the other side and getting there

When you’re crossing a stormy sea, do you row like crazy just to avoid the rocks… or do you focus your energies on getting to the other side? Do you turn to God yelling, “Why the hell are you asleep on the job: help me! Or do you breathe in God’s calm and take on the storm together?

Not that it’s an either/or thing, mind you. Storms are never that clear cut. Faith journeys aren’t either. But it’s good to process how we face our storms, and it’s good to be in community when we do it. That’s kind of the bytheway way anyway.

Last night’s Bread for your journey gathering at the Crowne launched us into all this stuff with the following readings and prayers. Come on into the boat and see where it takes you.

Reading number one’s from Mark 4:35-41:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%204:35-41;&version=65;

God, we know what those storms are like, our times of anxiety or even panic, when everything seems off and we’re afraid. As we get into your word, help us hear you calling out to us in the middle of our storms. And let us also hear where you are calling us to go and how we are to find the courage to get there. In your name we pray… amen.

Reading number two’s from a 19th century hymn by Edward Hopper:

Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life’s tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll, hiding rock and treacherous shoal.
Chart and compass come from Thee: Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
As a mother stills her child, Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
Boisterous waves obey Thy will, when Thou say’st to them, “Be still!”…
May I hear Thee say to me, “Fear not, I will pilot thee.

Jesus, you come for a ride with us in our boats, this ride we call life. Let me borrow from you your calm assurance, your determination, your love for those on the other side. Forgive me for being afraid, for being focused on my own needs for safety. Reclaim me and send me out with renewed faith in you. In your name we pray… amen.

Reading number three is short but full, a haiku by Yamaguchi Seishi:
Under a blazing sky
A sail in the distance—
The sail in my heart.

God, when the storms have quieted and the sky is clear, let me see your vision, what you want for the future of your people and your planet… and let me sail out to make your vision my own. In your name we pray… amen.

+ + +

So you’re one of a dozen or so who’ve been completely drawn into the wandering work of this captivating healer Jesus. You’ve been traveling with him all over the western side of the Sea of Galilee. And it’s been an amazing ride.

Then one day, Jesus says let’s hop into the boat for a sail. Sounds good, Jesus. I suppose we’ll be hanging out along the shoreline, our home turf, healing and showing those nasty demons who’s boss, right? No? We’re going to the other side? Excuse me, did you say the other side?

Already the storms are brewing, inside of you. ‘Cause you’ve heard stories of the people on the other side. They’re not like us. Why go there when there’s so much to be done here?

It’s not long before the weather outside matches the wild weather inside your anxious head. You and your buds try hard to avoid the rocks and bail out the drowning waters. Nothing’s working but your panic response. You’re not going to make it.

Hey, guys, what’s up with Jesus, sleeping like a baby?! Doesn’t he care that it’s all going to end here if he doesn’t get involved?

Yeah, Jesus is snoring in the stern, as unperturbed by the whipping wind as he is by thoughts of going to the other side. You shake him awake. He shouts out to the wind-and-waves with the courage and confidence of a tiger-tamer. And all is at a dead calm. Except that all hearts are still racing. Everyone’s amazed. Including Jesus.

You’re amazed at his shalom, his power, his chumminess with nature. He’s amazed that you’re amazed. He’s astounded by the tentativeness of your faith.

But he’s not daunted. The journey to the other side continues. (Feel free to read the rest of the story if you’d like, of the unsavory characters the crew meets and greets (and loves and heals) on the other side. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%205:1-20;&version=65; )

What does this story stir up in you? What’s the “other side” in your life? When you’ve got storms brewing, what’s the difference between shouting, “God save me!” and “God save me, so I can be reaching others with your saving love!” ?

The difference is this. “God save me” is the shout of a human being, the natural cry of someone in need, someone who’s hit the bottom. And the bottom is where Jesus tends to hang. There Jesus is with the hand held out. Come with me. Die to yourself. Rise up in me.

Ok. I will. I’ll do it new every day. And occasionally I’ll even find myself with the depth of faith to say, “God, save me, so I can be reaching others with your saving love!” But that will not be me talking. It’s the Christ in me, the Risen One alive in me.

~ Kari