Matthew 14:22-33

We certainly have had our share of thunderstorms this past week. I have read and heard about folks inundated by the wet, floating automobiles, and flooded basements. We pray for those who have suffered loss. I think especially of the New Hampshire family whose daughter was killed by flooding and but for all families whose loved ones have been killed through these storms. I was in the parking lot of the grocery store when one storm let loose.

Storms remind me of the storm and the ark and Noah in Genesis where God set about to teach humanity a lesson. At the end of the story, God vows never again to bring such devastation to punish humanity. As a reminder for God of that promise, God put a bow in the skies. We often think of the rainbow as a reminder for us that God is ever present but in fact it is the other way around: the rainbow arches in the skies as a reminder for God to remember us with kindness.

While in that grocery store parking lot, I saw a rainbow and smiled to myself at God's being reminded of us. At the same time, I was reminded of God's promise. And then I looked again to see if the rainbow was a complete one, as if one was not enough, I saw a double rainbow! Now this would really call God's attention!

This last week there were actually three rainbows gracing this sanctuary and the Vacation Bible School. Now our double rainbow, I believe together with the hard and dedicated work of so many adults and youth, this year's VBS was a stupendous success. Flame, Max, Sam put a framework to each day. Because God's presence graced what was happening this last week, our children learned of God and Jesus through fun, scripture stories, songs, crafts, outdoor activities, snacks, be attitudes, and scientific examples. I say YES! to rainbows, don't you, and I say YES! to VBS, don't you! Oh, I didn't mention that 100 school kits were gathered which will go to Albany students and beyond. YES, to mission!

This morning's scripture speaks of another boat in which Jesus' disciples were sent. They experienced a rocky ride. While in Israel, Carter and I had a chance to be on the Galilean Sea and its shores. This wasn't too long after archeologists dug up an ancient fishing boat used in the first century: A deep, simple wooden structure - something like Maine fishing boats but with higher sides built up with horizontal layers of wood. Our guide told us that it's not unusual for a storm to whip into shape with little or no notice. The disciples' experience was not something fabricated from one's imagination. With no warning, the sea can become quite rough and frightening if one is in a simple, fishing boat.

Once abandoned by Jesus through his encouragement to go on ahead of him, they now are battered by the sea. In their great turmoil and distress, they finally see Jesus again - - - walking toward them ---on top of the water. Now, they were really frightened. But Jesus not only calls out to them, "Don't be afraid," he also invites Peter to do as he is doing. "Step out of the boat!" Peter jumps out of the boat.

A frequent contributor to the monthly journal Weavings, David Rensberger just short of ten years ago wrote of his greatest fear: heights. Actually he wrote of his experience on the roof of his modest house: a one story, just eight feet above the ground at the roof's edge, where the roof is not particularly steep. As roofs go, it had a rather gentle slope. And so he found himself on the roof, in order to put a cap on the chimney to keep out leaves and rain and I'll add 4-legged critters. I did say that David is scared to death of heights: ascending the ladder was scary; descending, he was absolutely petrified. In order to keep his embarrassment to a minimum, he decided to do this chore while no one was around. Having accomplished his task of putting the chimney cap on, he found himself seated, huddled behind the chimney, leaning against it to try to gain its security. Panic-stricken, he was frozen into inaction. Just one step to get back on the ladder and he was sure it would be his last step. He thought of all the possible things that could go wrong. I think of the pull I feel when I get close to a mountain's edge. I am reminded of that insurance ad of the man cleaning out his gutters who grabs for the gutter and wire as he looses his balance, and then his ladder falls backwards in slow motion propelling him into the bushes.

David Rensberger is stuck in his fear. Peter sinks into the Galilean waters as his once impetuous faith that caused him to go forward dissolves into fear. Both David and Peter lost sight of the goal, lost sight of the solution, and seemed to go backward into an internal argument of: I've never done this before, do I have all the answers, what if…, I remember the last time I tried this, I remember when so and so tried it, and it was a total disaster. David dissolved into inaction behind the chimney; Peter sank.

Sitting, leaning against the chimney, David began to think more of his phobia and how fear is related to hope. He rationalized: both fear and hope are reactions to the unknown. 'Yes, I might fall.' That is one possibility. But the other side of the coin, hope, reacts to the unknown out of some kind of certainty. This isn't wishful thinking or longing but it's a hope that comes out of some kind of certainty. This hope is grounded in the assurance of faith. This hope is grounded in a trust in God which in turn is grounded in God's love. God loves us. We trust that love. Because of that love we can respond to the unknown with hope.

With a phobia, it is hard, hard, hard to take that first step. Repeating scripture over and over (God is my Helper), David was finally able to see the solution; he dares to hope, takes that first step and then he steps again beyond the roof's edge onto the ladder's first rung. For Peter, looking to the solution, in faith he calls out for help from Jesus. Christ is there offering the support needed.

We can hear Jesus' call to us in this gospel story. With Jesus' beckon and reassurance going before us as our answer to our fear, we can step forward into the unknown and sometimes troubled waters. We don't need to be kept in yesterday's thinking or in yesterday's failures or in yesterday's living. We are equipped - in knowledge, in faith - so be bold as one of the VBS 'be attitudes' called. "Keep your eye on the Prize" was another way of saying it. Jesus says to us today, "Keep your eye on the Prize." Jump out of that boat of rocky safety and start a journey risking yourself, go into the deep grounded in the hope of our faith.

We could leave our considerations of this reading right here at this level but I would like us to consider something further. Rather than looking at this reading only as a personal, individual invitation into ministry, we might add another layer to it and look at this gospel story as a metaphor.

In worship some years ago, I found myself in a sanctuary just sitting and taking in the newly built space set aside for worship. As I sat there longer and longer, I was convinced that I sat within the bowels of the ark. At the very least, I sat within a ship's bowels. I could see the wooden sides come up round me; I could discern the ribs forming the frame for the wooden slats. High up on the sides of ship were the portal windows showing primarily the ocean's blue. Before the whole congregation, high above in the chancel area, was another portal window with the symbols of fish - twelve of them - one distinct, separated from the others. This intuition of being within a ship is not be so off base. One symbolic way of depicting the church is through the use of the boat/ship.

The Gospel of Matthew was written for and about the church. That's one of the reasons it is placed first in the New Testament readings. Matthew was written perhaps around 80-90 A.D. well after the life and death of Jesus. The church had had time to move into its early developmental stages. By the time Matthew was written though it's not quite at the height of Christian persecution through the Roman Empire, Christians had faced threats and persecution from the Jewish establishment and from governments.

If we read this gospel story with that in mind, the ship/church is sent ahead leaving Jesus on the other shore. The scripture is saying the ship/church is far out to sea; it was tossed about and battered as it moved through its course. Though battered, the ship/church remains afloat.

Having served as a district superintendent, in some ways I can understand this. As the point person for the Bishop, where people and churches are looking for definitive answers, all kinds of help, or are in the midst of great turmoil, believing the fault all lies somewhere outside of itself, often times churches in any district expect superintendents to perform miracle healings and Mr. Fixit acts immediately upon hearing a church's despair. Fortunately, superintendents as a group meet regularly with our Bishop. Actually, the Cabinet as this group is known becomes church, where we form strong bonds with one another as we face difficult situations outside, in local churches. The Cabinet fervently, worships regularly with one another; to be fed, we would have Holy Communion weekly whenever we met; we learned to know one another very well and fully trust one another. We depended on the Holy Spirit and one another. Our strength lay in our connection with God, our solution. Though we would be battered at times on the outside, we were strong and secure in our faith and with one another. I suspect that's something like the early church/the ship tossed on the sea: it found itself being beaten in many ways on the outside but they were strong and firm in their faith in one another's company.

Sara Miles in her book, take this bread, describes her journalistic work in Nicaragua and El Salvador and the Philippines during the 1980's and 1990's where she traveled with those who were rebelling the forces in control. She found herself totally dependent on others in the group for food and safety. In the extreme life and death situations the rebels put themselves in, a camaraderie that Sara Miles describes as much like what the church developed. Beyond reason, in faith, they were willing to put themselves in certain harm's way in order to bring about a new order. Though each one came to the rebel group not necessarily with similar lifestyles or skills or interests, they all held in common certain basic human needs and desires. Their cause was to establish and maintain those for all.

Similarly, after returning to the United States for a number of years, Sara Miles experiences a local church where many come together perhaps with not many common interests and lifestyles, but they are bound closely together in their faith, in their knowledge of one another, and what their faith calls them to be and do as a church.

I believe that the scripture is doing the same for us as a church. Jesus first, calls the church to move outside of itself. It is important, necessary, and fine to feed ourselves and grow our faith and to bring folks not yet among us into faith with us. But Jesus calls us to step out of the boat/outside the church and move into the chaos of the waters, to move into the deep. We are not to be satisfied living in the norm of things as usual, we are looking to the solution. Jesus calls the church to examine its faith and consider, 'okay what does our faith cause us to be involved in?' Jesus calls the church to risk itself. Jesus calls the church into risky behavior - risky behavior, that is, as far as the normative culture is concerned. Jesus calls us into uncomfortable positions in order to right injustice so that someone may even point at us and ask, 'Who do you think you are?'

Jesus calls us to be able to respond to that question and say, 'We are followers of Christ Jesus. We are acting in the love of Jesus, our only solution.'