When I was serving as a Navy chaplain, one of my assignments was aboard U.S.S. CONCORD (AFS-5) out of Norfolk, Virginia.\u00a0 She was a fleet replenishment ship and we carried \u201cBeans, Bullets, and Black Oil\u201d (she\u2019s now resting on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii as part of an artificial reef).\u00a0 Our mission was to make sure in other ships in our battle group had the necessary supplies to help them carry out their mission.\u00a0 CONCORD was not a large ship, but she could hold her own at sea.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day a little windstorm named \u201cHugo\u201d popped up (this was in September of 1989).\u00a0 Since the National Hurricane Center predicted it would hit the east coast of the United States somewhere between Jacksonville, Florida and Cape May, New Jersey we were ordered (along with the rest of the Atlantic Fleet) to \u201cput to sea and scatter,\u201d meaning we would ride out the storm at sea.\u00a0 That night as \u201cHugo\u201d slammed into Charleston, South Carolina, we face the wrath of an angry sea with waves breaking over the ship, plunging head-long into troughs between the waves and taking \u201cgreen water\u201d back to the pilothouse.\u00a0 The ship rode like a chip, because we were only carrying about half of our usual load (replenishment ships and tankers ride better when they are fully loaded.\u201d\u00a0 Needless to say, no one aboard got any sleep that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is nothing more terrifying than being caught in a storm at sea.\u00a0 In the midst of the wind and the waves one can get a clear glimpse of just how small and insignificant we are in the face of nature in her rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was where the disciples found themselves in today\u2019s Gospel reading.\u00a0 There they were, out on the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of the night, in the midst of a raging windstorm.\u00a0 The Sea of Galilee is known for its sudden, violent wind-storms that were known to sink boats.\u00a0 Peter. Andrew, James and Joun being fishermen understood the peril of the moment, and all of them had friends and acquaintances who disappeared because of one of these storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There they are out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, in a storm that is about to sink their boat.\u00a0 There were terrified, and rightly so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They begin looking for Jesus.\u00a0 Where is he?\u00a0 In the stern taking a nap \u2013 it had been a long day and he was tired.\u00a0 The disciples wake him up, and he responds by saying to the storm, \u201cPeace, be still.\u201d\u00a0 Shush!\u00a0 Be quiet!\u00a0 The story continues that the sea became calm and the waves ceased.\u00a0 Jesus chides them, by asking, where is their faith?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the same for us.\u00a0 How many times have we felt battered and bruised by the storms and tempests of life?\u00a0 Jesus response to us is the same as then when he speaks to our storms and says, \u201cPeace, be still!\u201d\u00a0 In other words, \u201crelax, calm down.\u201d Our faith reminds us that no storm will every overwhelm us.\u00a0 That\u2019s the Good News for us this morning is when the storms of life arise, and they will, our faith empowers us to hear the still small voice speaking to our souls \u2013 \u201cPeace, be still.\u201d\u00a0 Then maybe we can relax enough to take a nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Storms at Sea and Taking a Nap When I was serving as a Navy chaplain, one of my assignments was aboard U.S.S. CONCORD (AFS-5) out of Norfolk, Virginia.\u00a0 She was a fleet replenishment ship and we carried \u201cBeans, Bullets, and Black Oil\u201d (she\u2019s now resting on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homily","tag-sermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":537,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions\/537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}