Mark 4: 35-41 (links validated 5/13/24a)
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Calming the Tempest
In his film “The Incredible Voyage of Bill Pinkney,” and his book As Long As It Takes: Meeting the Challenge, he tells of his trip that took five years to plan and raise money for. He undertook this voyage out of his sense of adventure, but more importantly, to demonstrate to children from backgrounds like his (lower income, single parent urban households), that they can achieve their dreams if they stay serious about their education, dream boldly, and do what it takes to make their dreams come true, not letting anything deter them from success. In 1990, Captain Bill set out at the age of 55 in his 47 foot Valiant cutter that he named Commitment. The trip covered 32,000 miles and took 22 months to complete. Like Jesus’ apostles, he faced enormous dangers that we learn about in greater detail than we find in the account in Mark...Jesus, Do You Not Care?
For those of us who may be hesitant to speak to Jesus with such intensity and honesty, Peter’s words can be refreshing to hear. It’s as if we’re being given permission to be just as intense and honest in articulating what is going on in our hearts and souls. This is especially true when we’ve lost a job, when we’re struggling with an addiction, when we’ve received troubling news from a doctor, when a family member is telling lies, or when a coworker has maligned us and seems to be getting away with it; when we’ve lost someone we loved… It can be difficult, and as good people gathered at Sunday Mass in the heat of June, we could easily repurpose Peter’s question: It captures the feelings we may have when facing challenging situations: Do You Not Care?...Stilling Life's Storms
In his book, Jesus: A Pilgrimage, Jesuit James Martin dedicates an entire chapter to this gospel story.1 He notes that as a spiritual director, it’s been his experience that this story is the most helpful to people who are going through storms in their lives. We all have those stormy times in our lives, do we not? Our storms may be physical or financial or relational or vocational, and certainly political in this country. The question is: where do we turn? What do we do in those times when storms are about to overtake us? Martin lifts up three counselings of Jesus that he offers to you and to me: “Jesus’s counsel against fear reveals several truths, a few things he wanted us to know about the world, and about God.” 1. I have not come to harm you. God’s presence should not prompt fear, for God always comes in love. 2. Don’t fear the new. God’s entrance into your life may mean something will change, but unanticipated doesn’t necessarily mean frightening. 3. There is no need to fear things you don’t understand. If it comes from God, even the mysteries should hold no terror. You may not understand fully what God is asking, but this is no cause to be frightened...The Farthest Shore
We’d like to be able to wake Jesus up whenever there’s a storm, whenever we feel like we might be overwhelmed. There’s an old song that says, “I want Jesus to walk with me.” It’s a great song, bad theology because the point is not for Jesus to walk with me, it’s for me to walk with Jesus. What the gospel shows us is that if I want to walk with Jesus, I’m going to have to go places where it feels stormy, I’m going to have to cross to other shores, I’m going to have to change in ways that feel uncomfortable. He says, “Let us go across to the other side,” and the truth is, I’m comfortable right here—he wants me to go to another shore, a new place, a new way, a new creation...You Have Nothing To Fear
What if I told you that there is something far more dangerous for us to fear than our own deaths? What if I told you that, of all the terrible things that could happen to you or your loved ones or our nation or the economy, the only thing that you should be afraid of is being afraid? Although his was a political speech, designed to give hope to a nation that was stuck in the Great Depression, FDR’s first inaugural address might as well have been a sermon on today’s readings, if he had only based his hope upon God instead of the American ideal. Roosevelt said, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” [4] Over and over—and chiefly in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—God has shown us that it is nameless, unreasoning, and unjustified terror that paralyzes our souls and that faith in Almighty God is the only thing that can set us free from the fear of fear itself..Ordinary 12B (2024)
In 1976, the songwriter Gordon Lightfoot recorded a haunting ballad in honor of, and as a tribute to, a ship and its crew members who lost their lives. He called it “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The Edmund Fitzgerald was a giant ore-freighter, 729 feet in length. It was the largest carrier on the Great Lakes from 1958 until 1971. The Fitzgerald was labeled “the pride of the American Flag.” On November 10, 1975, the Fitzgerald was hauling a heavy load of ore to Detroit, Michigan, when it ran into a severe storm. This storm generated 27-30-foot waves. During the evening hours the ship disappeared from radar screens; apparently it sank in a matter of minutes. It now rests on the bottom of Lake Superior, broken in two with the bow upright and the stern upside down, still loaded with its cargo of ore and all 29 hands. — Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus saved the apostles from a possible wreck in the Sea of Galilee...What Kate Middleton’s Battle with Cancer Can Tell Us About Our Own Storms
Meteorological storms are quite different from the metaphorical storms of life. Connected to the web by the personal computers in our pockets, we are no longer surprised by nature’s storms. We are informed, often quite accurately, when they will begin and how long they will last, even about their intensity. Life’s storms are quite different. We seldom see them coming, and we rarely know when they will end. Indeed, uncertainty is a large part of their toll. Many of us find that not knowing is worse than knowing. So here are three pieces of advice for the storms of life...When Jesus Rests in Your Care
One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was to conduct the funeral for my brother Tom’s wife, Mimi. She was only 43 when she died and the last five or six of those years were horribly distorted when she contracted a severe case of Multiple Sclerosis, which left her paralyzed from the neck down and ultimately cost her life. It was a tragic ending to someone who had previously been so full of life. Obviously, no one who had seen the ravages M.S. had inflicted on her body would wish to have her back from the death that finally freed her. But understanding that fact intellectually didn’t make her death at such a young age any less painful. I had been the best man at Tom and Mimi’s wedding — the first and probably the only time I would ever serve in that role. They were married at the United Methodist Church in Le Mars, Iowa — the same place in which her funeral was held some 20 years later. And so the memories inevitably came flooding back — memories of Mimi dancing up a storm at the wedding reception — which was in stark contrast to her later immobility. Memories of her as a young mother offering devoted care for her children, only to have her M.S. force those children to have to help take care of her years later. The ironies were everywhere along with a heavy sense of wistfulness for both what was lost and who was lost. My job at the funeral was to help the others get through their pain even as I was dealing that same pain myself. But the odd thing was that I wasn’t really feeling that pain during the service. Instead, I was surprisingly matter-of-fact and professionally-distant from it all. I stayed that way all the way through the funeral service. Then, when it was over, I walked down the aisle, straight into a side room by myself. It seemed odd how detached I was feeling, so I sat down to think about that and the very instant I did, uncontrollable tears began to flow. It was as if I had put all my feelings on hold until the service was over and then they all came crashing in at once. It was a truly overwhelming experience...The Storm on the Lake
Years ago I attended a seminar on religious experience where a woman shared the following story: A few years before this incident occurred her life had been rather settled. She had been happily married, her children were grown and on their own, and she and her husband were running a successful business together. Then it all fell apart. Her husband, a recovering alcoholic, began to drink. Within two years, they had lost everything, including each other. Their business went bankrupt, they lost their house, and their marriage fell apart. She moved to a new city and took a new job, but the pain of what she had lost lingered and she found herself constantly depressed and joyless as she sought to sink new roots, meet new people, and begin over again in mid-life...
Recommended Resources
Overcoming Fear
The overcoming of fear—that is what we are proclaiming here. The Bible, the gospel, Christ, the church, the faith—all are one great battle cry against fear in the lives of human beings. Fear is, somehow or other, the archenemy itself. It crouches in people’s hearts. It hollows out their insides, until their resistance and strength are spent and they suddenly break down. Fear secretly gnaws and eats away at all the ties that bind a person to God and to others, and when in a time of need that person reaches for those ties and clings to them, they break and the individual sinks back into himself or herself, helpless and despairing, while hell rejoices...Does Jesus Care?
("In his book Letter to a Man in a Fire, cancer survivor Reynolds Price responds to a letter from a young medical student named Jim, who has developed a life-threatening cancer. In his letter, Jim writes, 'I want to believe in a God who cares...because I may meet him sooner than I had expected. I think I am at the point where I can accept the existence of God...but I can't yet believe God cares about me'...)Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there were one set of footprints. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints. So I said to the Lord, "You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?" The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you."How Can I Keep from Singing?
"A story is told by a warden during World War II in England whose responsibility it was to see that a nearby bomb shelter was open when it was needed. There was a piano down in the shelter and a good pianist was hired to play it..."The Gospel According To Seabiscuit
("The book Seabiscuit: An American Legend was popular back in 2001 and a movie based on the book came out in 2003. It tells the story of a race horse and a trinity of his broken-down friends who find their way through some of the greater storms of life by giving and receiving grace. Puny in size, rebellious in nature, and seemingly a loser, he couldn't win a race..." an extensive review of all those he touched in his life)On Miracles and Change
("In the opening pages of Leif Enger's Peace Like a River, Reuben Land, the narrator of the story, tells of the apparent miracle by which his father saved his life when he had just been born. He then reflects on how often we tend to domesticate miracles, using the word to describe all manner of things that merit our attention and appreciation but that are not, finally, truly miraculous. He then goes on to press that distinction: 'Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature...")Listening for the Questions
("In his 1993 book, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC, Frederick Buechner offers this advice about Scripture: 'Don't start looking in the Bible for the answers it gives. Start by listening for the questions it asks.' Buechner goes on to say this: 'When you hear the question that is your question, then you have already begun to hear much. Whether you can accept the Bible's answer or not, you have reached the point where at least you can begin to hear it, too.'...")*Illustrations, Quotes and Lectionary Resources (Ordinary 12B)
("Following the battle of Guadalcanal, Barney Ross recalls himself petitioning a Jewish God. Adkins, in the next foxhole, was praying to a Baptist God. A kid with a hole in his side was praying to a Catholic God. It hit him that there was no difference between himself and his friends beneath a hell of gunfire. He confessed, 'I couldn't help but wonder if people have to come that close to death to realize that we are all on the same side and trying to get to the same place.'..." and many more!)
Illustrated Resources from 2018 to 2023
Jesus, Do You Not Care?
A few months ago, all of the students from the Catholic Campus Ministry in the Archdiocese of Newark, had a retreat based on this Gospel passage, and one of the talks, (given by Fr. Bill Sheridan) introduced a letter that was written by St Therese of Lisieux (who is affectionately known as “the Little Flower”) to her younger sister Celine. Celine was wrestling with both the inconsolable grief over the loss of her father and at the same time was at a loss with questions about what to do with her life, what was her vocation. Celine felt lonely and scared, she was overwhelmed and struggling and didn’t know what to make of all her feelings and the seeming absence of Jesus from her life, when her sister Therese wrote to her citing this Gospel. She writes: My Celine… is all alone in a little boat; the LAND has disappeared from her eyes, she does not know where she is going, whether she is advancing or if she is going backward… [she] is on the OPEN SEA; the boat carrying her is advancing with full sails toward the port, and the rudder which Celine cannot even see is not without a pilot. Jesus is there, SLEEPING as in days gone by, in the boat of the fishermen of Galilee...Is God on Vacation?
Elise Scott, associate pastor of Ballard First Lutheran in Seattle, was sitting in her office one Saturday when the LYONS (Lutheran Youth Of North Seattle) director came in seeking help. LYONS was presenting a matinee performance of their dinner theater production, and a somewhat disoriented and possibly high young woman had wandered in and begun disrupting the performance. Pastor Scott went to the fellowship hall and gently guided the barefoot and scantily dressed young woman out of the hall and into the courtyard where the following conversation took place: Pastor Scott: “I’m Pastor Elise Scott. What’s your name?” Visitor: “I am the first fairy to ever live and one of God’s special ones.” Pastor Scott: “Do you have some place safe to go?’ Visitor: “God’s got this, – – – – but he’s on vacation.” Pastor Scott: “Is there anyone I could call to pick you up?” Visitor: “I’ve got to get out of here.” And she did, slowly and mysteriously wandering away.Ordinary 12B (2018)
According to Emmanuel Levinas, we know God—the sacred—when we encounter the face of the other. He writes, “The face is the other who asks me not to let him die alone, as if to do so were to become an accomplice in his death.” People are responsible for each other, face to face. The face of the other demands us to do more and be more for the ones who are not us. Through the face of the other, God invites us into a binding community of love. Life-enhancing beauty emanates from the faces of others. The struggling moral health of America depends on our courage to see the other, to stare at the face of the other and find transcendence in difference...Kon Tiki
Shortly after the end of the second world war, a Norwegian explorer, Thor Heyerdahl, and five companions set sail from the shores of Peru on a vessel that was little more than a raft. He did so to test his theory that before Christopher Columbus supposedly “discovered” the new world, people from South America could have settled the islands of the South Pacific. For 101 days, this raft traveled over 4,300 miles across the largest ocean on this planet before crashing onto a reef in the French Polynesian archipelago, with these six explorers steeping ashore on August 7, 1947. The name Heyerdahl gave his raft, as well as the book he wrote the next year, was “Kon Tiki.”...Sermon Starters (Proper 7B)(2021)
There is a scene in John Steinbeck’s classic novel The Grapes of Wrath that reminds me a bit of how the disciples react to Jesus once they start to get a true sense of all the power and strength that he possesses. The Joad family is traveling in their jalopy to what they think will be a new Promised Land in California. Along the way the grandmother of the family gets sick. During a long night Ma Joad lies down next to Granma in the back of the truck. In the morning and just after the family finally had crossed over into California, we read the following as it turns out Ma had laid next to a corpse most of the night: “The fambly’s here” [Ma Joad said]. Her knees buckled and she sat down on the running board. “You sick, Ma?” “No, jus’ tar’d.” “Didn’ you get no sleep?” “No.” “Was Granma bad?” Ma looked down at her hands, lying together like tired lovers in her lap. “I wish’t I could wait an’ not tell you. I wish’t it could be all—nice.” Pa said, “Then Granma’s bad?” Ma raised her eyes and looked over the valley. “Granma’s dead.” They looked at her, all of them, and Pa said, “When?” “Before they stopped us las’ night.” “So that’s why you didn’ want ‘em to look.” “I was afraid we wouldn’ get acrost,” she said. “I tol’ Granma we couldn’ he’p her. The family had ta get acrost. I tol’ her when she was a’dyin . . .” She put up her hands and covered her face for a moment. “She can get buried in a nice green place,” Ma said softly. “Trees aroun’ and a nice place. She got to lay her had down in California.” The family looked at Ma with a little terror at her strength.Preaching Helps (Proper 7B)(2018)
There is a scene in John Steinbeck’s classic novel The Grapes of Wrath that reminds me a bit of how the disciples react to Jesus once they start to get a true sense of all the power and strength that he possesses. The Joad family is traveling in their jalopy to what they think will be a new Promised Land in California. Along the way the grandmother of the family gets sick. During a long night Ma Joad lies down next to Granma in the back of the truck. In the morning and just after the family finally had crossed over into California, we read the following as it turns out Ma had laid next to a corpse most of the night: “The fambly’s here” [Ma Joad said]. Her knees buckled and she sat down on the running board. “You sick, Ma?” “No, jus’ tar’d.” “Didn’ you get no sleep?” “No.” “Was Granma bad?” Ma looked down at her hands, lying together like tired lovers in her lap. “I wish’t I could wait an’ not tell you. I wish’t it could be all—nice.” Pa said, “Then Grandma’s bad?” Ma raised her eyes and looked over the valley. “Granma’s dead.”...Turning to the One in the Stern
I take my turn every six weeks or so. Often those weeks pass without a single call. That week was different, though. It seemed as though every day there was a request for a chaplain. It was on my third such call that I met Marcia. When I entered the room, she greeted me warmly as did her young adult disabled daughter and her elderly mother in a wheelchair. While her smile was genuine, her tone was agitated for as she shared with me, her challenges were great. She was in the midst of moving the family gathered in that room into a shared living situation. One where could care for all of them. Her brother who lives halfway around the world was seriously ill and she did not know how to help him. And now her own health issues had caught up with her. She shared all of this volubly from the moment I walked into the room and right through her doctor’s visit and beyond. Finally she took a breath and asked me to pray. And so I did. As soon as we shared the ‘amen,’ it was as though peace had overtaken the room...Do You Not Care?
The poet Raymond Carver, who struggled most of his life with alcoholism, which caused immense pain to him and those around him, eventually managed to stop drinking and find some measure of peace and wholeness late in his short life - he died at the age of 50. But the epitaph he wrote for his gravestone, the final poem, Late Fragment, in his final collection, says this. And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth...Moving from Fear to Faith
There is a poignant scene in the otherwise very violent film Pulp Fiction, when two hitmen, Jules and Vincent, are trying to come to terms with their narrow escape from death. Jules describes their experience as a miracle; Vincent disagrees. After defining a miracle as “God making the impossible possible,” Vincent argues that their escape from death earlier that day doesn’t qualify. Which prompts Jules to say, “Don’t you see, Vincent, that…doesn’t matter. You’re judging this thing the wrong way. It’s not about what. It could be God stopped the bullets, he changed Coke into Pepsi, he found my…car keys. You don’t judge [stuff] like this on merit. Whether or not what we experienced was an according-to-Hoyle miracle is insignificant. What is significant is I felt God’s touch. God got involved.”...Enjoying the Storm (Mark)
But maybe we sometimes enjoy the drama of the storm more than we do the calm. The psalmist says that God leads us beside still waters. In the reading from Mark, God made still water where there was none. And yet we are all drawn to the drama of the storm. Maybe we need more reminders of the "after." Here is one.Human Beings Lonely Without God
Graham Greene, who was well aware of the pitfalls of “Christian writing,” said, “I am not a Catholic novelist. I am a novelist who happens to be Catholic. The theme of human beings being lonely without God is a legitimate subject. To want to deal with that doesn’t make me a theologian.” In a rather similar vein, the American Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor, when asked why her stories dealt with religion through grotesque characters and situations, replied, “To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.”...A Storm Blowing From Paradise
Sober scientific and political assessments of our ecological situation are growing increasingly dire. Pope Francis’ release today of “Laudato Sii: Sulla Cura Della Casa Comune” (“Blessed are You: Concerning the Care of our Common Home)” is a desperately needed word into this storm. Can his moral imagination help break the political and cultural gridlock that is undermining our chances of survival? I suggest three reasons it might...Master of the Winds and the Waves
The winds and the waves Shall obey my will, peace be still. Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea Or demons, or men, or whatever it be. No water can swallow the ship where lies The Master of ocean and earth and skies; They shall sweetly obey my will, Peace be still, peace be still. They all shall sweetly obey my will; Peace, peace be still.Jesus Calms the Storm
There was nothing minor or imagined about the storms that rolled over Horatio Spafford, a 19th Century Job. The Chicago fire destroyed his family fortune. His four daughters, aged five to eleven, were lost at sea. His wife was driven mad by grief. He was a prime candidate for despair and who could blame him? But Christ was his refuge in every storm. His faith was tested, but never broken. Traversing the same stretch of ocean that claimed his children, he wrote: When peace, like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hath taught me to say, It is well; it is well with my soul. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin, not in part but in whole, Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul...(See more about this hymn at the listing included under the Music Suggestions on the front page of this Sunday's resources.)
Close Calls
The Jones family moved to a new house in south Florida near a pond. There were two other houses on the pond, one owned by a doctor. One day, shortly after they moved in, the Jones' three children went swimming in the pond. Suddenly, out of nowhere a 400-pound alligator appeared. The doctor happened to be out and saw the alligator. He yelled to the children. Two of them heard the cry and headed for shore. The third child, Mike, was under the water using his diving gear to look beneath the surface. The other two children got near the shore, looked back, and saw the alligator bearing down like a torpedo on their brother. One of them started back to warn Mike, but it was too late. The alligator was upon the boy. He was about to swallow him whole, but when the alligator chomped down on the boy's head, he found the diving gear distasteful and spit him out...Facing the Storms of Life
The British Navy has strange custom. If there is a sudden disaster aboard ship, the “still” is blown. Now this particular still is not a place where whiskey is made, but it’s a whistle that calls the crew to a moment of silence in a time of crisis. When the still is blown, people aboard know that it means, “Prepare to do the wise thing.” Observers of this system note that the moment of calm has helped avert many a catastrophe. It has prevented many scatterbrained actions...God Is With Us in the Storms of Life
The African Queen tells the story of Charlie Allnut (played by Humphrey Bogart), a hard drinker who runs a small steamboat, the African Queen, through the shallow rivers of East Africa in the early 1900s, bringing dynamite, gin, supplies, and tools to European speculators and miners. He also carries the mail to Rose (played by Katherine Hepburn), a missionary. When World War I breaks out and the Germans burn Rose’s home and church, the British missionary and Canadian boatman flee in the African Queen. Their destination is a large lake downriver, where they hope to assist the Allied war effort by blowing up a German destroyer. On the river they face one danger after another. Insects attack. Bullets whiz by as they pass a German-held fort. They fight rapids. With a lot of moxie they survive these tests, but then the river dissipates and splits into a hundred streams. The African Queen bogs down in a marsh. With no current to push them along, Charlie and Rose use poles to propel forward, and eventually Charlie has to wade the shallows, pulling the boat by a rope. He shudders when he finds leeches on his back and arms, but he grimly returns to the water, and soon Rose herself slogs through the marsh, hacking a path with a machete while Charlie pulls. Eventually they come to the end of their strength. The boat is stuck on a mudflat, and Charlie is feverish. He says, “Rosie, you want to know the truth, don’t you? Even if we had all our strength, we’d never get he off this mud. We’re finished.” She responds simply, “I know it,” and they resign themselves to death in the wasteland. As Charlie drifts to sleep, Rose offers a simple prayer of resignation: “We’ve come to the end of our journey. In a little while we will stand before you....Open the doors of heaven for Charlie and me.” But the camera slowly draws back to reveal what the couple cannot see because of the reeds—the African Queen is less than a hundred yards from the shining lake. The camera then transports us far upstream to the river’s headwaters. A torrential rainstorm is sending animals scurrying for cover. Further downstream, the rains have turned the rapids into cataracts. Down on the mudflat a small channel begins to run through the reeds. The channel swells, gently lifts the Queen off the mudflat, and carries it to the lake. Charlie and Rose awaken to the gentle rocking of the boat and a refreshing breeze...Crossing Over to the Other Shore
I dreamed this after a very long and difficult day at “my” ER. I was standing on a rope bridge, trembling and shaking, full of fear that I would tumble into the abyss with my next step. On the other side of the bridge stood my baby sister Ute. She waved to me and asked me to come to her, but I stood there like I had grown roots, full of fear and terror, and said, “I can’t do this.” So she appeared by my side and spoke into my ear; she said, “Big brother, you can do this. Trust yourself and everything God has given you. Look at the bridge and with your faith trust that it is solid as a bridge made from wood. Go alone; I will stand here and watch you.”...The Still Point
“The world looks different now…. Something is over. In the deepest levels of my existence, something is finished, done. My life is divided into before and after.” So writes Nicholas Wolsterstorff — once Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale. What he’s writing about here is no great philosophical idea. It’s intensely personal. Those lines come from a book of his called Lament for a Son. It’s a memoir of an event that changed his life: an event that seems to violate the natural order, the experience they say no parent should ever have to go through: burying one’s own child. Wolterstorff’s son, Eric, died at the age of 25, in a mountain-climbing accident. “He was a gift to us for twenty-five years. When the gift was finally snatched away, I realized how great it was. Then I could not tell him…. I didn’t know how much I loved him until he was gone. Is love like that?” Yes, I’m sorry to say: I think it very often is...
Illustrated Resources from 2015 to 2017
Proper 7B (2015)
("I had my first real theology lesson when I was about twelve or thirteen I was working in the tobacco field with my father; he was plowing, I was hoeing. I had my head down, concentrating on not hitting a young tobacco plant with my hoe when I realized the tractor was no longer running and Daddy was yelling for me to run to him. He pointed into the distance and then beckoned me with a wave. I looked out across the valley and saw sharp lightning and a wall of rain and hail coming our way...") (Scroll down the page for this sermon.)Proper 7B (2015)
Sebastian Junger's best-selling book—later made into also a movie—The Perfect Storm reminds us of the power of storms at sea. Experienced sailors—like those aboard the Andrea Gail fishing boat whose story makes up the core of The Perfect Storm—know that on the ocean, there comes a point where physics takes over and sailors are helpless to do anything about it...Stories of Crisis
The man in the wheelchair was fifty-three, but he appeared almost infinitely older because of what cancer had done to him. The dozens of men who had gathered to hear him speak were well aware of his illness and how this would be the last time he would meet with them. The man in the wheelchair was Bonaventure Zerr, abbot of a Benedictine community in Oregon. The men around him were monks of that community. Eight years earlier, they had elected him as abbot, expecting that he would occupy the position for a good twenty years. They knew him well, this very large man with an imposing intellect who yet was totally affable and compassionate and confident. They knew him well, and in a short time he would be dead. The assembled monks looked on Bonaventure Zerr with affection and respect. They also looked on him with reverence, for according to the Rule of Benedict, the abbot holds the place of Christ in the monastery. So here was their Christ – Christ in a wheelchair, days away from death. His very last words to the assembled monks were almost exactly what he said to them moments after he had been elected abbot eight years before. “In biblical times,” he told them from his wheelchair, “when God’s people were in trouble, he would send an angel to help. He has not sent an angel this time, but I have an angel’s message.” This bear of a man, sick yet strong, slammed his fist down on the table in front of him, and commanded with a loud voice, “Stop being afraid!”Let Father Sit Down
("John Boyne's novel, A History of Loneliness is a story of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. Father Yates isn't guilty of the crime, but his priesthood pays a heavy price for it. Respect evaporates; he is later maligned and maltreated by law officials when he sincerely, if ineptly, tries to help a lost child. We call a priest, 'father', a term of respect, offered to one who gives life itself, whether biological or spiritual, but now the title flounders a bit on the tongue...")Fear
John Newton, long ago a captain of an English slave ship, found that faith gave him the ability to see humanity in his cargo and inhumanity in himself, and to risk the wrath of the ship's owners and the slave traders by pronouncing himself an abolitionist. He wrote, in his hymn Amazing Grace, these words: How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. What we know of faith is never less than what we know of fear. Nor can we know faith at all, without addressing our fears...The Storm on the Lake
("A woman shared a story that she had been happily married, her children were grown and on their own, and she and her husband were running a successful business together. Then it all fell apart. Her husband, a recovering alcoholic, began to drink. Within two years, they had lost everything, including each other. Their business went bankrupt, they lost their house, and their marriage fell apart. She moved to a new city and took a new job, but the pain of what she had lost lingered and she found herself constantly depressed...")Storm of the Spirit
The Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life recently released findings from a survey that indicates a decline in the number of Americans claiming Christian affiliation, especially among Mainline Protestants and Catholics. When the report was first released, reactions among those I know varied widely, from alarm, to those who met the findings with resignation and acceptance, or frankly as old news...Ordinary 12B (2015)
("One morning a Dominican sister and I were part of a Scripture sharing group in a coal mining town south of the capital Charleston. After a period of silence I asked what seemed like a silly question deep in Appalachia, 'Have you ever experienced a storm at sea?' A senior woman responded, 'Yeah! 30 years ago the coal mine up the hallow collapsed and 18 of our men died. We all had someone in that coal mine, or knew a relative of someone who died. They were tough times.'...")Storms
("Rembrandt's Painting of the Storm on the Sea of Galilee pictures the artist as one of the crew in the tossed and imperiled ship. The red-headed Rembrandt looks in fear and bewilderment at the viewer who peers at the ship from above, Jesus peacefully asleep in the bow. The painting was stolen some twenty-five or more years ago from the Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston...")*Finding Calm in the Storm
["Did you know that the bathtub was invented in 1850? The telephone was invented in 1875. 'Just think,' someone said, 'You could have sat in the bathtub for 25 years without the phone ringing.' It never fails, does it? Just when you think you will have some peace and quiet, the telephone rings, or the baby cries, or a water pipe breaks, or the boss calls you into her office. Peace is a precious commodity and it is so, so elusive...."]Stories from the Deep
("a women was sailing with her three children and their boat lost power. Their mast was also blown over by the storm. Conditions were so bad that the Coast Guard had difficulty locating them. The woman was scared and she kept making radio calls. A trawler spotted them and a man on the trawler managed to jump aboard and stay with the woman and her children until the Coast Guard finally reached them. His presence gave then the assurance they needed to survive the storm..." and other illustrations)
Illustrated Resources from 2012 to 2014
Questions Propel Our Faith Journey
Patrick Overton reflects in his poem “Faith”: “When you come to the edge of all the light you have And take the first step into the darkness of the unknown, You must believe one of two things will happen: There will be something solid for you to stand upon, or you will be taught how to fly.” Many times in our lives we face the unknown, the uncertainty of a future, an outcome, we cannot see. And what we have to hold onto in those moments is our faith that God is with us: that God will be our solid rock to stand on, or that we will be taught to fly...Proper 7B (2012)
Sometimes it seems to us as if God does not care. In Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple, young Celie writes letters to God. Celie's life is one of almost unrelenting tragedy. Her father is lynched. Her mother goes insane. Young Celie herself is abused and beaten. One of her letters to God closes with these words: 'You must be asleep!' How could all this happen if God is awake?...Rough Weather
A teacher in a small village school told her class this story of Jesus calming the storm during the daily chapel time. Almost as she finished a terrible blizzard struck covering the hills around in deep drifts of ice and snow. As the time came for the students to leave for home, the storm was still raging, so she determined to see each of them in turn safely to their doorsteps. To do it she almost had to drag the little children bodily through the tempest. She got all her charges safely home, despite the very real danger. But what she remembered most, and often repeated as she later related the event, was the comment of one of the little boys. In the midst of it all she heard him say, as if to himself, “We could be doing with that chap Jesus here now.”...*Stand by Me
["As summer heats up it is important to always bring a sweater with you. Huh?! (Yes, I know a sweater is something your mother puts on you when she is cold!). Likewise if you head to Minnesota in mid-winter you would be wise to bring something lightweight and with short sleeves. Crazy?!..."]
Illustrated Resources from 2009 to 2011
He Will Not Let You Perish
There’s a story told—oh, let me honest; it’s a joke—of a man Fred who tried to ride out a flood in his home. As the water climbed higher, Fred climbed the steps to the second floor. Looking out his window, he saw his neighbor paddle up in a canoe. The neighbor shouted, “C’mon Fred, climb in and I’ll get you to dry land.” Fred waved his neighbor off and said, “How could God let this happen, why doesn’t he save me?” The water continued to rise, and Fred climbed to the roof of his house. Pretty soon, a helicopter flew up to his house and the pilot offered to pull Fred in.” Fred waved the helicopter off, and muttered, “How could God let this happen, why doesn’t he save me?” The water continued to rise and Fred drowned. When he got to heaven, he said to God, “How could you let this happen; why didn’t you save me?” And you know what God said? God looked at Fred and said, “I sent a canoe, and I sent a helicopter. Why didn’t you trust me enough to get in?”...*Learning to Fly
("My wife's a flight attendant; I'm a veteran flyer. I know what I'm doing, I know the safety record at Southwest Airlines, where she works, where I almost always fly. I've learned the system and usually manage a decent seat; I have more drink coupons than I could ever use if I decide I want something that costs....")Across to the Other Side
During my first year in graduate school at Princeton Theological Seminary, having just moved to New Jersey from undergraduate life in Texas, I found myself going through several difficult life adjustments. I was working in a church on weekends in which I was more or less thrown into the role of seminary authority and junior high fellowship leader with no particular training or experience. My supervising pastor in that church was an inner-directed sort of fellow who had great difficulty empathizing with the common trials and tribulations of seminarians. That Fall I learned of a sudden death in the family, 1500 miles away. It seemed as though I was at least a million miles away from anything familiar, experiencing less and less direction for the arduous tasks I was pursuing at the seminary. I felt lonesome and cut off. What on earth did God have in mind for me? Should I even be there? I needed a break. So I visited my New Jersey aunt and uncle for a weekend. On my second day there, I was coming down with a bug and went upstairs to rest on a bed that afternoon at my aunt and uncle’s home, sporting a slight fever. The weight of all my anxious misgivings was very much on my mind as I dozed off to sleep. When I awoke, I was exceptionally aware of the silence of the room, the silence of the outside world at that moment. Everything in the house seemed hushed and quiet. It was still daylight. Then an awareness washed over me. It was a sensation that I will never forget. I was granted a sense of deep assurance — from somewhere quite outside myself — that everything was going to be alright...Be Still!
("George Fock was a sailor in the First World War. Once he wrote home, 'If you should hear that I have fallen in battle, do not cry. Remember that even the ocean in which my body sinks is only a pool in my Saviour's hand'...")How Do We Face Adversity?
("Most likely you have heard of Andrew Fisher, the 5th Prime Minister of Australia about a century ago, but have you heard of Andrew 'Fishtail' Fisher the V8 Ute and Supercar racing driver who recently had a podium finish in Darwin. Along the way, Andrew has also had his fair share of smashes – one in his V8 Supercar at Mt Panorama, Bathurst. Why am I talking about a racing car driver? This picture will give you a clue...")Only a Little Faith
Some of you may have watched the movie The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and remember the battle that is close to the end of the movie. It seems at first that the children and their companions are vastly outnumbered and sure to lose, but they have the great lion, Aslan on their side...Waking a Sleeping Jesus
("The legend lives on from the Chippewa down, of the big lake they called 'Gitche Gumee'. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy. With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty, that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed when the 'Gales of November' came early...")Stirring the Sleeping Savior
("I revisited an article that Sharon Salzberg, the noted author and Buddhist teacher, wrote for the January 2002 article of O Magazine. In her article, titled Choosing Faith over Fear, Salzberg writes...")In the Same Boat
("Craig Loscalzo shared that his father, who passed away a few years ago, was a big man, six foot two, two hundred and some-odd pounds. He had always seemed to be a pillar of strength. Six months before he died, they were going to do some tests, and Craig went to be with him..." and other quotes and illustrations)Insanity Amid Madness
("When I heard that my dearest friend's 94-year-old mother was breathing her last, I rushed to the hospital. There I found a fully intubated woman who was moving her head back and forth in nervous distress. The doctor offered her a pad of paper, on which she weakly scrawled 'Water'....")*Ordinary 12B (2009)
"It was a day that we had planned since the beginning of summer. A boat ride in Narragansett Bay and a whole day on a remote beach. It was one of our favorite spots—a paradise all to ourselves on a private secluded island. Two families with five children..."The Sleeping Jesus
("It is a well known historical fact that Birmingham, Alabama, was at the center of a storm when the Civil Rights Movement began. Being a life-long resident of Birmingham, I cringe each time the news re-runs the old footage of Bull Connor and his orders to use fire hoses and German Shepherds to keep the marchers 'under control'....")Proper 7B (2009)
("Some of you, I'm sure are familiar with C.S. Lewis' book The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. There is a conversation in it where some of the children in the story are discussing Aslan, the Lion who is of course the Christ figure...")*The Ride of Your Life
("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'....")
Illustrated Resources (and Other Resources of Merit) from the Archives
Across to the Other Side
During my first year in graduate school at Princeton Theological Seminary, having just moved to New Jersey from undergraduate life in Texas, I found myself going through several difficult life adjustments. I was working in a church on weekends in which I was more or less thrown into the role of seminary authority and junior high fellowship leader with no particular training or experience. My supervising pastor in that church was an inner-directed sort of fellow who had great difficulty empathizing with the common trials and tribulations of seminarians. That Fall I learned of a sudden death in the family, 1500 miles away. It seemed as though I was at least a million miles away from anything familiar, experiencing less and less direction for the arduous tasks I was pursuing at the seminary. I felt lonesome and cut off. What on earth did God have in mind for me? Should I even be there? I needed a break. So I visited my New Jersey aunt and uncle for a weekend. On my second day there, I was coming down with a bug and went upstairs to rest on a bed that afternoon at my aunt and uncle’s home, sporting a slight fever. The weight of all my anxious misgivings was very much on my mind as I dozed off to sleep. When I awoke, I was exceptionally aware of the silence of the room, the silence of the outside world at that moment. Everything in the house seemed hushed and quiet. It was still daylight. Then an awareness washed over me. It was a sensation that I will never forget. I was granted a sense of deep assurance — from somewhere quite outside myself — that everything was going to be alright...Faith in Stormy Times
("Albert Schweitzer, in his commentary, says this: 'There is only one thing which humans fear: the possibility that we might not be really laid hold of by [God's] saving grace. But faith can only be perfected in discipleship...")Perfect Storm, Dead Calm
("I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and star to steer her by; And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking..." and other illustrations)Do You Believe In Demons? (Mk 5: 1-20)
("One of the greatest dangers in my elementary school was the risk of catching "cooties." I don't know if girls in Kentucky have cooties, but I know they did in Arkansas. All the boys in my circle of friends were convinced. In fact, we had three immutable laws of cooties...")Fear and Faith (2006)
("Richard C. Trench was Archbishop of Dublin at the end of the nineteenth century. In the last two years of his life he fought with great courage a progressive terminal illness which left him increasingly paralysed. On one occasion he was a guest of honour at the banquet of the Lord Mayor of London...")Other Little Ships
("In the hot sun and salty air, the little boy builds sandcastles on the beach. He takes sand in a colored shovel, packs it into his red bucket, upends it and makes a castle tower. All afternoon he works, spooning out the moat, packing the walls. Bottle tops will be sentries, popsicle sticks bridges...")*Ordinary 12B (2009)
("This past week I was paged to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. I walked into the unit and immediately sensed the tension in the area. I didn't need to ask where I was needed--it was obvious. There in one of the rooms was an elderly gentleman wearing an oxygen mask, lying on the bed with a nurse trying to hook up a bi-pap machine to assist his breathing...")*God On Our Side
("There is an old proverb that goes something like this: Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things will be yours...")*Heading Out
("Some of us stay in the harbour of course, our faith is dry-docked. The problem is that we tend to be land-locked by fear, and don't sail out to the horizon with an unquenchable faith. Others set out in boats with false gods which exist in every age...")Playing Small Does Not Serve the World
("Clarence is best known for his Cotton Patch version of the gospel which makes Jesus sound like a southern share-cropper. But Clarence Jordan will be longest remembered for his passion for justice...")Approaching Jesus: When We Are Afraid
("In C.S. Lewis' fairy tale The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, four children find themselves in a strange world. A talking beaver welcomes them into his home and explains that the land is held captive by an evil sorceress, but hope is beginning to blossom...")Overwhelming Odds
"One of my favourite movies is The Karate Kid. It is about a teenager who feels alone and unprotected in the hostile environment of his school and community. He is scared - unable to defend himself against the hoodlums of his neighbourhood. He is afraid..."Quiet! Be Still
("When I was growing up I used to work with my Dad at his restaurant in Pound Ridge, New York. One summer evening as we were closing up, he reminded me that Buster was coming in that night to wash the floors. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, and the now closed and darkened restaurant was left behind, I asked my Dad if he was nervous about leaving Buster by himself in the store...")When the Storms of Life Are Raging
("Are you comfortable flying? A lot of people are not. I chuckled when I read about a lady who was flying with her infant daughter. When they landed, they were met in the waiting area by her granddad, who took the baby while she proceeded to the baggage claim area. Standing there alone waiting to claim her baggage, she was absent-mindedly holding the baby's pacifier..." and other illustrations)Calm in a Storm
("A twelve-year-old lad was out fishing with his father. He tells this story. 'We were about ten miles out into the bay, when a sudden thunderstorm came upon us. It was a moderate storm, probably even a small storm by Sea of Galilee standards. None of this mattered to a twelve-year old boy out in a sixteen-foot fishing boat. A pleasant day of fun with Dad turned into horror...")Homer or Not Homer?
("This year, we have been presented with a new book that generously reviews the Homeric epics and the Gospel of Mark.(1) It's author, Dennis MacDonald, promotes a method to determine the origin of many of the stories in the Gospel of Mark. MacDonald suggests that Mk 4:35-42 is an imitation of Odyssey 10.1-69. Here is his synopsis...")Ordinary 12B (1997)
"Once upon a time, a group of children went for a hike in the woods near the summer village in which they were spending their vacation. The woods were not all that deep or thick or even scary. But city kids who haven’t spent much time in even a tiny forest can turn even small groves into something like Sherwood Forest..."Proper 7B (2006)
There was a man who found himself in financial trouble after some poor planning and decision-making. He was on the verge of losing what little he had left and prayed desperately for help in finding his way through the mess. He was on the verge of giving up a job he loved for a more lucrative job that he knew he would hate in order to pay the bills. Just as it seemed all was lost, a former employer called and asked if he could possibly come and work through some critical projects for his former company. The former employer was willing to work around the unpredictable travel schedule of his current job. Although it has taken some adjustments to work two jobs, he is clearing up his debts. He, too, has come to an unexpected place...Proper 7B (2003)
("Harold Kushner, a rabbi, writes of a man who came to him two weeks after attending the funeral of a man with whom he worked. Their lives were very similar, worked in the same area, talked from time to time, kids about the same age, that sort of thing...")Lord, Don't You Care?
("Some years back I received a phone call from my oldest child, a daughter, who was expecting a baby. She called me and she said, 'Mom, the baby came. It came early. I held the baby, but the baby died.'...")Calming the Storm
("It was now a couple of years ago, but I will never forget the experience. It was the early days of June. We were on the water. The waves were crashing about us. And we were extremely frightened. There were 5 of us. All male. Four of us middle-aged clergy, and all of us on a week long kayaking trip on Georgian Bay...")*When the Experts Are Right
("'When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.' -Arthur C. Clarke, inventor of the geo-synchronous orbiting satellite, and writer for the classic movie 2001: Space Odyssey...")Faith Facing Fear
"There's a story about Barbara Johnson, the writer of Stick your Gloomies in a Big Box, Mama, get the hammer, there's a fly on Daddy's head and other popular books. There was a woman in her neighbourhood that led a home Bible study who came to her door..." and other illustrationsStorm System (Mark and 2 Corinthians)
("I remember a dear faithful widow telling me, just after her husband died following years of stroke-weakened living, that everyone had long asked her how she could keep going. She said that before living through his stroke, the years of caring for him and those final months of never knowing whether tomorrow he would be alive or dead...")*Ordinary 12B (2006)
("Mary Ellen Clark's storm was a strange physical problem that threatened her life' goal. Mary Ellen was an Olympic diver for the U.S. team. She began diving as a kid..." and other illustrations)*The Voice of the Storm
("the detail we need to pay attention to here is the words Jesus says to the storm as he wakes up from his sleep. 'Peace, be still' is the translation we heard today. But in the Greek that’s not quite what it says...")Peace in the Midst of the Storm
("The hymn says it all: Master, the tempest is raging! The billows are tossing high! The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness, No shelter or help is nigh; Carest Thou not that we perish?...")Tornado Time
("I will never forget one tornado. It was a great one. We were visting Grandma and Grandpa at their house in St. Paul, Minnesota. My children were young and were not really used to tornadoes, having grown up here in the Pacific Northwest...")Fear Factor
("'Imagine a world where your greatest fears become reality.' In each pulse-racing television episode, contestants recruited across the country battle in extreme stunts. These stunts are designed to challenge the contestants both physically and mentally. If a player is too afraid to complete or fails a stunt, the player is eliminated. If they succeed, they are one step closer to the grand prize: $50,000..." and another illustration)Survivor
On a jungle island in the South China Sea, for 39 days, 16 castaways are marooned. They are forced to band together and carve out a new existence, using their collective wits to make surviving, without any conveniences of the modern world, a little easier. Day by day the location and tropical sun tests the endurance of the castaways. For every three days there is a one-hour Survivor television episode. The survivors must form their own cooperative island society, building shelter, gathering and catching food, and participating in contests for rewards. Those who succeed in the day-to-day challenges will be rewarded with things to make island life more bearable-simple comforts like pillows, some cold beer, and clean clothing. Those who fail must do without. On the last day of each three-day cycle, the castaways must form a tribal council. At this meeting, each person places a secret ballot vote to send one fellow castaway home, eliminating him or her from eligibility for the one million dollars...*God Doesn't Bail Water
("Several years back, an accident caused a Japanese fishing trawler to sink in the Sea of Japan. Fortunately, the crew was rescued from the water and brought to safety. Naturally, an investigation was held to discover what caused the accident. Each of the crew members was questioned, and they all told the same story. But that story was ludicrous that the entire crew was immediately thrown into jail for lying to the authorities..." and other quotes)*When Jesus Rests in Your Care
("One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was to conduct the funeral for my sister-in-law a couple of months ago. Mimi was only 43 when she died and the last five or six of those years were horribly crimped and contorted by a severe case of MS...")Trust or Fear?
("Carlos had just completed the last set of medical tests. All he could do was wait for the results. His heart pounded as he left the hospital. Fear swept over him. He could barely walk to his car. Carlos drove cautiously from the hospital, but he found himself not heading directly home...")*Fasten Your Seat Belts, It's Going to Be a Bumpy Ride
("There's a great scene from the film Forrest Gump that I think relates really well to our readings this morning. In the movie, Captain Dan loses both of his legs in a battle that he believes was a sign of his failure as a leader. In his anguish, he wishes that he had died on the battlefield. He is mad at God, mad at life, and mad at Forrest Gump for his unshakeable faith in goodness...")Giving Yourself Away and Looking After Yourself
("The icon of Jesus Christ that we have in our worship space each Sunday is a representation of Christ that the Greeks called Christ Pantocrater. The basic meaning of the word 'Pantocrater' is 'he who rules over everything', but as is often the case with words, there are layers of meaning that are not exhausted in a single definition...")*Ordinary 12B (2006)
"About three years ago, I learned the meaning of fear. It was my first flight in a small plane in Guyana. The pilot took off, climbed to about 5,000 feet, looked around him, decided that everything was satisfactory, sat back, took his hands off the controls, lifted his feet from the pedals and started doing a crossword. Suddenly and for the rest of the flight I was terrified..."Miracles Help Us Recognize Jesus
The doctor was one of the best surgeons in Charleston. His patient was an elderly woman who required surgery to fix her physical problem. As all surgery it was a little risky but it was not major. The day of the surgery arrived. The family sat patiently in the waiting area. The doctor and his medical team went through the surgery with no complications. Everything had gone smoothly and well during the operation. It was now time to begin to arouse the patient. Now, the problem occurs. They can't get her to respond. She has slipped into a coma. Now, everyone is confused. During the operation everything was going well. Her vitals had looked great. What had caused her to slip into this coma? The doctor and the team got busy. They tried everything they knew to get her out of the coma and nothing worked. He was over an hour late getting back to the family. They were getting nervous. Finally, the doctor could wait no longer. He sent his patient to intensive care while he told the family what had occurred. He tells them the surgery was successful. The actual surgery had been easy. However, she was in a coma and he did not know why. He had no answers and he had no idea how to proceed. The family was first elated and then devastated. They could not believe what they heard. They were very upset, confused and angry. They questioned God. For most of them the woman was their mother or grandmother. They couldn't understand why this was happening to her. The doctor listened to them as they vented their frustration and their pain. Then he told them he was going to leave them and try and figure out what to do. However, before he left, he said he would call the ICU and see how she was doing and exactly what room she was in. They could go and visit her. He left the family and went to call. When he called he asked the nurse if she was there. The nurse said, "Yes, she is sitting her talking to me. The doctor said, "What do you mean? She was in a coma in the operating room. She was in a coma when she left." The nurse said, I don't know anything about that, but when she arrived she was awake and she has been sitting up talking to me ever since." The doctor slowly hung up the phone. He went back to the family and told them what had just happened. The family went ecstatic. They hugged the doctor. They thanked him for what he had done. They praised God where before they had questioned God. The doctor still did not know what had happened. He had no idea why she went into the coma and no idea why she came out of it. It was an enigma and a miracle to him. As a doctor he couldn't understand it, but as a person of faith he believed whatever had happened, God had taken of it. In his mind it had to be God, because he didn't do anything...Seed and Sower
("South Island in Georgetown, SC is part of a wildlife refuge of the state. One of the practices of the island is to plant winter wheat and rye grass around the houses. These plantings are done for the deer. While they have tractors and plows, fertilizer spreaders and seed spreaders, some of the planting is done the old fashioned way. Some of the areas are too tight or root-filled for the tractors...")The Day Life Becomes a Storm
("I had been expecting the worse. Something was wrong. I had been feeling tired for too long. I could see the concern in the eyes of the doctors and nurses in the church over some early test results. People kept asking me, 'John, Do you feel all right?'..." and other quotes and illustrations)Gospel for the Seasick
("A few years ago at our house our family was going through the typical school-morning routine: packing lunches, making breakfast, getting clothes on, and hair combed. Our daughter, Lucy, who was 7, asked if she might light a candle on the dining room table just to make breakfast a little more special...")A Word for the Wind and the Waves
("One of my earliest memories is of a day when I was 6 years old. I was in first grade and every morning I rode my bicycle to school. I had a red bike with a little wire basket attached to the handle bars. And every morning my mother would kiss me good-bye and then stand in the driveway, waving until I was out of sight...")Big Storm, Little Boat
("The members of the Wednesday evening class on Finding God in the Movies watched and discussed a classic film last week. We watched as Bogie and Hepburn made their way down the Ulonga-Bora River in the African Queen...")The Question God Gets Asked the Most
("Emerson Colaw quotes a devotional written by Milward Simpson, a former governor of Wyoming, who tells of flying in a plane that developed engine trouble. When the pilot announced they were going to try an emergency landing, the governor took the hand of his wife and together they offered a simple statement of faith they often shared..." and another illustration)Yes! We Matter to God
("Monte did not feel he had much to thank God for. At four he got polio which left him with a deformed leg. Because of this he usually rode a bicycle even into his classroom or into a store where he was making a purchase. By dint of determination he was able to get a commerce degree, get a job in a government office and get married...")Proper 7B (2003)
a Presbyterian minister told of his days as a Navy submariner in the Pacific during World War II. “We would often come under depth charge attack by Japanese destroyers,†he said. “The other sailors would be trembling with fear, while I just leaned back and read a comic book. One of them asked how I could be so calm. I explained to him that in my childhood I had very little supervision from my parents, so I spent many hours each day at the New Jersey beach. Sometimes a huge breaking wave would catch me by surprise and thrust me under the water, rolling me in the sand. But I learned when I would just relax thousands of air bubbles like the fingers of God would catch me up and lift me to the surface. Now, whenever I find myself in trouble, I just relax and wait for the fingers of God to reach under me and lift me up.â€...God Is a Peacemaker
("A highly acclaimed film of 1989 was Do the Right Thing, written and directed by Spike Lee. In the movie Lee plays the role of Mookie, a young black man living in an urban ghetto. Mookie works as a deliverer for a pizzeria owned and run by an Italian American and his two sons...")Have You Still No Faith?
("This month our spiritual discipline as a congregation is all about the body, and so running has been on my mind, or, I should say, how out of my running routine I've gotten! I have a sort-of love hate relationship with running. Part of me hates it, and I've often had to drag myself out to run against my own will, and play mental games with myself to trick myself into a run...")The Triumph of His Art
("Eugene H. Petersen says: Salvation, God's will for every creature to experience the love that redeems, is not a casual or cool abstraction; it is a wild and extravagant energy, not reducible to human control, not to be harnessed to the service of a religious job...")Difficult Passage
("in Rembrandt's painting, as is generally noted, the darkness born of this evening tempest has already been broken by an opening in the clouds and a burst of light coming from it that foreshadow the calm Jesus will soon create by exorcising the demon in this storm...")Peace! Be Still! (2006)
"Getting ready to leave on vacation after church today, I’ve been thinking about our place on the lake in New Hampshire and all the memories that have been made over the years. One of the special memories is of Walter. She was our family dog. Yes, I said, 'She'. Our son Peter named the puppy Walter in honor of his best friend Todd’s teddy bear..."Peace! Be Still! (2003)
("You probably know the story-behind-the story of It Is Well With My Soul. A man by the name of Horatio Spafford, a very successful Chicago lawyer and very devout Presbyterian, experienced a series of terrible personal tragedies. The worst one came when, on the advice of his physician, he planned a family vacation to Europe..." and other illustrations)Why Are You Afraid?
("A year or so ago, a good friend of mine, a handsome young evangelist from another country, told me about all the troubles he and his wife were going through. He was very dejected. She was struggling with severe physical problems ill health arising from asthma and bronchitis which constantly kept her down...")Even the Wind and the Sea Obey Him
("When I was fourteen I wasn't very bright. One night, my friend Tom and I camped out in his backyard. It was great. We could stay up all night and do what ever we wanted. About midnight, we snuck over to the my house and stole some M-80s out of my Dad's pickup. M-80s are very large firecrackers that were used in groundhog control...")How Big Is Your Storm?
("I loved the story that came out of the Funny Kids Project by Grace Witwer: 'Awhile back, there was a comet due to pass by earth and the debris from its tail was expected to cause a harmless but spectacular meteor shower. Johnny, age 8, heard about it on the evening news and he became concerned..." and another illustration)The Hurricane Season
("We want to think we are invincible. As in the words of that poem by William Henley called Invictus we memorized in school: 'We are the captains of our souls, The masters of our fate.' Henley suffered from tuberculosis as a child and was crippled all his life, so you can read his poem as an affirmation of the human spirit over adversity..." and other illustrations)Thankful for Your Partnership
("Some of you remember Mary Katherine Stone. Mary Katherine would come into my office periodically to advise me. Mary Katherine was a southerner. She was raised in the south in the days when girls were raised to be ladies, and to speak politely, and quietly, with good manners...")Faith in Deep Water
"One time a mother walked in on her 6 year old son who was sobbing. 'What’s the matter?' she asked. 'I’ve just figured out how to tie my shoes.' 'Well, honey, that’s wonderful. You’re growing up. But why are you crying?' 'Because,' he said, 'now I’ll have to do it every day for the rest of my life.'..."Sailing Through the Storms of Life
("Victor Hugo, who is famous for his novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, also wrote a story called Ninety-Three. It tells of a ship caught in a dangerous storm on the high seas. At the height of the storm, the frightened sailors heard a terrible crashing noise below the deck..." and other illustrations)The Danger In the Water
("I heard Fred Craddock tell a story once about a pastor he knew who went to visit one of his parishioners in the hospital. The woman was suffering from a terminal disease, and the pastor went to visit her knowing that, at the end of that visit, he would pray one of those prayers that acknowledges the desperation of that situation, and that accepts, as fact, that not much is going to change...")In Over Our Heads
("Doug was a 15-year old resident of a suburb next to mine. He had been feeling badly for several days. His temperature ranged between 103 and 105. He was suffering flu-like symptoms, and so his mother took him to the hospital, and there he was diagnosed with leukemia..." and several quotes)Faithful Fears
"When Archbishop Edward Egan preached his first sermon in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he told the story of an encounter he had fifteen years before. It was a hot Saturday afternoon when Bishop Egan made his way to the Highbridge area of the South Bronx to ordain five young men as deacons for the Religious Congregation of Men founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta..."What Is Your Name? (EL)
("I was watching television on a Saturday afternoon when I was eight or nine years old, and saw a film of Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. I subsequently spent many nights dreaming about the end of that story. Poe's story is one of hatred disguised as friendship. At a costume party, the victim, in harlequin garb, is led deep into the wine cellar beneath a great ancestral home, ostensibly to taste a recently acquired amontillado...")Illustrations (Proper 7B)(2006)
I refuse to be discouraged, To be sad, or to cry; I refuse to be downhearted, and here's the reason why... I have a God who's mighty, Who's sovereign and supreme; I have a God who loves me, and I am on His team. He is all wise and powerful, Jesus is His name; Though everything is changeable, My God remains the same. My God knows all that's happening; Beginning to the end, His presence is my comfort, He is my dearest friend. When sickness comes to weaken me, To bring my head down low, I call upon my mighty God; Into His arms I go. When circumstances threaten to rob me from my peace; He draws me close unto His breast, Where all my strivings cease. And when my heart melts within me, and weakness takes control; He gathers me into His arms, He soothes my heart and soul. The great "I AM" is with me, My life is in His hand, The "Son of the Lord" is my hope, It's in His strength I stand. I refuse to be defeated, My eyes are on my God; He has promised to be with me, as through this life I trod. I'm looking past all my circumstances, To Heaven's throne above; My prayers have reached the heart of God, I'm resting in His love. I give God thanks in everything, My eyes are on His face; The battle's His, the victory is mine; He'll help me win the race...
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How Do We Face the Storms of Life?
("There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains were all around it....")Night Crossings
("The British Navy has strange custom. If there is a sudden disaster aboard ship, the 'still' is blown. Now this particular still is not a place where whiskey is made, but it's a whistle that calls the crew to a moment of silence in a time of crisis..." and other illustrations)