…but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
“Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
“Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
Recently we heard the Prophet Elijah taunting his Baalist opponents,
“Call louder, for he is a god and may be meditating, or may have retired, or may be on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
The disciples in the boat with Jesus found themselves in a similar predicament. Their Lord was asleep amid a raging storm! But he woke to their cries. First, he scolded them for their fearfulness, and then rebuked the winds and sea, “and there was great calm.”
Our pious tradition assures us:
What sleeps is our confidence and faith in God! The Lord is truly present, we’re the absent party. As the churches ask from their front lawn message boards: “Ch__ch. What’s missing?”
As a hospital chaplain in a secular/government institution, I find that most patients I meet do not attend church. (It seems that the staff mostly do attend church, despite the demands of the hospital.)
Americans are paying a heavy price for their absence. People search for value and meaning outside the church and find some outlandish and patently absurd new directions. In the meanwhile, they waste themselves with idleness, overconsumption, and resentments of every sort.
The human being wants values and needs to make sacrifices. We know there is something more to life than the self, despite the ad campaigns that tell us otherwise. Often, exhausted by the fruitless search, we fall asleep, and are washed overboard into stormy seas.
The Lord has come to us. He does not abandon us. He finds us where we are and invites us to go with him.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.