SERMON, 7 AUGUST 2016

Collect

God of judgement and grace: grant to us the Spirit to think and do always those things that are right so that we may follow in your way all the days of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the holy spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

Readings

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Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah…

10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 ’What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?’ says the Lord; ‘I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; 13 bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation— I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. 14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

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18 Come now, let us argue it out’, says the Lord: ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken’.

Psalm 50:1-8, 23 

‘…23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me; to those who go the right way, I will show the salvation of God.’

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible…

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised.[a] 12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, ‘as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.’

13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14 for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40

[Jesus says] 32 ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

35 Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

39 ‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

Today [yesterday] we celebrated the feast of the Transfiguration, which Luke describes as Jesus appearing in His glory before Peter, John and James.

Luke describes Jesus’ face changing, His clothes become dazzling white while he is praying…

Then, Moses and Elijah appear and talk to Jesus, and Peter proposing to erect a monument, is described as Peter “not knowing what he said”, which leads into the question I would like to ask from our Gospel reading today - What is your treasure and where do you keep it?

Luke makes it clear through the response to Peter’s proposal to build ‘booths’ or ‘dwellings’ that building religious structures is not the answer, so clearly our treasure should not be about hanging on to and trying to contain even powerful spiritual experiences in earthly ‘booths’ or structures….

TELL ME, WHAT’S INSIDE YOUR TREASURE CHEST? WHAT DO YOU LOVE?

Jesus is telling us that God wants to give us the best treasure, the Kingdom of God!

What is the Kingdom of God?

Do you think the whole Kingdom of God fits in ANY TREASURE CHEST [booth / tENT / STRUCTURE / INSTITUTION]?

No! The Kingdom of God is bigger than the whole earth, bigger than the whole universe, and Jesus wants to give it to us! Where can we put it? Where will it fit? It is too big for any container; it takes up everything! It is bigger than the world, bigger than religious experience or institutions, bigger than all creation! Is it what we love most? Or do we love our things and achievements more?

What treasures can we put in God’s kingdom? Money in the bank? Cars in the garage? A house or career on earth? No!

Jesus is telling us that our hearts are where our treasure is – WHAT YOU LOVE IS WHAT YOU TREASURE

Is your heart set on your treasure in a bank, in a garage, on any earthly thing or institution, or in seeking first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness? Because where your treasure is, is where your heart will be….

 In our Gospel reading, I believe Jesus is asking each of us individually and collectively

Where are our hearts? We’ve had a few newsworthy evets that beg the question!

If you enjoy participating in or watching sport, there are always headlines, be it drugs and shame or victory and glory in Olympics, soccer or whatever…

The successes and failures of the clearly “praying Lions” rugby team touches me, but the defeat of the faithful shows us God is concerned with much more than victory – our treasure should not be earthly performance, be it spiritual, social, or sporting!

Municipal elections were given a lot of coverage this last week:

As Helen and I were quietly and peacefully queuing to vote, I reflected on what a miracle that was in itself, remembering earlier elections, and especially our first democratic elections – do you remember wondering if we were we going to be shot?

This week, a colleague at work showed me a quote attributed to Nelson Mandela to the effect that if the ANC ever betrays the peoples’ trust, the people should overthrow the ANC the same way Apartheid was overthrown – at the ballot box… And the nation has spoken, I believe asking and hoping for improved service delivery, elimination of corruption, and hopefully true servant leadership… I really we are maturing as a democracy and issues over and above the past are coming to the fore for voters, which is a good thing, and I praise God for it!

Many believe government is arrogant, is not adequately addressing our many challenges and has lost touch with the people. Even Julius Malema has been quoted as saying the ANC has been humbled ….

Surely, this is important, but if our treasure should not be about hanging on to and trying to contain even powerful spiritual experiences in earthly ‘booths’ or structures, clearly earthly political structures or ideologies in themselves also should not be our treasures….

So, where do we find the pearl of great price?

Early on election day, I went cycling and there was an altercation between a cyclist and a farmer in a bakkie, and the farmer hit the cyclist, and some cyclists and a taxi driver stopped to calm things down… On reflection, more than a sermon on “the good taxi driver” as a parallel to the “good Samaritan”, I was thinking that this compassionate behaviour by the peacekeepers was surely more like treasuring and seeking God’s peace, God’s reign, on earth, as it is in heaven?

Surely our ordinary everyday words and actions come from our hearts, from what we treasure, and either build or tear down the Kingdom? This experience was definitely a heavenly deposit for those involved in their being agents of peace and love…

There was another gem of a story this week that truly touched me – it was the Church’s response to the murder of an old priest in France by extremist youths while he was in church… Can you imagine how you’d feel and react if gunmen attacked us?

The newscast I saw showed the Christians praying for their attackers, shocked and appalled, yet forgiving them and clearly doing their best to love them…

Clearly, these compassionate Christians were not merely hanging on to ideologies, or religious structures, or theologies and ideas about God, surely they were showing through their response in and from a place of love to a terrible and real crisis where their hearts lie, where their treasure is, and that it is in heaven?

This compassionate behaviour of ordinary Christians is the best example of treasuring and seeking and being God’s peace, God’s reign, on earth, as it is in heaven, I have heard of this week…

I invite you all to join me as I keep treasuring and seeking and being God’s peace, God’s reign, on earth, as it is in heaven, to the best of my admittedly limited ability, trusting in God’s infinite wisdom and abilities….

I feel God may want someone to share an experience of compassion… [Alpha story]

August is the month of compassion - surely God is calling us to sincerely seek to participate in being and also choosing to be aware of and acknowledge others behaviour that is driven by compassion, be they taxi drivers, Julius Malema’s or whoever?

Amen!

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Rev Gavin Smith

SERMON 24 JULY 2016 10th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

SERMON  24 JULY 2016

10th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Collect

Living God, you raise us to fullness of life in Christ: teach us to pray and grant us hopeful persistence in seeking your will and your way; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

Readings:

Hosea 1:2-10 / Genesis 18:20-32

20 Then the Lord said, ‘How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21 I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.’

22 So the men turned from there, and went towards Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord.[a] 23 Then Abraham came near and said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’ 26 And the Lord said, ‘If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.’ 27 Abraham answered, ‘Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?’ And he said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.’ 29 Again he spoke to him, ‘Suppose forty are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of forty I will not do it.’ 30 Then he said, ‘Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.’ He answered, ‘I will not do it, if I find thirty there.’ 31 He said, ‘Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.’ 32 Then he said, ‘Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.’

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Psalm 85 / 138 

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Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives[a] in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

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8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe,[b] and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,[c] by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God[d] made you[e] alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed[f] the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

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(16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling[g] on visions,[h] puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,[i] 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.)

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Luke 11:1-13

11 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ 2 He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

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Father,[a] hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.[b] 3 Give us each day our daily bread.[c]4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.

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Perseverance in Prayer

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5 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” 7 And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

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9 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for[e] a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit[f] to those who ask him!’

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Footnotes:

Luke 11:2 Other ancient authorities read Our Father in heaven

Luke 11:2 A few ancient authorities read Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us. Other ancient authorities add Your will be done, on earth as in heaven

Luke 11:3 Or our bread for tomorrow

Luke 11:4 Or us into temptation. Other ancient authorities add but rescue us from the evil one (or from evil)

Luke 11:11 Other ancient authorities add bread, will give a stone; or if your child asks for

Luke 11:13 Other ancient authorities read the Father give the Holy Spirit from heaven

Did you know, Jesus … “2 … called a child, who he put among them, 3 and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’.” [Matthew 18:2-4]? What do you think this means?

For me, Jesus is talking about children who don’t think they know better than God, and who trust God enough to throw themselves completely into God’s care, the way my children, when they were little, used to throw themselves at me, knowing I’d catch them…

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What do you think?

Jesus promises to give us good gifts, the gift of the Holy Spirit, if we ask…. What gifts has Jesus given you? Who is the Holy Spirit?

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THE BEST GIFT IS GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT, LIVING IN US, GUIDING US, HELPING US…

I have a fun new prayer to share with you…

We really can learn about prayer from children….

I find it a bit sad when we take what Jesus teaches about prayer in this passage as meaning we must literally pray the Lord’s prayer, instead of looking at the spirit of Jesus’ prayer – how it shows His close relationship with God, where Jesus uses the Aramaic “Abba” or “Daddy” for God which is so much more personal than the usual translation of “Our Father”.

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Jesus’ prayer goes on in this intimate way – as he acknowledging God as heavenly, powerful, amazing, praiseworthy… Jesus really opens His heart to God, praying how He yearns most for God to be honoured and listened to, obeyed in love, seen as Lord by us on earth, as God is in heaven.

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Jesus prays for God to meet our needs, our daily bread, and for us to forgive, and be forgiven, remembering all glory, all power, all majesty belongs to God, for ever, and ever…. AMEN!

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Thomas Merton, one of my favourite mystics wrote a similarly heart-felt prayer “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” [Thoughts in Solitude]

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Doesn’t that resonate with you? It resonates with me, as I face my struggles, temptations, doubts….

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A friend of mine, a faithful Christian who I haven’t seen in a while popped in to see me at work on Friday morning, and told me he was in a very difficult situation – he described how, this last week, he had had to close his company that he had been running for 30 years…. I know how he has been persevering, guided by God, as we have journeyed together for 18 of these years, how he had never given up, always trusting God, giving each and every difficulty to God, and how God had always saved him, but this time, God didn’t…

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My dear friend, with tears in his eyes, described how confused he was, and how people had told him he should “let go, and let God take care of things”, but he asked “what does this mean?”

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There’s an old saying that we should “pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you.” It’s been attributed to St. Ignatius (though there’s no evidence that he actually said it), yet many think it captures the Ignatian spirit: turning it all over to God in prayer and then working tirelessly and urgently to do God’s work. I told him about this saying, and comforted him with my heartfelt belief that God had known how hard he had worked, how he had done his best, honestly honouring God and “running with perseverance the race set before him”, and that surely God was saying enough, my good and faithful servant, I know am taking you to do something new”, and how God, who had faithfully been by his side all these years, would not forsake him now, and I believe it – I know God hears our prayers, and answers them as is best for us, but not always the way we think is best for us…. In tough times, one of my mantras is “God works to the good in all things for those who love Him” [Rom 8:28].

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I read an interesting twist on this St. Ignatius’ saying, where the author reverses it to be: “pray as if everything depends on you, work as if everything depends on God” …

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What does he mean? He explains it by saying the intention is for prayer to be urgent: God has to do something dramatic if everything depends on me.  It also puts our work in the right perspective: if it depends on God, we can let it go.  We can work hard, but leave the outcome up to God.  If God is in charge, we can tolerate mixed results and endure failure.

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Ignatius writes about work and human effort in a letter to an aristocrat named Jerome Vines, whom I imagine was a busy, hard-charging, Type A character (like my friend who has lost his business), who was getting upset about the fate of his many projects. Ignatius writes, “people must make up their minds to do what they can, without afflicting themselves if they cannot do all that they wish to do. We must have patience and not think that God, our Lord, requires what we cannot accomplish.”

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Ignatius concludes with this: “There is no need to wear yourself out, but make a competent and sufficient effort, and leave the rest to God who can do all God pleases.”

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Somehow, I find this comforting, and I hope my friend finds it comforting, and I hope you too find it comforting….

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We need prayer to be more about our relationship with God, more about learning to trust God more, more about discovering prayer as a way for us to align our desires and our perspectives with God’s eternal, perfect perspective and desires, in and through the Holy Spirit God so generously gives us, rather than trying to get God to give us what we want…. Jesus’ prayer is about aligning our desires and our perspectives with God’s, as is Merton’s pray, as is St Ignatius’….

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If our prayers too are about God, about us really seeking God’s path, seeking the good gift, the perfect gift of the Holy Spirit, who helps us align our desires and our perspectives with God’s, who whispers into our hearts and minds and souls, showing us the world, people, all creation through God’s eyes, then, surely, we shall not be disappointed, surely we’ll know peace that doesn’t depend on circumstances, but the true peace that can only come from trusting God, throwing ourselves into His care, like children throwing themselves into their Daddy’s arms, knowing God will work to the good in all things, because that is just God’s nature….…

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And our readings show it!

As sinful Sodom and Gomorrah are, for the sake of ten, God would save them…

Paul, exhorts us to continue to live our lives rooted and built up in Jesus, trusting Him, abounding in thanksgiving.

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Pauls warns us not to let anyone take us captive through deceit, as we have come to fullness in Him, who is the Head of every ruler and authority. Paul reminds us we are buried with him in baptism, and also raised with him through faith made alive together with Him, when he set all that is bad aside, triumphing over evil.

(Paul reminds us to not let anyone condemn us with rules, the mere shadow of what is to come, as the substance belongs to Christ, the head, to whom we need to hold fast, as he nourishes and holds us, his body on earth, as we grow and mature through God.)

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In our Gospel reading, Jesus himself tells us to Persevere in Prayer. He reminds us, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened... If we then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!’

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Amen!

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Rev Gavin Smith

SERMON 21 FEBRUARY 2016 – LENT 2 THE STORMINESS OF GOD

SERMON 21 FEBRUARY 2016 – LENT 2

The Storminess of God

Readings:  Gen 15:1 – 12; Ps 29; Phil. 3:17 - ;  Lk 13:31-35

In the names of our glorious, all-encompassing God.  Amen.

During this past week, we’ve had some really dramatic, perhaps even frightening storms for some of us, in Johannesburg!  And in today’s Lenten Sermon, we’re invited to focus on God’s storminess.

This isn’t exactly the most reassuring image of God, is it?  Especially when viewed in light of some of our Highveld storms with lightening, hail, flash floods, etc.  And when we examine the storminess of God, as presented to us this morning in Psalm 29, there’s an unpredictable and dangerous wildness, perhaps even viciousness, about this description of God as being the weather, which is hardly attractive and certainly very frightening and threatening!

However, we need to remember that the people in the times in which the Psalms were written, had no real understanding of meteorology;  for them, any experience or form of weather was immediately animated into a mood or expression of God.  This is where our first painting comes in …. This is the large picture.  I’m sure that many of us recognize this scripture story ….. if you’d like to read it, you’ll find it in Matthew 14:22 following.  This story happens after Jesus’ miraculous feeding of 5000 plus people, Jesus sends the disciples over the lake in a boat, while he himself goes up a mountain to pray.

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In Verse 24, we’re told that the boat was buffeted by waves and wind ….. notice the spiral waves at the bottom of the picture – the wind is conveyed by the very fully extended sails … and other than the figure of Peter, sinking in the water, the rest of the disciples stand stiff and lost, almost frozen, paralyzed with fear.

Verse 23 mentions the darkness of the evening, in fact, the lack of natural light extends to the base of the boat, which extends the feeling of fear …. That the boat no longer feels solid or safe.  However, notice the gold aureole around the top of the sails and the gold line at the top of the boat (which obviously is a mystical message because no Galilean could afford, financially, to paint that boat with gold leaf … let alone being practical!)   …The gold represents the “holy bubble” of  the presence of God’s protection  - God doesn’t take away the storm, necessarily, but certainly is fully present in it.

Also, there’s a further containment shown in the right and left of the painting = on the right we see the figure of Jesus reaching out  to Peter;  on the left, there’s the figure on a large outcrop of rock (notice three little pinnacles) and the man seems to have a rope attached to the boat – is the rock perhaps God the Father  - eg Psalm 19:  “O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer”  (The Rock being God the Father;  the Redeemer Jesus;  the wind, the Holy Spirit.)

Remember also that, in Christian symbology, a boat represents a church!  And this raises the question:  when the global church faces various figurative storms, in the world, can we / will we remain faithful to focusing on Jesus, anchored on God, and allow the Holy Spirit to set the direction?

So, Veneziano’s painting and Matthew’s writing of this story, very much present a theology and image of God, which incorporates God’s storminess BUT as something external to us, and seemingly random and as storms caused by God;  what this then tends to do sometimes, is to present God almost as a petulant, ill-tempered cosmic child who has a temper tantrum when things don’t go his way!  Or, whatever …. Or who takes pleasure in punishing us for sin or unbelief, through all sorts of natural disasters.

In the second picture, the Munch – If you put part of your hand or some of your fingers over the red and orange sky, the mood and meaning of the entire picture changes.

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In other words, it is possible here that the storminess is in the person in the foreground’s interior being, and that the angry striped red and orange sky is an exteriorization of the person’s state of mind …. The storminess resulting from an anger-filled despair; despair represented in grey landscape.  A stark reminder that we see the world according to our moods, emotions, experiences, perspectives …. NOT how the world really is!

Neither of these paintings are really faithful representations of God’s storminess for us today – which really is much, much more like the “STILL, SMALL VOICE” that Elijah encounters on the mountain (refer to 1 Kings 19:11ff)  Most often, not exclusively, but most often any “storminess” which we’ll encounter as faith based people, either personally or communally, will tend to be because

1.  We’re  resisting some sort of spiritual growth, or
2. Because society criticizes, condemns or ridicules us for taking our faith seriously.

When God activates a form of storminess that deeply unsettles us, takes us out of our comfort zone, it’s usually either because we’ve got stuck in a rut and are perhaps only going through the motions of our faith, OR like Job, challenging us into a new depth in our relationship with God.

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In other words, for example, when we’ve become too attached and invested in the familiar and in human created securities, God may well send us a metaphoric storm so that we can let go of synthetic moorings and rather allow God to be our anchor, our boat, our captain, our wind in the sails.

Archbishop Helder Camara wrote a little poem about this:

            Pilgrim
            when your ship
            long moored in harbour
            gives you the illusion
            of being a house;
            when your ship begins to put down roots
            in the stagnant water by the quay
            PUT OUT TO SEA!
            Save your boat’s journeying soul
            and your pilgrim soul,
            cost what it may!

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A Lenten-type spiritual storminess may also be God’s way of overtly inviting us to let God’s Spirit remove all sorts of unhelpful barriers in our lives!  These barriers could be between the circumstances of our lives and the rest of the world, or, between God and ourselves, or resistances towards things of faith within ourselves, …. Etc.

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NB:  What is always to take to heart is that God’s storms always have a good purpose, meaning and fruitfulness which not only bless us, but also benefits all life around us!!

So yes, our spiritual iourney will at times, have aspects of storminess about it;  however, when these are not from God then God will protect us and be a refuge in the midst of them;  and when God has provoked the storm, then we can know absolutely that God has our best interest at heart!!

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Irrespective of the source or consequences of storminess in our lives, God will remain immovably present and our fail-safe security!

Amen

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Ven Michelle Pilet