For Sunday, June 21, 2015 – Mark 4:35-41
Why am I so slow to believe it, that I have nothing to fear? No storms need to be a threat to my inner calm. No chaos can overwhelm us. Defeat, and even death, might come, but as Jesus famously said, “What more can anyone do to us?” Regardless of being lashed about, knocked down, inundated by waves of racism and hate, greed and violence, we can be utterly unafraid. Even so we cry out to God in our longing—“Do you not care that we are perishing?” Do you not care that we are losing ourselves in fear?
Regardless of what I perceive as truth, the so-called reality that holds me hostage, Real Truth sleeps quietly, nestled like a cat on a cushion, in the center of my soul’s dis-ease. Truth is, all is well. Truth is, peace makes itself at home in chaos.
“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” the awakened Jesus asks. God is near, right here with us, which means the power to call an end to chaos is here, too. The capacity to live without fear is sleeping within us; right now quiet waters are running beneath the churning waves. From the parameters of old perceptions, we see only danger, but sleeping within us is the gift of broader vision and a steadiness that calms the quaking roar.
Will we dare to speak aloud our fear, to cry out our soul’s anguish? Will we seek others who feel it too, whose voices have not been heard, and confess that we are in over our heads, swamped by forces beyond our control? We need divine intervention. We need to awaken the Teacher Within. How grateful I am when he rebukes the winds and the waves, saying to the sea of pain that threatens us, “Be still!” I want to be equally grateful when he rebukes me as well, when he asks why I am still afraid and have such little faith when all along he has been so near. Remind me again and again, Jesus, that I have much growing to do, much faith and trust yet to explore alongside the whole family of creation, all your scared and trembling friends.
