Storms - Fourth Sunday of the Season of Creation
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
September 29, 2024
Some days are forgotten as soon as
the sun sets. Other days become forever
seared in your memory. One day I’ll
never forget was Friday, May 31, 1985. I
was home in Kane at the conclusion of my freshman year of college. It had been a very ordinary day. But as evening approached, the sky took on an
eerie shade of yellow. The birds stopped
singing. The stillness and silence felt
ominous.
Yet everything on my side of town
remained quiet and calm, at least until my friend Roger burst into our home. He and I worked together at the local AM
radio station. “Jump in my truck. We’ve got to go,” he breathlessly said. I was clueless to the cause of his
urgency. “A tornado just ripped through
the other side of town,” he added. “And
it’s a mess. The power’s out, but we’ve
got to find a way to get the station running because people are scared and
they’re going to need information.”
Over the coming days we learned
that 44 tornadoes had ripped through western and central Pennsylvania that day,
killing 65, injuring 707 people, and destroying 1,009 homes. The damage in Kane was shockingly
localized. Most of the town was
untouched, but several streets looked like war zones. Nearly 40 years later, those of us who experienced
that day get a little jumpy each May 31st, or when the sky seems to take on
that yellow glow, or when the birds stop singing. You never forget a storm like that.
With those tornadoes in mind, I
asked one of our Grace meteorologists if we can control or even stop
storms. I learned that storms are an
inevitable feature of life on our planet. Because of a variety of factors, like the earth’s tilt, the geography of
the landscape, and the oceans, the sun doesn’t heat our planet’s surface
uniformly. That results in pressure
differentials. You’ve seen those on a
weather map: there are cold fronts and warm fronts. Those pressure differentials give rise to
storms, which equalize energy and pressure in low pressure regions.1
Storms aren’t just inevitable; they
can actually be beneficial. The National
Hurricane Center states that “hurricanes are good for the world... [and] necessary to the earth’s bigger, broader
health… If we didn’t have regular hurricanes occurring, the world would in fact
end.”2 This isn’t an easy
thing to acknowledge, given the devastation and tragic loss of life we’ve seen
with Helene. And so given the
inevitability of storms, let’s pause for a moment and thank everyone,
especially our Grace members, who’ve devoted their lives to studying the weather. Though storms might be necessary for the
planet’s long-term viability, in the short run they can be devastating for
humans. Having dedicated meteorologists
who can keep us safe is a true blessing. I know that for our Grace weather professionals, it’s an expression of
their faith, and a way they love their neighbor. I want all of them to hear how much they are
appreciated.
But now let’s apply our
understanding of meteorological storms to see if we can better understand what
they reveal theologically when storms appear in the Bible. Our Gospel portrays a storm in the most
common theological fashion, as a symbol for the challenges we face in this
life. None of us are immune to life’s
storms. They are as inevitable as
meteorological storms. Regardless of our
age, status, piety or any other standard or marker, each and every one of us
will face life’s storms. We will each face
adversity. We will each, in some way,
experience suffering.
When those storms arrive, Jesus
tells us to place our trust in him. Have faith in him. Stay
close to him, because he’s the ultimate master of all storms. You see, just like the storms in nature, storms
like the one in our Gospel lesson can be a benefit to us, insofar as they
reveal our need for Jesus and drive us to him. He’s always there to catch us, which is why all throughout Holy
Scripture God urges us to not be afraid. We are not alone. Christ is with
us. Stay close to him.
But let’s be completely honest. Staying close to Christ sometimes feels as
dangerous as the storms themselves. We
graphically see this in our second reading, from Acts. It’s a powerfully written account of a
fragile little wooden ship at sea, battered and tossed by violent winds and
raging waves. It became so dire that the
people onboard abandoned all hope.
But in the midst of the clatter of
howling winds, the crash of thunder and lightning, and the din of driving rain,
Paul was able to hear the whispered consolations of God’s angel, who reassured
Paul that he need not be afraid. The
storm was God’s way of shifting the course of Paul and his companions so that
they’d reach an alternate destination, one selected in God’s wisdom, so that
the Good News of the risen Christ might be most broadly and effectively proclaimed
and shared.
Maybe you’re experiencing a storm
just like this. You’ve settled into a
predictable, comfortable way of life. You know where you’re going. And
suddenly life gets turned upside down by God’s winds of change. I’ve been through times like that. We all have. It isn’t pleasant. But is it
possible that God is changing your course, just like God altered Paul’s course? If you’re in one of these storms
and your health, your career, or even your sense of being rooted is being blown
about by gale force winds, talk to God in prayer. I can’t promise God will reveal your new
destination as quickly as you desire, but you will feel a greater sense of
peace. Sometimes we need these kinds of
storms to get us unstuck. So don’t be
afraid of them.
The last category of theological
storm I want to explore today is captured in the way scripture sometimes speaks
of God as a storm. There is no
better example than our first reading today, from the Book of Job. There, Job perceives God as a whirlwind. The underlying Hebrew word might also be
translated as a “tempest,” a “gale,” or a “storm wind.” There’s something untamed and uncontrollable
in this image of God, who responds to Job’s complaints by saying, “You have no
idea what’s involved in being God. You
cannot conceive the complexity of everything I am balancing and weighing on a
minute-to-minute basis.” Indeed, God is
beyond our understanding. I think one of
the worst mistakes we’ve made in theology nowadays is to present God as some
kindly old man who fulfills all our requests, no matter how daft or even
self-destructive they may be.
It's much more accurate to portray
God as a whirlwind, someone beyond our control, someone worthy of our
awe and respect. But let us not mistake
the hiddenness of God, the mystery of God, as evidence of a God
who is arbitrary, uncaring, or even cruel. Just because we do not understand or control God does not negate the
truth expressed in scripture that God is love.3 That’s what Job would discover, though it was
revealed in God’s way, on God’s timetable, not Job’s. We humans instinctively crave order and
predictability. And so this image of God
as a whirlwind can be unsettling and even terrifying. But that’s due to the understanding we lack, and not anything lacking in God’s character or affection for us.
You see, on the edges of what we
understand and what’s beyond our comprehension, in the whirlwind of the storm,
we find our God of love. The winds may
often feel like more than you can bear. But you’re not being punished. In
that holy whirlwind you’re being enveloped in God’s mysterious love. You’re being formed, reformed, transformed,
and guided to the sacred destination God has in mind for you. In the midst of the storm, we find God more clearly
and directly than anywhere else. Friends, our God of love is with us in all our storms. Do not be afraid. Amen.
Citations
1 https://www.wyzant.com/resources/answers/770784/energy-inequalities-earth-s-atmosphere-and-storms
2 https://www.national-hurricane-center.org/storm-science/world-end-without-hurricanes
3 See 1 John 4:8
Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2024 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Sermon
Texts: Gospel plus Acts 27:13-25 and Job 38:1-4, 22-38
Gospel Text: Luke 8:22-25
22 One
day [Jesus] got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go
across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, 23 and while
they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the
boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. 24 They went
to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he
woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a
calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid
and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even
the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
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