Early Church June 24, 2012 Proper 7 Year B

For Readings:
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp7_RCL.html

   Today we heard a story about Jesus and his friends on a boat. Jesus wanted to go to the other side of the sea, so he asked his friends to take him in a boat. Jesus was really tired, so he decided to lie down and sleep while his friends were steering the boat. As he was sleeping the sea suddenly became very scary. There were huge waves, crashing all around them. The wind was blowing and howling. There was probably heavy rain, loud thunder and spooky lightning. The waves were splashing and crashing so much that some of the water even started pouring into their little boat. All of Jesus’ friends got really scared. The were scared of the big storm. When you are in a boat during a storm it can be really scary. They were worried that the boat would get full of water, or that the boat might tip over in all the wind. Jesus’ friends were scared for their lives.

But what about Jesus? What was he doing while his friends were so scared? Jesus was sleeping. Have you ever slept through something important? I know that sometimes when I take a nap I worry that I will miss out on something good. But while Jesus was sleeping there were huge waves, loud winds, and I bet some of his friends were yelling or crying. But Jesus stayed asleep. He must be a very heavy sleeper.

Jesus’ friends are so scared that they decide to wake Jesus up. They are kind of mad at Jesus. They are at least annoyed at Jesus. How can you sleep through this!? They want to know. Don’t you care that we might fall in the water and get very hurt?

Jesus loves his friends. But he is not worried. In this part of the story, Jesus reminds me a little bit of the character Madeline, who to the big tiger in the zoo, Madeline says “poo-poo”—right? Jesus is not scared of the things his friends are scared of. But Jesus loves his friends and wants to help them out. So he turns to the wind and says “Peace. Be still.”

The wind stops. The storm dies down. The water stops flooding into their boat. Everyone stops worrying.

There are a lot of stories in the bible about worrying. There are a lot of times when Jesus comes to visit new people, and the first thing he tells them is “Do not be afraid.” When Jesus’ mother Mary is visited by the Angel Gabriel before she has a baby, the angel says to her “Do not be afraid.”

I think there are a lot of Bible stories about being afraid because God know that there are a lot of things in our lives that can make us nervous, scared, anxious and afraid. When I was a little girl I was really, really scared that my dog, Jesse would die. My best friend was really really scared of black holes in space. Being a kid can be a little scary because there aren’t many things you are in charge of, so that can make you nervous.

I don’t think any of us have the power to say “Peace. Be still” to the wind—it probably won’t listen to us. But we can say “Peace. Be still” to ourselves when we start to worry. Even if the wind doesn’t listen to us, our own bodies will. When we are nervous about making friends in summer camp we can say to ourselves “Peace. Be still. ” You  can take a deep breath and think “Peace. Be still” before trying to ride a bike with out training wheels. When you are getting a little too wild and worked up you can say to your self “Peace. Be still.” The reason this  can work is that God loves each of us. God will protect all of us. And God thinks that we are doing just fine.