Jesus' Boat Ride from Hades

A great windstorm arose,

and the waves beat into the boat,

so that the boat was already being swamped.

(from Mark 4:35-41)

I clearly remember the time I was in a canoe with a Scout on Chesuncook Lake in the Maine wilderness. It’s about 22 mi. long, 5 mi. wide and 150 ft. deep

The lake was relatively calm when the wind seriously picked up, blowing the canoe sideways, sending water into the canoe.

Fear of being swamped is an understatement the Scout and I felt 

The Sea of Galilee, much smaller, narrower, and shallower, has a geographic location causing storms developing quickly, without warning, immediately threatening small boats.

The disciples, the Scout and I experienced the panic of drowning.

Jesus continued preaching the impending Kingdom of God and the necessary repentance and acceptance of the good news.

This is not just a boat ride to the other side, but an apocalyptic boat ride from hades in which we learn Jesus’ identity.

The storm has come up, Jesus confronts the storm by rebuking it, saying to the sea, “Peace! Be still!

The wind ceases and the sea becomes a dead calm.

“Rebuke” and “silence” are exorcism words Jesus said earlier in Mark.

There are storms and then there are storms.

I’m currently reading The Demon of Unrest describing the cultural storm of issues surrounding slavery leading to the Civil War.

My niece is in the middle of a personal traumatic storm as she cares for my sister with Alzheimer’s illness.

Both of these storms have their own chaotic, wacky world.

Jesus, the Son of God, who exorcises the sea, brings calm in traumatic storms.

Jesus calls us to turn from our fears and trust confidently, in the good news that Jesus is in the boat capable of bringing calm to traumatic time.

God's Wild Mustard

He also said,

“With what can we compare the kingdom of God

or what parable will we use for it?

It is like a mustard seed, which,

 when sown upon the ground,

 is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

(from Mark 4:26-34)

Growing up learned two different meanings of the Mustard Seed parable.

In the first meaning the mustard seed, the smallest of seeds, is sown yet becomes the greatest shrub, so birds can make nests in its shade.

One meaning had to do with one’s faith.

Like the mustard seed, God will grow your faith if you cultivate it.

Another meaning had to do with encouragement.

Like the small mustard seed, a small beginning in faith may become something very large.

Like the mustard seed, be inspired by using your faith in small ways because God can use it to do great things with it.

These meanings are very helpful because they help with life’s lessons.

It’s a parable though which is meant to overturn, criticize, frustrate, and transform the listeners.

Jesus asks, what parable can we compare the kingdom of God?

So, I searched for more depth by considering the wild mustard plant.

It helps to compare wild mustard to crab grass or dandelions which are incredibly hard to control and once they take root.

Jesus is saying the God’s Kingdom is coming to overturn, to take over, and to transform the world’s kingdoms.

Jesus offers God’s vision of infiltrating the world’s kingdom by transforming hatred into love and encouraging the listeners to move to action by loving your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus suggests God’s kingdom will overturn intolerance through open-mindedness by actions of the disciples.

This is a parable of hope meant to encourage us as we work to build God’s Kingdom looking forward to the day it is complete.

Hope in the coming of God’s kingdom to transform the world.

Problems in the Garden

 Grace and Peace,

There seems to be a problem between God, Facebook, and ptd.net.

FB notified me that the post on  Garden of Eden didn't meet community standards and if  that continued my account would be cancelled.

ptd.net labeled the post as having spam content in the message and wouldn't deliver it.

I will have another post on Monday that I hope isn't spam and meets FB community standards.

PR

God's Walk in the Garden

The Lord God said,

“Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree

of which I commanded you not to eat?”

(from Genesis 3:8-15)

Imagine it’s the end of the day and God has decided to walk in the garden to enjoy the evening breeze.

God looking for a deeper relationship and holy conversation, realizes Adam and Eve are hiding, so God asks, “Where are you?”

God knows their emotional and spiritual condition since they are afraid and hide shamefully knowing they are naked.

God, acting like a prosecuting attorney, asks, “Who told you that you were naked?”

Then the Blame game begins.

Adam, avoiding responsibility for eating the fruit of the tree, responds by indirectly blaming God for giving him woman.

God asks the woman for her testimony, “Who told you?”

She blames the serpent for deceiving her into eating the fruit; a really bad choice because it results in being banished from the Garden of Eden.

God concludes the questioning and acts as the judge.

The verdict for the snake is to crawl on its belly and for the woman to be its constant adversary.

This verdict is an ongoing struggle.

Between Adam, Eve, and the serpent, only the serpent is cursed.

God has pronounced the verdict with the caution, “be careful who you listen to.” in your imperfect attempts at learning to become the responsible, caring adults you are created us to be.

The Garden of Eden story reminds us that God is always walking and ready to talk  with us as we work to overcome polarization, extreme hatred, and fear of others.

Life-giving Sabbath Rest

"Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy."

Exodus 20:8

"Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy,

as the Lord your God commanded you."

Deuteronomy 5:12

One clergy group I belonged to would spend a week-long retreat at Weston Priory.

We divided our time between worship with the brothers, study, and fellowship.

During our gathering, before the retreat started, our conversation was usually about the need for time away from routine parish life such a visitation, Bible study preparation, and preaching.

The retreat was a sabbath time.

Genesis describes sabbath time after God created the earth in six days.

God rested on the seventh day, blessing it and setting it apart for humans to imitate God, by honor that day.

The Bible describes two ways to honor God’s sabbath blessing.

First, in Exodus 20:8: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy”.

Second, in Deuteronomy 5:12: “Observe the Sabbath day, and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.”

There’s a significant difference between remembering the Sabbath and observing the Sabbath.

Remembering the Sabbath as God gave it to Moses, meant remembering the people were once slaves in Egypt, but are now free.

Remembering the Sabbath in today's society is remembering it is God who set you free from the stresses of contemporary living to time from holy rest.

Obeying the sabbath, as Deuteronomy indicates, is refraining from work in order to be ready to do the Lord's work the next day.

Obeying the Sabbath’s intention, means resting to work recharged for looking around and asking, "Who do I see needing sabbath rest?"

 Isn’t a Christians work to keep the Sabbath by asking "who needs a life-giving, holy rest because society has given up on them, or their worth, or their dignity has been stolen from them?

Who needs Sabbath rest in order be recharged to continue to “fight the good fight”?