Reflection for Sunday – August 9, 2026

Denise MackSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: 1 Kings 19: 9a, 11-13a; Romans 9: 1-5; Matthew 14: 22-33 
Preacher: Deni Mack

We reel from storm to storm in our families, our work lives, our friend’s lives, our national crises & this global destabilization. How responsible are we for bringing Christ’s calming to a sorely troubled world?  We ask Jesus that question and Jesus nudges us to not engage in talk that degrades a family member, colleague or neighbor.  That is Christ calming.  We ask Jesus to calm a situation at work or in the community and we hear forgiving words; we see compassionate actions.  That is Christ calming. 

We ask God to end the war on Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan. Later we see a post of military service personnel speaking with wisdom born of years of expert experience.  Their courage and confidence calm us and may reach the ears of people in power or people who will advise people in power.  Our hope is restored at least for the moment trusting that judges, lawyers and legislators hear truthful   testimony.  Witnessing that calmed our worries is likely heard by many who will vote this November.  Were some of us able to get people to vote and make sure each vote counts, that is Christ’s calming. 

What calm voice whispers to you in this storm of wars, wildfires, and desperate refugees barred from their homeland and banned from a newfound refuge unless they’re white?  

In Chautauqua’s “Women who Change the World” week this summer we heard a Maasai woman from Kenya say she was engaged at age 9 to marry at age 12. She begged her father to let her have an education instead so she could work for girl’s education and to end child marriage and female genital mutilation.  He relented. She applied for scholarships and came to the USA to study. When she returned to her village she met with each community leader and convinced them to help her build and staff schools for girls.  She has educated 1000 girls. Some have returned to her village and to nearby villages as doctors and engineers!  I tell you this because the storms in her life seemed insurmountable until she asked for change.  She was persuasive and convincing; she studied and applied and asked more people in power with a plea she believed in and was prepared to commit to work on despite the obstacles.  She empowered 1000 girls thus far and they will empower more and so will others.  By addressing the storms in her life she was inspired to calm the storms in many lives; an entire culture is being transformed. 

Another Chautauqua speaker addressed food insecurity and waste.  She’d read that 40 percent of restaurant food is thrown out, wasted!  She rallied friends who rallied friends.  They approached several restaurants who agreed to give them left over food to deliver to churches, synagogues, mosques, and other food distribution centers.  100 deliverers worked just a couple of hours a week delivering food.  They built an ap and many more people signed up. This vital ministry has spread to several states!   Did you know that since 2016 none of France’s stores are permitted to throw away food?  France is the first country to require creative resourceful action ending food waste.

We’re like Peter calling out to Jesus amid a storm.  Our prayer calls out to God; prayer can be anytime, anywhere, in demonstrations, in prayer services, in postcard writing, petition signing and marches.   Daily we read comparative news sources.  We recognize the hand of God in people’s stories.  God helps us envision an end to war.  God helps us vote for better management of wildfires and slowing the melting glaciers and warming oceans.

When we call out to God we’re inspired to support one another. None of us can attend every meeting to peacefully resist every injustice with the preparation needed to challenge people in power in language they will comprehend, with irrefutable facts they can acknowledge and with proof that is convincing.  We need Jesus to calm the storms in our own psyche and stomach.

Our faith moves us to call out to Jesus over many of the troubles swirling around us.  Like Elijah we may expect to find God in earthquake and fire and instead find God in the still small voice of a detainee whispering, “Help me God.”

Denise Mack
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