"Peace Be Still” – He Qui (2001)
God, who laid the foundation of the earth, who gave birth to the sea and set its bounds, God, the creator of heaven and earth, –God is powerful and mighty. Every Sunday when we celebrate the Eucharist, we proclaim God’s power,
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might! Heaven and earth are full of thy glory! Hosanna in the highest!
God’s power is unfathomable, mysterious, and endless.
But the most electrifying thing about God’s power is that God does not hoard power.
God shares all that power! With us!
The Bible is the story of how God shares power with people who just don’t seem to have too much going for them.
That is, until God gets hold of them! Moses, a man on the run for having committed murder and who ends up leading the Israelites out of Egypt and slavery through the wilderness to the Promised Land; Jacob, a scoundrel who lied to his father to get the blessing intended for Esau his brother, who wrestles with God, and ends up becoming the father of the twelve tribes of Israel; David, a shepherd boy called out of the field to become the King of Israel—God gives all these people a share of his power.
And God’s power is not just any power. It’s creative, life giving power, and those who use it as God intends are part of God’s ongoing action of taking all things old and making them new!
Accepting God’s power is scary!
That’s why, when God sends a messenger to tell a person that he or she will be given God’s power, that person is so awestruck that the messenger has to say, before anything else—
Fear Not!
Fear Not Mary! You are going to give birth to God’s Son if you agree to do so.
Fear Not, Shepherds! You are going to be so full of joy that you will be the first people to tell the good news of Jesus to the world.
Fear Not, Disciples in a tossing boat who have just felt fear like they’ve never known before. Jesus speaks and the wind halts and the sea falls out of a death dealing rage into calm and silent rest. You disciples have witnessed my power, which is my Father’s power, the very power that I intend to share with you, even though you still have no faith.
A few chapters farther along in Mark’s gospel, Jesus will give these fearful and awestruck disciples a share of God’s power—and authority over unclean spirits, so they, too, will be able to open the door to God’s kingdom by restoring people to their right minds.
And what about the Apostle Paul!
Paul has faced plenty of storms as he has spread the Good News and brought new churches to birth—in today’s reading he gives a list of these storms: afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger.
But because of Paul’s faith, he has been able to take powerful and bold action through it all. God has given Paul some awe inspiring gifts to use in his ministry—“purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech and, listen to this, THE POWER OF GOD.”
And it’s the POWER OF GOD that allows Paul to say of his stormy ministry, “We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”
But wait, you may be saying to yourself—this all happened long, long ago to the REAL disciples. Why would Jesus ever share any power at all with me? After all, the world is still a mess, the kingdom of God is no closer, and so I have to wonder, is this just some sort of mythical story to say that Jesus is the Son of God, end of story, and anyway, I already knew that.
But we are the only disciples Jesus has got right now. And so you better believe that God is going to share God’s power with us, because God has not given up on God’s kingdom coming on earth!
And God has not given up on you! Or me!
We say that we believe that God will help us carry out the things we are called to do as Christians—as Bishop Shannon reminded us at the Church Vitality Day yesterday, our baptismal vows spell out our callings,
To continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers;
To persevere in resisting evil, and when we fall into sin, to repent and return to the Lord;
To proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ;
To seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself;
To strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.”
We promise to do all of these things with God’s help. We can’t do them unless we do have God’s help and the power God will give us to carry out these vows.
Every day, if we are paying attention and listening, Jesus will tell us miraculous life giving things about the kingdom of heaven, about God’s love, and mercy and compassion for all of creation, and for all people.
And, if we are listening, we will hear Jesus call us to go with him to the other side—as Pastor Steve puts it in his poem entitled The Other Side—Jesus will call us to go with him to “The other side of the tracks. The other side of the border. The other side of life. Beyond the familiar, the safe, the manageable. The other side of the argument. Another viewpoint. The other side of the conflict. The other side of yourself. The other side of the veil. The unseen.”
Don’t be afraid. Take the power God is trying to give you.
And then go boldly to the other side, wherever that is, to bring new life and the beginnings of the kingdom of God.
Don’t be afraid. Jesus will go with you. After all, going to the other side was his idea all along.
So, with the Psalmist, let us “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever. When we cry to the Lord in our trouble, he will deliver us from our distress, by stilling the storm to a whisper and quieting the ways of the sea.
And then we will be glad because of the calm, and the Lord will bring us to the harbor that we are bound for,
“ the other side of this journey through life
where at last we will “see and know that things that were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and all things are brought at last to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Amen.
Resources
“The Other Side” by Pastor Steve
The Book of Common Prayer, Good Friday Prayer