Name Your Hurricane

From the fourth chapter of Mark’s gospel, hear these words.

On that day, when evening and come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd behind, he took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm drove, and the way arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we’re perishing? He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, peace, be still. Then the wind ceased. And there was a dead calm. He said to them. Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Friends, this is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

There is a Greek word hidden in this text that’s an onomatopoeia. It sounds like the English word of what it is. And it’s the word beat. The word is the waves are beating into the boat and the Greek word is epi ballan, epi ballan epi ballan. You can almost hear it beating into the boat. And sometimes that’s how storms come in waves. They just keep coming and we think enough. And yet here comes another one. In August of the year 2005, many of you remember a storm that came ashore basically landing in Plaquemines Parish and then winding its way up through Orleans and Saint Timothy. Saint Tammany crossing over into Mississippi. You remember it because you had evacuees from it. It was Katrina.

And all throughout southwest Louisiana and northern Louisiana into Mississippi, Refugees from New Orleans were being housed. And in Lake Charles, refugees or people who had fled Katrina from the ninth Ward and from Chalmette were in Burton Coliseum. And there was another group in the Lake Charles Civic Center. And methodists, being Methodist, just dove in and did what we could. We would haul them around town to make Walmart runs. We would find churches that had showers so they could take some. We would try to get them in contact with relatives that were left back in Orleans Parish, particularly. It went on for nearly a month. And we started with them when the sun came up and we stayed with them well past the sun’s going down. And we were exhausted.

Late in September. Another storm formed. And moved its way through the Florida Straits and became the strongest tropical storm ever to enter the Gulf of Mexico. The fourth strongest storm in the history of hurricanes. The storm a lot of people forgotten about. A storm named Rita. And I remember on this particular Wednesday, the mayor called preachers and school officials and law enforcement into City Hall for a meeting. And he said, ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to have to evacuate Calcasieu Parish. The National Hurricane Center and the weather center says we’re getting this one. And Wednesday and Thursday came by Friday, mandatory evacuations had been put in place for Calcasieu Parish and Cameron Parish, and people were getting out of Dodge. They didn’t want a repeat of Katrina. They didn’t want to see the carnage in their town. And I did what a lot of other people did. I stayed. I figured; I’m going to go down to First Methodist Church in Lake Charles. It’s three stories high. If the water gets up that high, I’ve got the key I can get on the roof of the building. And if the water gets that high, there won’t be much left of Lake Charles anyway.

So, on Saturday, I packed Tamara and Andrew up and we headed to First Methodist Church. After Tamara packed all of her pictures in Tupperware and hid them in the upper part of the house so nothing would happen to them. We left and don’t tell the people in Lake Charles, but we brought our dogs with us. I had a place for the dogs to be. It was a weird drive to the church. There wasn’t a soul on the road. Everything was closed. Everything. We got to the church. We unpacked and I looked around because I thought it was really strange that the sun was shining. And it was so hot. It wasn’t long until we received a visit from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Department. He just wanted to know were we staying, and who we were, and I identified myself as the pastor of the church. I said, yes, I’m staying. You said we just wanted to check on you. And he made some smart aleck remark about writing my Social Security number on my toe or something like that, so they could identify me. And I said, thank you for that word of affirmation. I’m still not leaving because people were spending 12 to 14 hours driving 20 miles trying to get out of that part of Louisiana.

The afternoon clouded up. The rain started falling. The wind at first gently, was blowing and then became stronger. And stronger. And stronger. I don’t know if you’ve ever been through a category three hurricane, but they make different sounds. At first it’s a whisper. And then a roar. And then the most incredible sound you have ever heard. And it doesn’t abate. It goes on. The church offices in Lake Charles are across the street from the church in a 150-year-old house on Pujo Street. And I’d walk back across the street to check on the building. And the weirdest thing happened. The phone rang and I thought, who in the world is calling me in the middle of a hurricane on a Saturday afternoon? And I answered, First Methodist Church, Lake Charles. The voice said, Doug. It’s Cynthia Taylor. Cynthia Taylor had two of the coolest parents you ever wanted to meet. Tommy Taylor sat in the balcony on this side. Tommy Taylor was an engineer who was in the middle of a research project with Texas A&M. He had patented a way to finally eradicate fire ants. We talked about this all the time because he was so fascinated, he said, Doug, when you put poison on a fire ant mound, they just move. You gotta put them to sleep or paralyze them and then poison them. So, he came up with a two-step method. Step number one put the fire ants to sleep. And I said, Tommy, how are you doing that? Do you have little earphones for the fire ants to listen to Baroque Lago music? He said, no, Doug, I pipe in your sermons so they can hear them.

Tommy, his brother, was also the orthopedic surgeon for the University of Alabama football team at that time. And that was before Nick Saban. Those were the Mike Shula years. And Tommy and I would lament bad football. I love Tommy Taylor. His wife, Jeanie was an alto in the choir. The choir loft at First Methodist Church, Lake Charles is real compressed. It’s a large choir loft. It has pews, so the choir people have to sit close to each other. They have close personal fellowship. And Jeannie was an alto that sat on the front row, and she always sang into my right ear. And there got to be this ritual when she would walk into church during the first hymn, she would always pat me on the shoulder. I love Jeanie Taylor.

Cynthia. What’s going on? She said Doug. Mom and dad were helping the exchange student get out of Lake Charles, who was a student at McNeese. There was a car accident and mom and dad are dead.

Epi ballin, Epi ballin. The storm just kept rolling in. And I walked across to the church before I told Tamara. And I just sat in the sanctuary. And looked up at Tommy’s seat. And I looked back to where Jeannie would be sitting. And I said a prayer. That night continued. We knew we were in trouble because it was reported that Jim Cantore was in the parking garage of Le Berge de Lac. And when Jim Cantore’s in your town during a landfalling hurricane, it’s not good news. And the storm went on and on and on. The awning in the gas station across the street from the church let go at 3:30 a.m. and blew away. We actually had visitors about 4:00. It was a couple who were from New Hampshire. What in the world are you doing in the middle of a hurricane? We’re lost. Would you like to come in? She said no. We’re headed east. Good luck. And the howl threw the phone company’s. repeater tower. And the howl as the satellite dishes at KPLC took off and flew away were just incredible.It was a chaotic night.

The Bible starts with chaos. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. While a wind from God swept over the face of the waters, there is always this notion through Scripture that the waters are there, and the waters represent chaos, and the sea represents chaos and danger, and our patriarchs, the Hebrews, the Jews, they were not people of the sea. They were people of the land. And the Mediterranean Sea to the west scared them and frightened them. And the little Sea of Galilee with the wind coming down out of the valley of doves, could stir up a storm quickly, and before they could be aware of it, they feared the water. Yet so many of their stories involve the water. Not far into the book of Genesis, there’s this old guy. His name is Noah, and God says, look, Noah, the world’s gone to hell in a handbasket. I want you to build a boat, and we’re going to put people on the boat. We’re going to put all the animals on the boat, and I am going to destroy the evil of humanity.

And we read the story of Noah, and we understand that God saved those people through the ark. And we understand that that God saved the animals through the ark. And I want to talk to the Lord God Almighty. And I want to ask him, whose idea was it to put love bugs on the ark? Creation is washed clean. We get a new start.

Or Moses. Let my people go. And he leads the people to the edge of the Red sea. And there’s the Red sea. And the Egyptian army is coming up quickly. And what does God do? God saves them through the Red sea as the waters part. And the Hebrews walk across on Erits, on dry ground.

What you’re supposed to think about as you’re reading this story from Mark is the prophet, Jonah. Jonah, who is on another boat in the middle of another storm. Jonah, who says it’s my fault. And if you want this storm to stop, you’ve got to throw me overboard. Jonah, who is swallowed by that fish, or Jesus, as we say in the baptismal ritual, Jesus, who was born of woman and water and was baptized by John in the Jordan. So while water in the Bible represents a form of chaos and is from which God calls us to salvation. Water is also a symbol and is integral in this story of salvation. And Jesus has been teaching. The crowds have been following. They’re pressing on him, and the disciples grab him up. And the way it’s structured, they take him and they get him in the boat just as he was, and they’re moving him away from the crowds. And it could be some of the crowds were following. We know some of the other disciples are following, because we’re told that other boats were with him. And the storm arises and the waves keep coming and the waves keep beating on the boat and the boat was already being swamped. But Jesus. He’s in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him up. Lord, Lord, don’t you care about us? Don’t you care about what we’re being enduring, what we’re being put through? Help us. Lord. And he wakes up. And he says to the sea. Silence! Be still.

The wind ceased. And there was dead calm. And Jesus said to them; here it is in the original; Why are you cowards? It’s not something we should worry about. Should we? Why are you cowards? Except when you turn to the 21st chapter of the book of the revelation, and we picture this new heaven and a new earth. The one seated on the throne says it’s done. I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning, the end. To the thirsty, I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. But! But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted. And he goes on with the list. They will not have a place in this kingdom.

Jesus calmed the storm, and the disciples said, who then is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? You know, when I don’t have answers, I start asking questions. Who is this? Who is this Jesus that calm the storm? The wind listened. The sea listened. Everything’s calm now. Who is he? Do you know? Jesus is there in the midst of our storms. Our hurricanes. It might be hurricane cancer. You went to the doctor’s office just for a scan, and they call you back and say we need to do more. It might be hurricane divorce. You didn’t see it coming, but here it is. It might be hurricane unemployment. It could be hurricane financial crisis or hurricane grade point average. Or hurricane disappointment. Whether or not you have a hurricane is not the question. The National Weather Service has already named them for 24. Alberto Barrow, Chris, Debbie, Ernest, Francine, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kurt, Leslie, Milton, Nadine, Oscar, Patti, Rafael, Sarah, Toni, Valerie, William. And if we get through that list, we go to Alpha, beta, gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, theta, Zeta, eta, theta, iota, capital, Lambda Mu Nu Xi. I’m going to go on just to prove I know the Greek alphabet.

It’s not a matter of if. It’s when. And it’s how. In the midst of your questions, when you don’t have the answers, maybe you need to ask the question, who is this that overcame death in the grave? Who is this who was dead on Friday and raised to new life on Sunday? Who is this who lives and reigns with God? Who is this? It’s Christ Jesus. It’s the one in the boat with you. It’s the one walk. He’s the one walking through the storm with you. He is the power that sustains you and the power that loves you, and the power that won’t let you go. Oh, when we trace the sea through the Bible, it starts with chaos. In the second book and the second verse of Genesis. But then listen to the 21st chapter of the Book of Revelation again. John said, and I saw a new heaven, a new earth, for the first heaven, and the first earth had passed away, and the sea, the sea was no more. That which brought chaos, that which brought doubt that which brought storms, that which caused death is not there anymore. And it’s after the sea is gone, and it’s after God wipes away every tear from our eyes that the promise is made death will be no more. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more. For the first things have passed away. And you and I, who have been called to abide in Christ, who have been called to endure until the end, who have been called to inhabit a world that we don’t really live in. We’re just pilgrims passing through. Those of us who have gone through that will abide in heaven with Christ. We will inhabit those places that Jesus has made for us. We will be home, and we will be safe from the storms.

Rita went on all night. About 330 in the morning, the National Weather Service issued what’s called an eye wall warning. They said, we’re not even bothering with the tornado warnings because in the next hour, you can expect between 150 and 200 tornadoes in the eye wall. And the eastern part of the eye wall passed right over Lake Charles, Louisiana. The wind howled and roared, and you could hear things crashing. The lights had long since gone off. The cell phone towers were down. We were in the dark. As the sun came up and the wind continued to blow, I started looking out of windows. And oak trees that were 100, maybe 200 years old were no longer there. They’ve been blown over. And houses I couldn’t see for all the oak trees. Were suddenly crystal clear. And I stood there as the wind blew. And I thought. How are we going to endure this? How are we going to inhabit this place called Lake Charles? About 7:30, winds still howling. It’s coming out of the south now. But there was another sound in the wind. Chainsaws. The only sound mightier than the roar of a hurricane are the sound of the chainsaws coming to cut trees so you can move around so you can discover what needs to be done, so you can still be a church for people who have lived through the storm.

He doesn’t help us around the storms. He helps us through the storm. So whatever is revving up in your life; whatever storm you are naming; remember Jesus, the one who calmed both the wind and the seas and the one who conquered death and the grave? That risen Christ is with us all.

Let us pray.

When the storms rage and the winds howl. And we’re afraid. Reach out and lift us up. Oh, Lord. Let us know of your love and your presence that will allow us to abide with you, that will allow us to endure the storm, that will allow us to faithfully inhabit what comes next. That’s our prayer. In your name, Amen.