Quelling
our Own Storms
First, I would like thank everyone and the monks for allowing
me to have this opportunity to preach to this congregation for the last time as
a YASCer.
While I was
mediating on this passage, the terrorist attack on Emanuel AME Church in
Charleston, SC has been on my mind a lot.
This event highlights the deeply engraved racial inequality and issues
that the US has been dealing with for the past few centuries. This tragedy shows the current reality of
race in America and our lack of effort to address the issue. The context
surrounding this horrible attack reminds me a lot of the gospel.
In our
gospel reading today, we have the famous story of Jesus calming the storm. An early show of Christ's power gives a glimpse
of Christ's nature. But this passage leads
me to focus on the lack of the apostles actions than on Christ's actions. It seems to me that the apostles lost all
hope facing the storm that their current reality became the only reality. They
could not imagine or conceive of a reality after the storm.
Life today
can feel much the same. With the many
wars, poverty, Climate Change, racial inequality in this country and my own,
and the countless other despair bringing news article and clips; it is quite
easy for us to lose hope. To accept the
way things are, because we are too overwhelmed to see past these many
issues. It is easy for us to become complacent
with this reality because we cannot think of an alternative; it becomes our one
reality of life.
The fault in our faith is also much
like the apostles. Christ's powerful retort "have you still no
faith," to the apostles really made me think. What did he mean? What were the apostles
lacking in their faith for such a retort from Christ? The first area of lack
the apostles had was that they could not see past the storm. They could not picture an end to the storm,
just an end to their life. Their fear
blinded them from seeing the hope in God that things can and most importantly
will get better. No storm lasts
forever.
The second lack of the apostles'
faith, they failed to see what they could do with their own prayer and hard
work. These men became so trapped by
this storm that they asked Jesus to deal with it. They knew that Jesus was close with god, and
that God seemed to listen to him. They
knew that Jesus could do something about it, and quickly. The apostle’s fear
drove them to lay the work on Christ's shoulders. They placed the responsibility of fixing this
reality on him.
Today's society can easily mirror the
apostles’ situation. We can easily grow
pessimistic about the world and its many large storms. We all at some point in our life are filled
with despair questioning how the world can ever change. Our mindless acceptance
of our current reality blinds us from seeing the hope of the future, of looking
past the storms. We easily place sole responsibility and blame on our
communities, churches, and leaders to fix the world's issues, and fail to see
how we can make the change or how we may have caused the storm to occur. We cannot imagine how to address the issues
at hand.
Though the
apostles could not instantly quell the storm like Christ, they could quell the
fear the storm brought. Through their own prayer and their understanding of
God’s hope and love for them, they could find assurance of the storms’ end.
They could work through the storm to prevent their perishing. There prayer of hope in the future can help
them see past the storm and give them courage to barrel out water; row with the
waves, and sail with the wind away from the storm. By no means is this easy, but their small
attempts could help them weather the storm.
Of the
modern day storms that harass our world, we must keep a prayerful spirit of
hope and guidance of how we can help. As the heirs of Christ's ministry and assured
by his love for us, our collective duty as Christ’s body should be working
through the storm. In no way can we
easily command our issues to stop, but we can see the little places of
helping. Our small little acts in
promoting the kingdom go a long way in bringing the storm to an end. Our optimism in a better future allows us to
deny the status quo, and make a new reality in which all can be free and equal:
the reality of the kingdom of God.
I would like
to leave you with a poem that helped me understand this passage, and more
importantly helped me find the hope in a better future. As some of you may know,
one of my biggest heroes in the world is an 11 year old boy, named Robbie
Novak, or otherwise known as Kid President. In one of his many inspirational
videos, one in particular fits well with this Gospel. His "Tiny poem to
the world" speaks to hope of a better tomorrow that we all can work
towards. KP says,
The world is so big and we
are all so small,
Sometimes it feels like we
can't do anything at all.
But the world can be better
(In spite of its flaws)
The world can be better
And you'll be the cause
And even though the waves
are bigger than our boat...
The wind keeps us sailing
Its love gives us hope
Some days it's dark
But we'll keep rowing,
Because people like you
whisper,
Keep going, keep going, keep
going.
Amen
