Prayer of the Day – O God of creation, eternal majesty, you preside over land and sea, sunshine and storm. By your strength pilot us, by your power preserve us you’re your wisdom instruct us, and by your hand protect us, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

First Reading – Job 38:1-11

Psalm – Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Gospel – Mark 4:35-41

Sermon – In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The text for this Third Sunday after Trinity is taken from Mark 4:35-41. (vs. 38) “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

Last week was the parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed that becomes a large bush. Christians plant the seed of the Gospel by telling their families, friends, and strangers of the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. Ours is a religion of attraction. We can plant the seed, we can let people hear the gospel from us, but the rest is up to God. We don’t badger people. That’s a good way to turn people away from the church. Let God be God. People may come around in their own good time when they are ready.

With this in mind, we are taken off the land and onto the waters of Lake Galilee, which is more like a small ocean. A sudden storm blows up and even the experienced fishermen among them become fearful. So the disciples wake up Jesus with their question. Don’t you care that the boat is being swamped and we’re all about to perish? They were afraid then but when Jesus said to the sea, “Peace. Be still,” they were really amazed.

Today instead of stressing Jesus calming the wind and the waves I’d like to point out something different. I’d like to go back to Jesus sleeping in a rocking ship on a stormy sea. Water and wind can be empowering but they can also be dangerous, as we know from the realities of floods and hurricanes that can wreak devastation. These storms of life threaten to swamp us in all too familiar experiences. Especially looking back on this year families went through a lot. And this being Father’s Day many fathers have pulled their families through with their financial support, their cheerful encouragement, and in finding may different ways in keeping the family happy and busy. Last year was a kind of uneventful Father’s Day. Our family boats or ships hit some stormy seas. And we citizen sailors were being tossed about.

But here is a theme for today that should give you support and confidence in living through these stormy times. One theologian wrote that “Christ sleeps in the deepest selves of all of us, and whatever we do in whatever time we have left, wherever we go, may we in whatever way we can call on him as the fishermen did in their boat to come awake within us and to give us hope, to show us, each one, our way.”

A blessing from this parable is not just that Christ commands wind and waves to be still, bringing quiet amid chaos. Wonderful as this is, there is something even more amazing for us as we encounter the storms of life. We can recall the image of the kingdom of God as the work of the Holy Spirit, as unstoppable as the rapid spread of the seeds that are planted on the ground. As this same power and presence of Jesus Christ is asleep and available within each of us. In the face of the storms of life, we can come awake again to the reality of Christ’s presence with us, not just as a power we turn in times of need. Christ is always present within us.

Jesus is sleeping within us, if you will. So if you want to, wake him up, ask him for help and power to respond to whatever storms are currently raging and also to minister to those around you. Fathers in many families may be having difficult financial times. Many are out of work and sincerely want to work. God will help with those needs. It could be any other problem that a father gets hit with. The answer will come, in time. But Fathers have to ask God for the help they need. If the disciples didn’t wake Jesus, there would never have been any calming of the wind and waves.

Christ did die and rise from the dead so that through faith in we we will have eternal life. But you may need some help and assistance from him in this life now. So don’t fall asleep yourselves but wake up the Christ who dwells I you and ask him for whatever you need to calm the wind and the waves of your life. May God grant us this faith, in the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.