Archbishop Of Canterbury Prays For All America To Know The Peace Of God

Christians can seek to be "calm and peace" in a world coming to terms with the result of the US election, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today. 

In a live Facebook discussion on the Bible story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark's Gospel, Archbishop Justin Welby said people had been asing how they can "bring reassurance and hope" to those in the US who feel they are in a storm.

"There are many people who are distressed, many who are celebrating. How can Christians be calm and peace?" he asked. 

In the Bible story, the disciples wake a sleeping Jesus as their boat is threatened with being sunk by heavy waves. They are awe-struck when he calms the storm because "even the wind and the waves obey him".

Archbishop Welby, responding to a question from Stephanie who had asked: "How can we as Christians help to calm those around us who have no faith?" said this picked up one of Jesus' phrases in the passage: "You of little faith."

He acknowledged that many people watching the Facebook Bible study from the US would be "either very glad or very sad" about the election but all will feel it has ushered in a major change. Others watching the Bible study from countries such as Pakistan were caught in "quite frightening storms", in the midst of persecution and suffering.

Archbishop Welby said a powerful prayer for America: "We pray in this week of huge changes in one of the most powerful countries on earth, that there the whole country may know your peace, the knowledge of your sovereign will for the world, and may trust you, whether they feel part of a great movement forward, or part of being caught in a storm."

It was important to remember, he said, that during the storm in the Bible story, Jesus went to sleep – because he had a great internal calm that "comes with trust in God".

Bishop of Burnley Philip North, sharing the Bible study with him, said being a "prayerful, peaceful presence" was vital.

Another viewer – Ruth – asked: "If Jesus can calm storms, why can't he stop all the fighting?"

Archbishop Welby said: "He can and there are moments when in fighting and struggle we see extraordinary moments of sudden calm. But we live in a world where God gives us the choice of good and evil. This is a huge other subject. Here, he could have stopped the storm ever happening. He takes them into the storm and with him, they find peace."

He said he believed the story was literally true and it was fundamental to the early Christians' understanding of who Jesus was. It was a "turning point" in the whole of cosmic history.

As for its meaning, he went on, it would be easy to say "Trust Jesus and the storm stops." But this is not always the case. "A lot of us, all of us at some point, trust Jesus and the storm goes on." 

He referred to one terrible storm in his and his wife's life, when their first child died after a car crash.

"We had to go through it...there are no short cuts in bereavement."

He said that throughout the tragedy, he and his wife could sense the "living presence of Christ" – even while they went through the storm. "We felt that Jesus was present and we could protest, lament, weep, argue, complain, all those things – because he was present." 

The Bible study was watched across the world, in Borneo, Uganda, Pakistan, the US, Kenya, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, the UK and many more countries.

Bishop North said he and a group of Christians had once taken a boat onto the Sea of Galilee itself and were studying this passage when a storm came up and they had to flee to land.