After a long day of teaching and feeding of the 5,000, Jesus needs some time alone. I imagine he feels like a school teacher, after an exhausting day with noisy and needy children, with parent/teacher conferences still to come that evening. Mentally and physically depleted!

Jesus sends the disciples ahead in a boat and takes a much needed break to pray and rejuvenate. Today's reading begins in the evening, with Jesus on the water's edge noticing the disciples "straining at the oars because the wind was against them."  Although he knows the disciples were struggling, he must have also known they were in no real danger.

The scripture says he was planning to pass them by as he walked on the water to their next destination. I imagine Jesus' mind was occupied with what lay ahead - the scores of people on the other side of the lake who would require his energy and attention. This late-night walk was his chance to gather his thoughts.

But the disciples saw him and Mark says they were terrified.

Although Jesus had other plans that evening, he changed them. "Take courage...don't be afraid" and he climbed into the boat and the storm ceased.

How many times have we been so focused on our daily plans and preoccupied with our work that we miss the opportunity to calm another's rocky seas? It's hard to willingly climb into another person's fears, struggles, life, but Jesus did - and does and will continue to.

If Jesus had kept going with his plans that evening, we would never have known about this miracle of walking on the water. It is also quite striking that the King of all creation took time to climb into a boat to calm our fears. This may be the most significant miracle that occurred that day.  And more of what He is calling us to do this Lenten season.  

 Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that our troubles are light and momentary compared to the eternal glory that waits for us. There is comfort in those words as we get older and come face to face with our own mortality and "wasting away." Life presents us with challenges and heartbreaks we could never have imagined, and they sure don't seem "light and momentary" when we are going through them.  Although it is sometimes hard to step outside of ourselves and our circumstances, the long view certainly provides us with the hope of a glorious future.  We don't always get it right, we don't always get what we want or think we need, but the eternal hope is that we will remember where our strength comes from, and look to God for guidance and sustenance

This Lent, through a discipline of study, prayer and praise, both individually and with our fellow Christians, may we all come closer to having our thirst quenched indeed! "Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God!"

Teaching is important.  It is our opportunity to act in God's will, bringing members to Christ's body, helping to bring His kingdom to earth.  Teaching is difficult.  It requires study, discipline, focus, commitment, and love.

I teach, I learn, I grow in my faith, I develop relationships, I receive love.  I give time and effort to teaching.  And in giving I receive.  Following God's calls and commands always leads to good for us and for those around us.  That's how God works.

This Lent, let's take the call to teach, especially the children within our opportunity to reach.  The Lenten season offers chances for children to learn the most important parts of our story and to join into many important traditions.  We give them, and our world, so much when we give them the Word.

The first is the refrain from Psalm 80, this plea to God:

"Restore us, O God, make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved."

The second is from the Gospel reading in Mark, vs. 28:  "She thought, 'If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.'"  This is a woman who had suffered from twelve years of bleeding with no relief, despite spending all her money on medical treatments available at that time. Because of her condition, she was shunned by the community. While in a crowd of people following Jesus, the woman recognized him as one with the power of healing, and she reached out to touch him. 

I believe that there are times when we can all identify with this woman's feelings of desperation, hopelessness, and loneliness. We may have lost someone very dear to us; suffered a difficult illness; lost our source of income with no job prospects after many months; witnessed unconscionable wartime atrocities; been unable to climb out of a deep depression, or any number of things.  Our situations may differ, but our need for healing binds us together.

While we claim faith in God, when we experience a time of deep suffering we may likely be in a state of disconnectedness with our faith.

"Restore us, O God, make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved."

We, as God's children and made in the image of God, are called to be the healing presence of Christ for our suffering brothers and sisters, and they for us in our own times of suffering. When has a friend called you, and after talking with her as she shared her pain, you knew that the spirit of God had embraced you both in a profound and healing manner? When have you been in the depths yourself, and reached out even a tentative hand, to find that another person's response has given you some peace in mind, body or spirit? This is the healing power of Christ within and among us. 

God, help me to reach out when in need, to a friend who will act in your love.

God, when someone in need comes in close proximity to me, hoping to find you, help me to be present with him or her and to act in your love.

There is healing. There is peace. There is freedom from suffering.

Restore us, O God, make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved, that in you we may find wholeness.

Jesus Stills a Storm

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side.' And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?' He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, 'Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?' And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'

In the story, the disciples are frightened by the fierce winds and raging seas but like a child that calls out from their lightning lit room, a calm voice allays the fear. Were a bunch of fishermen really going to perish in a storm that Jesus could sleep through? Doubtful. But we all exaggerate our crises, don't we? We desperately want that attention and reassurance whether we are a child who thinks there's a monster under our bed or an adult facing hardships that threaten to overwhelm us. We feel abandoned and think that God doesn't care. Once we are aware of His presence, it all seems much more bearable just as the child's fear diminishes with a parent's hug and soothing words. We just need to have faith that He is there for us when we hit those troubled waters. Like the disciples, we forget what He is capable of and stand in awe when he rescues us again . . . and again.

Our bodies are gifts from God; therefore we should treat them as such.  We should not knowingly abuse them such as by taking harmful (illegal) drugs or drinking excessive alcohol (or any alcohol if one is an alcoholic). We should try to eat healthy food and live a healthy lifestyle by exercising and participating in mind stimulating activities. Just like in the Bible verse, sexual immortality is a sin against your body and therefore a sin against God. God wants us to take care of our bodies because they are temples of the Holy Spirit.

Mark 4:21-34

Parables- A lamp on a stand.  Spread the word of the Lord and his work. How he helps us is not meant to be kept as a secret. The more we understand and accept his work, the more he will help us.

The growing seed.  Seeds grow without human intervention just as the power of God grows.  Jesus began teaching us the word of God just as seeds are scattered.  God's harvest will not be ready until judgment day.

The mustard seed.  God is everywhere just as the shade from the mustard plant is everywhere.  What started out as the smallest is now the largest.

But is it only God who has the right to judge others?  Joseph (Genesis 42) seized the opportunity to judge his brothers when they turned up in Egypt, and he did so, but I noticed that though he was tempted, he did not punish them.  Rather, he turned around their relationship; maybe judgment was needed to resolve the enmity between them.  Forgiveness and restoration was the appropriate action for him to take following his opportunity to judge.

Paul is insistent about avoiding sinners, and judging them to be sinners would be necessary in order to know who to shun, not punish.  Again, God may do the punishing, but he specifically says to avoid only those who are close to you who are committing sins--no judgment is needed on others outside your own realm--they are not your business.  (I Cor. 5-6)

The negative consequences suffered by the sinners in the parable of the sowers (Mark 4) requires no judgment nor punishment, either.  Being sinners leaves them unprepared for receiving the word, and they suffer the natural consequences of loosing out on what would have been something spectacular.

Although it appears that we can judge under some circumstances, the punishment is not ours to give.

While the sentence,"If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand," appears in the gospel of Mark, it is also the heart of one of Abraham Lincoln's most famousspeeches. He uses the phrase to describe what was happening in the United States in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Lincoln said that he did not expect the house to fall but that it would cease to be divided. "It will become all one thing, or all the other."

When Jesus uses the phrase about a house divided, he has just been accused of being possessed by the prince of demons and driving out demons. He asks his accusers, how can Satan can drive out Satan? Satan would be divided against himself. As I thought about that question, I asked myself, how can hate drive out hate? How can violence drive out violence? It isn't possible.

As I look at the world today, I am filled with hope. Not because I've thrown out my TV, computer, and radio and banned all news from my life. But because I see the evidence of what love and hope in the face of hate and oppression can do. In my lifetime, it has made race and gender discrimination illegal in the United States. It has driven out Apartheid in South Africa. And it has torn down the Berlin Wall.

During Lent, we must face Jesus' death on the cross, but we know the story doesn't end on Good Friday. Death can't drive out death. Only God could do that.

Through many trials, distress, capture, and disasters, David's faith

and trust in God perseveres and restores his soul.

Joseph, earlier in Chapter 41 of Genesis, lifts up his faith to God in

helping interpret Pharaoh's dreams. "I cannot do it, but

God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires." Through Joseph's faith, he develops the plan to provide huge stores of food to help Egypt survive seven years of famine following

seven years of abundance. Joseph's faith is rewarded by Pharaoh's

appointment of him as Egypt's second in command.

Paul encounters challenges with the lack of faithfulness in the

Corinthians, who have become prideful, arrogant, and greedy, even

attempting to undercut Paul's authority. Where is their faith?

Paul points to his plight,declaring that he has remained dedicated to Christ

and His teachings, though being tortured and imprisoned.

While the disciples have seen Jesus perform miracles, He now calls

them to learn, to preach, and to perform various forms of ministry and

healing. Jesus has faith in them. They now must have greater faith in

Him. When we are called, we must see that Jesus has faith in us

We may wonder if we can fulfill the call.  Yes - with faith that God is with us,

and working through us.  

Certainly there are hypocrites in the Church. Some churchgoers say one thing and do another. Some pretend to be what they are not. But those who complain about hypocrites in church miss the mark. Churches are full of sinners. All hypocrites are sinners but not all sinners are hypocrites.

Being a sinner is a requirement for Church membership. The Catechism defines sin as "the seeking of our own will instead of the will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people, and with all creation."

The Catechism also states that "the mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." As I am a sinner, the Church is exactly where I need to be.

The Ash Wednesday liturgy invites us "to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word."

In this season of Lent we are provided with more worship opportunities than any other time of the year. Let us use these opportunities to deepen our relationship to God. 

What would it look like if I was that excited about my faith? How would that affect the people around me? In Psalm 50 we read, "Our God comes and does not keep silence." He comes in a pillar of fire, he tears the skies open: God makes a lot of noise, and He's telling us to do the same.

In this story we've got people coming through the roof, Jesus acting as the Temple by forgiving sins, and then we watch the man walk home on his own two feet for the first time. This story tells of people who are willing to be bold.

I pray we may have the courage to start tearing down whatever is keeping us from our Lord, so that we can get to the heart of the Most High.

These journeys were perhaps not rational choices for the travelers, but the travelers were obedient to God. They recognized, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that "God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." This is also our task as we journey through this Lent and through life, trusting that "He [God] is the source of your life in Christ Jesus." We don't always understand why we are on the particular path God chose for us, but we can still take the advice of the psalmist in Psalm 47:

6          Sing praises to God, sing praises; *

            sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7          For God is King of all the earth; *

            sing praises with all your skill.

I will bend my knee because I am not worthy to stand in His presence. I will mark my head with ashes as it reminds me I am but dust. And I will ponder Jesus' journey to the cross for this time of Lent because I am so grateful for His sacrifice. "Amazing  love! How can it be? That you, my King, would die for me!"