These Illustrations are based on Mark 4:35-41
Sermon Opener – Calming of the Tempest
Victor Hugo, who is famous for his novel the Hunchback of Notre Dame, also wrote a story called "Ninety-Three." It tells of a ship caught in a dangerous storm on the high seas. At the height of the storm, the frightened sailors heard a terrible crashing noise below the deck. They knew at once that this new noise came from a cannon, part of the ship's cargo, that had broken loose. It was moving back and forth with the swaying of the ship, crashing into the side of the ship with terrible impact. Knowing that it could cause the ship to sink, two brave sailors volunteered to make the dangerous attempt to retie the loose cannon. They knew the danger of a shipwreck from the cannon was greater than the fury of the storm.
That is like human life. Storms of life may blow about us, but it is not these exterior storms that pose the gravest danger. It is the terrible corruption that can exist within us which can overwhelm us. The furious storm outside may be overwhelming but what is going on inside can pose the greater threat to our lives. Our only hope lies in conquering that wild enemy.
Unfortunately storms that rage within us cannot be cured by ourselves. It takes the power of God's love, as revealed in Jesus Christ. He is our only hope of stilling the tempest that can harm our souls and cripple our lives.
That’s what the disciples learned this day on the Sea of Galilee. They thought the danger lie outside the boat. They would soon learn the real danger lie within the boat, within their own hearts. In a word, they lacked faith. And without faith their lives were at risk to the storms which would inevitably come. And come they did and come they will. So what can we learn from this boat ride in the storm?
1. Storms Come Suddenly.
2. Storms Can Make You Lose Direction.
3. Our Fear of the Storm Has the Power to Paralyze.
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Stand By Me - Mark 4:35-41
As summer heats up it is important to always bring a sweater with you.
Huh?! (Yes, I know a sweater is something your mother puts on you when she is cold!)
Likewise if you head to Minnesota in mid-winter you would be wise to bring something lightweight and with short sleeves.
Crazy?!
These seemingly illogical suggestion are actually good ideas. Why? Because our culture is addicted to “climate control.” Air conditioning and central heating make it possible for us to create any kind of climate, any sort of indoor “weather,” we want. Since we still cannot control what kind of weather we encounter outside, in the real world, we over-compensate in our encapsulated climates — our homes, shopping malls, restaurants, office buildings, airplanes…
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Unanswered Prayer
To someone like me, who was rescued from drowning in wind and wave, the imagery is very powerful without even descending to a symbolic level. I can recall being physically tossed about by powerful waves and buffeted by the cold wind; I know what it is like to be sinking in the sea for what seems to be the very last time, although in my case I didn’t have the benefit of a boat to slow my demise. I understand with absolute clarity how the disciples must have felt as disaster overtook them while their Master slept.
I lived out this Bible story on March 12, 1967 in a very literal way.
Since then, I have had several occasions to live it out in a metaphorical way, and I am ashamed that I still haven’t learned my lesson despite all these years.
You know what I am talking about: there are times in your life when you know a great upheaval is coming. The wind rises ominously and the clouds don’t look right. People suddenly start doing and saying strange things and you know something is afoot. Relatives fall prey to strange persuasions; your health might even fail. The news on television starts sounding Biblical, and there are rumors the like of which you haven’t heard before. Your life is tossed upon the waves like a small ship on an angry sea. Panic sets in as you decide that the end of something is near; if not your family, if not your finances, if not your career, then maybe the whole world!
“Master, Master,” you cry to God, “Don’t you even care that I am perishing?”
And you sit in your quiet room and stare at the ceiling, as if all your prayers never got past that point, and the silence from heaven is deafening. At most points in your life, if you heard an audible voice in answer to your prayer, you’d smile and look for the person who’s playing a joke on you. Or perhaps you’d search the yellow pages for a good psychiatrist who specializes in auditory hallucinations; but today in your distress there is a part of you that demands to hear what you’ve never heard, to see what you’ve never seen, because you are scared to your innermost being and you need comfort and rescue, and you need it now.
How impudent of God not to answer. Doesn’t He know what you’re going through?
Kenneth W. Collins, 'Unanswered' Prayer?
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Fearful Times
When I was a kid, I was terrified of spiders. Even Daddy Long Legs, which I now understand are not, technically, spiders but have a very spiderly look about them, scared me to death. Once, almost literally, when one leapt out of a half bushel of peaches we had just bought by a road side stand, I leapt out of the car into the road. Fear can do that.
My sisters and brother didn't help. They enjoyed picking Daddy Long Legs up by a long leg and chasing me around the yard!
Since then, my fears have grown up a little. Now I fear things that really can hurt me like the national debt and global warming. Yesterday, the headlines named another fear, terrorists, this time, U.S. citizens, independent, guided by some 5,000 do-it-yourself terrorist self-help websites.
On top of these overwhelming world fears, each of us carries personal fears - a deadline, a pink slip, a visa bill, a doctor's appointment. We all have spiders – some fear that gets us in the gut.
These are fearful times, but then – they always have been. You would think, if ever there were a time and people who would be fearless it would be the disciples, walking and living in the very presence of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, Light of the World, 2000 years ago. But as Mark tells it, they could panic right along with the best of us.
Heather Entrekin, When We Are Afraid
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Listen for the Questions
The Scriptures include a significant number of life-and-death questions about meaning, purpose and value in life. Consider some of the questions posed by Scripture:
What will it profit us if we gain the whole world but forfeit our life? (Matthew 16:26)
Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15)
What are you looking for? (John 1:38)
Who is my neighbor? (Like 10:29)
What must I do to inherit eternal life? (Mark 10:17)
Who can separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35)
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? (Mark 10:38)
Which commandment is the first of all? (Mark 12:28)
Where can I go from your Spirit? (Psalm 139:7).
What is this new teaching, with authority? (Mark 1:27)
Who is this about whom I hear such things? (Luke 9:9)
What is truth? (John 18:38)
And this morning’s Gospel lesson ends with the question, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41). Who is this Jesus, the one who speaks with a new level of authority, the one who is able to bring calm into the storms of life, the one who comes among us as prince of peace, suffering servant, fount of compassion and grace?
Joel D. Kline, Listen for the Questions
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Humor: Sucked In, Washed Up, Blown Over
Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She'd barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in.
The bird’s owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum cleaner, and opened the bag. There was Chippie - still alive, but stunned.
Since the bird was covered with dust, hair and all the stuff you find in a dust bag, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the tap, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.
Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, a friend who had heard about Chippie’s troubles contacted his owner to see how the bird was recovering. "Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn't sing much anymore - he just sits and stares."
Who can blame him? Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . That's enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.
Things happen in our lives that come along unexpectedly and we end up feeling a bit like Chippie - sucked in, washed up, and blown over – the song stolen from the stoutest of hearts.
I reckon there are very few here this morning who couldn’t stand up and give testimony to some aspect of their lives where they feel a bit like the disciples in that boat - afraid, vulnerable, a decidedly sinking feeling! You know what it’s like to feel as though you are in the middle of a storm, tossed this way and that, and you wonder how you’re ever going to get to calmer waters.
Vince Gerhardy, Calm in a Storm
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Hard Work Is Required
Somewhere in my past, it was pointed out to me that having the wind stop is disastrous for sail boats. It means that the sailors have to do hard, manual labor to move the boat to where it is going. Even the presence of Christ and his great miracles may still mean a lot of hard work on our part to get where Christ wants us to go. If Jesus wanted the disciples on the other side of the lake, why not just "beam them over," rather than have them go through a storm and then to row the boat to shore?
While we may pray that Jesus would work miracles in our lives and in our world and in our neighborhoods, the miracles that come probably won't let us off the hook from doing some of the hard work required to do what Jesus has called us to do.
Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes
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Courage in the Midst of Fear
I have several books on the shelves in my office that have stories of genuine heroes in them. These are people who have performed remarkable acts of courage. I find their stories thrilling. I also find them a little unsettling. How do people do those things? In a real crisis, what is to keep me from running in the other direction? The stories I like best are the ones that talk about courage in the midst of fear. Those are people I can really admire ... people who are scared to death and still do what needs to be done.
One such person was Marshall Ney, a captain in Napoleon's army. Napoleon often referred to Marshall Ney as the bravest man he had ever known. Yet, the captain's knees trembled so badly one morning before a battle that he had trouble getting on his horse. When he was finally in the saddle, he looked at his knees and said with disgust, "Shake away, knees. You would shake worse than that if you knew where I am going to take you." Now that's a man I can really like!
Kristin Borsgard Wee, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (First Third): Do You Love Me?, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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We Are All on the Same Side
Following the battle of Guadalcanal, Barney Ross recalls himself petitioning a Jewish God. Adkins, in the next foxhole, was praying to a Baptist God. A kid with a hole in his side was praying to a Catholic God. It hit him that there was no difference between himself and his friends beneath a hell of gunfire. He confessed, "I couldn't help but wonder if people have to come that close to death to realize that we are all on the same side and trying to get to the same place."
The face of death has bad breath. Knowing that we are a heartbeat from eternity, we want to be done with it. So we react in several ways. Some of us press the panic button, bracing ourselves for the worst. Others of us draw deeply from the wells of faith. When faith responds to danger, fear crosses our minds like a flash of lightning; but, just as quickly, we call upon our spiritual reserves for coping.
James Weekley, Tilted Haloes, CSS Publishing Company
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The Four Chaplains
On a cold February 4, 1943, the American ship, the Dorchester, was carrying several hundred soldiers off the coast of Greenland. Suddenly, an enemy torpedo ripped into its hull. Within minutes the ship would go under. Amid the panic and confusion, four chaplains, Alex Good, Jewish; John Washington, Catholic; Clark Poling and George Fox, Protestants, stood together with their life belts on. Many of the soldiers had none. Without lifeboats, their chances for survival were nil. Quickly, the chaplains took off their belts and gave them to four men. As the ship sank, the chaplains, with hands firmly clasped, prayed the Lord's prayer. The chaplains gave their lives for the others, because One other had first stood in for them. "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:12) That's a tall order. Well, not so unreal, considering his love stands taller than life itself.
James Weekley, Tilted Haloes, CSS Publishing Company
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Why Not You?
A ministerial colleague tells of a conversation he had one day with a female medical assistant in a doctor's office, as he was waiting to see the doctor. The woman recognized him because she had occasionally attended his church, though she was a member of another church. "I want to tell you about my experience," she said. "I got saved in the Assemblies of God Church ... I gave my life to God ... and guess what? ... Life tumbled in! I developed a heart problem. My husband lost his executive job ... and he recently died of cancer." The minister says he tried to mumble a few theological sounding explanatory words about God's mysterious ways, thinking that was what the woman wanted. But she went right on with her story, indicating that she had repeatedly asked God, "Why me?" "And what do you think God told me?" she continued. "'Why not you?' That's what God said. 'Why should you be spared all the crises of life that everyone else must go through?'" Then she wound up her story saying, "One day I said to God, 'Lord, you've forgiven me. Now I forgive you.'"
There is a woman who, from my point of view, has a healthy faith. Her faith is not a series of propositions, it is a relationship, and as in all relationships, it is one that changes and can tolerate challenges. It is vital because it is honest.
David G. Rogne, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, CSS Publishing Company
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Porcupines
Pastor John Ortberg has a delight discussion on porcupines in his book, Everybody’s Normal Until You Get to Know Them. Porcupines are members of the rodent family, says Ortberg. They have around 30,000 quills attached to their bodies. Each quill can be driven into an enemy, and the enemy’s body heat will cause the microscopic barb to expand and become more firmly embedded. The wounds can fester; the more dangerous ones, affecting vital organs, can be fatal.
The porcupine is not generally regarded as a lovable animal, Ortberg continues. Books and movies celebrate almost every other conceivable animal. Dogs, cats, horses, pigs like Babe or Arnold Ziffel in the old TV show Green Acres, spiders as in Charlotte’s Web, dolphins like Flipper, bears like Gentle Ben, and killer whales as in Free Willy. Even skunks have Pepe Le Pew. There are no famous porcupines.
“As a general rule, porcupines have two methods for handling relationships: withdrawal and attack. They either head for a tree or stick out their quills. They are generally solitary animals. Wolves run in packs; sheep huddle in flocks; we speak of herds of elephants and gaggles of geese and even a murder of crows. But there is no special name for a group of porcupines. They travel alone.
“Porcupines don’t always want to be alone. In the late autumn, a young porcupine’s thoughts turn to love. But love turns out to be a risky business when you’re a porcupine. Females are open to dinner and a movie only once a year; the window of opportunity closes quickly. And a girl porcupine’s ‘no’ is the most widely respected turndown in all the animal kingdom. Fear and anger make them dangerous little creatures to be around.”
People can be like porcupines, can’t they? How often, even in the closest of relationships, we can hurt one another. Even worse, toxic feelings have a way of intensifying if not dealt with at the earliest possible moment. It is not enough to ride out these storms. Someone needs to calm the storm. That someone, of course, is Christ.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Even Scarier Than the Storm
I have never been particularly comfortable in boats on deep water. One time, when Peter and I were teaching in China, we took a winter vacation on a little island off the coast of Thailand. We had to take a ferry. It looked like one of those ferries that you read about that capsizes on a clear day and everybody drowns.
It was old, it was ugly and it was already full when our bus pulled up. People sat on people's laps, on the steps, on the roof. We threw our luggage on a pile and found a spot against a railing. As we waited, another bus pulled up and all those people got on the overloaded ferry, somehow. Then another bus, and another.
I was terrified just sitting at the dock, but then the ferry headed out to sea, and the sea was not completely calm. It was not a windstorm and the waves did not exactly beat into the boat, but it was not calm either. I kept my eye on one of the few life preservers overhead, and I wondered about sharks, how far I could swim, and thought about how I was too young to die. I was terrified.
There was only thing that could have scared me more. And that would have been if someone on that boat had stood up and held up his arms and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" and the sea suddenly went still. The storm and the ferry were terrifying but that I could understand; but a human being who could stop a storm? That would be incomprehensible. What else could such a person do?
Heather Entrekin, When We Are Afraid
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Change Is Difficult
One time a mother walked in on her 6 year old son who was sobbing. "What’s the matter?" she asked. "I’ve just figured out how to tie my shoes." "Well, honey, that’s wonderful. You’re growing up. But why are you crying?" "Because," he said, "now I’ll have to do it every day for the rest of my life."
Change is difficult for us all. Everyone will have some rough times ahead, storms that will challenge us, throw us off course and even scare the living daylight out of us. Just like the disciples, God does not promise us a peaceful voyage. God does promise, however, that God will always be present.
Keith Wagner, Faith in Deep Water
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What Is The Question?
In his book Listening to Your Life Frederick Buechner writes of Gertrude Stein asking on her deathbed, “What is the answer?” Then, after a long silence, she asks yet another question. This time she asks, “What is the question?” Buechner concludes:
"Don’t start looking in the Bible for the answers it gives. Start by listening for the questions it asks.
"We are much involved, all of us, with questions that matter a good deal today but will be forgotten by this time tomorrow — the immediate where’s and when’s and how’s that face us daily at home and at work — but at the same time we tend to lose track of the questions about the things that matter always, life-and-death questions about meaning, purpose, and value."
Joel D. Kline, Listen for the Questions
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Tied to the Shore
Often, the alternative to risking the dangerous, stormy crossing, is to stay tied up on the shore. Unfortunately, that is the picture of many churches -- a peaceful, restful club house on the shore rather than a boat following Jesus' command to take the fearful risk to cross the lake. We are often more willing to be safe than to answer Jesus' call to go to the other side.
A quote that is in my notes from many years ago ties in with this image: "The church is 'not a luxury liner, granting passage and comfort to all who qualify and clamber aboard' but rather 'like a rescuing lifeboat, sometimes listing, or even leaking, but always guided by the captain, Jesus, at the helm.'" (Bishop Lyle G. Miller in opening worship at the Sierra Pacific Synod assembly, 1991, quoted in "The Lutheran," June 19, 1991, page 38)
Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes
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God Is with Us in All the Seasons of Life
In the summer of 1990 Binney & Smith, the makers of Crayola crayons, retired eight colors from their 64 crayon box and replaced them with eight brighter, bolder colors. The colors inducted in the Crayola Hall of Fame include raw umber, maize, lemon yellow, blue gray, violet blue, green blue, orange red and orange yellow. The new shades introduced include such postmodern colors as Cerulean, Vivid Tangerine, Royal Purple, Teal Blue, Fuchsia, Jungle Green, Dandelion, and Wild Strawberry.
The reaction on the part of adults to the change has been swift, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, always objecting. The "Save Raw Umber Society" gathered signatures. A Virginia woman started the National Campaign to Save Lemon Yellow. The Raw Umber and Maize Preservation Society boasts the acronym RUMPS. Pastors have delivered sermons calling for letter writing campaigns against the change.
The most intelligent responses came from kids. One young boy wondered why the company simply didn't make a box of 72 crayons instead of 64. And Ebony Faison wrote to Crayola makers and asked for help. "Raw umber is the color of me. Whenever I draw me, I use raw umber. What color should I color now?"
But adults seem to be much more concerned than the children. It is as if the validity of treasured childhood memories depends upon these rainbow hues never changing. Our fears of adult life, of the decisions we must make, the roads we must follow or avoid, do not depend on the world remaining the same as we have always known it.
Don't wake Jesus up! This is not the way for the church to recover its identity as a "peculiar people." The Spirit of God reaches every generation differently, and God's spirit can use the more postmodern colors of Vivid Tangerine as easily as the more modern look of Raw Umber. We must trust that God is with us in the colors of all the seasons of our lives.
Leonard Sweet, Collected Works, www.eSermons.com
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A Christian Worrier?
Just a short time ago, a young homemaker and mother sat in my office telling me how she was feeling about her life. She said she felt she was adrift in a tiny boat in the middle of a great and surging ocean. How she had gotten into that boat and where she was going was a mystery to her. All she could see were the huge waves towering over her frail, little boat, threatening at any moment to swamp it and sink it, to swallow her up forever.
That young woman was depressed and afraid. Some of us can identify with her. Most of us have been afraid at some time. The disciples were, too. They were frightened out of their wits in that boat. They probably wondered if they would die in the storm. Then how can Jesus ask them, "Why are you afraid?" How could anyone not be afraid in that situation?
I have a confession to make. I am not comfortable with those passages of scripture where Jesus says, "Do not be afraid." I'm just not sure what he means. It seems so unrealistic. When I am afraid, I feel inadequate. I say to myself, "Kris, you should have more faith than that." Being a Christian and a worrier apparently don't go together well.
At least I know I am in good company. I think it was Bertrand Russell who said, "Those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision." I sure can relate to that! Another person said, "Anyone who isn't afraid today is either stupid or dead." Obviously, I am in good company.
Kristin Borsgard Wee, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (First Third): Do You Love Me?, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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God’s Rescue Comes in a Quiet Way
We are not told that Jesus commanded the wind and the waves with masterful gestures or a great, loud voice. For all we know from the text, he just quietly told them to behave themselves. This makes sense, because people who truly have power don’t need to flaunt it. God may not answer our request with the same urgency and fireworks, but that does not mean that His answer doesn’t come. Don’t expect a battalion of angels to vindicate you! Don’t expect the heavens to open up and a deep voice to exonerate you! God’s rescue comes in a quiet way; in fact those of us who are hard to teach often look back on God’s rescues and decide that we were saved by something else instead: coincidence, kindness, or our own ability. Don’t make that mistake so God won’t have to repeat the lesson. I suppose the disciples could have shrugged the whole thing off a few weeks later as a coincidence, but they learned to have faith. Will you learn?
Kenneth W. Collins, 'Unanswered' Prayer?
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A Pool in My Savior’s Hand
A man named Fock was a sailor in World War II. In one of his letters home he wrote, "If you should hear that I have fallen in battle, do not cry. Remember that even the ocean in which my body sinks is only a pool in my Savior's hand." There is no promise that we'll be delivered from trouble; but there is a promise that we are not alone in it. I think that's why Jesus could say, "Be not afraid." He knew he was not alone.
Kristin Borsgard Wee, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (First Third): Do You Love Me?, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Holding Our Hand
There was a little farm boy who was taken to a neighbor's house for the day. As night came on the little boy went out on the porch intending to go home. He became frightened by the darkness and began to cry. There was no one to take him home and he was very worried. After a while, he looked out of the window in the direction of his house. Suddenly his face lit up and he exclaimed, "I'm not afraid anymore!" When the neighbor asked him why, the little boy answered, "Because I can see a light in the window of our house. That means my big sister is coming for me, and I'll not be afraid when I hold her hand."
That's the only real answer to fear that I know. When my power to handle a scary situation is at an end, I still can say, "I'll not be afraid because you, God, are holding my hand."
Kristin Borsgard Wee, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (First Third): Do You Love Me?, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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I Have Seen the Face of the Captain
Robert Louis Stevenson delighted in the story of a ship tossed in a storm. The sea was rough and the rocky coast perilous. Danger was real and dread expectancy active among the seamen. One frantic sailor who was laboring below the water line could contain himself no longer. He rushed to the control room, closed the door behind himself, and stood frozen in fright watching the captain wrestle with the controls of the huge ship. Skill of mind and strength of hand enabled the captain to guide the vessel through the threatening rocks into open water. The Captain turned slightly, looked at the frightened sailor, and smiled. The youth returned below deck and assured the crew all danger was over. When they inquired how he knew, he answered, "I have seen the face of the Captain, and he smiled at me."
If you will only "turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." When you know who is in control there is no fear.
Eric S. Ritz, www.eSermons.com
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A God Who Hears, Cares, and Acts
Stephen Crane wrote a poem: A man said to the universe, "I exist." "That may be true," said the universe, "however that has never created in me a sense of obligation to you."
How many, like Crane, have cried out in their pain and despair, and have received nothing in reply? Is there anyone "out there" who cares about us "down here?" Or, in time of pain, are we mostly left to our own devices? When we pray, "Deliver us from evil," as we shall pray before we are done today, do we really expect God to hear, to care, to act? Or, are we only talking to ourselves?
Professor Davies of Australia was the 1996 recipient of the Templeton Prize for progress in religion. He has much to say about how little threat science is to Christian belief. And yet, in his book, he also says that if the Christian faith is to be credible to modern people, we have got to get over the notion of an "interventionist God," that is a God who hears, cares, and acts for our good. Such a God, says Professor Davies, is not only an offense to reason, a rebel against the laws of nature, but also incredible to modern skeptical people. Do we really want a God who, from time to time, steps in, reaches out, and acts?
I want you to keep that question before you as we encounter today's gospel lesson, a story about a God who hears, cares, and acts
William Willimon, Does Jesus Care?
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We Are All in the Same Boat
In the Gardiner Museum in Boston there is a painting by Rembrandt entitled "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee." It is Rembrandt's interpretation of this scene. It shows panic etched on the faces of the disciples, as their small vessel is being raised up on a high wave, about to be crashed down. Two of the disciples are attempting to rouse Jesus who is asleep in the stern of the boat. But if you look more closely, you will discover that there is something that is not quite right. There are too many people in the picture. So you count them. There are fourteen. There should only be thirteen (twelve disciples and Jesus). But instead there are fourteen. It is then that you notice that one of the men in the boat is Rembrandt. He has painted himself into the picture. He has placed himself in the same boat.
Which is precisely what we should do. It is the way that we are supposed to interpret this passage. We are in the boat with Jesus, faithful but frightened. There is no immunity for any of us. We are caught up in the same fix. I suspect most of us would rather be numbered with the exceptions. Either we would like to believe that storms will never strike us or that faith will never fail us.
But storms will strike us ... because that's the way life is.
William A. Ritter, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com
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Thrown into the Fire
I read a story about an Ohio gentleman whose oil well caught fire, and he put out an all-points' bulletin for help, to make sure that anybody and everybody would come and help him. He offered a $30,000 reward to whoever could put out that fire. With all the large firehouses from cities like Newell, Chester, Wellsville, Dillonvale sent help. They sent their best companies accompanied by the most modern fire- fighting equipment available, but not one of the trucks could get within 200 yards of the blaze because the heat was just too intense and the fire was too big.
Finally, the Calcutta Township Volunteer Fire Department appeared on the scene. Amazingly they had only one rickety truck equipped with a single ladder; only two buckets of water, three buckets of sand, and a few blankets. It didn't even come with a hose. When that old truck reached the point where all those other fire companies had stopped, the driver didn't even hesitate. He just kept barreling ahead until he and his crew were right in the thick of that blaze. They jumped out of that truck, threw the two buckets of water and three buckets of sand on that fire and then beat the fire out with those blankets.
That oil man was so impressed by that unbelievable display of courage, he gave the driver $30,000 in cash on the spot and said, "What are you and your men going to do with all of that money?" The driver, shaking like a leaf, said, "The first thing we're going to do is to get those stupid brakes on that truck fixed." Sometimes we are thrown into the fire through no fault of our own.
James Merritt, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com
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The Demons of Fear
We must remember that regardless of what happens, God will be with us. Wrote the Psalmist: "When I am afraid I put my trust in you." Well, let me ask you. Where else are you going to go? If the Dow drops tomorrow to 7000, God is still going to be the same. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
In his Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker says that so many of the fears that we grapple with--fear of rejection, abandonment, failure, separation, and loss--are but manifestations of the one ultimate fear, and that is the fear of death. Perhaps he is right. How do we overcome that ultimate fear? Faith. It is the only antidote that will exercise the demons of fear that can haunt us.
Staff, www.eSermons.com
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Searching for Peace
Dante, the great poet of the Renaissance, was exiled from his home in Florence, Italy. Depressed by this cruel turn of fate, he decided to walk from Italy to Paris, where he could study philosophy, in an effort to find a clue to the meaning of life. In his travels, Dante found himself a weary pilgrim, forced to knock at the door of Santa Croce Monastery to find refuge from the night. A surly brother within was finally aroused. He came to the door, flung it open, and in a gruff voice asked, "What do you want?" Dante answered in a single word, "Peace."
Staff, www.eSermons.com
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Crossing Over
The story is told of old Bishop Warren Chandler, after whom the school of theology at Emory University was named. As he lay on his death bed, a friend inquired as to whether or not he was afraid. "Please tell me frankly," he said, "do you fear crossing over the river of death?" "Why," replied Chandler, "I belong to a father who owns the land on both sides of the river."
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. That is our great salvation hope. I want you to know that God cares if you are immobilized by some fear in your life. He cares because that fear is intruding upon His destiny for you. It is perfect love that casts out fear. At the foot of the cross you can lean back into the arms of an ever loving and gracious God and echo the words of the old hymn: "God will take care of you, He will take care of you."
Staff, www.eSermons.com
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A Symbol of Chaos
From the very beginning, we've known that water is the source of life--but too much of it is very threatening. Even our story of creation says that God's Spirit brooded over the chaos of the water and formed order and dry land. Throughout the centuries, the sea has been a symbol of chaos.
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean--roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man makes the earth with ruin--his control
Stops with the shore.
So wrote Lord Byron in "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".
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.
That's from "The Mirror of the Sea" by Joseph Conrad.
The sea speaks a language polite people never repeat.
It is a colossal scavenger with no respect.
Carl Sandburg from "Two Nocturnes."
We've always known the great power of the sea. One of God's creative tasks was to hover over the sea so that the waters would part and the dry land would appear. The constant threat to those who dared travel along the water's surface was the power of the deep might roll up and overtake them. Those who lived by the water knew that flooding was always a possibility. Storms and squalls kept landed creatures from being secure. And having lived in Florida at the time of Hurricane Andrew, I know that even sea creatures can be killed by a raging ocean, thrown out of their watery habitat onto dry land.
Stephanie Weiner, In Over Our Heads
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Little Faith in a Great God
There was a woman in a community who was well known for her simple faith and great calm in the midst of many trials. Another woman who had never met her but had heard of her came to visit one day. "I must find out the secret of her calm, happy life," she thought to herself.
As she met her she said:" So you are the woman with the great faith I've heard so much about."
"No," came the reply. "I am not the woman with the great faith, but I am the woman with the little faith in the great God."
Can you say the same?
Donald L. Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, San Jose: Resource, p. 89
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The Ride of Your Life – Mark 4:35-41 by Leonard Sweet
This is Father’s Day, and we welcome and celebrate our fathers.
Dads are different than Moms. They parent differently. They protect differently. They teach differently. Moms buy bumper pads. Dads buy Band-Aids. Moms schedule “play days.” Dads encourage “throw-downs.” Some of you are not going to be happy about this, and of course there are lots of exceptions, but overall there just do seem to be different styles inherent between Moms and Dads.
Moms like to invest in lots of protective gear. Bike helmets, knee pads, water wings. Dads tend to be both hands on and hands off. Swimming lessons, but then a white water raft trip. Bike-pushing, followed by a mondo mountain bike trail. Bigger knee pads, then diving into the deepest drop at the skate park. Moms say, “You worried me so much!” Dads tend to say, “Don’t worry too much!”
Kids need both kinds of parenting. That is the most difficult challenge for single parents, a challenge that can be met and is being met my many single parents in this church. But it’s a challenge nonetheless: to find a way, or a person, to bring in all the possibilities and probabilities that are part of the richness of having both a Mom and a Dad to engage the lives of children.
I thank God Dads are optimists. Dads take chances based upon skills and knowledge they know they possess and they trust they have taught to the next generation. I thank God for all Dads who offer this gift of confidence. A gift of conviction. A gift of risk and courage based on trust. It is a gift every child needs from someone.
In the context of the culture of his day, Jesus loved like a mother, and taught like a father. He didn’t have his disciples sit in a yeshiva learning Torah tidbits. Jesus took his disciples to “work” with him, to apprentice with him, so they could learn by doing. Like all children, the disciples got it “wrong” a lot of the time. That’s why in Mark’s gospel the disciples are often called the “Duh-sciples.” Today’s gospel lesson shows just how “duh!” they could get.
After a long exhausting day Jesus and the disciples get in a boat and start across the Sea of Galilee, heading out into open water. Jesus conked out, contentedly curled up on a cushion in the wind-sheltered stern of the boat. But a storm kicks up, and pretty soon the storm is kicking the boat all over the place…
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Families Have More Parents than Children
Dr. Elizabeth Tracy, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, reported on the changing family. Only 10 percent of families today are of the traditional variety, with father working, mother at home, and marriage of lifelong commitment. In this changing nation, there are 1,300 "step families" formed each day. Dr. Tracy, a teacher of social work, reported that children in step families need at least six years to adapt to the changes that have occurred in their lives! She said, "Average married persons today - because of multiple marriages - have more parents than children!" That is something new for us to handle, and its newness feeds the worry, the fear. We are afloat on a troubled sea, and we cry out for Jesus to wake up and save us!
Leonard H. Budd, The Spirit's Tether, CSS Publishing Company.
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Now I Lay Me
A little girl was about to undergo a dangerous operation. Just before the doctor administered the anesthetic, he said:" Before we can make you well, we must put you to sleep." The girl responded: "Oh, if you are going to put me to sleep, then I must say my prayers first." And she folded her hands, closed her eyes, and said:" Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake; I pray the Lord my soul to take. And this I ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.
Later on the surgeon admitted that he prayed that prayer that night for the first time in thirty years.
Donald L. Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, San Jose: Resource, 88
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Humor: A Lot of Thunder
A cartoon strip shows Dennis the Menace in bed between his mother and father, with the blanket pulled up to his chin, "A little thunder doesn't scare me," he says. "It's just a lot of thunder that makes me afraid."
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Sleeping When the Wind Blows
God also works through other people to assure us in the midst of difficult times. A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. Meanwhile, the young man slept soundly.
The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well. The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man's words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke.
God wants us to rely on others when there is turmoil, especially to those who are faithful.
Keith Wagner, Sailing Through the Storms of Life
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Peace in the Face of the Tempest
Jesus does not promise to calm every storm in your life. Jesus does promise to calm you in every storm of life.
John Wesley could hardly have been called a faint-hearted stay- at-home. But there were times when even he lost his nerve. During one of Wesley's several Atlantic crossings, a frighteningly fierce storm broke out, pitching and tossing the ship about like a bathtub toy. While Wesley and others clung to their bunks and hid their heads, a community of Moravians, traveling to their new homeland, calmly gathered to hold their daily worship service and sing praises to God. Watching these Moravians, so apparently unperturbed by the howling winds and crashing waves, Wesley realized he was witnessing a truly waterproof faith. From that moment on, John Wesley prayed that God would give him the ability to likewise ride out life's storms with as much confidence.
What made those Moravians so peaceful in the face of the tempest? It was the same trait that the disciples so woefully lacked in today's gospel text: an unquenchable trust in Jesus Christ. After stretching out his arms and stilling the storm, Jesus turned to his companions and chastised them. By cowardly cringing and crying out to Jesus in fear, they had revealed the shallowness of their faith. Although they had been specially chosen as Jesus' fellow travelers on this journey, they missed the boat.
Homiletics, June, 1994.
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God Lets the Storm Rage
Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child.
Unknown
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Jesus at the Center of the Storm
The disciples' question is ours: Do you not care that we perish?
Jesus doesn't care about the storm. But does he care about us who care about the storm?
About this time of the year, I invariably think of a divinity student whom I taught. He felt called by God to serve as pastor to rural churches. Amazingly, he found a woman who felt called by God to marry him and go with him into a lifetime of service in out-of-the-way places. They went, in June, on a honeymoon, traveling by bicycle in the mountains and camping, the only honeymoon they could afford. First day out, on the road, there was an accident. She was hit by a car, crushed, and died a painful, terrible death.
I could imagine that young man crying out, "You called me into the ministry. You put me in this boat, placed her here with me. Do you not care that we perish?"
On this beautiful June day, it is easy to sit here in this air-conditioned chapel and think good thoughts about the world. But you know life. There can be darker, more difficult days than this. In June, walking around a placid lake, hiking in the park, nature, the world seems benevolent and benign. We moderns, because we have devised so many means of protecting ourselves from nature, tend to be nature romantics.
But this story of Jesus and his disciples in a boat renders another world, a world where storms rise up out of nowhere and nature puts us in peril. If you have ever suffered from say, cancer, you know that world. In cancer, the normal reproductive processes, the "natural" workings of cells, somehow go out of control, reproduce with astonishing speed, oblivious to the checks and balances of the body. The once placid lake which has been our body on most days becomes an angry, raging sea.
And this story is about that.
Perhaps you thought that there would be smooth sailing with Jesus. You thought that, with Jesus in the boat, there would be no storm, no waves, no fear. No. Almost every page of Mark's gospel proclaims that Jesus is the center of a storm. When Jesus is near, the wind picks up, the waves bang against the side of the boat, and there is trouble.
William Willimon, Does Jesus Care?
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Now You Know Why
During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. "You were one of Stalin's colleagues. Why didn't you stop him?" "Who said that?" roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, "Now you know why."
Fear has a way of paralyzing us.
Today in the Word
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From the Efforts of One Man
The thought of trekking 250,000 miles around Britain on horseback is something likely to deter even the most enthusiastic traveler. Add to this task the preaching of 40,000 sermons – mostly in the open-air – often confronting angry protesters as you go, and it’s not a job for the faint-hearted.
The man who did just this was John Wesley (1703-1791) whose work and that of his brother Charles led directly to the foundation of the Methodist Church. On June 17, 1703 he was born to Rev. Samuel and Suzanna Wesley in Epworth England and surely he stands as one of the giants in human history. Think about it: Today there are an estimated 70 million Methodists worldwide, all from this one mans efforts for God.
Brett Blair, www.esermons.com. For more history see: http://www.visitbritain.com/uk/presscentre/copyright_free_articles/current/john_wesley.htm
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They Had a Secret
Some years ago the late, great Norman Vincent Peale visited Europe. In Belgium he went to what used to be a Nazi prison camp, between Antwerp and Brussels. His guide that day told him that he remembered the morning when the Nazis arrested his own father. They brought him to this very camp and shot him. Dr. Peale asked the guide, "How did those prisoners stand up against the awesome fear that must have haunted this place day and night?" The guide replied, "They had a secret." The guide took Dr. Peale to a small cell far back in a corner where there was just a little slit in a stone wall. "Now," said the guide, "reach inside there and tell me what you feel." Dr. Peale reached inside and said, "I feel a stone statue, the facial features of a statue." The guide said, "What you are feeling is the face of a statue of our Savior Jesus Christ. Those men and women in the darkest hours of their hopelessness would come here and put their hands on His holy and loving face. It was this that sustained them and gave them victory over their fears."
Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com
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In The Direct Path
On May 31, 1985, a tornado system touched down in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania. The wind whipped at 250 miles-per-hour, tossing trees like matchsticks, throwing automobiles into the air, and killing fifteen people in two counties. What should have been a Friday afternoon of relaxation turned into a weekend of horror. The little town of Cooperstown, Pennsylvania, was in the direct path of a twister. A retired woman by the name of Isabella Stewart watched nervously as the low, black clouds blew in. The wind blew furiously. Suddenly a string of oak trees began to topple like dominos. The woman went for her car keys, but the wind was too wild to go outside. In a sheer act of panic, Mrs. Stewart reached for the only tangible means of comfort and order. She grabbed her purse. Then she sat in a chair and waited for the worst to happen. Fortunately she did not lose her life, although her dog and cat were never seen again. The brief storm was devastating in a region that was already under economic distress. Over ten years later, Mrs. Stewart says, "Whenever I see a black storm cloud coming, I fall apart inside. You can't know quite how that feels unless you have been through it yourself."
William G. Carter, Water Won’t Quench the Fire, CSS Publishing Company.
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The Boat Is a Symbol for the Church
The boat is a symbol for the church. It has been that way from the beginning. The ship has always been a symbol for the church. The logo for the ecumenical movement in our day is the symbol of a ship upon the sea. The Roman Catholic Church refers to itself as "the bark of Peter" which means "the ship of Peter." Architecturally, that part of the sanctuary in which all of you sit is called the "nave." Up front we have the chancel. Out back we have the narthex. That's "churchspeak." But where you are is the nave. The word "nave" is obviously linked, linguistically, to the word "naval." Literally, "nave" is the Latin word for "ship." Even as we sit here in church, we are in the boat with the disciples. And, as Al Gurley is fond of pointing out, if you look up at the ceiling, you can see the ship's prow, albeit upside down.
William A. Ritter, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com
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Speaking to the Waves
It is easy for me to poke fun at liberal biblical scholars, because I am one of them. Over the years, we have tended to come at scripture with the notion that, above all else, scripture ought to make sense. So, in order to make the Bible make sense, we have tried to rationalize everything in the Bible that sounds irrational. Now I suppose the idea of a man standing in boat and rebuking waves of that magnitude borders on the irrational. Which is why we are fond of saying: "Ah! Jesus was not talking to the waves at all. When Jesus said, 'Peace, be still,' Jesus was talking to the disciples. He was calming his men. And once calmed, they could face the storm without the need of any supernatural intervention."
Now that's nifty. Except for one small fact. The story doesn't read that way. In Mark's version, Jesus speaks to the waves. He does not speak to his men. What's more, this is one of those stories where the familiar translation utterly fails us. The familiar translation is both deceptive and wrong. When Jesus calms the storm, he is not overly gentle about it. He doesn't say: "Peace, be still." It would be nice if he did. But it would be far too mild. A better translation would have Jesus saying to the waves: "Hush! Be silent." Better still might be: "Shut up! Cease and desist. Down boys."
The entire purpose of the story, you see, is not to show Jesus as some heroic figure who gives us an example of how to be courageous when waves start to swamp our boat. ("Now remember children, if you are ever caught in a storm, try to be a little more like Jesus.") The purpose of this story is altogether different. The purpose is to identify Jesus as one who can master the demonic and unruly forces of life and hold them at bay. Mark says he'll be there. He will be right in the boat with you. But you may not know it until the storm comes. You may not know it until it looks, for all the world, as if your boat is going under. And if you don't know Jesus ... I mean if you really don't know Jesus ... maybe it is because you have never really been caught in a storm.
William A. Ritter, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com
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