One of the best songs from the Beatles catalogue must be ‘Hey Jude’. That haunting opening verse……

“Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better”

You can listen to the whole song here:

And why start this week’s posting with reference to that lyric?

Well I am writing this piece on Sunday evening in a small coastal town on the South coast of the County of Devon here in England. Over the last few days a storm has been developing out in mid-Atlantic which is expected to make landfall around 9pm tonight, that is, in a couple of hours’ time. With tomorrow being the Feast of St Jude, the media have named it the ‘St Jude Storm’. Hence the song link. High seas and excessive winds are forecast through the coming hours of darkness.

Storms are the currency for a number of stories in both the Old and New Testament, as my grandson James reminded me this evening, from the tossing overboard of Jonah to appease the waves, giving us the powerful image of Resurrection to be fulfilled in the narrative of Easter, later through the Gospel account of the Lord asleep during the rough weather on the Sea of Galilee, and, as recorded in the Acts, with the ship wreck of the Apostle Paul off the coast of Malta.

The ocean is indeed a fearful place when the weather turns foul and small vessels get tossed by huge seas and high winds. Maybe that is why such incidents were chosen to teach us about trust. For most of us, thank goodness, the storm at sea is not within our immediate experience, though all too tragically the recent loss of life in the Mediterranean of asylum seekers has once again highlighted the dangers of travel on Earth’s waters in ill prepared craft. as did similar journeys of the boat people from Vietnam back in the 70s. However for those living near the coasts of many countries, the damage caused by hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones is all too real.

There are many other instances when we face situations that trouble us, occasions personal to our families, and our own life story, when faith is tested and the consequences of the experience asks questions that take us out of our comfort zone. Then those oft repeated words “Do not be afraid” take on a whole new meaning.

Meanwhile we await the landfall of Jude.

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