Finding Calm in the Storm

AM Psalm 31 • PM Psalm 35
Isa. 45:18-25 • Eph. 6:1-9 • Mark 4:35-41

In the reading from Mark today, Jesus calms a storm that threatened his disciples. I think for many of us it feels like we are in a storm. The pandemic is raging and the impact of the vaccine is still yet to be seen. The political unrest across the nation is representative of deep divisions between Americans. I’m currently living in D.C. and have watched as the buildings around me are being boarded up, the streets being blocked off seemingly randomly, and listened to the wail of police sirens as they secure the city. The city is preparing for a storm. As tensions grow and 2021 brings a renewed isolation, we are all preparing for our own internal storms. Like the storm in Mark, the intensity of it all is overwhelming and the situation appears to be becoming more severe. When the disciples cried out, Jesus rebuked the wind and calmed the seas.

I wonder how things would change if we cried out for help, if we prayed our worries instead of living with them. Have we no faith? Or perhaps our faith is in the wrong thing. In this crazy world, it is often easier to have faith in science, the government, or our family and friends than it is to have faith in God. However when the storm is raging, only God can calm the winds and the seas. We can’t change what is happening in the world around us, but we can call on God to calm our own internal storm. As Christians, we are called to fear God, but not fear the storm. We must have faith that this storm will pass and in the meantime find God’s calm where we can.

Written by Hadley Thomas

Hadley recently graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a biochemistry degree and is working in Washington D.C. as a Senate intern. She is applying to medical school and plans to become a Navy physician. She is passionate about her faith and is excited to share her perspective and interpretations with the amazing congregation of Saint Paul’s.