Sermon: Weldon
D. Nisly
TITLE: “Stormy waters”
TEXT: 1 Samuel 17: 4-11
Psalm 9: 9-20
2 Corinthians 6: 1-13
Mark 4: 25-41
The Peace of Christ
The Peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
After the
resurrection Jesus greeting the disciples with “Peace.” Yet the days
that Jesus walked on the earth in the mystery of a new risen life, were not
exactly peaceful for the disciples. They
were story days and even frightening days.
The disciples of Jesus are holding their grief at his crucifixion and
death in tension with the mystery of his risen form and soon that was held in
tension with Jesus’ ascension and leaving them again.
It was a stormy time -- as
Jesus life had been a stormy time!
This season known as Ordinary
Time, takes us back through Jesus’ ministry again. Now we are to have ears to hear and eyes to see
Jesus from this side of his resurrection.
Early in Jesus’ ministry, he
was in
It was a stormy time for the
new disciples.
One day Jesus was telling a
series of parables by the sea. And then
Mark’s gospel tells us the story we heard with the children. Listen again to the gospel story.
Mark 4: 35-41
On that day, when evening had come, Jesus
said to them,
"Let us go across to
the other side."
And leaving the crowd behind, they took Jesus
with them in the boat, just as he was.
Other boats were with him.
A great windstorm arose,
and the waves beat into the
boat,
so that the boat was already
being swamped.
But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the
cushion;
and they woke him up and said
to him,
"Teacher,
do you not care that we are perishing?"
Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said
to the sea, "Peace! Be still!"
Then the wind ceased, and
there was a dead calm.
Jesus said to them, "Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?"
And they were filled with great awe and said
to one another,
"Who then is this, that
even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Biblical Questions and Answers
Frederick Buechner,
the pastor and writer, speaks of the important questions of the Bible and in
our lives.
He lists a whole series of
important questions we have to pay attention to in Scripture:
What is one profited if you gain the whole world and
loose you’re your own soul? Mt. 16:26.
Am I my brother’s keeper? Genesis 4:9.
If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31.
What is truth? John 18:38.
Who was a neighbor to the one who fell among thieves?
Luke 10:29
On her deathbed, Gertrude
Stein is said to have asked, “What is the answer?” Then after a long silence,
she asked, “What is the question?”
Buechner reminds us not to start looking in the Bible for
answers it gives but for the questions it asks.
(William Willimon,
Pulpit Resource, June 22, 2003, p. 55)
A Spiritual Geography with
questions
The Gospel story we just
heard, ask 4 questions that are important.
It also has a spiritual geography
that is important.
This morning let us listen
and ask these questions of ourselves. First a look at the spiritual geography.
Where did this story take
place?
From which side to which side
of the
What is on the west side of
the
What is on the east side of
the sea that they crossed over to?
A Stormy Story with 4
Questions
There are 4 questions asked
in this gospel.
What
are the 4 questions?
Who
asks them?
What do they ask of us?
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?
“Why are you afraid?”
“Have you still no faith?”
“Who then is this….?”
Tell story again…….Ask
questions again…..ponder questions…..
The Storms of life are raging….Peace be still
What storms do YOU face in
life – especially recently?
Think about a storm, large or
small, in your life. It may be current
or recent or some time ago.
Hold your storm in your heart
and ask “Where is Jesus?”
What is Jesus saying to you?
Do we hear Jesus words, “Peace! Be Still!”
Adam will lead us in that Song in a moment…..
“Storm” of Bob Kauffman’s
heart attack week ago….
“Storm” of the McGinnis
family and the death of 13 year old Mark last night….
Marg & I leave to go to
Leaving after song to stop at
the hospital and see Marilyn & Gene McGinnis & 11 year old son Luke…
Pray for our storms as well
as the McGinnis family….
In the storms of
life…..May the peace of Christ be with you!