O Little Flock

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out,
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven
that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.”
Luke 12:32-48

To the tune FINLANDIA:

O little flock, the time for fear is over!
The kingdom waits, and even now appears.
Sell what you have, to gain a better treasure,
and give to all, for Christ in them draws near.
As you have giv'n, to you it will be measured:
Hold nothing back, not doubt or pain or tears.

So we shall live as strangers and sojourners:
the world as ours to have, but not to hold.
Though we may grieve, we do not go as mourners;
though we may want, we shall not cling to gold.
Though wand'ring still, we journey ever homeward;
though weary yet, our hearts shall not grow cold.

So may we meet our Savior soon returning,
and be awake to tend the master's needs,
as he did ours to end his long sojourning,
who broke the bread and knelt to wash our feet.
Whate'er the hour, oh, let our lamps be burning
to welcome Christ, and enter heaven's feast!

An etching by Jan Luyken illustrating Luke 13:41-48 in the Bowyer Bible, Bolton, England. By Phillip Medhurst – Photo by Harry Kossuth, FAL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7550884

Calming the Storm

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
“Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?”
Matthew 8:23-27

Then we were terrified
and begged to see your power
when storm-flung waves crashed o'er the side
and panic ruled the hour.

What did we hope to see,
O we of little faith?
Not God, who caused the world to be,
commanding wind and wave.

More than the storm of fear,
this silence shakes our souls.
The louring skies begin to clear
of clouds your word controls.

As we, who feared our death
as if it were the end,
now shrink before a height and breadth
we cannot comprehend.

What sort of man are you,
who slumbers in the storm?
It disappeared at your rebuke,
and left us weatherworn.

O more than we can know,
sail with us through the world,
and if you sleep when tempests blow,
yet save us still, O Lord!

*The Storm on the Sea of Galilee* by Rembrandt, 1632. – http://www.gardnermuseum.org : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6812612

Safety

Based on that bit in Romans 8:

Could anything the world can do
tear us out of the savior's hands?
When empty lies are full of truth;
when steps are firm on shifting sands.

When shadows quench the burning flame
and nothingness takes shape and form,
then Christ will turn from us in shame
and curse the hour that we were born.

Until that never day should come,
he speaks for us before the throne,
who made of us his chosen ones
and will not cast away his own.

Then nothing in the world he made
can separate us from his love,
and any world our thoughts create
that, too, he is the master of.

So we have nothing left to fear:
not sword or famine, life or death,
not future things or presence here,
or length or width or height or depth.

Then, O my frightened, feeble heart,
take courage in this, safe and sure:
within those hands forever scarred
you stand forever, held secure.

This is a photo of a monument in Brazil identified by the ID By Md mackinnon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43226540

At Your Right Hand

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?”
They answered him, “Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the cup that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
Mark 10:35-45

I cannot drink the cup you drink
or in your river be baptized
where in its current I would sink,
and how then could I ever rise?

I cannot sit at your right hand
or rule in glory at your side.
My seat must ever empty stand
while in the shadows still I hide.

But for the ones who dwell in shade
you came to bring the light of dawn;
into the kingdom you have made
you call me yet to journey on

where you hold possibilities
beyond the limits of my grasp.
All my impossibilities
are nothing in your mercy's clasp,

and all my weakness is as naught
where camels pass through needles' eyes:
The cup you pour shall drown my drought,
and from your river I shall rise.

Then draw me on into your light
to stand beside your royal throne
or take my seat, not by my might,
but only by your strength alone.

Mosaic in the Baptistry of San Giovanni of Florence, ca. 1300, by the Florentine Master By Florentinischer Meister um 1300 – The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=150949

I Want to Calm

Another one from Sunday’s readings:

I want to calm the raging storm
and bid the wilding waves be still;
to wrest the chaos into form
all by the strength of my own will.

To fight the terrors of the deep
and roll the dark night into dawn,
and let you, on your cushion, sleep,
and steer the boat still on and on.

But I cannot.  I have no pow'r
and precious little of my faith.
Wake up, Lord, in this fearsome hour,
before we perish in the waves!

You still the waves and calm the winds,
then cast your weary eyes on me
to teach the lesson once again
that you are with me on the seas,

that none but you can calm the storm,
nor do you ask me to be you.
And so, a different faith is born
as once again you make all new:

Not that you'll drive the storms away,
but that you feel the waves crash down.
That if I perish here today,
you still are with me as I drown.

Le Christ sur le lac de Génésareth, huile sur toile, Eugène Delacroix, Photo By Ibex73 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68705548

O Teacher, Do You Care?

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
Mark 4: 35-41

One for today’s Gospel reading, to the tune KINGSFOLD (“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say”):

We set out for the farther shore,
O Lord, at your command,
and when the storm begins to roar, 
we call for every hand.
And when you do not come to us
or seem to hear our prayer,
how can we rest?  How can we trust?
O Teacher, do you care?

Though rebuke the howling wind
and bid the sea be still,
we have as yet a storm within
of wonder and of will.
The wind and waves obey your voice,
but can we have their faith
to make your peace our only choice
and hold fast to your grace?

When tempests rage and terrors rear,
awaken to us, Lord,
with kindness for our human fear
that calls you in the storm.
Do not rebuke our frightened hearts,
but help us still sail on
to know the mercy that you are
and reach you in the calm.

Stuttgart, Stiftskirche, Nordwesttür, Tympanonplastik „Stillung des Sturmes durch Jesus“ von Jürgen Weber, 1957 By Photo: Andreas Praefcke – Own work (own photograph), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15039823

Comfort This Wayfarer

When it was evening,
the boat was far out on the sea and [Jesus] was alone on shore.
Then he saw that [the disciples] were tossed about while rowing,
for the wind was against them.
About the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them walking on the sea.
He meant to pass by them.
But when they saw him walking on the sea,
they thought it was a ghost and cried out.
They had all seen him and were terrified.
But at once he spoke with them,
“Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”
He got into the boat with them and the wind died down.
Mark 6:45-52

You can sing this to AURELIA (“The Church’s One Foundation”):

 Lord Jesus, I am rowing
 against a driving wind,
 the fear within me growing
 of sorrow and of sin.
 I have no way of knowing
 how this long night will end,
 how I can keep on going,
 or how day will begin.
  
 The waves now rising o'er me
 will break and tumble down
 and terribly will bear me
 where I will fail and drown.
 I see a light before me,
 as if the waves were crowned
 where Christ is striding toward me,
 his seas a solid ground.
  
 You walk upon my terrors,
 and I am terrified
 my failings and my errors
 in your light magnified.
 And yet, they are your bearers
 who bring you to my side
 to comfort this wayfarer
 awash on wind and tide.
  
 Stay, Lord, now you have found me
 adrift upon the seas.
 Though storms will still surround me,
 stay with me, savior, please.
 My fears will still confound me;
 my struggles will not cease,
 but with your arms around me,
 I bear with me my peace.