June 25, 2006 (Jimmie Johnson)

Psalm 9:9-20

Leader: The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

People: And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you,

O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Leader: Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion. Declare his deeds among the peoples.

People: For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;

he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

Leader: Be gracious to me, O Lord. See what I suffer from those who hate me;

you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,

People: so that I may recount all your praises, and, in the gates of daughter Zion,

rejoice in your deliverance.

Leader: The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;

in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.

People: The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgment;

the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.

Leader: The wicked shall depart to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

People: For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

Leader: Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail; let the nations be judged before you.

People: Put them in fear, O Lord; let the nations know that they are only human.

Mark 4:35-41

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

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My soon to be 5-year-old granddaughter Hannah has become terrified of storms at night. Just terrified. You can crawl into bed with her and cuddle her, but she continues to shake and cry until the storm passes and there is no more lightning and crashes of thunder.

Storms are scarybig, powerful, out of our control, and threatening. They demonstrate that the world is dangerous and we are small potatoes in the scheme of things.

Whether or not you believe the literalness of this story of Jesus stilling this particular storm is really of no importance to me as your pastor and preacher. You can decide for yourself whether the story is a basis of faith or an expression of faith. Stories of religious and secular figures calming storms circulated widely during the time of Jesus.

What is important to me is that you have come to trust that Jesus as Gods human face can still the storms of your life, specifically the one you are going through this morning even if you are the only one who knows the winds are howling, the lighting flashing, and the thunder crashing.
What is important to me is the trust growing in you that in Jesus Christ God meets our most profound needs for reassurance that our small lives have great cosmic meaning. God meets these needs not because of our ego needs, not because we are anthropocentric, as if nothing mattered but us human beings spinning on planet Earth, but because God really is love as we are taught and believe. It is important to me that you believe that God really cares about you and the world. Thats what is important to me as your pastor and preacher.

This is the New Testament witness: if you are in a storm, the Bible is validating your experience of the storm and promising that Jesus will still the storm. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is not interested in embarrassing you or talking you out of your feelings about your life being out of control. Nor is the gospel of our Lord chastising you for the severity of your doubts nor for your legitimate feelings of being overwhelmed. On the contrary, the Bible validates these religious experiences. The storm story is there to show that followers of Jesus who are in the boat with Jesus can still be rocking in the waves and swamping with fear. You are not evil nor bad nor spiritually weak because a storm is blowing your life and threatening to undo you.

What the gospel of our Lord is offering is the promise that God in Jesus is speaking even at this moment, speaking a promise that the storm cannot destroy Gods love for you. In life and in death, we belong to God--thats our big Presbyterian belief. The sovereignty of God is the heart of this belief. It is a belief that doesnt mean God is the great Cosmic Controller of all life or your life or mine, but it is a belief that brims with confidence even while undergoing severe questioning that God will not lose the meaning of your life. You shall not be overwhelmed. You shall not be drowned in meaninglessness. You are loved, you are here for a purpose, your life has meaning. None of this shall be drowned or destroyed. God will not permit the storm to overpower the meaning of the way you live as followers of Jesus.

God in Jesus cares that we are perishing and will act with all the love behind Creation to restore the life, service and witness that you share in his name. The wind and the waves will, in the end, obey. The chaos will not be more sovereign than the friendship and love of God for the creation, the church, and your life.

In the literature of the Bible, the metaphor of the storm is the great symbol system that questions whether or not there is any meaning to life. ìMaster, do you care that we are perishing?î We might put it this way: ìWhat good is my believing in Jesus if my child is going to die? What good is it to believe in God if evil always sweeps away every shred of meaning? What difference does it make that I have lived my life ethically if in the end death destroys?î These are the issues the Bible is addressing. It is a book that promises God is greater than the storm, and for us who live within the framework of Christian belief, this Bible announces that Jesus is a living presence who responds to our fears and offers us Gods peace.

Keep in mind, however, that these disciples of Jesus were in the boat because they were following his leadership. Following Jesus is what got them into the storm. Jesus is no buffer between the realities of howling winds and swamping waves. Jesus doesnt prevent the cunning disorder that apparently still resides within the structures of creation from blowing up and threatening to destroy the goodness and beauty of life. Easters promise of new life of Gods love being more powerful than human hatred and evil and death has begun but is not yet concluded. And this is where the deep fear is.

The deepest fear that haunts any of us, including us followers of Jesus, is the fear that in the end, the storm swamps us all, and life is abandoned of all meaning and good purposes. The deep fear is that the answer to our question: Master, do you care that we are perishing?
is a loud silence and God makes no answer because the storm of meaninglessness is the truth of life. This is the deepest dread and fear. How wonderful for the text to state our fear!

It has always been the theological issue for believers. ìGod, are you real? Do you care?î This is what makes us tremble, struggle for breath, and weep softly or shriek beneath the covers when the storm winds howl and lightning strikes. Storms frighten us.

Notice in this text that Jesus while showing the frustration of our still struggling to trust him cares more though about loving and helping us than his own disappointment that we are still fearful. All through the gospel of Mark disciples struggle to know and believe who Jesus is and what role he plays in their lives. So do you and I this morning.

I know sin and guilt are historically presented as being the big issues of the Bible, but they are not. The big issue is about what this terrible disorder and chaos in creation mean. Does God care? Thats the big notion of the Bible. Thats why we call it ìfaith,î my friends. Faith is not believing falsehoods. Faith is not subscribing to a statement of systematic beliefs. Faith is not believing fairy tales nor choosing ignorance over learning. There is nothing anti-intellectual in the leap of faith. Faith is no substitute for thinking.

All those disciples in the boat with Jesus received more to think about by going with Jesus than if they had stayed at home. Christian faith does not forbid you questioning. Faith is simply the trust that while much of life is threatening and chaotic, we choose to live, love, work, and serve
on the belief side that in the end when all the storms cease, it will be made clear that faith in Jesus, hope in Jesus, and being ìpasser onersî of Jesus love was the truly meaningful wayeven when stormy!

Someday, in someway, these storms will have to be answered for. For me as a Christian, I can trust this will occur for one reason only. Jesus was a rider on the storm when he was crucified. As Gods only Son, he endured the capsizing and even the drowning. This is what the cross was. And in his own prayer from the cross, he, himself, when he prayed about being abandoned, is raising this same issue: ìGod, dont you care?î And he took his last breath trusting that God does care.

Easter is the news that God validates the meaning of Jesus life. Jesus is the truth, the way and the life through all storms. In that belief, you and I shall take our last breath and our next one in eternity!