Put Jesus Where He Belongs!

       The Gospel text for Sunday's sermon was the story of Jesus calming the storm while he and the disciples are in the boat (Mark 4: 35-41).  The disciples are afraid of drowning in the storm and wake Jesus up to do something.  They confront him and ask him, "Don't you care that we are about to die?"  They need proof that Jesus cares.  So I talked about being afraid in storms both in the childrens' sermon and the other one.

        After worship, one of the members told me this story from her childhood:

       She shared a room and bed with her sister who is seven years older than her.  One night during a bad thunderstorm, she got scared and cuddled up next to her sister.  Then her sister woke her up and asked her,why was she sleeping in the middle of the bed?  She answered, "Because Jesus is sleeping on the other side".

       Her older sister replied, "Well put Jesus in your heart where he belongs and there will be more room for the both of us!"

       Sometimes the storms of life are literally storms; the lightening and thunder and the possibility of floods and tornadoes.  If you have ever been through disaster caused by storm, even a dark cloudy sky starts to raise your anxiety.   Even as adults, we find ourselves fearful, wondering what will happen next.

       At other times, we get pummeled and tossed about by other events in our lives that we cannot control.  It may be illness (our own or someone we love), divorce, addiction, abuse, losing a job, or being in overwhelming debt.  In all of these, we need to be reassured, comforted, and kept safe.  It is at those times when we need "Jesus in our heart"; that feeling that God is with us.   

      Then the question becomes how do we get Jesus in our heart or how know God is with and within us? It is a question that cultures and religions have wondered about through all the millennia.  Within Christianity and in other religions there has been a common thread: ways that one can work their way towards holiness, or spirituality or finding your inner god.  The problem is the fact that humans are flawed and make this task impossible.  One of the human solutions to this is the theory of reincarnation; that you can keep coming back until you get it right.
        But God has a different solution.  God being in and with us is not something that we choose or merit or make happen.  God has chosen to come to us and into us.  The promise was given even in the book of Jeremiah (31:33-34) that the words of God will be written on our hearts.  God's promise is this gift of grace, signified by the fact that God forgives us all our  sins, failings, and brokenness.
       It is the new thing that Jesus teaches and gives: the people of God's family will never be left alone or forgotten.  Jesus is forever with us.  The gift of God's Spirit comes to us in the reading and preaching of the Word, in the water of baptism, and in the bread and wine of the holy meal.  If any of those things have happened to us, we have encountered God.  It is the promise given to you.
        But as for the times when we need a real person to be with us, that is why we are called into this glorious mixed hash of God's family of all kinds, shapes, colors, and personalities.  When we reach out to each other, we become Jesus with skin-on.  The care that we give, the love that we share is bigger and more powerful than just our own.  Coming to faith is not a perilous and hard trek that we must make on our seeking, seeking wisdom but instead it is the gift of belonging to God.  Read Matthew 28:19-20.