Colour Supplement

Articles by Christians around the world

Sunday 18 February 2007

 

"Peace! Be Still!"

A sermon for The Second Sunday before Lent - Luke 8:22-25

Preached by Tricia Anderson - Reader at St. Andrew's Church

11 February 2007

 

Peace! Be still!

Be still and know that I am God.

Peace I leave with you.

The peace of God which passes all understanding.

 

What is this peace, this stillness?

Something to do with living together in harmony?

It certainly doesn’t mean just an absence of war. Maybe it’s an absence of chaos?

 

Have you ever seen St Andrew's Well at the Bishops Palace - one of the wells which give the city its name? It’s a large pool formed by water from 4 springs which rise up from an underground river. Depending on the rainfall, as much as 100 litres of water can flow into the pool every second. That’s about 22 gallons per second for those who like it in old money - or 1320 gallons per minute. That’s an awful lot of water. And yet the surface of the pool is absolutely still, reflecting the cathedral, the surrounding garden, and inspiring photographers and painters.

 

10 days ago, I was in the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace, and I thought of going again to see the well, but decided instead to go onto the Rampart Walk, as I hadn’t been there, at all. High above the moat, and listening to the water pouring out of the moat at the south-west corner, I thought of the vast amount of water passing through the well every second and realised that it all flows into the moat, and out again, eventually into the River Sheppey. And yet the surface of the moat is calm and still, apart from the swans, ducks, moorhens and seagulls. It’s difficult to realise that 100 litres/22 gallons every second are passing through it. It’s only when you’re near the corner where the water gushes out of the moat, and hear its roar, that you realise the water is on the move all the time.

 

And I think that is the peace, the stillness that Jesus demands.

 

Luke and Matthew’s accounts of the stilling of the storm, say that Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea. It’s only Mark who tells that Jesus said, ‘Peace! Be still!’. But they all remind us of  the Creation story when God brought what is beautiful and good out of nothing, and set the boundary for the blue-green sea. He parted the waters to bring forth dry land. Great patches of it, here and there, all over the world. And it also reminds us of the Great Escape or Exodus. Moses led God’s people to the sea and they were puzzled about how to get across. Then God told Moses to raise his special walking stick, and the sea split in two, leaving a path right down the middle so that God’s people could cross on dry ground.  The slaves were set free.

 

But in today’s story, I’m inclined to think that Jesus wasn’t only rebuking the wind and the waves. Maybe, he was rebuking the disciples too. There was chaos on the lake, we know that. But there was chaos in the boat, too. All three gospels have the disciples frightened for their lives. “Master, we’re perishing!” The chaos of the sea is reflected in the lives of the men in the boat. And Jesus , in a small way, is repeating the Creation story, when God spoke and order came out of chaos; the Great Escape, when the sea retreated and the Hebrews were set free.

 

As we journey with Jesus, do we panic when storms blow up? Do we think he is fast asleep, unaware of the troubles we are facing? Or can we trust that he is the one who can still the waters?  That he can make our lives like St.  Andrew’s Well, or the moat around the Bishop’s Palace where the surface is still, but it’s busy underneath?

 

Do we recognise that Jesus is Lord?

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