Sermon - 2015-06-21

Today, we as disciples are confronted with a question.  How do we think of Jesus in our life?  We join the scripture reading in the Gospel of St. Mark where the disciples have been called.  They have left all that they were planning to do in their life to follow this teacher named Jesus.  They left family and friends for this life of travelling and learning.  Over the past few weeks, we have heard of those teachings as Jesus shared parables with the crowds that gathered.  After leaving these crowds, the disciples go on to the sea of Galilee traveling which is something that they have done before.  

In the midst of their sea travel, they are confronted with their death.  How certain is their death? The boat is already taking on water and the storm shows no sign of letting up.  However, one of the disciples wakes up Jesus.  Jesus is so filled with peace and knows that God would never allow him to be destroyed because the work he is called to do is not fulfilled. He is able to sleep in the midst of that storm.  While the boat is being tossed about and taking on water, Jesus sleeps.  But note the way the disciple speaks to Jesus.  He calls him Teacher! Not Messiah, or Lord.  The disciple does not use any other references that Jesus is God, but a common teacher.  When Jesus wakes up, he calms the storm and shows the disciples precisely that he is God.  The one who controls the sea, the wind, and everything else because He is their creator.  

For those of us who are hearing this today, it sounds amazing, but we are not experiencing it.  We are not being splashed by the waves, fearing for our life, or amazed when Jesus calms the storm around us.  We are simply hearing about it from someone who we have never met.   We know that it is possible for a storm to come up and for the people to be tossed about, but for it to stop that quickly is a miracle.  We experience God in nature all the time.  Especially this time of year and within the seasons we have in North Dakota.  How in the spring we know there to be new life.  We are filled with hope and so happy to run outside with only one layer on instead of five.  As we begin to experience the heat of summer, we enjoy the growth and know that God will take care of us.  Then in the Fall, in the harvest, we experience it and know that God has indeed given us all that we need.  It is at this time that we are truly amazed.  Throughout the summer, we had questions of: too much rain?  Not enough rain? Now at the harvest we bear witness that we are indeed relying and trusting that God will provide for all that we need.   Then we come to the winter, a time in which we sometimes feel separated from God.  We feel the cold, dark world that surrounds us, but also we are reminded of how much more brightly the sun shines within our life.  

In the midst of this world, we do not encounter only a God who is in the creation, but we have Jesus Christ.  God is among us on this journey of life and faith to help us, guide us, and share in the journey.  However, there are many who will forget about this relationship especially as we do not hear, see, feel, or experience Jesus Christ in our daily life.  There are moments that we enter back into the Gospel to be reminded of how Jesus interacted with the disciples.  We are reminded of how he is still interacting with us.  Giving us faith, strength, and courage in the midst of the storms of our life and granting us a community of others to be with as we encounter him.  May we always give thanks for being in his presence every single day.  Amen