After a hard day of preaching and teaching
Jesus takes his disciples away from the crowds to the other side of the lake
for some rest and relaxation. On the way a huge storm arises with lots of wind
and rain and the disciples fear for their lives. They wake Jesus up, ask him to
save them and he rebukes the wind and the sea, ‘peace be still.’ Jesus then
questions his closest followers, ‘Why are you afraid?’ Have you still no faith?’
(Mark 4:35-41)
We all face storms in life: some
storms are literal and physical, like the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and
others are spiritual or mental or relational. Whatever the source of the storm
we face, we often believe, as the disciples did, that Jesus has forgotten us.
We, like the disciples, need to hear again the words of Jesus: “Why are you
afraid, have you still no faith?”
In
April, 2010 a major tornado came through Albertville, doing tremendous damage and affecting all of
us at Christ Church either directly or indirectly by the destruction of our
original Church building. It was a numbing blow to our community as those who
were here at the time worked to salvage all that they could before tearing down
the beloved old structure to begin rebuilding the holy space we now gather in
to worship God and from which we leave to serve our community in the name of
Jesus Christ. Prayer, teamwork and Christian Community took away our fear and
renewed our faith.
In hopes that others will see a way
to journey from fear to hope in their lives, I share a personal storm through which
fear and depression replaced hope and faith in my life. Several years ago I
resigned (before I could be fired) from my job as pastor of a large Episcopal
Congregation. Not only was I “too liberal” for the congregation, but I had
fired two employees who I still believe needed to be fired, but I did not do it
properly, nor did I have the political capital to do so.
I had a severe emotional break down
and our assistant Bishop sent me immediately to a psychiatrist the Diocese had
on retainer. What does that say about the life of pastors and the church? I saw
him during the remainder of my time in that city. The psychiatrist put me on
anti-anxiety medication and anti-depressants and I continued to see him weekly
until we left the state. I continued my therapy when we moved to Alabama and I
have continued the use of appropriate medication. This therapy and medication truly
saved my life.
I know many people, for many reasons,
are afraid to see a therapist or to use anti-depressants, but I encourage you,
out of my experience, to take advantage of mental health care as a gift from
God and to treat mental illness and issues as you would any physical disease or
condition that can adversely affect your life.
Yes, we all have or will have storms
in our lives: tornadoes, hurricanes, accidents, unexpected deaths. There will
be divorces and job losses, alienation from family and friends, loss of
physical abilities, and even loss of faith. When these things happen we need
the faith of Jesus, not the fear of the disciples. Fear leads to death and
destruction and faith leads to life. And I am not just referring to individual
faith, as important as that is, but to the faith of the church. In the
Christian Community, when my faith is weak, your strong faith will carry me.
When your faith is weak, my faith will carry you and when all of our faith is
weak and fear is creeping in, we find our faith again in the Word and
Sacraments of the Church as we come together as the body of Christ in the
world.
A secular (or perhaps not so secular)
song, You’ll Never Walk Alone, by Rogers
and Hammerstein from the 1945 musical, Carrousel, proclaims faith and hope and
life to us all.
At the end of the storm is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone, you’ll never walk alone."
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