Prayer and Message from the Rector 20 June 2021

Heavenly Father we listen for your still small voice above the storm. In the turmoil of our lives we pray for Your presence and Your peace, We hold before you Your World and ask for your healing hand to bring peace, stillness and calm.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen

This week our gospel reading is the stilling of the storm from the Gospel of Mark. The disciples are in a boat, with Christ, crossing the lake and a strong wind is blowing from the surrounding hills. The waves are breaking over the boat and even the seasoned fishermen are afraid. Jesus responds to their fears and rebukes the wind and waves and stills the storm. It shows the disciples that He has mastery over the elements and they are amazed, although he tells them they have little faith.
This is a story to turn to during the storms of our present time. We have the Covid 19 pandemic which is not over by any means, there is still conflict in Gaza and Israel, tensions between East and West, tensions between China and the West, civil war in Syria, the world is changing and climate change and global warming is affecting the nations of the world. In the midst of all these, and many others, like the disciples we need to look not at what besets us and the world but to the truth that Jesus is with us now. In all the storms of our lives, whether international, national or simply just personal,we can each ask the God that loves us to be here with us. We are in a relationship with the same Jesus Christ that stilled that storm 2.000 or so years ago and we know that in all things God is sovereign. That’s not to say that we haven’t to do what we can to bring peace, joy and the presence of Christ into the world but that ultimately, we know that the Kingdom of God existed in the past, now and will exist in the future and that we, that is you and I, are part of that reality in the past, present and future. Peace and blessings Richard