Last Sunday, we had the pleasure of hearing from Elder Eliz Roser on this week's lectionary texts. For all of you who may have missed her sermon, this is definitely one to read.
[image: bobjagendorf]
TITLE: Trust in Jesus
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 9:9-20, Mark 4:35-41
Many of us have probably heard this story. It’s a popular one for Sunday School. When I was asked to preach this sermon, I immediately thought “no way.” I have had a really hard time in the last few months and have been struggling with depression and figuring out what is going on in my life. After I read the lectionary text, I was like, geez! This is a text that I need to pray over and study because it is really hard to trust that Jesus is in total control of the bad things that go on in our lives. It’s funny how that works. I don’t know much, but I do have a desire to grow in my faith and to learn how to trust God more completely and fully, and I just want to share some thoughts with you all today.
What are you afraid of?
What was a time when you were afraid?
I’ve never been in a boat that was going through a big storm. But I was in a terrible airplane flight that almost crashed and left me fearful of flying for many years. We were flying out of New York and the plane took off to early behind another airplane. The airplane totally dropped and turned. Everything fell out of the overhead bins and everyone started screaming. I grabbed my sister’s hand and started humming Amazing Grace to calm myself down. I really thought we were going to die. And if Jesus was just sitting in the next row sleeping, I would have been seriously annoyed!
Likewise, these disciples probably felt like it was the end. They were all expert sailors, and for them to be scared of a storm probably meant that it was a gigantic storm. The disciples really had no other option but to turn to Jesus in this situation.
Even now, I think that one of the scariest things for me in an airplane is the total surrender of control. If you’re in a plane that’s about to crash, there is absolutely nothing you can do. We have to trust fully that the pilot will get us to our destination safely. In a truly scary situation, do we really have anyone else but Jesus to turn to?
As I was preparing for this sermon I have been thinking about the challenges and tragedies that I have experienced, and that people who are close to me have experienced. The commonality that I found that in times of severe tragedy and pain, it’s usually more simple to cry out to Jesus. I know that sounds crazy – but hear me out.
Recently my close friend called late at night – her father had just had an aneurysm, and she was coming from the East Coast to California that night to be with him before he passed. Immediately, our close group of friends went into Jesus-mode. We prayed, texted prayers, emailed each other, and really had to rely on God’s care and love for our friend in this really hard time.
When we are faced with a major tragedy in our lives – it’s often natural to cry out in anger and fear to God – to pray, to hear that others are praying for us. What else do we, as a community of believers, have in these stormy situations but to turn to God who loves us and cares for us? Even as I think back about other tragedies in my life, I see times where I was really angry at God.
If we are more aware of God in these scary situations, why is it so hard to be aware of God in the more minor situations? What if we used the same desperation and crying out to God in the minor tragedies of our lives?
As many of you know, I used to be a teacher. I taught 2nd grade, and then have continued to work with children and youth workers for many years. As anyone who works with children or youth knows, transition times are often the most challenging times for behavior management. It’s usually harder, as a teacher, to get a group of kids to transition from one activity to another, than it is to actually lead that activity. My second graders were not so great at the transitions. If I was teaching a lesson and everyone was sitting on the rug, and I said, “okay everyone go back to their seats and begin the worksheet,” there would have been mass chaos. Kids would run, jump, push, and yell. We had to constantly practice how to line up for recess, how to sharpen our pencils appropriately, how to clean up from centers time and prepare for reading time.
I don’t know about anyone else – but I don’t do so well during transition times either. It’s too hard to give up control and to not be able to anticipate exactly what to expect. Sometimes I wish there was time to practice for all of the transitions that we face.
These transition times that we face are often, in fact, minor tragedies. We grieve what was, and are fearful of what is to come. Especially here in the Bay Area, especially during these hard economic times, especially living in a city that is practically impossible to afford, we all face decisions and have to make transitions. We transition to different jobs, different cities and states, and transition in our relationships. None of that is easy, and it isn’t usually very fun either.
If we look at this story of Jesus calming the storm as a guideline for transition time, it’s pretty clear what we need to do: Jesus says: Peace! Be Still! Peace, be still. Not what we like to hear, but often what we need to hear.
How do we know if we really trust God? All we have to do is examine our attitudes and actions. What are the real priorities that shape our living? Are we willing to step out in faith and trust that God will take care of us – that God will calm the storms in our lives?
When I was in college I worked at a summer camp. One summer in particular, we faced several pretty serious injuries with the campers- one camper lost a finger, another broke a leg, and a third was one of my favorite campers of the whole summer – Abby. At camp, we all had camp names. I was Ridiculiz – she was Westminster Abby. Obviously this 8 year old was much more sophisticated than me. Anyways, one day before lunch, Abby decided to explore this pretty steep hill behind her cabin – definitely an off limits area, but Abby was pretty adventurous so she went for it. I’m not sure what her counselor was doing at the time, but Abby ended up falling down the hill, face first, into the side of her cabin. Abby had knocked out 4 of her front teeth, and was covered in blood.
We got her off to the hospital and cleaned up everything – but you know what Abby did? Demanded to come back to camp! Despite her mother’s doubts, she returned the next day with gnarly black stitches all over her face. She finished out the week and had a great time doing all of the activities with the other kids.
Would you have done that? After being knocked down - just getting back up and trying again? I have to say that I’m not sure I have that willingness and enthusiasm to just jump in and try again. Abby didn’t do the easy thing and just go home and be with her mom. Trusting in God gives us the confidence to carry on after hard times. With God, we can enthusiastically jump back in.
This is how Jesus wants us to live - -boldly and enthusiastically! Passionately living and trying and failing and trying again!
We know that when we are knocked down, we can get up again because we know and trust that Jesus is with us to keep us safe! What if we really lived in that way? What might happen?
Instead of taking a risk, we often return to what is comfortable.
Are we too cynical to believe that God cares for us and trust that God will be with us? We live in such a skeptical world – we are conditioned to trust nothing we hear on the news or the gossip we hear about celebrities. We have websites that archive urban legends and Wikipedia to consult to make sure our facts are straight. And face it – we are a cynical group of people. I am a pretty cynical person. Working in urban schools, in underfunded programs with unrealistic expectations, violence in the streets, and exasperated families has drained me of a lot of optimism and idealism that I had when I graduated from college. But this is dangerous! This is not how God wants us to live!
If we don’t really truly believe that God is with us and that God is in tragic situations, what are we even doing? Honestly, we believe some pretty crazy things – that Jesus died and rose again, that God, in some way, created each living thing intricately and intentionally, that we should love our enemies. None of this is logical! So why is it so hard to believe that God is with us when we are sad? When we are devastated?
God is with us. God promises that God is with us.
All of this talk about trusting in God doesn’t mean that everything is perfect when we trust fully in God. The boat was probably pretty damaged after the storm. Likewise, when we go through hard times, even if we seek Christ and trust in God, we end up hurt or lonely or damaged.
This is why a strong faith community is so crucial. So that when we need support and repairs we have others to help us do it. I have been so blessed to participate in a wonderful small group here at MBCC. We started when we all shared the same desire to have close Christian friends, which has grown into deep friendships that I really treasure.
In December I was really struggling with a horrible horrible job. I was working crazy long hours, and commuting to Stockton and Sacramento almost weekly. I was completely overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do. Ryan made me go to GESG one night even though I was completely exhausted. When I got there, everyone sat me down and had a little GESGervention. I ended up quitting my horrible job and finding a wonderful one. Without that community I’m not sure if I would have had the strength to do it on my own. For that I am very grateful.
The community here at MBCC has had an immense impact on me. Knowing that I have a group that cares for me – that takes care of me in hard times – that I can take care of too, has been so important in my faith here in San Francisco. I think that often we find ourselves talking to each other on Twitter or on Facebook – but the reality is that we need face to face contact and in person relationships. I want to challenge us all to be real with each other in real life – to spend time together and to care for each other. We are Christ to people in stormy times. We are Christ to each other in stormy times.
The good thing about storms is that they have a beginning and an end. Things calm down, we mourn our losses and move on. Transitions happen but then they are over. Relationships end, but we learn and move on.
Though it may seem like Jesus is asleep or not around, he is. We just have to be able to take that risk, and trust in Him completely. Let us throw off our cynicism and seek to live a life of passion and enthusiasm. Let us take time to love one another and to support one another and repair each other’s boats. Let us follow what Jesus tells us in the midst of crisis, whether minor or devastating – Peace Be Still. Peace Be Still.
Let us pray
God of love and strength – thank you for being with us. Thank you for allowing us to choose to trust in you. Give us the strength to choose you – to take a risk and step out in faith. Comfort us in our times of severe tragedy and in our times of uncomfortable transition. Amen.
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