Sea Fever

Sea Fever

(John Masefield)

(Mark 4:35-41)

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

 

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

John Masefield went to sea on tall ships at the age of 15. He fell in love with the sea and reflects in this poem on his experiences and longing to return. Yet he concludes his poem with the desire to complete his journey and when it is over to enjoy the afterlife.

Masefield’s poem likens life to a sea journey, a wild journey that is untameable by ordinary means. He seeks the wind and the spray in his face, both dangerous and life-giving. He knows life will not be an easy journey, but completed in the company of others it is more than bearable.

Mark takes us on a similar journey in today’s Gospel. Jesus goes down to the sea in a boat, a small fishing vessel with minimum sail, an experienced crew and a small following flotilla. They venture out into the deep and open themselves up to the wildness of the sea, the most unpredictable and treacherous of the natural elements.

Sea is used throughout the Bible to signify fear and mystery. It is approached with fear and trembling by most books in the Bible.

Right at the beginning of the Book of Genesis we read: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” The sea and God are connected. It is primal, there at the beginning. It’s primitive and untamed nature invokes fear, not only in sailors but in the psyche of

the human being.

In the book of Daniel we read: “I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, ³and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.”

Psalm 107 gives a similar story as Masefield: “³Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the mighty waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.”

Then we have Paul being thrown overboard by his shipmates because they thought he was responsible for the storm threatening their lives.

Jesus goes to sleep on the cushion at the rear of the boat. Right near where the rudder was and where one would normally find the skipper of the boat. From there you chart the course, monitor the wind and manage the sails and the boats’ safety.

This is also where the water would pool. It is normally the lowest point of the boat and any water that came on board would run and pool at the feet of those sitting here. If the boat was filling with water, so were your shoes.

Mark suggests Jesus, by his position on the boat, was in charge, and  the crew complains he is asleep at the wheel! Asleep his feet were out of the water, next to him on the cushion. To them he appeared to be totally neglecting his responsibilities, asleep at the wheel and out of harms way.

There are consequences for skippers and their passengers when they are asleep at the wheel. The skipper of the Costa Concordia has been charged with neglect of duty for allowing his ship to run aground and causing the loss of 32 lives. The most famous of all was the wreck of the Titanic.

Mark uses this fear of the sea and it’s inherent fury to demonstrate the divinity of Jesus, that not only did he have the power to heal and cast out demons, but he had the authority to calm the wildest and most unpredictable of the elements. His authoritative teaching was matched by his ability to manage the created world. Miracles may or may not be factual events and I question whether it matters if they are. They are parabolic stories with meaning for those with insight.

When woken Jesus deals with the problem. Taking control, he shows that he is in charge and can deal with the terrifying. ‘Peace, be still” is a Biblical call for faith and centred-ness, or as we might say, mindfulness. As the Egyptians closed in on the Israelites at the edge of the Red Sea, God reminds them that “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”(Exodus 14:14)

Is the ‘peace be still’ aimed at the sea or at them? Is the fact he is awake and present to them sufficient for them to change from fear to a sense all will be well? Is Jesus suggesting fear, doubt, worry comes from within, not from without?  The storm is not the problem. It is what we make of the storm that is.

As he swings back into the role of the skipper, the man in charge, all becomes manageable.  Did the storm immediately stop? Perhaps not. Perhaps what happened was that they now had a leader, someone they knew who was capable of leading them through what had seemed to be the end for them.

‘Peace’, be calm, let go of fear, look rationally and logically at this situation. Did you really think you were going to die? Where was your faith in yourselves and the experience you have had of God’s involvement in your lives? Why did you abandon what you and your people have experienced time after time?

‘Be still’, stop, slow down, take a good long deep breath and put your self back in control. It is no accident that one of the things we do to calm people down is to help them get control of their breath. Jesus say be still, all will be well. You are with me and with my Father and we have given you plenty of examples of our power and compassion and we will remain present.

Jesus shows his power and authority to the disciples and the flotilla of little boats and asks that we too ‘Be still’ and trust when the greatest of ill winds unsettle and threaten to sink our little boat. William Loader reminds us: "(We) know what it is like to be buffeted. (We) know what it is like to have no control. (We) know situations where only the divine can intervene."

The church in the 21^st century seems to be in die straits. Reputation is under threat; numbers are dropping at a remarkable rate so much so that the churches in England is predicted to be empty by 2050, or there abouts; the challenge to the traditional view of marriage and sexuality; and more. As we look about us here we see the challenges we have to face and could be overcome by anxiety about our existence and our relevance.

The storm is calmed and now the hard work begins for those with him, the hard work of practicing the presence and power of Christ in the ordinary events of everyday. Who is at the wheel of our boat, and if it is God, how reliable is God?

We know from experience God is not asleep. This is God’s church and God will steer it through the storms we appear to be facing. We are not alone. Like the Israelites at the Red Sea and the disciples in the little boat we are to be still, take a deep breath and look around and see the possibilities of the Spirit.

Brian Stoffregen writes: "While we may pray that Jesus would work miracles in our lives and in our world and in our neighbourhoods; the miracles that come probably won't let us off the hook from doing some of the hard work required to do what Jesus has called us to do."

Are we ready to be still and work hard to bring in the kingdom of God? AMEN

Fear v's Faith - Mark 3: 45 -51

Franklin D Roosevelt is famous for the saying, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”[1]  This is the fourth sentence of his inauguration speech, the speech against which all such speeches are judged. 

It was a speech out of character with his campaign speeches, which were buoyant, optimistic and spiced with humour.  Yet here he takes on an unusually solemn, religious air.  It was 1933 and the Great Depression was making inroads at levels never seen before.  The economy was devastated, unemployment was rising uncontrollably and all that had previously seemed impregnable lay shattered at the feet of what was, by its own peculiar character, an optimistic society.

It was no more.

FDR went on in that speech to reiterate the truth that materialism is fleeting and only a true religious focus lasts; he set directions and sought to turn society around to face their fear, a fear that was both real and unreal, logical and illogical, powerful but weak.

He knew the truth – once we allow fear to generate a life of its own, we have given it a power it has no right to have. We have abdicated our senses and sensibilities, have ceased to think, and retreated into reaction as the only course of action available to us.

In reflection on our own life times, how often has fear been at the roots of all major concerns and conflicts in our society?  Often the fears are unsaid and unspoken.  In the recent swine flu panic it seems its more to do with the old adage, it’s not that you do everything you can, but you must be seen to do so, otherwise someone will sue you.   There is only one pig in Afghanistan, a predominantly Moslem country, and he is in the zoo.  Yet that one solitary pig who was simply minding his own business and doing piggy stuff was quarantined to lessen the spread of swine flu in that country!!  Bizarre. That is not to lessen the seriousness of the situation and we all need to take precautions but to understand that fear often hides within much of what we do.

It is interesting in our gospel reading today that the disciples, and those in the other boats around them, were more interested in waking Jesus and castigating him in the tone of the Old Testament Lamentations – “How long will you forget us?” – than sailing the boat.  They were fishermen.  This would not have been the first catastrophic storm they had encountered. The area where they were sailing was well known for them. They had survived before because they took actions appropriate to the situations they found themselves in.  They hadn’t drowned then and, if they had looked at the situation logically, probably wouldn’t now.

Yet we are told nothing about what they were doing just where they were looking, where they were going to sheet home the blame if the storm didn’t stop.  It wasn’t just the half-dozen in Jesus’ boat, it was the whole flotilla, standing on the rails of their vessels and pleading to Jesus to fix it.  Admirable faith but…… faith without works is not worth a crumpet.

When Jesus is woken he is angry, his tone is one of, why have you woken me for this? He dismisses the storm and turns toward them, sleep still in his eyes, and glares “Why are you afraid?” why did you wake me up?, “Have you no faith?”

They would have probably answered, ‘We do have faith, that’s why we woke you! We knew you would fix it!’ And this way of thinking is not illogical and in a sense is true, but Jesus was pointing at something else.  He was pointing at:

·      Faith in ourselves to deal with the situation.  There is no faith unless it increases our capabilities to live.  If all our faith is, is a constant begging for Jesus to solve our problems then our faith has some way to go.  Jesus, by his death and resurrection, his presence, provides the inspiration to be more, to cope with more, to overcome more than we could ever do on our own.

 

·      Faith that we are never abandoned, even tho it sometimes feels like it.  Right there in the middle of the storm they felt abandoned by Jesus, he was asleep for goodness sake, what was he thinking?  His response was he was a sleep for goodness sake and what were they thinking?   He was with them so he was in the storm as well as they were, and he had faith in their ability to negotiate the storm.  He was asleep because he had so much faith in them, yet they perceived that as disinterest and were overcome with fear. 

A great lesson for me was to understand just how much faith God had/has in me, he trusted me to accept the life and death of Jesus just for me, he trusted me to make the step toward him and then with him toward the world, he trusted me with the daunting task of living and doing it everyday; to put it bluntly he trusted me with a depth and a freedom I definitely do not trust myself with, and only rarely do I trust Him in the same way.

 

Jesus believed in those in the flotilla of boats around him in a way they simply could not see at the time.  There was indeed nothing to fear but fear itself for they had all they needed to survive that passing storm.

 

·      If you take a short moment later to reflect on the path you have journeyed with Jesus you will find this to be true, and like the Psalmist can say,

“But I put my trust in your steadfast love; 

my heart will rejoice in your salvation.
  

I will sing to the Lord, 

for he has dealt so bountifully with me.[2]

And these are lessons for us, Jesus is not a magician who rescues us from the life as a human being, he asks us to find the faith to grow through the never-ending list of daily difficulties that seem to line up at our door waiting their turn to annoy us.  Our faith in Jesus is only real when it becomes a faith in ourselves.  Jesus is not an out there deity who shoots bolts of lightening to destroy our enemies, he is not Superman who flies in and beats back the baddies, Jesus lives and resides in us and it is within us we find what is necessary to persevere, to overcome, to keep on keeping on when it would be fair easier if we could just wake the Jesus asleep in the bottom of our boat.

He is already awake and living in us through his Holy Spirit and we simply have to accept that reality and wade into life confident that we are not alone. This confidence is not a proud self-confidence but a humble sense of the righteousness God gives us through Jesus, it is a rightful understanding of in whose power we stand and whose presence we live.

Jesus may have been asleep but he was present and in his presence there is not final harm to be had. The final harm for the Hebraic mind was death, but the fear of death no longer is real, for Jesus has dealt with that for us and now lives within us to continue our journey without any sense of final harm.

Yes we will encounter great difficulties, awful tragedies, enduring suffering but not alone, and not without the capabilities to ride them out.

It is interesting that the words Jesus spoke are noted as being to the sea, ‘“Peace! Be still!” 

I wonder if they were meant equally for those listening, and for us today.  Be still, have faith and you will find peace where once there was fear.

I just wonder.

 

 

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[1] Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933, as published in Samuel Rosenman, ed., The Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Volume Two: The Year of Crisis, 1933 (New York: Random House, 1938), 11–16.

[2] Psalm 13:5-6