Read Mark 4:35-41
The twenty-one first graders were upset as they entered the classroom. “Miss Betty, Miss Betty! The man on TV said a cyclone is coming to Maputo tonight!”
I had not heard the news, but they had, and tension was running high at the thoughts of strong winds and waves crashing upon our seacoast city. I spoke a few calming words, and the children settled into their seats. After positioning the flannelgraph board against the chalkboard, as I did first thing every morning, I turned to the Bible story guide and looked in amazement at the title of the day’s lesson, “Jesus Calms the Storm.” Only God could have written that lesson plan for this very day and time!
Out came the flannel cut-outs: a mountainside, a body of water, some boats, another stretch of land, Jesus, a crowd of people, and the disciples. I placed the land and water as background and began to move the figures across the board as Jesus left the crowd of people on the mountainside and invited his disciples to come with Him to the other side of the lake. They got into the big boat. Jesus, being very tired, curled up in the stern of the boat and fell asleep.
After the boat sailed along on the calm water for a bit, I dug into the box of cut-outs and added to the water on the flannelgraph huge waves that came up over and against the boat. The disciple figures were very afraid and began to awaken the Jesus figure.
“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” the frightened disciples cried out.
The Jesus figure got up and said to the wind in a very stern voice, “Be quiet! Be still!”
I ceased making the roaring wind sound and gently slipped the crashing waves off the board. No more wind. No more waves. All was calm.
The Jesus figure spoke to the disciples, asking them why they were afraid, asking them if they had no faith.
The disciple figures were still very afraid, shaking even. They looked at each other and asked, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves do what He says!”
The children took turns re-telling the story with the flannel cut-outs. Then we took out our Bibles, and I showed them where this story is written in God’s Word. A true story with the real Jesus, the Jesus who did exactly what the story said.
I sang to them what I remembered of one of my favorite hymns: (I can credit it today to Jessy Dixon)
“Master, the tempest is raging
The billows are tossing high
The sky is o’er shadowed with blackness
No shelter or help is nigh.
Carest thou not that we perish?
How canst thou lie asleep
Asleep when each moment is threatening
A grave in the angry deep?”
Together we learned the chorus (well, at least the “Peace, peace, be still” part):
The winds and the waves shall obey thy will
Peace, be still
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea
Or demons, or men, or whatever it be
No water can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and skies
They all shall sweetly obey thy will
Peace, peace, be still
They all shall sweetly obey thy will
Peace, peace, be still.”
Then it was time to pray. “What shall we pray about today, class?”
Little blonde-haired (from her British father), brown-eyed (from her Portuguese mother) Michelle stood up immediately, unable to control her excitement. “I know, Miss Betty!” she exclaimed with the faith of a child. “Let’s ask Jesus to make that cyclone go away.”
So we did. Twenty-one full-of-faith first-graders asked Jesus, the master of the winds and the waves, to make that storm go way.
You want to know the rest of that story? Jesus did. The master of the winds and the waves did it again!
On the TV that night, the children who had a TV set in their homes heard that the cyclone that was headed for a direct hit on Maputo earlier in the day had turned out to sea.
Are you feeling like you are in the middle of a storm today? Sure, the sun may be shining brightly and the trees budding and flowers blooming with the newness of spring, but all around you it may feel like a storm is raging, like winds are blowing, like waves are crashing. Whether it is the threat of COVID-19, the fear of loss of income, the uncertainty concerning the future, it is a real storm. But Jesus has the answer. He will not sleep when you ask for His help.
Jesus, we come to You today because You are the Master of everything, including the winds, the waves, and all kinds of other physical and spiritual storms. These storms cannot rage when You tell them to be quiet. Give us the faith of little children to ask for Your help as we confront the storms of life. Help us when our faith is lacking. In Your most powerful Name we pray, Amen.