It may sound like a truism that in every age in history there are a number of great crises, and in every great crisis, great leaders emerge that capture the imagination of people and lead them out of the crisis. Certainly, the Second World War would be one of those moments of crisis, and certainly for the people of Great Britain.

Winston Churchill was one of those leaders who captured their imagination, who led them out of crisis during the Blitz. And there were 57 of those blitzes that destroyed a great deal of the city of London. Churchill remained in the city to lead the people, and after one of the more major of the Blitz, he walked through the rubble of London and said, probably one of the lines for which he is the most remarkable.

This is the moment in history. This will be our finest hour. Notice. The final hour came in the midst of a crisis, and there was someone there who gave comfort to the people who very well might have said to him, don’t you care that we’re being bombed into oblivion? Yes, he cared. And yes, he was there. Does it sound familiar?

Does it sound like a crisis on the Sea of Galilee, where the people of God, Jesus’s disciples, were terrified and cried out, don’t you care that we’re about to die? It’s very interesting how many of us, in these moments of crisis turn to the Lord and say, don’t you care yet? Do we do that in the moment of our great success?

Do we stop and thank the Lord for success? Or do we only turn to the Lord when everything is collapsing around us? I myself have to admit that it is usually in the moments of collapse that I get on my knees. What can I say? The first reading is very similar job a character who suffers a great deal and he has for us the image of suffering and yet relies on the power of God to save him.

And in that moment he is rescued by the Lord, but reminded that God is the God of all creation, that God is the God of nature, of power, of might, and of every moment of our lives. Job’s grace is that he can say, yes, Lord, I believe when we, like Jobe, have those moments of crisis. Can we say in the midst of it all, yes, Lord, I believe, because that was really the temptation that faced the disciples.

There’s something very interesting to me about this gospel, and that is how cool, calm and collected Jesus is. Notice he’s asleep even in the midst of a violent storm. The Lord can rest. That strikes me. It also reminds me that Jesus says to each and every one of us, don’t forget, get enough sleep every day. How many of us get enough sleep every day?

We should take a lesson from Jesus. But at the same time, how many of us realize that when the disciples woke him up, Jesus was present to them in their need? At that moment, all they were really concerned about was being saved. And the Lord, knowing that saved them, but also asked them the question, why were you afraid?

Do you not have faith in our moments of terror, in our moments of dread, when things seem to be collapsing all around us and there is a great storm? Are we terrified? And do we still have faith? Faith that the Lord who saves us will save us? The lesson of today’s Gospel and Saint Paul provides us with one more gospel lesson.

He said, if we really believe that Jesus Christ died for all so that we might all live forever in him, then how great should our love for one another be? If our God loves us so much that he gave us all of creation as he said to job, if our God loves us so much that he sent us His Son, who can calm a storm and save us, if our God can love us so much that nothing should terrify us, should we love one another equally with that same love of Father and Son and Holy Spirit?

We go to the Eucharist now so that we can live that love, strengthened by grace, strengthened in the Eucharist. As we continue our prayer, let us praise God for the gift of creation. Let us thank God for the gift of His Son, and let us in the spirit, proclaim the truth of our faith, that we should have no fear, that no storm should bother us, because Christ Jesus is our risen Lord, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.