Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Today’s text

Matthew 14:22-27

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’

The Voice of Love

We know you, Lord Jesus. You are the calm voice amid the storm, the one who calls us to still our anxieties and listen … just listen and know you.

It strikes me that you went off by yourself to pray. I wonder what your prayer looked like. What did it sound like? Would I have heard anything at all had I known the privilege of sitting beside you on the mountain?

I imagine you sitting in silence, your soul quiet, resting, but feeling full, complete … aware of the Holy Presence deep within.

I cannot produce that fullness, but there are moments I am aware of it. I know it. I know what--make that Who--you knew on the mountain, and my soul, too, grows quiet and strong, fully knowing all life (mine, too) is wrapped in Love.

The assurance only Love can give fills me, leaving room for nothing else. I become the love you intend; losing the anxiety that has gripped human hearts ever since the tragedy of Eden when the man and the woman first felt separated from you.

Fear multiplies in separation, reproducing itself in new and more troubling forms when we feel disconnected from the Source, the One, the Love whom you knew so well sitting on the mountainside.

That’s the difference between you on the waves and your anxious friends shivering at the sight of ghosts: You knew. You always knew. They did not.

That is what you sought to bring them and the rest of us, too. You bring us … you are … the Voice you knew on the mountain, the One who says, “Take heart; it is I.”

And you are the One who finds us amid storms and fears, seeking to fill our anxious hearts with the voice of Love who leaves room for nothing else.

Pr. David L. Miller