The Ven. Richard I. Cluett
June 25, 2006 (Proper 7)
Job 38:1-11, Mark 4:35-41
Well, here is an old, old story of Jesus and his love.
Do you remember that old, old hymn:
I love to tell the story ... Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true; It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
I love to tell the story, ’twill be my theme in glory, To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
This is an old, old story of Jesus and the power of his love. Love strong enough to still the waves. Strong enough to move mountains. Strong enough to bridge over troubles waters. Strong enough to calm a raging fear. Strong enough to soothe an anxious heart.
I have been to Galilee and I have seen the Sea. I want to tell you it is a small, small sea, more a lake than an ocean; oval in shape, it is 13 miles long and 8 miles at is widest point.
I have been on a lake about that size when a storm has come up with a mighty and erratic wind that capsized my small sailing boat and threw me and my companions into the raging water a mile from shore. If I remember correctly, I think I was too busy surviving to call upon God for rescue, but if I had had the time, I know I would have done so with a mighty, and soulful cry.
A small boat in a stormy sea is a good metaphor for life, a good metaphor for faith. There’s nothing like a good, perfect storm to put our personal and human power into perspective. Perhaps I should say, to put the puny nature of our personal and human power into perspective.
There is good reason for the Sailor’s Prayer to be, “O LORD, watch over me for the sea is so great and my boat is so small.”
But isn’t the American ideal about exercising control over one’s life; being in control of our relationships, controlling our personal destiny?
Father Frank Wade writes: “Being in control of one's life is a virtue we admire greatly in this country. The discipline of the athlete, the successful professional, the wise investor, the accomplished artist. William Bennett's popular Book of Virtues fairly bulges with stories of responsible people in firm control of their lives.
“On the other hand, one of the harshest judgments we make is on people who are out of control in one way or another. To let your car get out of control is a crime...to let your emotions get out of control is an embarrassment...when your children are out of control it is considered a failure...with the mind out of control it is an illness. When our finances are out of control, they lead to bankruptcy and ruin. We take control very seriously in our community and rightly so.”
Control, and worrying about being out of control. Valuing an impossibility. Controlling life is an oxymoron.
Stress management experts say that only two percent of our "worrying time" is spent on things that might actually be helped by worrying. The other 98 percent of this time is spent thusly:
- 40% on things that never happen
- 35% on things that can't be changed
- 15% on things that turn out better than expected
- 8% on useless, petty worries
It is an old, old story.
But there are also times when we are so in touch with our limits, our frailty, our finitude that we anxiously wait for rescue, eagerly seek succor, hopefully expect salvation. And there is Jesus “in the stern asleep on the cushion”!
Where is a savior when you need one? Is God really a present help in trouble? Didn’t God say to Job,
"…(It was God who) who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb? --
when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
and said, `Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?
“O LORD, watch over me for the sea is so great and my boat is so small.” Where are you? I need you now?
O LORD, my child is so sick! O LORD, I am so alone! O LORD, the world is such a mess! O LORD, I’ve lost my job! O LORD, I’ve lost my way! O LORD, I am sinking! O LORD, I don’t know what to do! O LORD, save me!
It is an old, old story. Who has not uttered such a prayer? Who has not called on the name of the LORD in utter distress? Who has not invoked the power of God to save? You? You have not? Then wait, you will.
And will the LORD come, mighty to save? Will the Lord calm the sea? Will the Lord still the wind? Yes, even within the raging storm we can see God at work.
Have you thought it through, though? Jesus calms the sea and stills the wind and there is a dead calm. Then what? Stilling the wind stops sailboats dead in the water. How are you going to get through? How are you going to get home? How are you going to get to the shore? Jesus isn’t Commander Scotty on Star Trek. He’s not gonna “beam you up.”
I think there is only one way, the only way is to row… to pull hard on the oars, to break a sweat, to use the God-given power we do have, to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the miracle at hand, to get to work, to pull hard and to row like hell.
We well can pray that Jesus would work miracles in our lives and in our world and in our church. We can count on that happening. We can count on Him. We also need to be prepared to do the work necessary to finish off the miracle, to bring it to fulfillment, to arrive safely on shore. Along with the sea and the wind, we, too, are called to obedience, to discipline, to work, to cooperate with the miracle of his love.
It is an old, old story about Jesus and his love and us. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
