The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany

4 Pentecost, June 14, 2009

Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of your presence in our midst. Help us to trust in that gift. Awaken our hearts to Your presence so that we may be empowered to do the things You have called us to achieve in this world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I have to admit that I am not a comfortable flyer. I am a lot better than I use to be. I'm not a white knuckled flyer anymore. I don't feel almost sick with fear anymore. I am able to distract myself with reading. And I trust my prayers more and more.

But I can identify with Jesus' disciples who were in that boat and were so terrified when a great storm came up threatening their lives. They probably thought their death was imminent. If I were in a plane and a great storm came up, and the plane started bouncing all around, or the captain said we were in very serious weather, be prepared for an emergency landing, I feel sure I would be as terrified as they were. The reason I feel fear when flying is because I am absolutely in the hands of someone else. I have absolutely no control over how that plane operates, the weather conditions, the ability or conditions of the pilots or the reliability of the airplane.

Fear comes from our need to be in control and the inability to do so. And it comes from our belief that if we are not in control we can be in a threatening situation; not being in control, we fear that all has the potential of being lost. This need to be in control comes from the belief that we have only ourselves to rely on; we believe we alone are source of our own strength and abilities. We have only ourselves to turn to. But we always carry within ourselves the knowledge that we can't control everything. We are limited. We know are not enough for dealing with everything that can arise to threaten us. We strive to overcome all the ways we perceive that we are vulnerable, but when we experience our limitations, and vulnerabilities, we become afraid.

If we give into and adopt this attitude of needing to control everything, we are, in affect, adopting a deist understanding of God. That is, a belief in God, the creator of the universe, but also a belief that God's power is not available to us. A deist understanding of God is that God created the world but is no longer available to the world. God turned the world over to humanity to make it or break it. Why would God care about such an insignificant thing as one person? Fear is inevitable with this understanding of God. It is inevitable if our trust or confidence relies only on our own selves, on what we alone can control.

One of the goals of our spiritual journey is to come to trust in a power greater than ourselves. We are on the same spiritual journey as Jesus' first disciples were. What is so interesting about the gospel story that we just heard is that there was no doubt about Jesus' presence with his disciples. He was in the boat with them, peacefully sleeping. But when the storm came up that made them feel so helpless, so vulnerable and that they believed threatened their lives, they didn't trust that Jesus was a power they had, a power that was available to them. They didn't even trust that He cared.

Don't you care?, they asked. God, don't you care?, we ask. They had not learned yet, that He cared more than anything they possibly could imagine. That had to be awakened in their hearts, as it does in ours. They had to come to understand that was the purpose of the coming of the Messiah. The purpose of the Messiah was to show that God cares so much that He came in human form to dwell with humanity; our pain and suffering are His pain and suffering. Yet we don't see Jesus in the way those first disciples saw Him and experienced Him. But He did promise his presence would still be with us. Jesus promised that He would never leave us orphans. His presence is with us through His Spirit that is all around, always present. However, "if we imagine that God is asleep, if we imagine that the Spirit is present but not there for us, we don't find much comfort." As it was for the disciples, "our task in faith is to awaken [to the knowledge] that God is present. He must become alive and vital to us."? Our task is to learn to trust God's presence and care and then relinquish our need for control.

It is often through hardships, when we are brought to the point of no control, that place where all we can do is rely on God, that we come to have the knowledge of God's power, care and love for us. The disciples in hat storm tossed boat had no control; it was when they cried out to Jesus that they gained further knowledge about who He really is and about His power and His desire and ability to save.

Lest anyone misunderstand that turning all the controls in our lives over to God takes away our initiative and responsibility, let me assure you, that it does the exact opposite. While we haven't been given the unlimited ability to be in control of everything in our lives, our Creator God has given each of us unique gifts and talents that God desires us to use for the good of all. People with controlling attitudes attempt to use these God given gifts to control everything. They usurp God's place in the scheme of things. They put their trust in themselves alone, and often use their gifts and talents for their own selfish purposes. But a correct attitude of responsibility is quite different; it is to understand that our God given gifts and talents are to be used for the good of all, for our families, for God's church, and for those in our lives who cross our paths. We are to be good stewards of His gifts by developing them, but always in partnership with God, and always in accordance with God's will. We then can have absolute confidence in our skill and God's guidance and empowerment in using our talents. David's confidence that he could deal with the Philistine, Goliath, came from, not only belief in God, but also from absolute knowledge that God's power was available to him. David was not foolish when he went against Goliath. He had developed his skill in taking care of himself and his father's sheep, but he used his skill with trust in the gift and power of God.

This is the goal of our spiritual journey, this kind of confidence. Paul is a wonderful example of someone who developed a different knowledge of God and therefore, this kind of confidence. Remember, at first Paul was a control freak. The first story we hear about Paul is of a man who was seeking to kill the followers of Jesus. He could not control their thinking, their behavior, their religious practices. So Paul wanted to do away with them. Religion that seeks to control others has lost its way. Trust has been placed on human endeavors and behaviors, and not on God. But then we see this great change in Paul. It came after he experienced the power of the resurrected Jesus; this experience rendered him totally vulnerable and helpless.

Jesus then called on Paul to use his talents in teaching others about God's great love for humanity that was shown through the sacrifice of Jesus and the victory of His resurrection. And the rest of Paul's story is of a man who responded with absolute confidence in the presence and power of Jesus available to him. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, "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." These are the words of a man who knows no fear. These are the words of a man who has perfect trust in God's presence and power. These are the words of a man who knows perfect peace.

I would like to end with the meditation from the little book, Forward Day By Day. This meditation was for June 18th. It is a reflection on a verse from Psalm 34: "Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him." My husband was not a man of faith, and when we wed forty-five years ago I renounced my own. For twenty-five years I considered myself in control, and lived in fear. Then one day, wanting something for which I needed outside help, I dusted off my faith, returned to church, and of course found God waiting for me. What does the Lord taste like? He is the comfort food of companionship. Two years ago my husband died, and last year my mother. My grandchildren grow in independence. But as widow, orphan, or downsized Nana, I am never alone. God is the sweetness of unconditional love. When I get down on myself for (so often) falling short of the mark, God lifts me up, reassuring me that I am still his beloved child in whom he is well pleased. God is the bitter greens of spiritual health, encouraging me with his Word to grow beyond ego into maturity in Christ. He is the promised living water, renewing my energy when I turn to him. How does the Lord taste to you? Blessed, truly blessed, are those who take refuge in Him. Amen.