Cross to the other side
An atheist was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy flip, the monster tossed him and his boat high into the air. Then it opened its mouth to swallow both.
As the man sailed head over heels, he cried out, "Oh God! Help me!" At once, the ferocious attack scene froze in place, and as the atheist hung in midair, a booming voice came down from the clouds. "I thought you didn't believe in me!"
"Come on, God, give me a break!" the man pleaded. "Two minutes ago I didn't believe in the Loch Ness monster either!"
I wonder whether the disciples in the boat with Jesus in our gospel reading (Luke 8:22-25) experienced that feeling of wondering whether to believe or not… A lot had happened to them already during the ministry of Jesus – they had witnessed miracles, they had witnessed the compassion of Jesus and listened to his teaching, they had followed him in the first place, but now they were faced with what seemed like a life and death situation…
Out in the boat, as Jesus sleeps peacefully, there is a huge storm, and the boat was filling with water – as they cried out for help, Jesus responded by doing 2 things – first he calmed the water, and then he asked the disciples ‘where is your faith ?’
Today marks the first of 3 Sundays when we will consider the subject of stewardship in more detail. Contrary to what is often thought stewardship is not primarily about money – it is about the recognition of God’s love and the gifts he gives us, and about thinking of how we use those gifts to achieve anything…
For the disciples there was a clear need to trust in Jesus, and when they did, albeit desperately, he helped them… For us, things are no different – if we trust, Jesus will listen. In the middle of the darkest situations Jesus will be there caring for us, supporting us and strengthening us…
And it is with that knowledge that we can approach the thought of what Jesus said earlier – as the disciples got in the boat, Jesus said, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake’. In our Churches and in fact, in our lives, this image is one that can be helpful – the idea of going across to the other side…
That sounds a bit spooky – a bit Doctor Who-ish ! But we are constantly trying to bridge the gap between the secular and the spiritual, between humanity and God… In Jesus we find that the two things met together, but for most of us, there is a constant battle to work out what is right in God’s eyes and how we get there.
Of course, we know that Jesus offered a gospel of love and compassion, of understanding and peace. He said that people were to enjoy fullness of life, to enjoy the gifts that he gave… He asked people to trust and to have faith that one day his victory, already accomplished as he rose from the dead on that first Easter Day, would be a victory that we could all share in completely.
‘Let us across to the other side’ said Jesus, and in that call he was asking us to break away from all that was wrong in the world and to put our trust firmly in him… And, as Christians, we often say we do that – in the creeds we express our belief, in our prayers we put our trust in God – in the Lords Prayer, the most famous prayer of all, we say, ‘Thy will be done’…
And those four words declare the greatest bit of faith that we can ever show – but saying the words and meaning them is something very different… Because for all of our good intentions, for all of our trust in theory, it’s not as easy when faced with a crisis.
For the disciples in the boat, they had experienced Jesus first hand – they knew they could trust him, but things were going wrong – the boat didn’t seem safe whether Jesus was with them or not… And they wondered what they could do to sort out the problem.
And so often we are guilty of the same – of seeking earthly solutions to spiritual problems – we do it as individuals and we do it as Churches. Very often we will assume money is the solution to a problem; or perhaps the lack of it, a cause of a problem… but money by itself rarely sorts out a problem for ever…
Reliance on Jesus and trust in him will answer problems long term… seeking out his will and his guidance; truly living out the words, ‘thy will be done’ will give us answers to whatever problems we face… But you may want to argue at that point and say that that’s all a bit simplistic, and to an extent it is ! Because whilst God has promised to be there for us always, whilst he has promised that we can share in his eternal victory and whilst he loves us with an unbelievably powerful love which can never be broken, he also expects us to use the gifts he gives us…
The gifts he gives us are varied – he gives us common sense, he gives us different talents, he gives us the opportunity to shine as lights in the world by caring and supporting one another, he gives us resources and time, and all of these things we need to use in order to build a relationship with God…
‘Let us go across to the other side…’ means to face head on any challenges we have, whether personal or in Church or work, and trust in Jesus that he will give us the strength and the wisdom to get through them…
Thomas a Kempis, a 15th century monk, wrote, “A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.” People who have it can throw money at any situation and it can often make it better – people who have money should use their money as a gift that can transform, but money alone will not transform things – what transforms is the love with which it is given…
Last week we thought of Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians and that tremendous passage about love, and ultimately the whole gospel message returns to love… the love of God for us, our love for him and for his creation and our love for others…
Trusting in the love of God we will experience the peace and courage that is God’s will for our lives, but by responding to that love by showing love ourselves, and by using the gifts we have for God’s glory and for the good of others as well as ourselves, it is then that we will experience the fullness of life that God wants us to have.
As we think over the next 3 Sundays about this subject of stewardship may we be ready to think about the gifts we have and how we use them as we seek to cross to the other side…. There will be battles on the way, there will be storms, but in God’s presence we can know, truly know, that we will experience perfect calm… AMEN
As the man sailed head over heels, he cried out, "Oh God! Help me!" At once, the ferocious attack scene froze in place, and as the atheist hung in midair, a booming voice came down from the clouds. "I thought you didn't believe in me!"
"Come on, God, give me a break!" the man pleaded. "Two minutes ago I didn't believe in the Loch Ness monster either!"
I wonder whether the disciples in the boat with Jesus in our gospel reading (Luke 8:22-25) experienced that feeling of wondering whether to believe or not… A lot had happened to them already during the ministry of Jesus – they had witnessed miracles, they had witnessed the compassion of Jesus and listened to his teaching, they had followed him in the first place, but now they were faced with what seemed like a life and death situation…
Out in the boat, as Jesus sleeps peacefully, there is a huge storm, and the boat was filling with water – as they cried out for help, Jesus responded by doing 2 things – first he calmed the water, and then he asked the disciples ‘where is your faith ?’
Today marks the first of 3 Sundays when we will consider the subject of stewardship in more detail. Contrary to what is often thought stewardship is not primarily about money – it is about the recognition of God’s love and the gifts he gives us, and about thinking of how we use those gifts to achieve anything…
For the disciples there was a clear need to trust in Jesus, and when they did, albeit desperately, he helped them… For us, things are no different – if we trust, Jesus will listen. In the middle of the darkest situations Jesus will be there caring for us, supporting us and strengthening us…
And it is with that knowledge that we can approach the thought of what Jesus said earlier – as the disciples got in the boat, Jesus said, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake’. In our Churches and in fact, in our lives, this image is one that can be helpful – the idea of going across to the other side…
That sounds a bit spooky – a bit Doctor Who-ish ! But we are constantly trying to bridge the gap between the secular and the spiritual, between humanity and God… In Jesus we find that the two things met together, but for most of us, there is a constant battle to work out what is right in God’s eyes and how we get there.
Of course, we know that Jesus offered a gospel of love and compassion, of understanding and peace. He said that people were to enjoy fullness of life, to enjoy the gifts that he gave… He asked people to trust and to have faith that one day his victory, already accomplished as he rose from the dead on that first Easter Day, would be a victory that we could all share in completely.
‘Let us across to the other side’ said Jesus, and in that call he was asking us to break away from all that was wrong in the world and to put our trust firmly in him… And, as Christians, we often say we do that – in the creeds we express our belief, in our prayers we put our trust in God – in the Lords Prayer, the most famous prayer of all, we say, ‘Thy will be done’…
And those four words declare the greatest bit of faith that we can ever show – but saying the words and meaning them is something very different… Because for all of our good intentions, for all of our trust in theory, it’s not as easy when faced with a crisis.
For the disciples in the boat, they had experienced Jesus first hand – they knew they could trust him, but things were going wrong – the boat didn’t seem safe whether Jesus was with them or not… And they wondered what they could do to sort out the problem.
And so often we are guilty of the same – of seeking earthly solutions to spiritual problems – we do it as individuals and we do it as Churches. Very often we will assume money is the solution to a problem; or perhaps the lack of it, a cause of a problem… but money by itself rarely sorts out a problem for ever…
Reliance on Jesus and trust in him will answer problems long term… seeking out his will and his guidance; truly living out the words, ‘thy will be done’ will give us answers to whatever problems we face… But you may want to argue at that point and say that that’s all a bit simplistic, and to an extent it is ! Because whilst God has promised to be there for us always, whilst he has promised that we can share in his eternal victory and whilst he loves us with an unbelievably powerful love which can never be broken, he also expects us to use the gifts he gives us…
The gifts he gives us are varied – he gives us common sense, he gives us different talents, he gives us the opportunity to shine as lights in the world by caring and supporting one another, he gives us resources and time, and all of these things we need to use in order to build a relationship with God…
‘Let us go across to the other side…’ means to face head on any challenges we have, whether personal or in Church or work, and trust in Jesus that he will give us the strength and the wisdom to get through them…
Thomas a Kempis, a 15th century monk, wrote, “A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.” People who have it can throw money at any situation and it can often make it better – people who have money should use their money as a gift that can transform, but money alone will not transform things – what transforms is the love with which it is given…
Last week we thought of Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians and that tremendous passage about love, and ultimately the whole gospel message returns to love… the love of God for us, our love for him and for his creation and our love for others…
Trusting in the love of God we will experience the peace and courage that is God’s will for our lives, but by responding to that love by showing love ourselves, and by using the gifts we have for God’s glory and for the good of others as well as ourselves, it is then that we will experience the fullness of life that God wants us to have.
As we think over the next 3 Sundays about this subject of stewardship may we be ready to think about the gifts we have and how we use them as we seek to cross to the other side…. There will be battles on the way, there will be storms, but in God’s presence we can know, truly know, that we will experience perfect calm… AMEN
Comments