Sunday Musings: Mark 4:35-41

How many of us at WMUMC--or as members of other slowly declining churches--haven't asked God, "God, don't you care that we are perishing?!" As many of us have watched WMUMC decline over the past 30 or so years, don't you ever wonder what makes some churches decline and others grow? It can be a frustrating rabbit trail to trace; I chase it almost every day as I pray, think an plan the ministries of our church. I've only been at WMUMC for 3 years, and even I--after all the hard work I know we've all done together to be the hands and feet of Christ, hoping to help our church grow--I ask like the disciples did on that boat with Jesus, "Jesus, don't you care that we are perishing?!" Sometimes it feels like Jesus is asleep in the back as we pray and work so hard to help our once vibrant church find a rhythm of growth again. But something struck me as I read Mark 4:35-41: if my question is, "Jesus, don't you care that we are perish in," then I have to assume Jesus' follow-up question for me is, "Jeri Katherine, what are you afraid of? Have you no faith?" We small-member churches must remember if we ask, "Jesus, don't you care that we are perishing," then we must also be ready to truthfully answer, "What are we afraid of? Have we no faith?" I think that is a good place to begin a church-wide conversation because fear too often paralyzes. When we are afraid, we forget how significant a role fear plays into our decision making, into how we be and do church together. I want to believe that if we, as a church, can openly name our fears then together we can move from fear to faith that God is in our very presence, working, moving, breathing life into places fear prevents us from ever noticing the work of our living God. Fear gripped the disciples in the middle of the storm. We have endured some stormy years, Wesley Memorial, and I believe fear has paralyzed many who sit in our pews. Many of us want our question for Jesus answered, but we refuse to answer Jesus' question for us. I believe it is answering Jesus' question that our question will become moot. So, church, Jesus asks us, "What are YOU afraid of? Have you no faith?"