. When pastors have misbehaved or left, you
have sometimes found yourselves in stormy seas, and I know you found God there
with you, and you crossed to the other side.
But you didn’t stay there. God
asked you to cross again, and you did.
And each time, your faith grew.
You crossed when you couldn’t pay the bills and you sold some property
and began to look to ministries outside yourselves and had enough faith to
tithe to synod ministries and needs. You
went out into stormy seas when you started the food pantry. Sometimes those 2nd and 4th
Thursdays still feel pretty stormy. But
we know God is with us and with our friends and partners in all those other
boats all around us. You have faced storms
when you left the safety of your shore and had a frank conversation with
someone you were struggling with. And
you even left the safety our cozy little church, to worship in the chaotic
outdoors, to feel God’s presence, to see God at work outside our walls, to sing
and praise without a building, to go out and meet God in the forest, in the
world, to sing along with the birds and learn from their example, to take a
risk, to let go of knowing and being comfortable to open yourselves to God’s
vision, to the new life that happens on the other side of the lake. And we still haven’t arrived. We are not done crossing through the
storms. Jesus isn’t just going to snap
his fingers. But we do know that he is
the one with the power to bring us through to new life. And if the wind and sea obey him, wouldn’t it
be amazing for us to do so, too?!
God doesn’t call us to be a
harmonius, calm little community by the shore.
God calls us to something more.
It is absolutely not smooth sailing.
However, it grows our faith, brings us together, and is meaningful,
hopeful, abundant, connecting, and exhilarating. It is the only thing worth doing, crossing,
crossing again, and meeting Jesus in the storm.
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