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“For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of stars makes me dream” Vincent Van Gough
I’m a perpetual dreamer; I always have been. At school I was often told to “wake up”, as I drifted away, thinking of something that I thought more interesting than whatever the lesson was about. Actually, I’m a dreamer in all senses of the word, I sometimes have weird dreams at night, but I also dream about how we can make the world a better place. In that sense, a dream can be positive thing.
The thing about having a dream, is that it requires space and time to bear fruit, and there seems to be precious little of that in today’s world. The world is full of noise, with many different voices, each shouting to make themselves heard, and each of them certain about what they are shouting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by this, we can feel caught up in a storm. Each of us is caught up in our own individual storm of life anyway, so the extra noise doesn’t help.
Sunday’s Gospel reading, from Matthew 14: 22-33, finds Jesus’ disciples in a boat, caught up in a storm, and they are overwhelmed by it. Jesus, who had been spending some time in prayer and contemplation, is alerted to their plight, and famously walks across the water towards them. Peter, who is now overwhelmed by the sight of Jesus, attempts to walk over the waves to be closer to Christ, but sinks, due to his lack of faith. Once back in the boat, the storm is stilled.
Sometimes the storm of life threatens to sink us, and in such times, I think the message of this passage is clear; God is with us, even in the storm. So, have faith, and continue in the way. However, being in the storm is tiring, so whilst there is a time to engage with the storm, there is also a time to rest, perhaps even a time to dream, a time also to be simply aware of the still, calm presence of the Divine within the storm.
Many of us find that contemplation and meditation is helpful in calming the storm of our lives. Perhaps you might find it helpful at times to find a quiet place, to sit still, and to breathe gently and slowly, surrendering your anxiety. You may wish to focus on a passage such as “Be still and know that I am God” – Psalm 46:10; repeating this simple phrase, followed by short periods of silence. The idea is to be immersed in the awareness that “God is God”, the calm centre in the midst of the storm.
As I mentioned above, the storm is made up of many different voices, and undoubtedly some of them are religious, each insistent about what we should believe, and how we should believe, all of these voices in apparent competition with each other. We sometimes forget that faith is not always the same thing as certainty, and that Jesus revealed the way to live and to follow, rather than a list of certain beliefs which must be ticked off at all costs. Sometimes as Christians we can be so concerned with the details of belief, that we end up neglecting the way of love.
With this in mind, in October there will be an opportunity to explore faith in a way which is open-ended, and which, as well as discussion and study, will involve contemplation, meditation, and possibly some dreaming, to discover God in the midst of the storm. Love, Joy and Peace will run through October. More details on our News Page
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