Sit down – you’re rockin’ the boat

Here's this week's i.ucc.org Bible study blog entry:


Is the bouncy tune and the ever-present smile of Mr. Nicely Nicely from the Broadway musical and major motion picture “Guys and Dolls” in your head?

This post has virtually nothing to do with that, but since you’re thinking about it, why not break out into song just for a moment – then come back
.
Ready? (to come back – not to sing again. Sing all you want – just come back here when you’re ready to think “Bible-ey.”)

Now are you ready? OK

We’ve always learned not to stand up in a small boat (especially a canoe) and that rocking a boat is a dangerous thing.

So why, in this week’s Bible reading from Mark 4:35-41, does it look as if God is somehow active in the storm that rocked the disciple’s boat? How is it that Jesus caught onto the whole deal and, probably a little crabby after just waking from a nap, told the storm to STOP?

I do not, now will I ever, blame God for hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes and other disasters. Any time someone stands up and says that storms appear because God is punishing folks for something or other my response is a succinct: “That kind of thinking is full of (insert your own word here.)”

So what am I to do with a Bible passage where it seems that God is rocking the boat? What’s the teachable thing here?

I’m going with the obvious, if not too simple, observation: God is not the one who brings the storm. God is the one that brings us through the storm.

What are your thoughts?