PAST SERMON 2009 #9
by Reverend Pat Blythe, delivered on Sunday June 21, 2009,
at the Church of the Holy Spirit. (Fathers Day)
Stilling the Storm
One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can't dear. I have to sleep in Daddy's room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!"
We laugh at fear in such circumstances, but fear can be very real and very terrifying, like this one.
Several years ago there was a well-known television circus that developed a Bengal tiger act. Like the rest of the show, it was done ‘live’ before a large audience. One evening, the tiger trainer went into the cage with several tigers to do a routine performance. The door was locked behind him. The spotlights highlighted the cage, the television cameras moved in close, and the audience watched in suspense as the trainer skillfully put the tigers through their paces.
In the middle of the performance, the worst possible fate befell the act: the lights went out! For twenty or thirty long, dark seconds the trainer was locked in with the tigers. In the darkness they could see him, but he could not see them. A whip and a small kitchen chair seemed meager protection under the circumstances, but he survived, and when the lights came on, he calmly finished the performance.
In an interview afterward, he was asked how he felt knowing that the tigers could see him but that he could not see them. He first admitted the chilling fear of the situation, but pointed out that the tigers did not know that he could not see them. He said, ‘I just kept cracking my whip and talking to them until the lights came on. And they never knew I could not see them as well as they could see me.’
This experience gives us a vivid parable of human life. At some point in our lives, all of us face the terrifying task of fighting tigers in the dark. Some face it constantly. Many people cope daily with internal problems that are capable of destroying them and are overwhelmed.
(Illustrations Unlimited p. 204)
People are afraid of all kinds of things: kids are afraid of the dark, monsters, strangers, divorce; teens are afraid of nuclear war, violence in our society, of not belonging; adults are afraid of downsizing, the current economic crisis, illness, dying, loss of control.
Our Scriptures today speak of fear and how to deal with it:
We read the story of David and Goliath. Their encounter would certainly have been frightening for most people, especially for a boy whose only defense was a slingshot. David however, with the naiveté of youth and faith in the Lord, was able to put his fear aside and do what he needed to do. As a shepherd, he had fought lions and bears and wolves and he was confident that he could fight that Philistine Goliath as well - and win. David trusted in God, and God was with him!
Now, take a look at the Gospel account we read. The disciples were with Jesus out in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was asleep in the stern, no doubt exhausted by the crowds that were forever around him. He didn’t even wake when the winds picked up and the boat began to sway.
The Sea of Galilee is only a small lake, but when the winds whip over Mt. Hermon and down, down to the lowest part of the earth, the sea becomes like a boiling cauldron, jeopardizing the lives of any who dare to be out in its waters. That night, the winds blew and beat at the boat until it was almost sinking. The terrified disciples rushed to wake Jesus and yelled at him “Master, don’t you care that we are perishing?”
Have you ever truly been afraid? I certainly have! When my father was dying; when my kids phoned in the middle of the night and said: “Mom, we’ve been in an accident”; when I didn’t think I would ever recover from the stroke I had, or ever work again.
I’ll bet you too could rhyme off many instances in your own life when you were terrified and cried out: “Lord, don’t you care?” Have you ever hollered at God when life is out of control and you are afraid? Well if you have, that’s OK. God has broad shoulders. He doesn’t mind when we cry out in fear or terror.
In our Gospel, Jesus awoke, got up and stilled the storm. “Peace! Be still! Then the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” He didn’t mind that they woke him up in their terror; instead he asked them “Why are you afraid?” After all, he was with them. He also asked, “Have you still no faith?” and it is fascinating to read on and see that they were amazed that even the sea obeyed him. They still did not focus on Jesus, but on the miracle; they focused on the works, not the Lord.
In our struggles in life, Christ is always with us, no matter what. That’s what he promised and his promise is sure. He will never leave us!
Think of your own life! Was Christ not there in the times of your greatest fears and trials? Often times we cannot see the forest for the trees, we scream so loud that we can’t hear God speaking to us yet in hindsight we realize that Christ was always there, we were not abandoned and we were always safe in his arms.
When I was a student chaplain, I went to minister to a woman who was dying. In her room were her parents and her fiancé. Puera was in her mid thirties and had a five year old son. The cancer had claimed her legs and her hair and she lay there in great pain, clutching her rosary. I left her room that day I was angry; angry at the doctor who wouldn’t give her any more morphine to cut the pain; angry with God for letting her suffer so much. “Lord, do you not care that she is perishing?” I watched the newsapapers until I saw her death notice the next week. It took me a year to figure out that God really was there in that hospital room; in the prayers of her loving parents; in her fiancé gently holding her hand; in the nurse who fluffed up her pillow. Lord, you did care – you were there in her storm.
Sometimes the Lord calms the storm; sometimes he lets the storm rage, and calms his child, but He always hears our cry and comes to our aid in one way or another.
I think what most of us really fear is being out of control. That was the
situation in Israel at the time of David and Goliath, and it was certainly the case in the boat in the middle of the storm in the Sea of Galilee. The Israelites, when they saw Goliath, and the disciples, when they saw the wind and the waves, felt powerless.
They felt overwhelmed and unable to help themselves; unable to overcome the danger around them.
We are like the Israelites and the disciples: we fear what we do not know we fear what we cannot control.
Herbert O’Driscoll in his book A Certain Life
writes:
“In hospital rooms, beside graves, when disaster strikes, pain gathers, or hope dies; in all these moments we have cried out, “Do you not care?” There are such moments of screaming anger at God, and often we feel guilty at having vented our emotions. Yet resentment against God is a most legitimate part of our humanity. It is all through the Bible stories: Moses roaring his exasperation, Elijah yelling his self pity and sense of betrayal, Jeremiah crying out in an agony of resentment about his vocation, and the common theme is, “Do you not care?”
-In the venting of our anger there is a cleansing, a stilling and a peace, and we come after the storm to a place where prayers can be said and the presence of Another is found.”
Take some quiet time this week and think about the times when you have been afraid. Then, looking back, where was Jesus in that darkness? He was there! Then, thank him for his presence and for enabling you to get through those situations. And the next time you feel afraid, remember back to those other times and know that Jesus is with you and you do not travel alone.
Perhaps this hymn verse could be your prayer:
If ever I forget thy love
And how that love was shown,
Lift high the blood red flag above;
It bears thy name alone.
Great pilot of my onward way,
Thou wilt not let me drift;
I feel the winds of God today,
Today my sail I lift.
When we face tigers in the dark or storms that seem to threaten our lives or the lives of those we love, Christ is there in our midst taming the tigers, stilling the storm or calming the child.
Thanks be to God! AMEN.