06/01/2026
Hello everyone
Today’s church service was led by John V. And he delivered a very thought provoking message. It is below if you are interested 🥰
In The Midst of the Storm
If you are a sailor, and your anchor slips your boat could founder on the
rocks not far away.
It could be destroyed. Anchors are very real things in life.
Our scriptures for today have behind them that real life question that is
actually addressed to each one of us:
“Are you anchored well in life?
When the storms come will your anchor hold?”
It seems to me that we are living in somewhat crazy times.
I don’t know about you but I look at the news and there are people, most
recently, blowing each other up; locking up immigrants, letting prejudice
and insults sway the ways people speak about each other.
There are still recruitment videos on the internet enticing
disenfranchised youth to join this or that radical group and bring
destruction and mayhem into your community because, “somehow your
life will be better.”
We lived through a pandemic that is now fading into history and live in a
time of tariffs and 51st states. That is craziness – imagining thinking
about our lives today less than one year ago. Who would have thought
Disenfranchised youth….
Disempowered people…
Systemic racism…
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Fear of others…
Today we really do draw circles that keep people out.
We all want life to be better for everyone. It is a crazy world.
Climate change…
Green technology…
I watched a car commercial the other day: Turns out that if I had this
particular vehicle I would have excitement, fulfillment and a great future
– If only I had known.
It is a crazy world.
I can talk on Zoom with folks in England, work from home and never
darken an office door. I can go on my smart phone and find out pretty
much any piece of information I would like.
We are connected electronically in ways that bring us closer together;
and we live in a time in which loneliness and fear of others are scourges
that destroy our communities.
Why do teens commit su***de when they have their whole life ahead of
them?
Why is there no decent drinking water on many First Nations reserves?
Why do children die of illnesses that already have a cure?
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Why are there food banks and multi-million dollar homes right in our
community side by side? It is ludicrous some of the things we allow to
occur but we just think, “This is the way it is.”
We live in a crazy world where often times things don’t make sense,
where often times we treat each other cruelly and don’t even realize it.
We live in a world where we often times draw circles to keep others out,
and we don’t even realize it… and those are oppressive circles.
We live in a world where we often times don’t know what to do. There
is so much to deal with, How are we supposed to do any of this?
The disciples were out in a boat.
Now I jokingly say that they really weren’t the best of sailors. Every
time they go out in a boat they wind up in a storm or they throw their
nets on one side of the boat while the fish are on the other side of the
boat and so they come up empty-handed. Today they are out in the boat
and as usual a storm comes up.
A euphemism for living in a crazy world is that we often live in the
midst of storms.
Joseph, the young teen who was so obsessed with himself that he
constantly alienated his brothers, the son who was overly indulged in by
his father, in our scriptures for today faced the total destruction of his
life when he was sold into slavery. There are few bigger storms than
that.
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5,000 people show up with Jesus and there is no food – That’s a different
type of storm.
Some families are in that storm all the time, but they only have two kids.
Sometimes two hungry kids are no different than 5,000 hungry people.
The disciples set out across the lake. And a storm overwhelms them.
You each have gone through your own storms.
I know that I have.
And so we come back to the question:
“What is your anchor like in life?”
Because if those anchors are no good. then those storms will destroy
you.
Peter sees Jesus walking on the water. Now, I know that the whole
walking on the water thing is a big deal to some people. The key when
you read any part of the Bible is to understand that the Bible was written
in a pre-scientific era. We have grown up being indoctrinated with the
scientific principle – you work through logical steps and then come to
the conclusion. If the steps are wrong then the conclusion is wrong.
Communication, particularly in biblical times worked differently. There
were important truths that needed to be communicated. The steps to get
to that truth were irrelevant. It was the point that mattered, not the steps
to get to that point. The Roman Empire which lasted for 1,000 years
never achieved an industrial revolution because their analysis of life was
grounded in this prescientific approach to life.
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The point in the scripture is that the storms don’t overwhelm Jesus.
Peter wants to know if he can live like Jesus.
5,000 hungry people – not a problem because the storms don’t
overwhelm Jesus.
Being sold into slavery is terrible but not destructive because the dream
is held by God.
What is your anchor like in life?
Peter asked if he could step out of the boat and walk on the water with
Jesus.
Jesus said, “Sure.”
Peter steps out and he walks on the water. He starts living like Jesus.
Then he starts to look at the storm.
And that is what we do.
We see the storm and we think we will never make it.
A loved one is dying or missing.
Someone is late arriving.
Your child is in the hospital and you are afraid.
We will never get good drinking water for First Nations Reserves.
We will never get over our climate crisis.
We will always live in fear because the world is terrifying.
We will never make it. My life is in such a mess maybe I should just
end it all.
We look at the storm and we start to sink.
What is your anchor like in life?
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This is a tough question and a basic question that each one of us needs to
know the answer to… Because the storms will come.
Jesus reached his hand out and said to Peter, “You of little faith… why
did you doubt?”
There it is. There is the anchor. “Did you think I would let the storm
overwhelm you, Peter.” Just take my hand.
If we truly hold on to the understanding that God is with us,
that we are not alone
then when the storms start to overwhelm,
when you get sold into slavery,
when you are so hungry you don’t know what to do,
When the wind and waves turn vicious,
when the storm consumes everything
know that in spite of all possibilities God is there.
You can look at the storm
or you can look for Christ in the midst of the storm.
It was quite brave of Peter to step out of the boat.
It was quite brave of the boy to share his loaves and fishes.
It was quite brave of Joseph to hold onto the dream in the midst of the
disaster of his life.
It is quite brave of us to help somebody in need. We might be that hand
that reaches out to them in the midst of the storm and unknowingly be
the hand of Christ.
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It is quite brave of us to face terrorism, radicalism and vow not to
surrender our goodness, our freedoms or our values in the face of our
fear.
It is quite brave of us to face racism and social destruction head on and
let truth, wisdom and love win the day.
It is quite brave of us to give of ourselves, make our circles wider, not
take everything we could take, but to let someone else take it so that they
could get ahead.
We step out of the boat and find in the midst of the storm the hand of
Christ. And then the storms are not so big anymore.
Where is your anchor in life?
I will let you figure
