Canon Dagmar Winter, Rector of Hexham Abbey, writes:

In the Gospels, being in a boat together,especially in a boat with Jesus, is a symbol of being in church.

That’s why the ecumenical movement uses the boat as its logo, with the mast as the cross.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, the disciples are all in a boat with Jesus, trying to get to the other side of the sea, when a wild storm whips up and threatens to smash the boat and drown them all.

The Israelites were not an ocean-loving people. The sea was considered a place of demonic chaos that could whip up and overwhelm seafarers at any time.

And where is Jesus when all hell is breaking loose in the little boat?

He is asleep and quite oblivious to it all. A lot of help he is!

It seems to me that this touches on our sentiments when we think of the tragedies unfolding in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf of Aden.

We feel helpless.

Before we rush in our minds to Jesus, awoken, calming the storm, we may ponder whether having faith means living in the knowledge of the sleeping Jesus?

More than ponder, knowing ourselves loved and grasped by a patient and committed God, we celebrate this with the calming waters of baptism, and continue in the same boat, celebrating Christ’s presence in word and sacrament which sustains us as we are sent out to help those who are in the eye of the storm.