While the disciples and Jesus were in a boat, a “violent storm came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.” Jesus was asleep. “They woke him… ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They… said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
To those in our care, we give care. We care for our family, and all families, as all families are in our care. We care for our neighbors, and all neighbors, as all neighbors are in our care. We care for strangers, as all people are friends in our care. We are a caring parent, neighbor, human being because we are in touch with the goodness of our character and that of others and we express that goodness, especially during the storms of life. We give direct care. It may be help to bail out the boat. Help to assist with the sail. It is help to support navigating through the trouble. We give indirect care in the form of guidance, wisdom for a person’s future storms. We give Presence to help with future feelings of abandonment, energy to help with future despair, encouragement to help with future devastations. We receive this same care and help from others when we get caught up in external storms. All well and good. Is help also available to prevent the storm? What is the care we give to stop and to heal the person who is the storm, the person who will not be family, will not be neighbor, will not be friend and has decided instead to be bully, abuser, violator? What is the care and help we give to their supporters? Many likely claim to be innocent. Most of us, by the arrangement of the storm people, are removed by degrees from the levels of control wielded by the storm people. Let us not be made knowingly ignorant by the storm people, nor by their supporters. They know exactly what storms they are causing – as they wave Nazi and Confederate flags, repeat lie after lie while rejecting obvious facts, and do violence with the guns they wield. They know too they can deceive us into believing they are the innocent and are offering help. They are a caring parent, a working-class neighbor, a friend – all the while they are selective in their help offered; dependent upon skin color, reading choices, sexual preference, immigrant status, and so forth. In each and in all they are the storm because care does not deny communion as they do – care strengthens communion. Care does not deny love as they do – care energizes love. Care does not deny healing as they do – Care brings about healing for one and all. We are in a storm of supremacist dictators who are telling us they can free us and we are called to directly stop that storm and create communion with those causing it. We are in a storm of MAGA abusers devaluing human beings while telling us they are Christian/Christ-like and we are called to directly stop that storm and energize love with those causing it. We are in a storm of violence in rhetoric and in behavior and we are called to directly stop that storm and heal the people causing it.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” (Reinhold Niebuhr)
God, grant me the serenity to accept things need to change; courage to change them, and the wisdom to do so peacefully.
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, enliven our power.
Question: How can I join with others to help change forces that are not beyond our control?
June 23, 2024 Gospel Mark 4:35-41 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time