Storms by Rev Allister Lane
23rd June 2013
1 Kings 19:1-15a
Galatians 3:23-28
I want to invite us to think this morning about storms.
This week we’ve experienced a very literal ‘storm of life’ – winds that are unusually strong
even for Wellington!
Why talk about the weather in a sermon?1
Well a storm can be a very powerful metaphor for our experiences.
If we talk about the ‘storms of life’ we can think of many real and difficult human experiences:
strained relationships, exam pressures, ill heath, poverty, hurt, loss, busyness.
And this last example is one I want to pick on.
In recent months (in fact all this year) many, many people have shared with me the
busyness they feel in their lives.
It’s a cliché greeting to ask “How are you?” but, when I’ve asked this, I’ve been amazed at
the regularity responses being about personal busyness.
Now I know how for myself (when I make this response to the same sort of question) it can
be a way of justifying my existence – the assessment of personal worthiness based on effort
is deeply ingrained.
And although much can be said of the importance of creativity and productivity, how far can
we push the ‘virtuousness’ of busyness?
It seems to me we are almost pushing busyness into the realm of idolatry.
I use this language deliberately, because I think we need to challenge our assumptions
about where our priorities lie. None of us can neglect to regularly test our priorities by
checking where we are in our relationship with God.
For our relationship-with-God shapes our relationship to all the things in our lives – and
never the other way around!
But even if we aren’t honestly facing up to our relationship with God, at a very basic level of
human experience, busyness can feel like being in a storm – where powers are raging all
around us; powers that are greater than us; powers that bend us to breaking point.
Busyness can offer the lure of feeling purposeful and having satisfaction in achievement, but
how quickly we can feel helpless when busyness overwhelms our capacities.
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It reminds me of the saying: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
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The story of Elijah is one of a man who knew and loved God – a man who was dedicated to
serving God. And yet even this holy prophet had his identity shaken by the storm he found
himself in.
Elijah’s line of work put him into conflict with most of the people around him.
The Israelites had neglected God’s covenant,
they were ruled over by Ahab the worst in a line of bad kings,
who was married to Jezebel (which has become a bye-word for scheming evil) and in the
storms of life for Elijah Jezebel was the most threatening of elements.
This super-spiritual guy was prone to the same human experiences we all are:
he found himself overwhelmed by the busyness of his life,
the apparent lack of ‘results’ for his efforts,
and the threats against him.
Elijah feels his identity being overwhelmed by these events and experiences.
Fleeing from the storm he calls out to God to take away his life.
And although this is a cry of complete desperation and surrender, perhaps it’s also a raw
acknowledgement of his relationship with God – his total dependence on God.
And if that’s the case, then Elijah’s assumptions about his relationship with God are wellfounded – because at the heart of this story is God’s faithfulness.
God reveals himself as present with Elijah in the wilderness – and gives to Elijah the
renewing nourishment he needs.
With food, water and rest God renews Elijah’s strength.
And then with the question that follows “What are you doing here, Elijah?”, God challenges
Elijah to re-examine his priorities and interpretation of events. (Note: God has to ask Elijah
this a couple of times!)
And then in one of the most evocative scenes of the Old Testament God challenges
assumptions about God’s own presence and power.
God’s presence and power is not in the violence of wind, earthquake or fire.
Although we know firsthand the strength of these natural events, these forces are relegated
in the presence of God.
In the storms of life for Elijah – both literal and figurative – God is present.
God is present in the silence; in the stillness.
God does not demonstrate his presence and power through the violent forces of nature, but
through the ‘word of the Lord’, speaking gently but purposefully in relationship.
God is present with renewing nourishment and challenging questions – and it’s both that
enable and shape the commission to serve God in the world.
And don’t we see this also in the life of Jesus?
Jesus brings God’s presence and power to the world in unexpected ways which both nourish
and challenge us.
Wherever we are, whatever storms we are engulfed in; we find ourselves in the presence of
God. God comes to us in the flesh – Jesus is Emmanuel: ‘God with us’.
Jesus also gives us an example of service to the will of God in the world. Jesus is glorified
not because of busyness or even achievement (although he does definitively secure our
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salvation). Rather Jesus shows us, in his life and death, commitment and faithfulness to the
purposes of God, for the sake of others.2
Jesus is God’s presence and power for us – pure gift. As we are told from the Galatians
reading: “Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.” (v24)
The grace of God in Jesus Christ releases us from the busyness of self-justification, renews
us and commissions us to join in!3
We will all experience the storms of life, and doing so together, we can respond to the storm,
not by denying its power, or fighting its power, but by recognising the presence of God – and
the ultimate power of God.
Whatever the storms are, we know that through them all, the presence and power of God is
with us in Christ.
We have been shown the presence and power of God as a man hanging on a cross –
irrepressible love in the darkest and most threatening storm.
And in this promise from God’s love, we are invited to receive His love and to live in His
power.
We are invited to respond to the call to give up our mistaken priorities – to see ourselves for
who we truly are “children of God through faith” (v26), clothed with Christ through our
baptism (v27)
The waters of baptism – the water of renewal and new life – express how our old ways are
put to death and how we are raised in the same power that raised Jesus from death. (Col
3:1-10)
May we always seek the water of renewal and new life – for ourselves and for each other.
Amen.
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See Acts 3:13.
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The grace of God does something else too...
The presence and power of Christ unites us – we are held together not because of who we are but because
whose we are. We are united not because of our efforts, or because we all have the same point of view.
Our unity is not something we are expected to create – it is a gift given to us. And in this sense I’d make two
observations about the gift of unity promised to us:
1. Firstly, to recognise our unity is to recognise our limitations. In appropriate humility we acknowledge our
consistent dependency on what Christ offers us – forgiveness, renewal, and nurture. By recognising our
limitations, we can more likely receive and more readily show grace to one another.
2. Secondly, our unity is dynamic. Like our relationship with God, genuine relationship with one another is
something that constantly challenges our priorities (such as our busyness, our focus on self, and our
measures of ‘achievement’).
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