Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 23rd June and for the week ahead:

Scripture

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ (Mark 4 35-41)

Reflection

Each of us face different storms in our lives. Some of us, like Mark’s original audience, might face persecution for our faith; for others, it’s a storm of illness, of loss, of trauma, of seperation or of loneliness. No-one is immune to these storms and, just like the disciples, we find ourselves floundering and crying out for help. Just like the disciples, we fear the storm and want it to be calmed - but help is there in the form of God’s saving love.

To accept that help we first need to get into the boat with Jesus, we then need faith in God to calm the storm. But more than that, we need to trust that God will do the right thing - trusting Him to be the anchor in the storm, trusting Him to still the waters in our stormy life.

Trust is faith in action - we cannot change the course of the storms of life, but what we can do is trust in the Lord to be there alongside us and to show His love for us by guiding us through the choppy seas.

Lyn Hayes ALM