Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
Mark 4:35-41

A few weeks ago in our weekly e-mail that goes out on Thursday afternoons I set up a framework for thinking about the three stories in Mark’s gospel that we have covered beginning on June 9. It hasn’t really been a series in the “5 keys to faithful relationships” kind of way, but together these three stories, and therefore these three sermons have offered us ways to consider reactions to the news that in Jesus the kingdom (or kindom) of God is near. 

As we looked at the story of Jesus being hunted down by religious scribes who wanted to destroy him, of the way his own family thought he was out of his mind, the question before us, in response to *that* kind of kindom was “What if I don’t like the disruption it causes?”

When next we turned to parables about seeds hidden in the ground or too small to be significant we considered of the kindom of God, “What if I can’t see it?”

And two and a half or three weeks ago when I was thinking about the story for today, I was wondering about the disciples’ worry that Jesus didn’t care about the storm and their lack of faith, and I thought maybe they were doubting the kindom with a question along the lines of “What if it isn’t strong enough?”

But… well… best laid plans. As Pastor Michelle pointed out a few weeks ago, sometimes the sermon we thought we were going to preach on Monday or Tuesday when we pick hymns and write prayers isn’t the sermon we end up with when we write on Thursday or Friday (or Saturday or Sunday morning).

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