Realizing that God is with Us          June 25, 2006                 Mark 4:35-41

Last week we went on a cruise to Alaska, and Marilyn and I had a great time. The weather was wonderful. After all the heat we have here in Texas, it was refreshing to be in such cool temperatures that never reached more than 75 degrees.

One of my favorite parts of the vacation was standing out on the chilly deck in my coat and hat, watching the ship meet the waves. The higher the waves, the more exciting it was to watch. One day the waves were 30 feet high. I hung on as the ship pitched to and fro, and side to side. I looked across the sea and marvel at the mystery and depth of its icy power. I even wondered, how many seafarers have gone down in the face of the mightiness of the sea.

There is no shortage of poetry about the mighty sea. Listen to this one from "The Mirror of the Sea" by Joseph Conrad. The sea--this truth must be confessed--has no generosity. No display of many qualities Courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness-- Has never been known to touch its irresponsible Consciousness of power. The sea is a constant threat of danger to anyone who comes near. Even on an ocean liner, the water has power enough to roll up and take us into its icy embrace. Those who live near the sea know that flooding is always a possibility.

Now that I’m back in Texas on solid and hot ground, it’s refreshing to see a reminder of our ocean cruise in our reading from Marks gospel. The disciples were in a boat going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to get away from the crowd that followed Jesus. He wants to go to new a new place to meet new people. It’s not a vacation for him. It’s his mission to bring the kingdom of God to people on both sides of the sea. During the journey, Jesus relaxed and went into a deep sleep in the back of the small boat. While he slept, a storm came suddenly.

The Sea of Galilee is in the deepest part of the Northern Jordan rift - 700 feet below sea level - surrounded by steep cliffs and mountains. Cool winds frequently blow down these slopes and unexpectedly stir up violent storms on the warm surface of the lake. The waves can be higher than thirty feet. That would be no problem on a cruise ship. But in a small boat, thirty foot waves would signal eminent disaster. Some of Jesus' disciples were fishermen, and they knew about these storms, and all those fishermen who perished in storms like this one. They thought they were going to die.

Sebastian Junger wrote a book, The Perfect Storm, which was also made into a movie has helped us to appreciate the danger of a small boat in a storm. He wrote that there comes a point when simple physics takes over. When a boat heads into a wave that is higher than the boat is long, it will get pitch-poled end to end to its doom. Or if a wave that is higher than the boats is wide hits from the side, it will capsize.

Jesus' disciples feared that they were going to drown. Water was already coming over the side, but Jesus lay sleeping in the stern. The disciples were angry with his lack of concern. "Teacher, don’t you even care that we are about to die?" Notice they did not ask him to do something. They just want him to join in their anxiety about their impending death together. "Teacher, do you not care that we are dying?"

They disciples were raised in the Jewish faith, and they knew that God was at least aware of their plight from what the stories they learned at their temple. They also learned to respect God’s power over nature and creation. The appealing part of the image of God's Spirit brooding over the chaos of creation is the notion that God cares enough to brood. The appealing thing about the story of Jonah and the whale was that God could even make the whale save someone who fell overboard during a storm. When we are in the midst of a storm that brings chaos and despair, we want to know that at the very least, God is aware and someone is concerned. That’s universal. We all want to know that God is aware, and hope someone is concerned about us. Let me tell you about Doug. (A story by Rev. Dr. Stephanie Weiner) Doug was a 15-year old who had been feeling badly for several days, and ran a fever that reached 105. His mother took him to the hospital, and after a few hours, he was diagnosed with leukemia.

It hit him like a huge wave. The doctors said that for the next three years he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They told him about the side effects, and how sick the chemo would make him feel. He would be bald and that his body would become bloated. As this wave came crashing in on him, he became depressed. His family did the normal things, but didn’t know what to say. His aunt called a florist and sent him some flowers, and told the florist that they were for her teenage nephew who had leukemia. When the flowers arrived, they were beautiful. Doug read the card from his aunt, and then he saw a second card. It said, "Douglas, I took your order. I work at the florist shop. I had leukemia when I was seven years old. I'm 22 now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura." Those simple words made Doug's face light up. He was in one of the best hospitals in the nation, filled with millions of dollars of sophisticated medical equipment. He was being treated by expert doctors and nurses with medical training totaling hundreds of years. But it was the words of a clerk in a flower shop--someone who made a few hundred dollars a week--who took the time to care, who identified with him, who did what her heart told her to do and spoke the calm words of hope, peace. She gave Doug the will to carry on. The disciples thought Jesus didn’t care. But they woke him up, Jesus spoke to the winds and the waves. "Peace! Be still!" And they were still. That was the ancient way of saying that Jesus was stronger than the chaos of life with all of its storms, both real and imagined. The early disciples knew that this was Jesus way of claiming his authority over the natural world as well as the human one. The wind ceases and there is a dead calm. "Peace! Be still!" I read that the British Navy has strange custom. If there is a sudden disaster aboard a ship, the "still" is blown. Now this particular still is not a place where whiskey is made, but it's a whistle that calls the crew to a moment of silence in a time of crisis. When the still is blown, the crew knows that it means, "Prepare to do the wise thing." Observers of this system note that the moment of calm has helped avert many catastrophes. It has prevented many scatterbrained actions. It is amazing what you can do when you have power and claim it, when you know the value of stillness and practice it, when you do not give into panic but hear the words of Jesus spoken with authority, "Peace! Be still," when you not only hear those words but apply them to your own life. Now, I don't know about you, but I really appreciate those who can practice stillness. In a bad situation, it’s easy to do something, anything and do it now. Not so with Jesus. In those times, I hear Jesus saying, “Don’t you have even a little faith? Don’t you know that I’m in your boat, and I have power over winds, waves, sickness and death? Don’t you know than nothing in all creation; no calamity in the world can separate you from my love?”

There’s always a reason for anxiety in life. Storms of all kinds come and go. Some even destroy property and take our life. But God is still God, and the whole world is still in God’s hands, from the beginning of time till the end of time. On into eternity, we belong to God through Christ Jesus, and nothing can snatch us away from him.

I have found that I have to work on being still, and letting God be God. I have to really devout time to and prayer to remembering God’s promise to us. In my own prayer, I often meditate on the simple words of Psalm 46:10-11, ‘Be still, and know that I am God!I am exalted among the nations,I am exalted in the earth.’ The Lord of hosts is with us;the God of Jacob is our refuge.

When a storm comes to us, imagine what would happen if we claimed the authority that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. What if we took stock of our situation a bit more before we reacted? Through faith in Jesus Christ, we all have the power to be a non anxious presence in the middle of any storm. Like the disciples, we have the power to witness the Sprit of Christ who is always with us. That’s when we can say, Be still and know that God is God. And nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, who is Lord of all creation.

Amen