Peace

I preached a sermon on Sunday entitled “Peace”.  It formed part of our Silence series.  I preached from inside a small, blow-up boat.  There was a lamp dressed up like a lighthouse.  The sermon didn’t last long, it didn’t need to.  This past Sunday was Family Service and the children of our church family sat in church.  We had new family members intake.  It was a busy morning.

My sermon entitled “Peace” had to do with storms.  It came from the perspective (isn’t perspective the most powerful thing?) of being in a boat and facing the enormous waves and fierce wind that comes from a storm at sea.  The tag-line, if there are tag-lines in sermons, was to keep your eyes fixed on the Lighthouse.  You would make it through the storm if only you kept your eyes on the Lighthouse.  I used a beautiful portion of Scripture, Psalm 107:23-32

23 Some went down to the sea in ships,

    doing business on the great waters;

24 they saw the deeds of the Lord,

    his wondrous works in the deep.

25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,

    which lifted up the waves of the sea.

26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;

    their courage melted away in their evil plight;

27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men

    and were at their wits' end.

28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

    and he delivered them from their distress.

29 He made the storm be still,

    and the waves of the sea were hushed.

30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,

    and he brought them to their desired haven.

31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,

    and praise him in the assembly of the elders

We can ask God to stop the storms in our lives, I told our church, but I am not sure that is what really should be happening.  The truth is the storm going on around us can end, while the storm going on inside us rages on.

At times, I feel like a life of storms is all I have ever really known.  There are days and sometimes weeks where the wind has stopped howling and the waves are calm.  Those days have often felt like special occasions. 

The last two years have been especially stormy, both internally and externally.   

Yesterday morning started off so well.  I was floating (which was a mixture of exhaustion and a heart intentioned to be joyful).  I excitedly shared part of my sermon, probably more coherently then I am sharing with you now, to the staff I oversee.  It was as a part of the mini-assembly I do every Monday morning.  It poured out from my mouth as an encouragement. 

Yesterday was crappy. 

Today was worse. 

If you have gotten this far, give yourself a pat on the back.  I am guessing you are holding out for the nugget of wisdom.  To reward you for your patience, I have two. 

1.       Perspective is everything, and
2.       Jesus, the Lighthouse is also Peace (as described in Ephesians 2: 14-22) and the Giver of peace. 
   

From one sailor to another, I hope you keep your eyes on the Lighthouse and the Giver of peace.

Much love and blessings

Philippa

(Please note this was a post I forced myself to write.  I am striving for some kind of consistency in my writing that my wonderful self tries hard to reject.  And I am especially tired, past the point of caring that this post ended abruptly.) (And my free version of Grammarly has informed me that there are 22 issues, either grammar usage and/or the lack of amazingly, descriptive vocabulary.  I make use of the free version, the errors are behind the paid version.  I am sorry, especially if grammar is your thing.)