Mark 4:35-41

This is Father's Day, and we welcome and celebrate our fathers.

Dads are different than Moms. They parent differently. They protect differently. They teach differently. Moms buy bumper pads. Dads buy Band-Aids. Moms schedule "play days". Dads encourage "throw-downs". Some of you are not going to be happy about this, and of course there are lots of exceptions, but overall there just do seem to be different styles inherent between Moms and Dads.

Moms like to invest in lots of protective gear. Bike helmets, knee pads, water wings. Dads tend to be both hands on and hands off. Swimming lessons, but then a white water raft trip. Bike-pushing, followed by a mondo mountain bike trail. Bigger knee pads, then diving into the deepest drop at the skate park. Moms say, "You worried me so much!" Dads tend to say, "Don't worry too much!"

Kids need both kinds of parenting. That is the most difficult challenge for single parents, a challenge that can be met and is being met my many single parents in this church. But it's a challenge nonetheless: to find a way, or a person, to bring in all the possibilities and probabilities that are part of the richness of having both a Mom and a Dad to engage the lives of children.

I thank God Dads are optimists. Dads take chances based upon skills and knowledge they know they possess and they trust they have taught to the next generation. I thank God for all Dads who offer this gift of confidence. A gift of conviction. A gift of risk and courage based on trust. It is a gift every child needs from someone.

In the context of the culture of his day, Jesus loved like a mother, and taught like a father. He didn't have his disciples sit in a yeshiva learning Torah tidbits. Jesus took his disciples to "work" with him, to apprentice with him, so they could learn by doing. Like all children, the disciples got it "wrong" a lot of the time. That's why in Mark's gospel the disciples are often called the "Duh-sciples". Today's gospel lesson shows just how "duh!" they could get.

After a long exhausting day Jesus and the disciples get in a boat and start across the Sea of Galilee, heading out into open water. Jesus conked out, contentedly curled up on a cushion in the wind-sheltered stern of the boat. But a storm kicks up, and pretty soon the storm is kicking the boat all over the place.

(from http://www.sermons.com)