Where Do We Find God’s Calm in Life’s Storm?
Mark 4:35-41
Mark chose his words very carefully when he wrote his gospel. We don’t exactly know his process, but we know that Mark didn’t take dictation, nor watch Jesus and write a biography. Mark probably never met Jesus. We think Mark heard many stories about Jesus from Peter, a fisherman who may not have been able to write. Then he looked at the fiddling Nero’s persecution and chose just the right words to give hope.
Here’s what Mark saw in Rome. Nero had Christians dressed in wild animal skins and torn to pieces by dogs, or they were set on a stand to be lit as human torches for his gardens. Nero instigated the public to call believers, according to Roman historian Tacitus, “notoriously depraved, Christians.” So Mark likened their waves of persecution to the lake’s storm. In what words could the persecuted find God’s calm in their storm?
In what words do we find God’s calm in our storms? There are personal storms related to money today. The perfect storm of the average American debt (George Will sets it at 141% of debt to earnings), plus the housing crisis is sending us into recession.
Or for some there may be a church crisis: with a search for a new Minister of Music will all the current choirs continue? Will a contemporary service be forced upon us? Yes and no. Yes, current choirs will continue; no, a contemporary service will not be rushed into once a new person is hired, but there will be a process to discern God’s will regarding how best to begin a contemporary service. Waves of change.
Or for others there may be national crisis: is it better to elect John McCain to maintain troop strength in Iraq, or is it better to elect Hillobama to draw down our troops?
Like the early Roman Christians we’re all in that boat, but Jesus is snoring: What words best describe our storm to God and what words does Jesus use back?
Let’s take that in parts: what words best describe our storm to God? This implies a golden nugget of truth. Our usual response to life’s storms is to complain to others. The Bible everywhere condemns complaining to others. Partially because the process of moaning to friends gets our minds more deeply stuck in the post-storm mud. Instead the Spirit lifts up the idea of complaining to God. The most common types of Psalms, fully 1/3, or about 50, are laments. For there is something about whining to God that helps us see Jesus with us. LORD, do you care?! Jesus woke up. For us, we wake up to God
Mark is telling his lion-bait friends and us today to speak our fears to Jesus, and then what happens? Jesus stands up and speaks words of faith: Silence! Be still! And the winds and the waves obey. All through Scripture God teaches us that words have power: the whole world was created by words, Let there be… and there was… In the same way, after complaining to God, there’s great power to speak words of faith: Peace..!
The fire had destroyed millions of dollars worth of Marv’s factory in 1984. It was one of the worst days of his life. So he gathered his management team in the basement of a local Zeeland, MI restaurant with a grief counselor. The counselor helped them process their feelings, in essence, their complaints to God. But finally Marv had had enough of the crying over spilled milk. He stood up, took control, and said, Enough already. Now Smith I want you to call the insurance. Jones, you call our competitors to ask for factory space. Billings, you get a crew to… We’re gonna make it! And they did. So in your storm: speak your fears to God and your faith in God, and you’ll find peace, Amen.
Reverend Todd Buurstra
Pastor of Worship and Witness
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The Buildings & Grounds Committee and, hopefully, you will be gathering May 3rd, starting at 8:00 AM, to give NBRC it’s Spring cleaning. Speed bumps will be re-set, windows will be washed, sticks/trash picked up, bushes trimmed, weeds pulled and more. All we need is an hour of your help to make this a successful day. Call Dennis McGale (908-704-8523) or Keith Strege (908-231-0764) with any questions.
Where Do We Find God’s Calm in Life’s Storm of Global Warming?
Gen 7:1-5; 8:20-22; 9:8-15
Did the flood cover the whole earth or just a part of it? so asked a fellow pastor whom I knew immediately was checking my orthodoxy. If I failed the test he might not cooperate with me in a ministry important to one of our members. So I hedged: the whole then-known earth, I said. Honestly? I don’t think it matters whether you believe the flood actually happened or not. That answer would have sunk my ark.
Proceeds to benefit Samaritan Homeless Interim Program (SHIP).
If you can’t attend, could you help by forwarding this to a friend? Thank you.
About Us:Ignite! Church is supported by North Branch Reformed Church. Ignite! is a contemporary church seeking to build meaningful relationships among it’s members and Jesus Christ. Are you in your twenties or thirties and desire a spiritual connection? Do you want to influence change in a broken world? Learn more at Jerseyignite.com
Proceeds to benefit Samaritan Homeless Interim Program (SHIP).
If you can’t attend, could you help by forwarding this to a friend? Thank you.
About Us:Ignite! Church is supported by North Branch Reformed Church. Ignite! is a contemporary church seeking to build meaningful relationships among it’s members and Jesus Christ. Are you in your twenties or thirties and desire a spiritual connection? Do you want to influence change in a broken world? Learn more at Jerseyignite.com
Where Do We Find God’s Calm in Life’s Storms?
Racial Complaints
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-18, 31, 32
Where do we find God’s calm in the swirling storms of complaints? Moses had had it! He was as hot and bothered as the rest of the Hebrew people trudging from the Si-nai oasis through that desert. He didn’t need to hear them grouse for quail! Why did you take us out of Egypt? We may have been slaves there, but at least we had fish! Yeah, I’m all dried up out here under the hot, desert sun!Blah, blah. Waa waa Moan, moan.
Now, it was Moses’ turn to complain to the LORD: Why do I have to carry this people? What am I, their mother?! Where am I supposed to get meat?! If you’re going to treat me like this, you might as well kill me, `cause it’s killin’ me anyway!Blah, wah…
Now we could relate this story to any number of complaints today: from kids to parents, from employee to boss, from congregation to consistory, but verse 4 helps us to apply it… Rabble is the motley crew, couldn’t resist, that went along for the freedom ride from Egypt to the Promised Land. From Egypt, Midian, Edom… they instigated the meat complaints. So how does God calm the storm of racial complaints?
Obama’s pastor, and my seminary professor, Jeremiah Wright’s sermon soundbytes about America KKK… Not God bless America, but G d America!… have un-leashed a storm of racial complaints. Can we find God’s calm in the storm’s center?
Before I try, let me share my limited qualifications to speak about race as a privileged, white male, and I mean limited. I lived as a minority, albeit a privileged minority, for 2.6 years in Japan. I strive for equality in a bi-racial marriage within my culture. I strive for equality in a bi-racial staff in my culture. Lastly, Jeremiah Wright was an all-time favorite professor who taught me more about racial inequality than anyone.
There’s a racial storm so how does God calm it? God calmed Moses’ storm of complaints in two ways: by allowing Moses to let off his steam of complaints to God, which we already saw, and, once his blood pressure lowered, to give Moses the idea to involve other leaders by delegating authority. With the load lifted Moses calmed.
How will God calm the storm of our racial complaints? In the same ways. First, God allows us to let off the steam of our racial complaints: how could Pastor Wright say Gd America?! If Obama is a racial healer why didn’t he choose another church?! Etc. And then I think that God would have us involve others. I want to suggest a specific way that you might do that. Ask a minority person, preferable an African American, what they think of Pastor Wright’s comments. Don’t you comment; just listen to learn.
Here’s what I learned listening to Jeremiah Wright 23 years ago. Today’s racism isn’t as blatant as white water fountains and colored water fountains; its more subtle about pulpit talk. We judge Jeremiah’s sound byte sermon by white preaching standards. Jeremiah taught us that black preaching starts low, builds slow, waxes warm, and sits down in the storm. In other words black preaching builds to a rhetorical and emotional storm—G d America! That lends itself to exaggeration. Just like Jesus who said if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Preaching should be judged within its culture.
What is the result of bringing God our complaints and involving others by listening to them? It may not be that quail migrate on past, but it may be that when whites pause to judge blacks by our standards the black pulpit will need less divisive rhetoric so that our racial complaints may be calmed. That’s what I hear, what do you?
Reverend Todd Buurstra
Pastor of Worship and Witness
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Mark chose his words very carefully when he wrote his gospel. We don’t exactly know his process, but we know that Mark didn’t take dictation, nor watch Jesus and write a biography. Mark probably never met Jesus. We think Mark heard many stories about Jesus from Peter, a fisherman who may not have been able to write. Then he looked at the fiddling Nero’s persecution and chose just the right words to give hope.
The Buildings & Grounds Committee and, hopefully, you will be gathering May 3rd, starting at 8:00 AM, to give NBRC it’s Spring cleaning. Speed bumps will be re-set, windows will be washed, sticks/trash picked up, bushes trimmed, weeds pulled and more. All we need is an hour of your help to make this a successful day. Call Dennis McGale (908-704-8523) or Keith Strege (908-231-0764) with any questions.
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