Matthew, Mark, Luke and Susan
We’re glad you’re here!
Welcome to the weekly blog for Burlington East Presbyterian Church.
First things first: feel free to fill in your name instead of Susan. John might already be taken.
Here, you’ll find a weekly reflection which I hope will give you an opportunity to stop for a few minutes, to see yourself in God’s story of our own lives, of the community, and of creation. We’ll be thinking about what it means to live in God’s love for each of us, to grow as disciples and to follow Christ. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Looking forward to journeying with you.
Peace in Christ,
Susan
January 9, 2025
.Overwhelmed
Something to think about: Jesus Calms a Storm
Read the news, and the world seems to be swirling, caught up in winds going all kinds of different directions, powerful people making decisions that bring chaos into the lives of others. Most days, if we are working for changes in justice and peace or taking care of people, we wake up not knowing where to start. Even if we do, by the end of the day the priorities and needs have changed, and something else has risen as immediate and pressing, and our worries start rising because we haven’t been able to make progress because of the whirling, changing, demanding world we’re in.
Regardless of how good we are at organization and method, we are humans with emotions and anxiety and needs and when we don’t know what to do first, or what will make the best change, we get overwhelmed by the storm.
Sometimes it seems that, like what happens in the gospel story, God is asleep in the boat.
It’s that sleeping that gets to me. Jesus would have known that the storm was around, that people were scared, that they didn’t know what to do next. But he’s so tired that he’s sleeping through it all. Why is God sleeping???
It makes me question and want to explore some things. I know these aren’t all the answers, but just some reflections to share. Feel free to email me with your thoughts.
What priority did the storm have for God? Sometimes, we are doing what we should be doing, and we go through a tough patch–and what is making it tough is a distraction from what we need to keep doing. If it is a distraction, God is not going to necessarily stop it. When it becomes a need that keeps us from doing what we’re doing–when the storm becomes greater in our priorities than the fact that God is there in the boat, God steps in with a reminder that God never left. This isn’t to glibly say that our going through tough times or circumstances gets any easier, but perhaps sometimes we give more weight to the storm than it deserves.
When does God do something about it? Where is God in the storm? Jesus calms the storm when the disciples’ anxiety gets to be greater than they can handle and keep going; when they are beyond a point where they can say, “I can control my reaction and choose to keep going through this storm”. Even if we do lose it, even if we do lose perspective, God doesn’t ignore us. God reminds us not to be afraid. “Rebuke” here is a word that would be used when you are teaching students a correct answer. It’s not an angry “why didn’t you think of this yourselves?” Jesus doesn’t lecture. Jesus calms the storm.
Then the disciples, and we, can go on. God doesn’t lift all the storms. Just gets us through this one. And sometimes, that’s all that’s needed for today.
May you know that God is in your boat, all the time.
May you know the storms, and the power of the One who goes with you through them.
May you know that nothing can separate you from the Jesus who calms those storms in you and me…
and that together, we’ll make it through.
Peace and blessings this week,
Rev. Susan
Photo and content © Susan Kerr 2024. May not be reproduced or circulated without permission of the author.
January 1, 2025
I Corinthians 13 :12-13 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Hello there! It’s been a privilege to journey with you in 2024, and I”m looking forward to new discoveries we make about our faith journeys in 2025. I hope this devotional has given you a chance to reflect, breathe a bit, know that you are loved by God in Jesus Christ, and have a chance to see God’s presence in your life and in the world.
Going into a new year, we’ve got a lot on our minds and hearts, so this week’s devotion is quick and simple. We probably already have enough on our plates, so let’s get to what’s important.
We are loved by God and saved by grace in Jesus Christ. We can live to love Jesus and our neighbour (including all of creation) as ourselves. We are known more profoundly than we can understand, and loved more deeply than we know. No matter what.
When it comes right down to it, that kind of love is what is going to change the world for the better, whether we live out that love locally, nationally, on internationally. As the apostle Paul says in I Corinthians, sometimes we don’t see the big picture all at once. But if we keep growing and seeking to grow, we’ll get there.
When Jesus came to live with us, he wasn’t bringing the 10 Commandments–they were already in circulation. He wasn’t bringing a new set of rules. He was bringing Godself.
What that mean for the world, and for us, is that God’s presence is with us in a newborn baby’s cry, a twelve year old’s persistent and somewhat impertinent questions, a man who sees and reaches out to the people on the edges of the crowd who are too scared to push their way to the One who they need to see the most. It’s God incarnate knowing friendship, kid’s laughter, they way the earth smells after the rain or how to scale a fish. It’s God experiencing all of human limitations and still knowing that God’s love had to be taught and lived in a way that could be understood. For God, that meant being so present in our suffering that Jesus took it on Godself on the cross, and in grace and love died and rose again for us.
Yup, we are loved by Jesus. Infinitely.
We’ll talk more about all that through next year, and see how we can live out that love. But for right now, know that you are so welcome on this journey with us, and God loves you for you. It’s a love that is deeper and stronger than anything we will ever know, or maybe even understand.
Blessings and peace as you enter this New Year.
Peace in Christ,
Rev Susan
Photo and content © Susan Kerr 2024. May not be reproduced or circulated without permission of the author.