01 Opening Hymn – “Shall we gather at the river”
01 Opening Hymn – “Shall we gather at the river” – Congregational level
02 Hymn of Praise -“Eternal Father, strong to save”
03 Readings
2024 Sun June 23
Sermon, 5th Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, 2024, “Storms in our Lives”
Sermon, Proper 7, Year B, 2024
“Christ Asleep in His Boat”, Jules Joseph Meynier (1826-1903)
Do you ever wonder “Why?” and get frustrated with God when life is a struggle and you find yourself in a metaphorical storm tossed boat, wondering if you’ll survive?
In today’s Old Testament reading, Job, a good man, has had his world fall apart and has lost everything, even though he has lived a good and righteous life. Job bitterly complains to God and accuses God of not hearing his cries.
Lectionary, Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, 2024
I. Theme – God’s control over creation
"Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" – Ludolf Backhuysen, 1695
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Job 38:1-11
Psalm – Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 Page 746, BCP
Epistle –2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Gospel – Mark 4:35-41
Today’s readings remind and reaffirm God’s complete command over all creation. God’s reply to Job asserts the majesty of God as the Creator and Ruler of the world. Paul commends the ministry of reconciliation to all Christians. In the gospel, Jesus stills a storm at sea, revealing that he shares God’s power over creation.
Much as we would like to think otherwise, “the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And how much better to fear God who saves than to fear the things that threaten to destroy us!
Unlike the world of ancient myth where the chaos waters rage and threaten the order that makes life possible — threatening — chaos, in our texts, has been or is being tamed by a benign God who, in the end, means all God’s creatures well. In the process, capital-C Chaos becomes merely "chaos" — a real power that retains a place in God’s world, but one now "fenced in," become part of God’s ordered creation.
A word of hope in the Gospel (and Job and the Psalm) is that God has the power to control the chaos. God may not always do it according to our schedule. Sometimes God may appear to be sleeping in the boat while our world is falling apart, but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have the power to calm the storm.
This theme can also lead to the idea that sometimes the storms in our lives are beyond our control. The chaos in our lives may be caused by people or situations or evil powers which we can do nothing about. Sometimes it is not our fault. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes even the world of faithful Christians comes crashing down.
When the lord answers Job out of the whirlwind giving an awesome view of creative power and might, Job’s heart trembles before the one with whom he had contended so ignorantly and reproachfully. His fear is not only the beginning of wisdom, but also the beginning of real faith, as his ensuing humility leads to confession and acceptance by the lord. Job makes one of the greatest confessions of faith in the Bible: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God” (Job. 19:25-26).
Job’s spiritual experience is repeated by the disciples’ experience on the Sea of Galilee. Putting out to sea in the evenings was a grave risk, since the sudden storms that come up on the sea often occur at sundown. In this scene, the disciples were obeying the lord’s command against the odds for security. We tend to think that having Jesus in the boat would have spared them any trouble.
The disciples are not prepared for the action Jesus takes. He stills the storm at sea in an exhibition of God’s power and control over creation. His question: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” is meant to convey to the disciples that their security lay in a different realm. When God is in control, no forces of destruction can touch them. Not a bad lesson to learn, even if fear is the teacher.
Visual Lectionary Vanderbilt, 5th Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, 2024
Click here to view in a new window.
Voices of Pentecost 5 – Mark’s Gospel
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee– Rembrandt (1633)
This is Rembrandt’s only seascape picture and dramatically depicts Mark’s Gospel. Being lost at sea was a constant threat at the time. Rembrandt did not try to capture historical accuracy but used boats of his time. Ironically, this painting is now lost. On the morning of March 18, 1990, thieves disguised as police officers broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston and stole The Storm on the Sea of Galilee and 12 other works. It is considered the biggest art theft in US history and remains unsolved. The museum still displays the paintings’ empty frames in their original locations.
The museum describes the painting- “The detailed rendering of the scene, the figures’ varied expressions, the relatively polished brushwork, and the bright coloring are characteristic of Rembrandt’s early style…The panic-stricken disciples struggle against a sudden storm, and fight to regain control of their fishing boat as a huge wave crashes over its bow, ripping the sail and drawing the craft perilously close to the rocks in the left foreground. One of the disciples succumbs to the sea’s violence by vomiting over the side. Amidst this chaos, only Christ, at the right, remains calm, like the eye of the storm. Awakened by the disciples’ desperate pleas for help, he rebukes them: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” and then rises to calm the fury of wind and waves.”
“Set me alight We’ll punch a hole right through the night Everyday the dreamers die See what’s on the other side “
-U2 “In God’s Country”
“People fear miracles because they fear being changed.” Which is the source, I think, of this other kind of fear that stands somewhere between a holy awe and mighty terror: the fear of being changed. And make no mistake, Jesus is asking the disciples to change. In this very moment he is drawing them from the familiar territory of Capernaum to the strange and foreign land of the Garasenes. And he is moving them from being fishermen to disciples. And he is preparing them to welcome a kingdom so very different from the one they’d either expected or wanted.”
“The change they are facing is real, and hard, and inevitable, and all of this becomes crystal clear as they realize the one who is asking them to change has mastery over the wind and see and is, indeed, the Holy One of God. That change, of course, will also and ultimately be transformative, but I doubt if they see that yet.”
– David Lose, President of Luther Seminary
Bulletin, 5th Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, 2024
Click here to view in a new window.
Bible Study on the road to hear Cleo Coleman as Harriet Tubman
Bible study broke their usual routine and ventured to hear fellow member Cleo Coleman’s portrayal Harriet Tubman at the Juneteenth celebration in Fredericksburg. 6 were served lunch at Castiglias before the event and then on to Market Square. Cleo was delayed to perform at 2:30pm so Senator Tim Kaine could be there to hear Cleo’s performance. Cleo has been a member of that group for over 20 years.
There are two videos. The first one of 10 minutes is Cleo talking out of character about Tubman and her life. The second 28 minutes is Cleo in portrayal. That video is audio only with image overlays.
Photos
Videos
01 Introduction to Harriet Tubman
02 Harriet Tubman – portrayal- audio and photos