Sunday Service 26th July

https://youtu.be/VE98pBIFXRM

What now?

26/7/26

Call to worship

Hymn 348: Praise the one

Time for all 

Hymn 717:O Christ the healer

Dedication of Offering

Reading:  Luke 8: 22-39 Margaret

Prayer (The Lord’s Prayer will be on the screen)

Hymn 509: Jesus calls us! O’re the tumult

Sermon

Prayer

Hymn 510:  Jesus calls us here to meet him

Benediction

Welcome to our meditation for 26^th July.

Sometimes we see patterns in scripture, and they are so easy to see...but maybe not so easy to understand...I think this is the case with today’s passage, which we will hear from Margaret...

Prayer of Dedication of Offering

(a Jewish blessing to those who have returned from the desert)

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who bestows kindness even to the undeserving, and thus You have also been gracious with me.

May he who bestowed goodness upon you, bestow upon you all good.

Amen

Sermon

The problem with today’s passage is that it seems obvious.

We have two incidents deliberately put together;

no one reading these two incidents of the calming of the storm, and the calming of the man’s mind, couldn’t see that they are connected.

That is obvious.

The problem we have...is that putting those two parts together, we kind of come to what we think is an obvious conclusion as to what Luke is trying t tell us...and I am not too sure that is what Luke is trying to tell us at all.

We have the storm...and Jesus calms the storm.

Then we have the man who is in inner turmoil...and Jesus calms the man.

So the conclusion that we come to...is that when we are struggling, if we go to Jesus, then Jesus will calm us, and everything will go back to the way it was...nice and easy and peaceful.

We love that conclusion.

We love that conclusion because in it Jesus helps us.

We love that conclusion because it demands nothing from us, Jesus does all the hard work, and we receive all the help.

We love that conclusion because we can work it out

and we have worked it out,

and we have worked it out in a way that we want it to work out.

So can’t that be the meaning of this passage?

The only problem with that is that it doesn’t sound like Luke.

Luke is a clever man, Luke is a doctor and uses his words like a scalpel to get to the point...this feels more like a brick being used to hit some common sense into someone’s head.

Personally I am not averse to wanting to hit someone over the head to knock some sense into them. I will admit that I have been tempted many a time to try that.

However, that doesn’t fit in with the way Luke writes.

BUT...it is obvious that these two passages are paired together.

And if they are obviously put together there must be a reason for it.

There must be a point that Luke is trying to make.

And if we look at the passage a bit deeper we see that there isn’t one similarity, the whole passage is full of similarities.

So if we look at them a bit deeper...

(SLIDE 1) We start off with the disciples going on a journey across the lake.

During this journey an incident happens that is destructive, even life threatening.

Jesus intervenes and calms the storm.

This does not instil peace in the disciples but fear.

Obviously the journey carries on.

The big question that arises from this miracle is, ‘Where is your faith?’

So from that we see that this passage has something to do with the disciples, and something to do with faith.

It’s the disciples that are taking the journey,

it’s the disciples that are struggling,

and it’s the disciples that Jesus questions about their faith.

So obviously this passage has something to do with disciples and faith.

In Scripture...if something is repeated, then it isn’t just repeated, it is expanded.

We see this a lot in the psalms where the Psalmist will make the same point,

but the second time it is said it is expanded upon the second time.

Psalm 105 is a perfect example of this where it happens again and again and again.

God will keep his covenant for ever, his promises for a thousand generations.

And then the next verses say exactly the same thing, only more personal to the people of Israel...

He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham and his promise to Isaac. The Lord made a covenant with Jacob, one that will last for ever.

So let’s see if this is a pattern of repeating and expanding is in this passage...

(SLIDE 2) We start off with a man who has been on a long journey; cast out the town, escaped to the wilderness, returned to the cemetery.

During this journey the man has been possessed by a destructive force, one that is even life threatening...as we can see from what that force does to the pigs

Jesus intervenes and calms the turmoil in the man’s mind.

This does not instil peace in the villagers, instead it instils fear.

The man has to carry on his life in the village telling of God’s blessing.

The big question that arises from this miracle is, ‘Can I stay with you?’

The bit that is different, the bit that is significant, are those two questions...one from Jesus... ‘Where is your faith?’

one from the prospective disciple...‘Can I stay with you?’

And this is the point that Luke is trying to make to us.

These stories aren’t just parallel, they are our story.

Luke is giving us a description of our life and what we hope from God, and what God hopes from us.

(SLIDE 3) Our life is a journey, and that journey isn’t predictable.

We so long for it to be predictable, peaceful, tranquil, easy.

Now fortunately it often isn’t us moving from one disaster to another, but for some it is.

For a lot of us life is a lot calmer, like the sailing trip of the disciples.

But if any of you have gone sailing you know that you are never in complete control, there is the wind and the waves and the tides all interacting.

There is always the unpredictable that catches you unawares.

The year I came to Alva I went on a canal journey with Roseanna and my two girls. Actually Roseanna was heavily pregnant with James so all our family were there.

Now we are on a boat, but this boat is in a canal, so even with wind and waves it isn’t going anywhere.

And the barge is longer than the canal is wide, so it can’t be turned around...so in theory nothing could go wrong.

As journeys go it is the simplest that it can be.

You follow the canal from A to B.

But life isn’t that simple, even when you think it is simple, it is never that simple.

So we are coming up to a lock gate. And the lock gate has a stream at the side for when the canal is overflowing so that excess water flows from the upper canal to the lower canal.

Because Roseanna is heavily pregnant she isn’t getting out of the barge to open the lock gates. So she is driving the barge.

So I am up at the lock gates opening them up, waiting for Roseanna to drive the barge into the lock so that I can close the gates behind her.

Only she starts to bend the barge towards the opening of the gate, and then doesn’t stop bending. Then the tip of the barge catches the stream coming down the side of the lock and before we know it the barge is stuck across the whole canal, with the water from the upper lock causing a vacuum and the barge is stuck.

I then look at this and realise that if I can break the vacuum then the barge can move forward again. But to do that I need to force the barge off the side of the canal.

So at one point I have my feet at the wall of the canal, and my back on the hull of the barge forcing with all my might to break the seal.

And of course as soon as that happens Roseanna goes, ‘I’ve got it’ and pulls the barge up towards the lock.

Of course now there’s nothing to hold me up and I go into the canal.

No matter how simple we think life is, it is never simple.

There is always a storm, there is always turmoil.

That is life.

Being a disciple doesn’t protect us from storms.

Being a human means there is always turmoil an uncertainty ahead.

But what discipleship gives us is the assurance that Jesus intervenes. We are never overwhelmed by the storm, the turmoil will never destroy us.

But then comes our response.

There is the temptation to be afraid. If one storm can hit us then so can another one.

And that leads to two temptations.

The temptation to just want to hang about Jesus doing Jesus stuff...like the disciples are tempted to do.

If we hang about where we think Jesus will be then we will be safe if another storm comes.

For Christians that might mean trying to stick to church stuff all the time; keep away from the world and the way the world is.

Keep away from things that might be political...that will bring turmoil into our life.

Keep away from things that might be controversial...that will bring turmoil into tour life.

Keep away from things that might mean long term commitments and effort...that is sure to bring turmoil into our lives.

Keep away from anything that might bring change...because who wants that kind of uncertainty.

Which brings us onto the next temptation, the exact opposite of the first one...to try to get away from Jesus, like the villagers.

Because if Jesus isn’t about, then maybe we don’t need to face the storms, maybe Jesus is the one bringing the turmoil into our life.

Maybe the commitment and challenges that of the life Jesus is asking us to live is the very cause of turmoil.

We want Jesus to go away so that we can stick our head in the sand and pretend that everything is fine.

And we can do that ...we can pretend that if nothing is happening in our life then everything is fine.

And if it isn’t fine for other people then that isn’t our problem.

Until it is our problem, and we don’t know what to do.

So we are stuck with the question Jesus asks all his disciples, ‘Where is your faith? What are you going to do with your faith?’

And there we are;

trying to be close to Jesus so that he helps us in the storms,

trying to push Jesus away, so that the life he wants from us doesn’t cause us more turmoil.

There is another choice.

The choice Jesus gives the man.

Because lets be frank; if the man wanted to he could have just disobeyed Jesus and hung about where Jesus was.

Follow from a distance, hanging about thinking that being near Jesus made him safe, always within calling distance if anything went wrong.

Instead he obeyed Jesus.

He did what God wanted him to do to fulfil his life.

He went home with the blessings that Jesus had given him, and shared those blessings with those around him.

Could we do that?

Could we look at the blessings God has given us,

and then live our life sharing the good news of what God has done for us with those around us,

those we care about,

those that we would want to know that God wants to bless them too?

Could we do that?

Let us pray

Heavenly Father,

Often we can be like the disciples...

when we feel that the storm isn’t going to stop, we can hear ourselves asking where you are.

When the waves keep striking the boat, when the road runs through places of fear, when the body still aches, when the mind still wrestles, when the house is still full of grief, we can feel brave enough even to challenge you...where are you, are you asleep, do you even care?

And then you are there, where you always have been, in the boat beside us.

It’s not always in the ending we begged for, not always in the cure or the rescue we hoped for,

but in the reaching out to us, in the waiting for us to listen, in the stubborn refusal of love to never let go of us,

you are there until the storm abates.

When I cannot find calm, be my steadiness.

When I cannot find answers, be my comfort.

When I cannot see the shore, be my courage for the crossing.

But also help us to see our part,

when we have felt the blessings, when we know we have been rescued, show us the next step of our journey...

That where others are overwhelmed,

make us a sign of your presence: attentive, truthful, compassionate,

and strong in love.

Amen.