Today is Sea Sunday when we think
especially of all those who sail our oceans, in merchant fleets, fishing fleets
and in the national navies of our world.
We pray especially for those known to us – Diane and James, for example
- and we give thank for those who risk their lives to provide us with both
safety on our shores, and with the rich harvest of the sea. We also remember the National Sea Rescue
Institute and their brave and dedicated volunteers.
The real, physical storms that batter the
ships and boats are part of the everyday life of seamen, and part of the risk
they voluntarily take when they go to sea.
Let’s consider some of the noteworthy storms in the history of our
faith: the storm of Jonah; the storm on
Galilee; the storms in the Mediterran-ean when Paul was on his way to Rome, the
storm that led to the conversion of John Newton; the storm on the Irish Sea
that changed John Wesley’s idea of grace, to name but a few.
Notice that all of these were
life-threatening, but God was not absent.
He took each of them, and without
making them any less violent, used them as the raw material for something
quite marvellous.
Storms are always dangerous. They have in them the possibility of
disaster, and it is a real and immediate possibility, We do well to be afraid. But they have another possibility as
well. They may be exhilarating,
energising and the beginning of something valuable, as the storms on the
Highveld are.
It depends on who you are and where you are
and whether or not you are sheltered and safe.
It is Bastille Day on Tuesday, which, if
you are not French, you may well have overlooked! This
is an example of quite another sort of storm – no less dangerous, but not a
wind and rain storm. Jesus and his
disciples experienced that sort of storm when Herodias’s nasty little daughter
requested the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The senseless killing of good and holy people
causes an storm in our hearts and in our faith.
Today we are going to look at what our
faith means and how it holds up in terms of the storms that we encounter in
life.
A vast and life-shattering storm broke on
France on Bastille Day in 1789. Nothing
would ever be the same again. For some
it was the end; for others it was the beginning. For some it was a judgement; for others it
was justice at last. It was, as Dickens
said, “the best of times, the worst of times”.
It was a storm of vast proportions that engulfed an entire nation, and,
in time, the whole of Europe.
We have been through stormy times in our
land, too, though not like the storms that have hit Burundi, Congo, Sudan,
Nigeria and the Muslim world. Our storm
is not over, however, and the wind may at any time change.
For some of us the storm comes even closer,
and there are few in our congregation this morning who have not experienced the
evil face of violent crime in their own lives or in those of their
families.
The storm may come even closer than that,
and be inside us. Perhaps you have just
heard a diagnosis of an illness that you didn’t know you had, and that
threatens to alter the shape of your life, or even bring you to the end of it
here. Perhaps you are in the midst of a
family turmoil that threatens to destroy the very fabric of your life and
home. Perhaps you are being knocked this
way and that as you wrestle with a difficult decision, or a situation that has
got out of hand, and you can see no way out.
Perhaps you have been pulled down into depression and you have lost all
hope, and you are adrift on the ocean without sail or rudder.
I think that maybe that is the picture we
need to see. Imagine the sea in a storm. The waves get higher and higher and the wind
whips up the foam, driving all before it.
All on the surface is tossed about and maybe even be broken up. At the same time, however, a little deeper
down, the fish go about their business as usual, probably unaware of the
violence on the surface. At the bottom
of the ocean, where the bedrock is, there is complete calm. The only movement is gentle, along with the
voluntary movement of the sea creatures.
That bedrock is absolutely unaffected by any storm. If a vessel is securely anchored to the
bedrock, it too will be safe from being driven ashore, or of losing its
way. The surface is part of the ocean,
but it is not the whole of the ocean. It
is enormously important, the source of light and air in the water, but it needs
the balance of the depths as well.
The things I mentioned above - the storms
of this life, are the events that happen at the top of the ocean of our
existence. They happen in terms of our
temporary lives, as it were. At the base
of our existence is the bedrock of our God.
Is this what Jesus was saying when he talked about the man who built his
house upon the rock?
There is a promise for all of God’s
children who are at the moment in the middle of a dangerous storm. We will find it in the first verses of Isaiah
chapter 43. Listen to it.
“Fear not, Jacob (put your own name in
here), for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be
with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk
through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
Note that the waters and the rivers will
not dry up or go away, and the fire will not go out. The promise is two-fold. God is with you, even if you cannot discern
him; you will not be destroyed. In fact
you will not be damaged. You may by
hurt, but it will not be damaging. Make this your own.
And, even better, the ‘river’ you are
crossing is not an ocean. It has another
bank within sight, and the further you go into it, the closer you are to the
other side. Claim the promise of safety
while you swim desperately for the other shore!
When my elder daughter Elizabeth was 13
months old, she had pyelo-nephritis, compounded by one or two other conditions
and it looked pretty bad for a while. While
I was nursing her, day and night, my father sent me this verse and it was for
me the turning point. I was, after that,
able to pray to God himself, rather than just to mouth prayers. And I was able to accept that he not only knew
about what was happening, but was also able to deal with it. I am happy to say that she has just turned 46
and is as healthy as the day is long.
There is another bank to the river of trouble, and you will reach it,
along with the Heavenly Father who holds your hand as you go.
He has not promised to keep you safe from the storms of life, but he has
assured us that we will be safe IN
the storms.
