Luke 8:22-25: One day Jesus and his disciples boarded a boat. He said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they set sail. While they were sailing, he fell asleep. Gale-force winds swept down on the lake. The boat was filling up with water and they were in danger. So they went and woke Jesus, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” But he got up and gave orders to the wind and the violent waves. The storm died down and it was calm.
He said to his disciples, “Where is your faith?”
Filled with awe and wonder, they said to each other, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!”
I’ve never been a big fan of thunderstorms. No matter how many times I was told that it was just God bowling and getting strikes, I was not a happy camper. I grew up in a small town in northern lower peninsula of Michigan, Frankfort, right across the Lake from Green Bay. Storms were a normal occurrence. In fact, we would spend hours sitting by the beach watching the storms come in from Wisconsin.
Somehow, someway, I always knew that I would be safe. My grandma taught me at a demolition derby once– wear rubber soled shoes; they will protect you from lightening. My parents always said, have a flash light handy when storms come. One of my best memories though of storms was that same grandma that told me about the shoes, held me tight during a small hurricane while we visited Florida one year. As I said, somehow, someway, I always knew that I would be safe.
No matter, how safe I was or felt, there was always and there still is some urgency though around the storms. I’m sure you know this feeling – a literal storm that is brewing causes us to bring in the clothes from the line or take down things that we don’t want to blow away. What about a figurative storm? Storms of job changes, health crisis, storms within our own families: how do we deal with the urgency around these?
There have been days in my life where the call to ordained ministry was like that of a storm. I heard my call as a young person in high school – and knew with confidence that I was going to lead people into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The sense of urgency around that came when I had steps to follow and degrees to obtain before I could in a professional sense be a pastor. There were high stress moments of doubt, fear, and worry that were only put to rest by God’s grace as I cried to Jesus for help. Through the people closest to me, my family and friends, my mentors, I stayed the course, and drew closer to Jesus than ever before, even if I felt he was sleeping most of the time.
I know that I am not alone in this feeling. We have all had moments of like the disciples in our scripture reading – where we have cried out to Jesus – where are you? Why aren’t you helping us? We have also all found ourselves on the end of grace as Jesus calls to us – “where is your faith?” And we are thus left, humbled, awed, and curious even more about this man who was sent to save us.
The word for me now at this point is trust. When it storms, who do we trust? When the waves around us seem like they are barreling down upon us, who are we turning to and why? When we are experiencing the urgency of a crisis, are we crying out to Jesus or are we turning elsewhere?
Thus the word trust – trust in the people that love us, trust in our own abilities to stay safe, and trust in Jesus to do exactly what he said he would do. When I think of trust in my faith life, both as a Christian and as a pastor, I lean a lot on trust. Trust is something that is hard to do for anyone, especially though if that trust has ever been broken. When we find ourselves trusting Jesus, we will have times like the disciples did – asking where are you Jesus? With trust in our faith, those moments of doubt are fewer and farther in between. When we experience trust and grace together, our hearts are no longer captive to fear, but rather we see fear as a catalyst for our faith. Faith and trust allows us to know the reliable and accountable integrity of Jesus Christ. As he is one who is and always will be authentic, he expects us to do the same. We have to have a faith and a trust in ourselves as God’s good creation.
My story is like any other story of faith – trying my best to live as authentic as possible as a child of God. Through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, trust in myself, and see the storms as opportunities rather than challenges. It has made all the difference.
Let us pray. God of the storms, we know that your waters bring life to our weary souls. We know that your waters can also create angst and chaos in our hearts. We pray today, God for the trust that expect of us for your son Jesus. We pray for the wisdom to know when we are in your presence and courage and bravery to do something different because of it. By your grace, with your grace, we pray, amen.
Facing the Storm with Faith 