(Jb.38:1,8-11; Ps.107:23-26,28-31; 2Cor.5:14-17; Mk.4:35-41) "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?" Need you ask? If you must, I will tell you: this is He who "shut within the doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb"; He who "set limits for it and fastened the bars of its door" – He who speaks to Job: "Here shall your proud waves be stilled!" This is the Lord, the great I AM! When the Lord "raised up a storm wind" against those "trading on the deep waters… which tossed its waves on high… their hearts melted away in their plight." But "they cried to the Lord in their distress [and] from their straits He rescued them." Is not He who "hushed the storm to a gentle breeze, and the billows of the sea were stilled," the same God who in our gospel when the disciples cry out, "We are perishing," because "a violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat" – is this not the same God who "rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Quiet! Be still!'" by whose hand "the wind ceased and there was great calm"? The power is the same and the God is the same. Jesus is Lord! And is it not this same God, this same Christ, who stills the waves of your own pride when its waters begin to fill your boat with sin, when it seems you shall sink into the deep and never return? Do you not know your sin? Do you not know His power? Is it not the Lord's great power and the peace we find by its great grace of which Paul, too, speaks when he says, "The old things have passed away; behold, new things have come"? Is it not the same salvation he refers to when he declares, "Whoever is in Christ is a new creation"? Brothers and sisters, "Let us cross to the other side." Let us allow the Lord to bring us "to [our] desired haven." Through the tribulation of this life let us pass, impelled by "the love of Christ," knowing He holds power over all the proud waves of the sinful sea in His redeeming Hand. Let Him but speak a word to our impenitent hearts to break the waves we raise up and make us whole. "Do you not yet have faith?" Then indeed be dead in Christ and live "no longer for [yourselves] but for Him who for [our] sake died and was raised." This is the Lord our God. Silence your tongue before Him. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "The World Is a Work of Art (Made by the Hand of God)" (final section), from The Whole Whale, eighth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, in you we find our peace, for you created us, and for our sake your Son died and was raised. YHWH, what need we fear if we are already dead in your Christ? How could the proud waves of this world be a threat to him who has already reached his desired haven, who has already come to the opposite shore? The power of wind and sea mean nothing to the One who commands these and all other things, and it is He who is with us now. O LORD, increase our faith in the salvation that is ours through the death and resurrection of your Son. Flesh now has no hold of Him, and so it should no longer trouble those who are reborn in Him. His life should be our own, and this life is unconquerable. O let us trust entirely in His love! Though the waves do rise above our heads and threaten our boat with sinking, the Spirit of your Son is present to us to command the sea to be still. And so we shall sail peacefully into your kingdom, if we but remember His presence, if we but call on your NAME.