The rain came tumbling down

Rhona Cathcart October 09, 2023 3 3

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Matthew 7: 24-27 (NRSVA)

24 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’

I’m fairly sure that an accurate and concise Doric translation of today’s verse 25: “The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew..” would be, “It was blawin’ a hoolie!” The expression packs as much of a punch as the weather itself.

As any wise little pig knows, you need a firmly built house to withstand the wind and rain — whether they come from a big, bad wolf or from what the Scots tongue calls a ‘sump’, when the rain tumbles down without warning like a waterfall. Sump is also used in English to describe a depression where water has accumulated.

In North America where many houses have basements, people often have a ‘sump pump’ to help get rid of unwanted water. The sump pumps of the inhabitants of New York City’s many basement apartments at the end of September would have been relentlessly tested.

Too much rain at once can be overwhelming — literally, in nature, and figuratively in our lives. I think this might be true of too much of anything. I read somewhere that the body doesn’t know the difference between positive stress and negative stress. It’s all just stress to our adrenal system, and if we get too much of it, our foundations shake.

We can pump the adrenaline out of or around our system in healthy and unhealthy ways. Keeping our faith foundation stable isn’t just about hunkering down when things get overwhelming, it’s about having spiritual, practical, emotional and social support systems and practices in place that can take our excess and channel it safely and efficiently.

PRAYER:

God

When it is all too much

And we are ‘sumped’

Pump life and love into us

Strengthening our foundation in you.

Amen