These Are Extra~ordinary Days…
Now Is The Time:
“Why Are You Afraid?  Peace. Be Still.” 
Mark 4: 35-41; 1 Samuel 17: 1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49  

After the wind had ceased and there was a dead calm, Jesus fell back asleep.  
 They waited until they were sure by his breathing and stillness that he was asleep.  Then they huddled close together to talk. 
“Who is this man!?        Did you see what just happened?  
                                    What have we gotten ourselves into here?” 

 In my holy imagination, as I play out the rest of the scene, I see them shaking their heads in stunned silence until one of them says boldly, 
 “Well, I don’t’ know how he calmed the seas, but I do know that I don’t appreciate how he challenged our faith at a time of such danger.   Surely he, of all people, could understand our fear.   He has been so kind and compassionate, but tonight he was hurtful.  I don’t understand.”   Then another spoke…more timid than the rest, choosing his words carefully, “What if Jesus meant that we didn’t need to be afraid, not because he was with us in the boat, but because we had it within us to save ourselves? 

 What if he was trying to teach us about the power of ‘faith in ourselves’?”

Now what hit me was how Saul tried to put his armor on David and David says,

“This isn’t me,” and takes it off.

 What works for Saul doesn’t work for David.  Different fears, different gifts…one size does not fit all!   David wisely uses the gift God gave him…he remembers and trusts his experience, his God, his self. 

 He had practiced with and exercised his gift many times before and was confident in his experience….like the 12 fishermen coulda’, woulda’, shoulda’  been confident in themselves.
            Now….when we face fearful situations, like Saul and the 12, do we remember our gifts and experience….or do we put on other ways of being that really don’t fit us all that well….or do we look to someone else to rescue us with their gifts! 

 Do you appreciate the power of your own gifts? 

 Even as you struggle to figure out what it means to believe in God, do you believe in yourself? 

Maybe we are just plain old afraid….of ourselves (our power) as well as the situation.  Why? 

 What is the message we have absorbed from our culture about our own abilities and gifts that keeps us from living into them and believing in ourselves the way God believes in us?

 One of the key elements in the phenomenon of fear is the issue of trust. 

 David had no fear because he trusted his experience and practice in facing adversaries bigger than himself, and he trusted somehow God would turn the tables of power completely around in his encounter with Goliath. 

 ….Maybe Jesus could sleep because he not only trusted God but also trusted the skills and experience of those who had spent their lives sailing and fishing on those same waters.  He trusted them more than they trusted themselves.

 Do you trust your experience and have you internalized its wisdom?

If not, why no?  .…Why not begin now!

 Perhaps the message we can take away from these two stories where right wins out over might or fright is this: there is a potential hero living within each of us.

 We often feel small in the face of the dark forces in our world. 

At such times, we need to call upon the David within, the Jesus within, the sailor within. 

As Christians we are to remember and honor all that we know and all we are becoming and move out into life with the assurance of faith…God’s faith in us and our faith in ourselves. We all have storms.  We all have Goliaths. 

 Jesus asks us, “Why are you afraid?”  The stories ask us, “What is your response to your fear?”  Is it flight or fight, check out or check it out? 

 The fact of the matter is fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, fear can so cripple us emotionally and spiritually that it is like being dead…dead in the water…dead inside. We get small instead of tall. I’ve learned it’s natural to be afraid….it’s normal, but fear (like pain) is an effective goad to greater things…a wake up call, a nudge….maybe a part of how the Holy Spirit is working in our lives calling us to powerfully redeem what is right and just.  You see, within the very thing you fear is the peace God offers….if you will but face your fear and face yourself.  You are bigger than it is!  You are big enough, powerful enough to still the storms within, put on your own “armor”.  Within God’s grace and held in community, you do know your best defense is a strong offense.   In most every situation, déjà vu….you have been there before and have God experience to draw upon in facing your fears and living beyond them….really living emotionally and spiritually.

 Some of us find it easy to maintain a calm, focused presence in the middle of crisis and confusion.  Some of us find it possible to remain close to others, yet not get so close that we get sucked in emotionally to the pain or anxiety.  Some of us have a harder time maintaining our own spiritual and psychological “skins” or boundaries without either distancing ourselves or burning out.  Certain emotional triggers seem to be hard wired into our systems causing us to revert to behavior patterns that we know are unfruitful.

 What are the structures you have built into your life to slow you down and help you change  course when the red flags go up and you sense yourself at the top of a slippery slope…in waters over your head, pushed to act in ways that don’t fit you?  Who are the persons you trust to call you back with humor, with wisdom, with love, with patience, to your holy center where you can be still?  If you do not have such intentional structures or such friends, colleagues or mentors, may I urge you to create or find them by the end of today, this week, next month?  May I urge you to at least begin?

 Jesus asks you this morning, “Why are you afraid?” Really?

 Not just what are you afraid of but why are you afraid?

 Face into the wind.   Put on your experience.   

Believe in yourself the way God believes in you.  “Peace.  Be still.”