August 13, 2023

As many times as I have read this story, it still surprised me, this time, in that Jesus doesn't calm any storm.  By the end of the story it is stilled, but Jesus hasn’t spoken peace and still and it’s calm is not attributed to him.  That's a different story.  Today, Jesus does not take away the problems of the Disciples, instead Jesus accompanies them in the storm and lifts Peter who is hesitating.

Water in the Bible symbolizes chaos, an unknowable, uncontrollable force that can destroy without warning and swallow up everything.  There were no diving suits then.  No one knew what secrets lurked beneath the surface.  Even today, the sea is mysterious, and great portions of it are unexplored.  Several of the Disciples make their living on the water, as fisherfolk, so they respect the sea and know how fast things can change.  Still they don't see this storm coming.  Storms can roll in very fast.

We face many storms in our lives:  Illnesses, losses, barriers, pressures.  Some of these storms are actual storms.  This heatwave we're having is a deadly storm for many.  Storms are growing in frequency and power in certain areas of the world and putting pressure on people and animals and this beautiful world God made.  People face financial storms.  They face physical storms when they can't get the care they need or afford their medicine.  People face family storms--someone is addicted, someone faces mental illness, someone is abused.  People face all kinds of storms and obstacles and pressures.

Many times God does not still those storms.  Instead, God walks with us in the storms and joins us in the waters of chaos.  Jesus was sent into a storm--God became flesh in a storm.  There was the storm of politics and having to be counted, the storm of living in a land occupied by an Empire and an army, the storm of being born in poverty to a single mother, the storm of jealous Herod.  God did not remove these storms, but accompanied the Holy Family in the storms.

Elijah, too, was in a number of storms.  As a prophet he had been shunned, attacked, relating to God who had been shunned and attacked and turned away from.  Elijah faced then a number of storms mirroring his life, the earthquake, the wind, the fire, and the dead calm, the sound of sheer silence.  Then God sends Elijah back into the storm of all those trying to kill the prophets and deny God.  God goes with him to turn the course of the nations to justice and mercy.

 Our neighbors, too, face many storms.  Seniors are lonely.  Children are hungry.  Parents need a break.  We don't know what storms our neighbors face, because we don't know our neighbors, yet.  We know a few, but we could know more and have more conversations about pressures, once we build trust.  We have to be willing to get into the same boat with them, to tie our fates together, to take a risk to build a relationship with someone different from ourselves.  We have started to get into the boat with Santa Cruz and deepen these relationships by having conversations together in our Advent and Lenten services about what the pressures are in our lives.  We have started these conversations in our Disaster Preparedness Committee to ask, what does it mean to face the storms together.  And there are many more conversations to have, to open up to each other, to meet strangers and be curious about them and what their lives are like. 

Then we get to step out of the boat into the choppy waters, like Peter.  We get to leave what is safe--this sanctuary, these brick walls, and go out into the neighborhood.  We get to go where it is uncomfortable, because we know Jesus is there, and we know we won't be alone, and we know incredible things can happen.  Sometimes we can stand between someone and the storm--we can buffer them a little bit.  It comes with a cost because it means we will be hit with wind and water and force.  We will bear the effects of the storm.  Sometimes we simply walk with someone in their storm.  When someone is grieving or lonely, when someone is anxious we simply walk with them so they don't have to go through it alone. 

When we face storms, we often react like Joseph's brothers, with fear, jealousy, anger, and deception--taking control to get things back to the way they always were, or we thought they were.  In these cases we increase the storm, the pressures on other people.  But we have a choice, because we have the unlimited resource of love that is a buffer in any storm.  We can be that buffer to our members and friends.  And we can be that buffer to our church neighbors and other neighbors that are further away.  We can step out of the boat into the storm with the promise that Jesus will be there with us, encouraging us, even when we hesitate, lifting us up and carrying us forward.

In both the Hebrew scripture and our Gospel reading today, the storm eventually calms.  This tells us that our problems are not forever, that eventually things will change.  It can help us to stand with others in the storm and be ready to respond after the storm and to know God’s presence in both the strong winds and also in the sound of sheer silence.