“Today’s message was written by my friend, Rev. Roger Kunkel, founder of Dial Hope.” -Joe

A little boy was going with his father up to the top of the Sears building in Chicago. The express elevator shot up with a speed that was literally breath-taking. When the elevator zoomed past the seventy-fifth floor, the boy said to his father, “Does God know we are coming?”

We smile at that, but it does give an opening for a profound truth of our faith. God does know all about us. We do not skip out of his mind or notice. He’s got the whole world in his hand. That is a great truth to lean your heart and mind up against.

Listen to these words from Psalm 139: “O God you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O God, you know it completely. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the outermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Let us pray: God of Love, we thank you that you know we are coming. And thank you for the beautiful surprises you are planning for us today. So often our days look like they will be dismal, depressing, and dark – then an unexpected burst of sunshine explodes through a dark cloud sending inspiring shafts of warm, sunshine into our lives. Lord, it is happening now! We can already feel the power of your love and acceptance, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a great theologian and published many significant works in his day. He was also part of the German church’s resistance against the Nazis. Unfortunately, not all churches resisted. Many bowed to threat and joined Hitler’s movement. Bonhoeffer helped establish the Confessing Church moment, a group that took a bold stand against their government, against violence and genocide. Bonhoeffer was put in prison as a traitor, and ultimately he was martyred for his faith in action. Though he had opportunities to recant his position, he didn’t.

It is always inspiring to me to see people put their faith in action. Yes, in the extreme of sacrificing one’s life, but also in everyday actions. It’s beautiful to see the gospel at work in people: whether it is banging nails for Habitat for humanity, teaching children’s Sunday school, serving the homeless, sending a note of encouragement, or standing up for the rights of people most in need.

Hopefully, you and I will never be martyred for our faith. But, may we live it boldly none-the-less.

Our prayer today was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Let us pray: In me there is darkness, but with you there is light. I am lonely, but you do not leave me. I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help. I am restless, but with you there is peace. In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience. I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me. Amen.

There’s an old story I love about a shark and a whale. Both were swimming in the sea when the shark swam up to the whale to engage in conversation. As they swam along, the shark said to the whale, “You are so much older than I, and wiser too. Could you tell me where the ocean is?” The whale responded, “The ocean is what you are in now.” The shark would not believe it. “Come on, tell me where the ocean is so I may find it!” The whale repeated, “The ocean is here, now; you are in it.” Unbelieving, the shark swam away searching for the ocean.

Picking up on this story, pastor Susan Fleenor wrote, “The moral of the story, I believe, is this: don’t spend too much time looking for God because the Spirit of God is here in the now of your life, dwelling within you, within me, within…community. And that truth is nurtured in prayer.”

God is not missing. But sometimes it feels like it, doesn’t it? Sometimes it feels as though God were a distant concept or idea instead of a Spirit that is alive and within us. In those dry times, I believe Fleenor is right – the truth of God’s presence is nurtured in prayer.

Rabbi Noah benShea once wrote, “Prayer is a path where there is none.”

Let us pray: Almighty God, we pause even if just for a moment to invite your Spirit to fill our lives again. Touch our hearts and draw us deep within your presence. Meet us today in the everyday moments of life and grant us your peace. Amen.

My name is Andy Odom, pastor of Canyon Creek Presbyterian Church in Richardson, Texas. Joe Albright invited me to give the Dial Hope message for today. We begin with a reading from Matthew 8…

Then Jesus got in the boat, his disciples with him. The next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat – and he was sound asleep! They roused him, pleading, “Master, save us! We’re going down!”
(Matthew 8:23-25)

A strong storm can put everyone on edge. Those certain times of the year when weather patterns are unpredictable cause us to be more alert than at other times. Perhaps like me, when a strong storm comes, you too find yourself recalling the scripture cited above when the disciples, terrified of the storm, run down and flock to Jesus for help. I picture them all there, arm in arm in the boat with Jesus reminding them of their faith as the storms pass by.

A few years back, a big storm blew through my neighborhood in the middle of the night. Normally I sleep through storms, but this one woke up my whole family with a lightning strike that hit fairly close, rattling the entire house. Before my wife and I could blink, there were our kids at the foot of our bed, terrified.

“It’s alright,” we told them. “Would you like to get in bed with…” but before we could even finish speaking, up they jumped to nestle themselves between us. There we were all piled on top of each other like those frightened disciples trying to weather the storm.

And I thought to myself: What a great image of the church this is: all the masses huddled together arm in arm to face whatever the world may bring, and there Christ is to help calm the storms in our lives.

Let us pray: Storms will come, O God. We know that storms will come. Our prayer as we huddle together is that you keep us calm and secure in the midst of the wind and the rain. Amen.

Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard once wrote:

If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility?

As you look at the world around you, as you consider your own relationships and your own life, what do you see? Some people only see the negative. Others impose limits on their understanding of the past. But the truth is, there is endless possibility.

In the book of Genesis, when the Lord appears to Abraham and Sarah, the Lord promises them that they will have a son, even in their old age. Sarah laughs at the promise, but God responds by asking, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

Similarly, in the book of Jeremiah chapter 32, we read, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?”

You and I know the answer to that question. May God fill us with a passionate sense of what can be.

Let us pray: In the dark and troubling times of life, O God, it is hard to believe. It is hard to imagine a different future or to dream of a new day. But you are the God who creates possibility. You are the God for whom all things are possible. Arise from within us an overwhelming sense of hope, and grant us new eyes to see all that can be. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.