By Rev. Tyger Penson
Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be Still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm (Mark 4:39).
It’s raining today. I see the rain drops on my window, hitting the leaves and bouncing merrily off to nestle in the ivy and sword ferns. I begin to hum a song I loved years and years ago when I lived in Canada: “Joy Is like the Rain” by the Medical Mission Singers.
The Medical Mission Sisters were part of the beginnings of new movement of Religious Sisters in the Roman Catholic Church who began in 1925 with a mission. As their founder said, the members “were to live for God…to dedicate themselves to the service of the sick for the love of God and…to be properly trained according to the knowledge and standards of the time in order to practice medicine in its full scope, to which the Sisters were to dedicate their lives.” It was not until 1935 that the church allowed them to work in medicine and all its branches. Their work extended across the world.
In the 1960s, the Sisters began singing their own brand of Christian folk music as an aide to the medical health and wellness which was their focus. And that is where I came in. I had a folk singing group called Yahweh Singers and one of the Sisters’ songs we sang was, “Joy Is like the Rain.”
Today as I recalled that appropriate song, I recalled the third verse which is taken from the Gospel of Mark. “I saw Christ in wind and thunder, joy is tried by storm/Christ asleep within my boat, whipped by wind, yet still afloat/Joy is tried by storm.”
Sometimes the rains and storms are gentle like the one today, but we are also aware that the “storms of life” can be powerful, tumultuous, and terrifying like the one the disciples experienced at sea. Our storms may come as emotional trauma or overbearing fear or anxiety. They often come quickly as an unanticipated surprise or as a creeping virus of an unknown future. Sometimes they attack our bodies with illness or take away loved ones or cloud our vision of what can be. The storms would like to imprison us. Christ does not want that to happen, and neither do we!
In and through it all, is Christ, in our midst to bring us peace, safety, and healing. “Peace! Be still!” says Jesus to our winds and storms. Have faith in the ever-present Christ who will never desert you. Sing with the rain drops, dance with the bouncing leaves, smile with the joy that Christ gives to us! Joy is like the rain! With the help of Christ, we can weather the storms and come out with a heart filled with joy.
Prayer: Christ, here I am. Sometimes I’m frightened by the storms about me. Let me hear again and again your words, “Peace! Be still!” Let me feel again the joy that comes as an aftermath of storms. Amen.