Y’all……..did you know that it’s hurricane season?  Yep, we are smack dab in the middle of it. From 1 June to 30 November the good folks who study such things and are so very diligent in keeping us all abreast of current weather conditions have quite the time of it for these 6 months.  And thank goodness they are so dedicated to their jobs!  They keep us safe, or as safe as one can be during a catastrophic storm.  I know that many of you can remember Sandy, or Katrina, or Laura or Hugo.  Those were some of the biggest and caused millions and millions of dollars’ worth of damage and loss of life. 

And then, there are the smaller ones, the Cat 1 hurricanes.  In the last 50 years there have been hundreds of those.  I don’t wanna minimize how dreadful a Cat 1 hurricane can be, and while they can be scary, they’re also, at the same time, fascinating.  When Scott and I lived in Myrtle Beach, we were about 500 yards from the ocean.  We’d sit on our covered porch and listen to the waves.  In 2016 we sat on that porch some whilst Hurricane Matthew blew through.  Now, Matthew was a Cat 1, and whilst not terribly destructive in a major way, he was powerful.  Trees and tree limbs blew over and down, the rain was torrential, and he was certainly loud.  Very.  Very.  Loud.  Wind and thunder and rain and rain and thunder and wind. 

What struck me the most about experiencing a hurricane, though, was the aftermath.  Once Matthew blew himself out and moved on, and the sun came from behind the clouds, the silence was absolute.  And in that silence, in that calm, for a few minutes, we were able to just be.  To sit quietly and be thankful we had survived that storm.  To be amazed at the power of nature.  To be cognizant of just how powerless we can be. 

In the reading from the Hebrew Bible appointed for today, we find that the Prophet Elijah had a similar experience:

 At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.  Then the LORD said to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 
After the earthquake there was fire—but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And in the Gospel appointed for today, we hear that oft told story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter making a valiant attempt to do so as well.  Since we have all of us heard that story over and over again, I wanna kinda focus on the “before” and “after.”  So here we go…..

After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat
and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 
After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. 
When it was evening, he was there alone. 

[Then Jesus decides he needs to be in the boat with the disciples and strolls on over to them, which freaked ‘em out, and Peter, being Peter, has to have some kind of proof and he starts walking on the water to Jesus, it storms, Peter starts to sink, and Jesus, as Jesus does so often with us when we’re going through our own storms, keeps him from drowning.]

After they got into the boat, the wind died down.  Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

Elijah was able to recognize God in the quiet after the storm.  The disciples were able to recognize Jesus as the son of God in the quiet after the storm.

How many of us who are going through our own storms stop for a minute or 30 and just be quiet, sit in silence, and just be still and wait and listen for God? 

There is a lot, and I mean a LOT of bad theology out there and a great deal of it is concerned with the “how can a loving God let thus and so happen” or “why did God CAUSE this to happen” or “if God loves me how can he make me go through this” kind of stuff.  Lemme clue ya in.  We are not puppets and God does not ‘give’ us the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things that happen in our lives.  Life happens.  Crap happens.  People make poor choices.  Natural disasters occur.  We get sick.  Nowhere does Holy Writ support the claim that any of these things is God’s doing.  What kind of God would we worship if he, indeed, sent us all the trials and tribulations and suffering and horror for which He is blamed?

But ya know what?  When all of those things happen, we can bet that if we are quiet, if we listen, God will give us the strength to get through it.  The psalmist tells us to “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” – Psalm 27:14 

With all the things going on in our country and throughout the world right now, many of us are distressed, resentful, and most decidedly unhappy.  But in all of the upheaval, if we but take a few minutes to just be quiet, to listen, we can find our calm, our strength, and recognize that God will get us through.

When I was a teenager and in the New Disciples youth choir at my church, we sang “A Quiet Place”, written by Ralph Carmichael.  It became, and still is, one of my fav songs, and it serves as a reminder to us to “be still and know that he is God.”

There is a quiet place
Far from the rapid pace
Where God can soothe my troubled mind

Sheltered by tree and flower
There in my quiet hour
With Him my cares are left behind

Whether a garden small
Or on a mountain tall
New strength and courage there I find

Then from this quiet place
I go prepared to face
A new day with love for all mankind

Whether a garden small
Or on a mountain tall
New strength and courage there I find

Then from this quiet place
I go prepared to face
A new day with love for all mankind

Then from this quiet place
I go prepared to face
A new day with love for all mankind

I wish you quiet. I wish you strength. I wish you peace.  Amen.