He who calms the Storm

Father’s Day June 17, 2012 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41 Year B The difference between fathers day and mothers day Bill Cosby captures the difference between mothers day and fathers day perfectly. In a comedy routine some time ago, Bill Cosby related his understanding of the difference between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. He insisted that Mother’s Day is a much bigger deal because mothers are more organized. “Mothers say to their children: Now here is a list of what I want. Go get the money from your father and you surprise me on Mother’s Day. You do that for me.” And then he waxed eloquently on Father’s Day: “For Father’s Day I give each of my five kids $20 so that they can go out and by me a present——a total of $100. They go to the store and buy two packages of underwear, each of which costs $5 and contains three shorts. They tear them open and each kid wraps up one pair, the sixth going to the Salvation Army. Therefore, on Father’s Day I am walking around with new underwear and my kids are walking around with $90 worth of my change in their pockets.” Now that’s funny stuff! There are other ways in which father’s day is different from mothers day. Expected church attendance is the third highest on mothers day, right after Christmas and Easter. Attendance on fathers day is the seventh highest, right after 4th of july and friends and family day. Father’s day is the 4th biggest day for sending cards. And here is one that you may not know – father’s day is the biggest day for making collect calls. Mothers day is the busiest day for the phone company. But on father’s day 27% of all calls made on that day are made collect. Even the graphics are different for father’s day – for mother’s day I was able to find a nice bouquet – the only graphic I could find for father’s day was a tie. It seems we get nice gifts for our mothers, and practical gifts for our fathers. Does that mean that we love our fathers any less than our mothers. I would think that we don’t love our fathers less, we love them differently. We depend upon them differently, so we honor them differently. Fathers as superheros When I was younger I would think of the men in my life as superheros. They were the ones who had all of the answers, who could fix anything that was broken, who could tackle any problem, and had the strength to protect me from anything. There was nothing that my dad or my uncles could not handle. On the news one day there was a story of a soldier going off to Afghanistan and leaving his family. His three year old son would not have understood the reality of war – but the son understood that his dad was a superhero- because he was going off to slay dragons and to fight for justice. The things that dads do for us are always amazing, One thing that even Bill Cosby admitted was that everyday was fathers day – because a father is always present. Every day is father’s day, because just as the work of our earthly father is never done, which is why we sometimes take it for granted, the work of our heavenly father is always with is too. A son who paid it all One Summer I was scheduled to speak at Ocean City, New Jersey, and he begged me to go down a day early so we could catch the last day of this huge card show. We got there in time and Doug entered that large hall with all of the money that a little guy could have saved from recent chores and allowances. And as we strolled along the displays together something caught my eye, it was the baseball card I had tried so hard to get as a little boy, and I never could. You see, growing up in Chicago, my hero was the second baseman of the Chicago White Sox, Nelly Fox. He was the hero of a lot of kids. I bought tons of cards. I had the whole team but I could never get Nelly Fox. Well, there on that table was one of those very Nelly Fox cards I could never find as a kid! Doug said, "Are you going to buy it Dad?" I said, "No, it's nice to see it but I'm just going to keep looking around." So we went our separate ways for a few minutes until I felt a tug on my pants. It was Doug looking up at me with eyes I think I'll never forget,"Here Dad, I love you," he said. He reached up and he handed me a piece of cardboard protected in plastic. It was that Nelly Fox baseball card. My son had basically spent everything he had on that gift for me. That card is on my desk right now next to me, in a big plastic protector. There are few times in my life when I have ever felt so loved as I did that moment. Now, I could tell how much my son loved me, he showed it by how much he spent on me that day. Everything he had! You can tell how much God loves you, He spent everything He had on you! No one has ever loved you like this. Why this price tag of the shed blood of God's Son? Well, the Bible reveals the answer in these words, "... without shedding of blood there is no remission." Forgiveness means erasing our sins from God's Book. The penalty is clear, it is death. My sin can only be paid for by dying. If you've ever wondered if God really loves you, here is His overwhelming YES! He sacrificed His Son to die your eternal death penalty on the cross. He spent it all on you. A father who paid it all Our heavenly father sacrificed all that he had so that we could know him and his love, through the love of his son Jesus Christ. This summer, as we come back to the gospel of mark, we will be looking at the miracles of Jesus. Mark wants us to realize that just as dads can be superheros because of who they are for us – that they get their real power from Jesus Christ. They are dads, because whether they believe it or not, Jesus supplies all of our needs. As we look at the miracles of Jesus – Mark wants us to realize – not so much that Jesus has superpowers, but that every things that he did and every miracle that he performs points us to – the power of God in our lives. God is the superhero in all of our lives. Jesus calms the storm Jesus has taken the disciples out to sea in order to travel on and to get away from the people. His disciples were the fisherman – familiar with the sea. Jesus was a carpenter – with no knowledge of how to sail a boat. Ironically, it is the fishermen who are afraid of the sea. And feel that they have to awaken Jesus in order to be saved. Perhaps they are remembering the words of psalm 44 – which say awake Lord, why do you sleep, rouse yourself, do not reject yourself forever. They are not asking Jesus to control the boat, they can do that themselves – they are asking Jesus to calm the sea. We often do that when we are in trouble. Not so much ask God to take away the trouble – but to give us peace in the midst of the situation so that we can get through it. The disciples ask Jesus a question of faith – don’t you care about us – if you did you would do something. He not only calms the sea, but he calms their fears. The real miracle in all of this is that they come to understand jesus and they calm down enough to realize that as long as Jesus is with them, everything will be okay. And they ask the question who is this that even the wind and the rain obey. – they come to realize that the teacher that they are following is the son of God. That he has power and authority which can only come from God. He has power and authority to not only make the storm go away – but to give us peace in the midst of the storm. He gives us peace in the storm of sorrow – reminding us that we have nothing to worry about, that God will take care of what is important and give us the strength to do our part. Nik Wallenda gets peace in the midst of anxiety He gives us peace when there is doubt all around us. Friday I watched the television show – where Nik Wallenda walked across Niagra Falls on a tight rope. He came from a family of 7 generations of tight rope walkers, many who like his grandfather fell to their death on a tight rope. I watched with interest as he talked about his preparation for the trip. He needed to be perfectly quiet, to stop listening to all of the fear talk of what would happen if he fell. He said that if for one minute, if he believed that he was going to fall all was lost. In the face of wind, rain, and the constant rush of gallons of water calling him down, he was able to walk on and complete his task. I could imagine Peter in heaven, being totally jealous of the calmness he showed in walking across the water. He was an inspiration to me, because I felt that he showed what living in the peace of God can do. It can get us through any storm. Before he walked – he gathered his team in prayer, and after the walk he gathered the first thing he did when he made it was to praise God. His dad was in the control room talking him through each moment- but he knew that the one who calmed the sea for the disciples was able to calm his mind to complete his task. Jesus calms us whenever there is anxiety in our lives. He reminds us that as long as we put our hope in God- that eventually everything will be okay. The greatest miracle of God is not in what he does in our lives, but what he does in our spirits in order to handle to storms of life. One young woman said of her dad, He can’t climb buildings. He can’t read minds. And he can’t fly. Frankly, I think there were many times in my life I wished he was invisible, so I didn’t have to see him and be frustrated or hurt. But he lacked that superhero quality, too. But superhuman strength? Now we’re talking. He’s not a body builder, or even athletic. His strength comes from the inside. Unfathomable strength. Strength to change. Strength to fight for life. Strength to truly live. Strength that is, without a doubt, inhuman. That strength makes my dad my superhero. What is it that makes your dad a superhero to you? The greatest gift that a father can give is the give of faith. A faith in God and a willingness to obey the example that Jesus Christ gave to all is us – that the real power in life comes from the Father above. Father stands for one is forever faithful, always there, the only one who loves us , hero to an end, encouraging, and really truly there for us. Let us honor our fathers that God has sent into our lives. Let us pray this father’s day prayer…..