Special Prayer Team Message
Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.
Psalm 4:5
For anyone who has ever wondered, I write the Prayer Team messages anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in advance of when they are scheduled. However, occasionally, I will write one right before it is scheduled, and this is one of those instances. I’m writing this on Monday, October 7, and it will go out on Tuesday, October 8. As I’m writing this message, a hurricane has formed in the Gulf of Mexico which most models are putting to directly hit the Tampa Bay area where I live. By the time you get this message on October 8, the track may have shifted, or it might not. What I know is right now, as I’m writing this message, they have cancelled school for the first three days of this week, we have cancelled parish ministries through Wednesday, gas stations are running out of gas, stores are running out of water, people are evacuating and there is general anxiety in our area.
I want to share a few thoughts that I shared with my congregation. Some of you live in Florida and this directly affects you. And others live far from here but are watching what is unfolding. The line of where this storm is going to hit is uncertain. It changes hour by hour. At this point no one know where it is going to go.
The line that marks God’s path to salvation does not move, even in the storms of life. Each of us has a path straight to salvation if we choose to follow it. God does not move the target. He does not have a “cone of uncertainty,” as they call the area where the hurricane may hit. This is something we have to understand as Christians—our path to salvation is set. We might have to endure some storms on that path, but the path is set.
In the Epistle lesson two days ago, we heard from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, where he writes, “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine of darkness,’ who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4: 6) All of these expressions of humanitarian aid that have been sent to Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and everywhere that was affected by the recent Hurricane Helene are examples of Christ’s light shining in the darkness. If we go through another period of darkness this week in Florida, or when you go through one wherever you live, His light always shines through these periods of darkness, both in His love and when His love is demonstrated by others.
St. Paul continues, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4: 8-9) There have been many instances in my life when I have been perplexed about God’s will. Can’t God put His hand on the storm and stop it, or turn it out to sea where it will harm no one? Yes, He is God and can do anything. Why doesn’t He? That is a perplexing question. And sometimes the answer to that, or the lack of answer to that, leaves us in despair. Faith is when we don’t allow ourselves to sit in despair, when we keep believing in the track to salvation and focusing on that, rather than on the storms. We might be struck down and destroyed in a physical sense, as happened throughout so much of the Southeast twelve days ago, but we cannot be struck down and destroyed in a spiritual sense—not by a hurricane, not by anything.
There are many instances in the Divine Liturgy where we use the words “trust” or “entrust,” as relates to God and to our lives. For instance, before the Lord’s Prayer, the priest offers a prayer that begins “We entrust to You loving Master, our whole life and hope.” If we are really trusting God to that degree, then I have to leave the impending storm in His hands. If this is going to be a major blow to my comfort for a while (and truthfully, I hope it won’t), then on a spiritual level, I have to allow what the prayer says, to entrust my whole life and my whole hope to God, even if we are destined to suffer a material setback. In the Prayer before the Ambon at the end of the Liturgy, the priest prays “Lord, bless those who praise you and sanctify those who put their trust in You.” “Sanctify” means to “make holy.” “Agiason” is the word used in Greek, which literally means “Make us as saints.” The saints of the church are those who entrusted their whole lives to God, even when it meant dying at a young age for the faith. When we put our trust in God, not only are we on the way to salvation, but to sainthood as well, in His eyes.
In the Creed, we confess that “Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” Each of us will one day stand before Him and give an accounting of our lives. As we prepare for this impending storm, unsure of how it will change our lives and our things, one thing I know for sure, that as soon as we are able to (hopefully this Sunday), I will show up and stand before God’s holy altar no matter what happens. It is important we show up. We can choose how we respond to anything. It doesn’t take faith to show up when everything is good. It takes faith to show up when everything is bad. As this storm approaches, as it passes, and as it goes away, we don’t know what will happen in a material way. We can choose what will happen in a spiritual way.
Lord of the Powers, be with us, for in times of distress, we have no other help but You. Lord of the Powers, have mercy on us.
Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your great mercy, we pray to You, hear us and have mercy.
Again we pray for the protection of our churches and cities, and every city and country, from wrath, famine, earthquake, flood, hurricane, fire, foreign invasion, civil strife, accidental death and acts of terrorism; that our good and loving God will be merciful, gracious and favorable to us, by keeping away all wrath and disaster that is against us.
Again we pray that the our God will hear the voice of the petitions of us sinners and have mercy on us.
Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth; and be gracious, O Master, be gracious to us and have mercy on us. For You are a merciful and loving God, and to You we send up glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
The track of the storm may change but the track to salvation will not. Regardless of the track of this storm, stay on the track to salvation.
