In today’s world, we love to travel. No longer do people tend to stay in their own
neighborhood for their entire lives, or their own county or even their own
state. People travel, we have cars that
can get us places quickly, but we also have trains and planes. Just one generation back, people did not
travel anywhere near like what we do today.
When my parents were in high school they might dream about foreign
lands, but never would they think that they would go to Australia or Spain or
England or France. By the time I was in
high school, my family had travel all over the United States as well as
allowing me to travel to England to visit my best friend who had moved there
and to Spain with my high school Spanish class.
These opportunities did not exist for my parents when they were the same
age as me.
In
the day and age of Jesus, people also traveled, mostly for trade. They walked, or rode animals, or traveled by
boat. And traveling was dangerous. There were bandits on the roads, Roman
soldiers stationed throughout, storms would blow through, they didn’t have
convenient stores to stop into if they were hungry or thirsty. They didn’t have cell phones or GPS or AAA for
roadside assistance. So, most people limited their travel.
One
of the commentaries I read shared that this story is less about the storm at
sea, but rather more about getting into the boat and traveling from one place
to another. For the most part, when we
decide to go on a roadtrip, we know where we plan on going. We set a destination and make arrangements
for when we arrive, but it seems with Jesus, he gets his disciples into the
boat and off they sail, intending to go to the other side, but not knowing
anything about what awaits them when the arrive.
Do
we ever hear Jesus calling: Let us get
in the boat and cross over to the other side?
Symbolically, asking us to move from a place of comfort to a place where
we just might engage in a new ministry.
This summer, nine of us will be getting into the boat and traveling to
Philadelphia for a week long mission trip.
To be honest, we have no idea what to expect once we get there other
than we know we will be given shelter and food.
We don’t know how hot it will be, or which urban ministry project we
will spend time with, but we do know Broad Street Ministry has been hosting
church groups for years and that they know what they are doing. For some people, the unknown can bring great
anxiety while for others it is a thrill of adventure and brings great
excitement in that anticipation of encountering the unknown. Jesus must have had an adventurist heart, for
he was constantly moving from place to place always with the trust that God was
calling him in whatever direction he took.
Let
us get in the boat and cross over to the other side – might speak to our young
adults that have just graduated from high school and are heading off to the
unknown of college. Or to our college
graduates that are heading off to the unknown of a new job. Or to parents that are becoming empty
nesters. Or to a church that is seeking
new ways to partner with the local community.
The
thing is, nothing in life is smooth sailing.
There will always be ups and downs and storms will blow through,
literally or symbolically. Another
writer shared this: in the storm, we
disciples cried out to Jesus to wake up.
How this speaks to us in todays world.
Don’t we want to shout, to cry out, to demand that God do something to
stop these storms that we are in? Our
Presbytery is focusing on current events that we believe are breaking God’s
heart. We have already done one meeting
on the Opiate addiction crisis and another on the #metoo. In September we will be addressing the
Immigration crisis and in November we will be sharing about gun violence. We are in a storm, all around us, in so many
different places and topics and issues and we cry out, God save us. God, do something to stop this madness, stop
children from killing children, stop people from overdosing on heroin, stop
families from being separated one from another, stop the sexual discrimination
and abuse that seems to be running rampant in our nation. We, just like the disciples, want God to
break in and perform a miracle and bring life to some sort of peaceful
calm. Jesus woke up, and he silenced the
storm, but he also scolds his disciples asking them, why are you afraid have
you still no faith?
Would that be God’s response to us today? As we move across the waters from one place
to another, as we wonder what is becoming of this world, would God say: why are
you afraid? Have you still no faith? Is
God encouraging us to allow our faith to guide us through our fear? Or can we travel through the storms not
calling out to God to stop them, but rather knowing that God is in the boat
with us, traveling with us, present with us, promising us God’s love and grace
and mercy.
And what if, what if God
responded, stop the storm with me. How
would we respond? Would we be willing to
get involved in the things that make us angry about our world? We are seeing more and more people involved
in marches because in these storms people are waking up and wanting to be
empowered to be a part of change. There
is an incredible desire within our society of people wanting to restore peace,
of people wanting to stop the storms, of people understanding they can no
longer sit quietly waiting for someone else to take care of the problem. More and more boats are moving out into the
lake, despite knowing there are storms at sea.
Over the centuries, it has been people of faith that have spoken out,
despite the fear of others, to condemn slavery and segregation. People have taken incredible risks to be in
the middle of the storm, working with God to bring peace, peace not just for
one group of people, but for the greater good, the whole of society. At one church, we held monthly peace vigils,
we chose a topic and then spent an hour, out on the front steps of the church
with signs, and discussed with each other the issue at hand, and shared with
those that passed by, and made ourselves a visible presence of peace to
community.
There is no denying we are in a
storm, what is your anchor or where do you place your hope? What brings you peace when torrential rains
hit? Is it knowing God is present, is it
trust that God is faithful? Is it
through prayer or becoming involved in some sort of social justice
movement? Or maybe you are in a place
where you have lost your mooring and feel tossed about and truly believe we are
perishing just like the disciples did, cry out as they did, reach out to the
source of peace, the source of creation, the source of love that has been
present in your life. The disciples knew
Jesus was there, they knew he would come to them, they knew they could answers
or help or calm in his presence. And he
me them in their need. Some of us just
need to find a place of calm, a place of peace, a place where we truly feel
safe, and in this particular story, it does not happen on the beach or the
safety of land, but in the midst of traveling from one place to another, in the
midst of the storm, in the midst of not knowing where they were going next,
they engaged the peace that only God can give.
Whether we are in the boat or
not, there is a storm, and God is not sleeping, but is calling those who will
listen to participate in Biblical justice for all humanity. Amen.
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