August 10, 2008 Sermon The Reverend Eric Liles Matthew 14:22-33 Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." This past Wednesday at our weekly Bible study and dinner (which I want to make sure that all of you know that are welcome and invited to attend), we enjoyed our usual great food, read through the scripture for the week, had insightful conversations about them and started into our Synthesis questions. Synthesis is the short study, which we are currently using to guide our conversation. Two of the questions really struck me this week and I thought about them as I wrote this sermon. I would ask all of you think about these questions as you engage the sermon today. What is the relationship between faith and fear? What are the fears that interfere with your faith? What are the fears that interfere with your faith? Our Gospel reading today picks up where we left off last week, just after the feeding of the 5,000 (15,000). We hear of the first time that Jesus sends his disciples away without him. He then dismisses the crowds and goes up the mountain by himself to pray. Last week we talked about the importance of following our leader Jesus and his model of finding a place to be alone for prayer. The disciples find themselves without Jesus in a boat being battered by waves and wind and pushed out into the Sea of Galilee. Early in the morning, Jesus comes walking along the water toward the boat. The disciples think that he is a ghost. Jesus tries to calm and assure them. Then Peter challenges Jesus, "if it really is you, command me to come to you on the water." Jesus says simply, "come." We know the story and how it is usually interpreted. Peter started out doing so well, and then he got distracted and afraid and began to sink. Jesus reaches out and saves him. Oh Peter, if you just had more faith or had been able to keep your fear in check, you could have made it. This is the message I have heard preached about this passage many times. And I would venture to guess that many of the sermons preached around the world today might be titled, "keep your eye on the prize, or don't let fear cause you to drown." And those are important messages. But something incredible is going on in this passage and I don't want us to miss it. One of my favorite Christian authors is someone many of you might never have heard of, is Mike Yaconelli. I was a full time youth minister for about 5 years before going to seminary and I read a lot of books about youth ministry. Games, skits, Bible studies, fund raising, camping trips… all of these are part of the youth ministry scene and I read lots of this material from the company Youth Specialties. I went to several conferences and was introduced to Mike Yaconelli, the founder and owner of that company. At one conference I went to Mike led a Bible study on our passage from Matthew. Even though I don't have my note form that Bible study, I remember his message very clearly. I'll try to deliver it like Mike did: Peter took three steps! Whoohoo! I can't help but smile when I think about Mike and his joy and passion for the Gospel. While many people in the room prepared for the typical message of "have more faith, don't let fear keep you from Jesus," Mike surprised us with the radical message of joy. Peter took three steps on the water! That is more than anyone else besides Jesus. Mike talked about how perhaps later a drenched but elated Peter might have said to his friends, "did you see me, I was walking on water there for a minute." We have made a shift in our lectionary reading from trying to understand Jesus with his parables and teachings about the kingdom of heaven, to trying to experience Jesus in his interactions with people. How have you experienced Jesus in your life? Jesus is alive today and actively working in our world. In fact, Jesus is actively working in your life right now. The question is, are you allowing yourself to experience Jesus in your life? Jesus offers us the same invitation he did to Peter, "come." And like Peter when we take that leap of faith, even if we should fall, Jesus will be there to catch us. What can you do to experience Jesus more in your life? For Peter that meant going his own way, it meant leaving what was familiar behind to enter into uncharted waters, it meant getting out of a rickety boat on a storming sea and walking on water. Yet Peter fell. Well my friends, I have found that a significant aspect of the Christian life is falling down. Can I be so bold as to say that if we aren't falling down, making mistakes, or taking missteps, then we are either perfect and have no need of grace, or we are human beings in need of being saved, rescued from our failings. The message of this Gospel is not that if Peter had more faith he could have kept walking, just as the message is not, if we had enough faith all our problems would be solved. I think the message is that Peter took 3 steps on the water! And that when we trust Christ, in spite of our fears, we can make those bold leaps of faith also. And if we do fall, we know that Jesus is there to catch us. When we experience Jesus we might feel scared, or overjoyed, at peace, comforted, or a sense of awe and wonder, and we almost always have our faith strengthened. Today we are welcoming three new members into the Body of Christ through the waters of baptism. These are waters that we should all enter with fear and trepidation. Not fear in the sense that something bad is about to happen, but fear in the sense of awe and wonder about how our new resurrected life will be. It is in the waters of baptism that we die to our old selves to be raised anew with Christ. We might enter those waters worried that we are not ready, worried that we might mess up (make mistakes) this whole Christianity thing. But we enter those waters in faith, faith that God knows what we need before we even ask, faith that the Body of Christ, the Church, will support us in our life of faith. As we think about our resurrected life and our baptismal covenant, as we ponder the relationship between faith and fear, hear these words from Nelson Mandela. "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you." Mandela reminds us that what we really should fear is our power and our blessedness, and not fear in the sense of being scared or worried, but fear in the sense of living in awe and wonder. We are beloved children of God, who promises to catch us when we fall, and with a word invites us to take those great leaps of faith, "come." Amen. the Reverend Eric Liles