June 20, 2021
Job
38.1-11; Mark 4.35-41
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Well, today, June 20th, is a big anniversary for anyone who has
lived in this area for any period of time.
It
was on this day, 64 years ago on June 20, 1957, that a tornado struck Fargo and
killed 12 people.
As
many of you know, I wrote a book about that event, which published back in
2010.
The
book is entitled Fargo, 1957.
It
was just reprinted on Friday.
And
later today I was supposed to read at Broadway Plaza for an anniversary event,
but it was postponed due to the rain.
I
wrote that book because my mother’s cousin and her husband died as a result of
that tornado.
Don
Titgen, my mother’s cousin’s husband, died in the actual tornado on that day in
1957
And
Betty Titgen, my mom’s cousin, died in January 1960 after being in a coma from
the time of the tornado until her death.
I
ended up doing research on the lives of the twelve recognized victims of the
tornado, as well as the life of Dick Shaw, who was the young man in the famous
photo carrying the body of a six-year-old victim of the tornado, who ended up
dying twelve years later tragically.
I
also interviewed Mercedes Erickson.
She
was the mother of the six children who died that day.
That
day was also Mercedes’ 36 birthday.
Today
would’ve been her 100th birthday.
The
kids didn’t leave the house as the tornado was coming because they had just
made a birthday cake for her and wanted to surprise her as she came home from
work that day.
For
Mercedes, she lived with a pain few of us know, for the rest of her life.
That
book affected me for a long time.
I
struggled for quite awhile both as I was writing that book and afterward to
make sense of this event.
As
a Christian, as a priest, I had to ask myself: why?
Why
did this happen?
Why
did this happen to these people?
These
people were people just like you and me.
They
woke up that morning—to a hot, June Thursday morning in Fargo, North
Dakota—just like any other day.
And
then, a storm came and uprooted their entire lives in a matter of moments.
As
I pondered our reading from the Gospel of Mark, I found myself re-examining the events of June, 20, 1957 and
thought about the storms in my own life in the light of that scripture.
We
all have them.
We
all have our own storms in this life.
We
all have our own chaos.
And
they are disruptive.
And
they can be destructive.
Certainly
our own Deacon John, whose first ordination anniversary we are celebrating today,
can tell us about storms.
I
remember very clearly the first time he visited St. Stephen’s 7 or 8 years ago.
He
had been battered by some storms in his life—storms created by the Church and
by life and in general.
And
he came here looking for a safe harbor from those storms.
And
because he did, we are grateful today.
We
all benefitted from being a safe haven from the storms of this life for John,
and hopefully for many others.
So,
the question to ask of ourselves this morning is: What is God saying to us when
the storms invade our lives?
What
do we do in the windstorms of our lives, when we feel battered and beaten and
bashed?
Well,
as I have been pondering on that Gospel reading and on that book I wrote all
that times ago, one glaring, honest reality of my life came forth:
Although
we can’t control the storms of our lives, we can control how we react to them.
We
can’t control ill fortunes, or sickness, or old age
or accident.
We can’t control tornados, and the loss
of loved ones, or pandemics or the weather.
But we can control our reaction to
those things.
So, when we hear
scriptures like this today, as we experience our own storms in our lives, what
do we do?
How
do we respond?
Do
we let the winds blow, let the chaos rage?
Or
do we, in those moments, calm ourselves and listen?
Do
we strain against the wind of the storm and listen to hear the Voice of God?
The
fact is, if you do so, trust me: we will hear God’s voice.
If
we turn our spiritual ears toward God, we will hear God, even in those storms
in our lives.
When
bad things happen in our lives, we ask, Why do bad things happen to those of us
who are faithful to God?
We
have all asked this question in life.
Why
do bad things happen to good people, to people who are faithful and loving and
good?
Why
do bad things happen to us, who strive in our own ways to be good and loving and faithful?
Why
do our lives get turned upside down sometimes?
We
want answers when we shout our angry questions of unfairness into the storm,
our fist raised.
But,
sometimes the voice from the wind—as we shake with fear or anger (or both) and
hold on for dear life during those frightening storms—asks us a question in
return:
“Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
That
is the voice of Jesus, answering us in the storm.
Why
fear the whirlwinds and all that they unleash upon us?
Have
we no faith?
Again
and again through the scriptures God commands us, in various voices, “do not be
afraid.”
“Do
not be afraid.”
And
still we fear.
And
our fear causes anger.
And
our fear causes more storms, more chaos.
But
the message is that although the storms of our lives will rage around us, when
we stop fearing, those storms are quieted.
Because
sometimes the voice that comes out of the storms of our lives is not asking a
question of us.
Sometimes
the voice that comes out of the storms of our lives commands,
“Peace! Be Still!”
“Peace!”
“Be still!”
In
that calm stillness, we feel God’s Presence most fully and completely.
As
disoriented as we might be from being buffeted by the storm, that stillness can
almost be as disorienting as the storms themselves.
Still,
in it, we find Jesus, calm and collected, awaiting us to have faith, to shed
our fears and to allow the all-powerful and all-loving God of Jesus to still
the storms of our lives.
So,
in those moments when we stir up the forces of our anger, when the whirlwinds
rage, when the storms come up, when the skies turn dark and ominous, when fear
begins lurking at our doors and anger jostles us around, let us strain toward
that Voice that asks us,
“Why are you afraid?
Have you still no faith?”
Do
not fear, God is saying to us again and again.
Do
not fear what life or death or storms can throw at us.
Have
faith.
God
is more powerful than death or storms.
Our
God is a God of life and peace.
God
loves us.
God
loves each us fully and completely.
God
will not leave alone even in the storms of our lives.
And
the storms will not prevail.
In
the end, the storms don’t win.
The
storms are only temporary.
But
God’s love, the life we find with God, that is unending.
In
midst of even the worst whirlwinds of our lives, there is a stillness dwelling
in its core.
“In
the time of my favor I heard you,” God says to us in our reading from Paul this
morning. “And in the day of trouble I helped you.”
God
always helps us in our trouble.
And
knowing that we realize that above every storm, above every tornado, there is a
Light that is about to shine through.
And
is then than we can live!
And
flourish!
See! we hear Paul saying
today in his letter,
See, now is the
acceptable time;
see, now is the day of
[our] salvation!
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