Mtr Taylor Devine (Copy)

Dear Friend,

We are in the midst of a chaotic time. Feeling a bit unmoored by the longevity of the pandemic and the ways that we have adjusted as individuals and as a community can feel like waves that are too rocky for the boat we're in. Today's Office Gospel has us watching with the disciples to see how Jesus responds to chaos:

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?’ (Mark 4:38-41)

He doesn't say "you're overreacting" or "I know better than you" or even "it will get better soon," but instead responds to where they are, in fear, in questioning. Jesus meets the disciples where they are and reminds them of what they have to cling to, a reminder of on whom they can lean.

Isaiah seems to do the same, with delightful punctuation:

For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
he formed it to be inhabited!)
(Isaiah 45:18)

When you get to a rocky place, or a place tossed about in the wind, I pray that you take courage in calling out to the God who hears, who is steadfast, and who offers peace beyond the peace we can know on or own.

In Christ,
Mtr Taylor