Monday, August 31, 2020

Year A Proper 17 2020 Contra Legem Talionis

 Year A Proper 17, 30 August 2020

Video Service from St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

Contra Legem Talionis


Collect: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.


Romans 12:9-21

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.


Matthew 16:21-28

     Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

     Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”


Good morning. Coming hot on the heels of last week’s triumphant declaration by Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, we go immediately into this story, where Jesus has to shut down a train of thought, and he needs to make it clear once and for all that that dog won’t hunt. It is a non-negotiable; it is a non-starter.


We have two thousand years of Christian mythologizing to get out of the way. Most people think of Satan as a guy in a red suit, with horns and a pitchfork. That is mythologizing. The name comes from adversary, opponent, tempter. Evil, probably, but one who gets in the way of God’s plans. 


Jesus prophesied what was about to happen in Jerusalem. And Peter says this:

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 

Hence, Jesus says to Peter, the one who just declared him the Christ, 

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”


Jesus is not snapping at Peter, but he needs Peter to see, for us to see, that anything that derails God’s work is the wrong way to go.


Peter wanted a Messiah, the one that he had heard about from his earliest days. He envisioned, because it was what had been taught to him, that one was to come who would kick out these Roman occupiers, that would bring glory back to Israel just like it was back with King David. He took no guff from anyone and was a mighty warrior who could back up his words. You see, that is what Peter expected. That was his understanding of what a Messiah would and SHOULD be.


Peter was saying what a good righteous, faithful guy would have expected. It was not that Peter was evil. It was Peter caring deeply, about Jesus and about the concept he had been given his entire life.


But Jesus knew that this is not what was needed or what was to come. God had his sights set on something bigger, something better, something eternal. Jesus used language to make sure that Peter could be shaken out of what was and be invited into a new way of seeing things, and more importantly, a new way of being.


We have a lot of arguments being bandied around right now about what should be the direction of the country and our people. The problem is that like Peter, people have set their sights on things lower than what could be. Caught up in political party, or winning, or getting back for what has happened (and I have heard this coming out of Democrats’ and Republicans’ mouths) maybe we can get back on God’s path and hope for us. I hear people passionately caring for the country mostly, and the disagreement is how we care for the country and the nature of the country we want to have. 


As Abraham Lincoln said when asked if he thought God was on the side of the United States during the Civil War, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”


This day some people are looking to hit back at their supposed enemies. And it seems that the language is about hitting back harder to supposedly “stop” the violence. Hitting begets hitting, not peace. Not ever. 


That is why people rejoiced in this approach of hitting back fairly when it was introduced thousands of years ago. It is an appropriate response. It is “fair.” And for much of human history this has been seen as justice. It created a situation of fairness. Look at much of the rules delineated in the Hebrew Scriptures and it was about establishing a “fair” society. It was the beginning of the rule of law. If someone took your donkey, they owed you an equitable donkey and nothing more. If someone tore down your wall, they owed you an equivalent wall and nothing more. If someone plucked out your eye, you could only take their eye so that it would be “fair.” Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The words that are used to sum up this fairness doctrine is Lex Talionis, the Law of the Claw. It limits the use of force. And creates a system that basically promises a never-ending cycle of hurts and “just responses.” 


But most people cannot stop at that. As was said by Gandhi, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”


Jesus calls us, like he did Peter, to let go of the status quo, the way things have always been, and step up and reframe the problem from a high perspective. Jesus told the Adversary to get back, he invited people to follow him and not try to lead him down a false path. The higher path was the call of God.


Jesus speaks to this explicitly about his way versus the long-standing way in the Sermon on the Mount: 


Matthew 5

38 ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” 39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.


It was summed up in our Romans readings as well. Brothers and sisters, the Adversary is going to be trying to lead us down false paths, and it may seem like the best of intentions. The Adversary may look like our dearest friend, like Peter was to Jesus. It may take the form of a common adherent to our politics. The Adversary comes in many forms.


From Jesus own mouth, “Love your enemies.” Never in my life have I felt like I have had enemies like I do in this climate. We are being divided so that we can be controlled. One of the oldest axioms of politics is still true. Jesus said it, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Matthew 12:25) Or as Hitler instructed his minions in Mein Kampf and in Nazi pamphlets. (Source from NY Times Mar 29, 1942) 


Division is not of Christ. Those that lead us to division could be like Peter, pushing us off the higher path of God out of care, concern, or commitment to what they value. Or division could be a means to other ends. Friends, when we face these divided days ahead, we can disagree without being disagreeable. People disagreeing with us are not inferior, less than, and definitely not our “Enemy.” It is so easy to go to that language. It is not of Christ. We are called to love our enemy. We are called to do good to those who hate us. Anything less than that is not of Christ. Anything less than that needs to lead us to say, “Get thee behind me, Satan!”


Our commitment to Christ, our commitment to each other MUST BE, ABSOLUTELY MUST BE, greater than our commitment to anything else. Our country, or our party, or to our electoral choice is far inferior to our first love, our first allegiance, Christ and following him. Amen 


Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Year A Proper 16 WED 2020 Anyway

 Year A Proper 16 WEDNESDAY, 26 August 2020

Video Service from St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Anyway”


Collect: Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


John 7:1-13

     After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ (For not even his brothers believed in him.) Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.’ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

     But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’ And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man’, others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’ Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.


When we choose to lead, we put ourselves out there. As we are in our second week of political conventions, putting oneself out there, and even getting shots from one’s “side” or even “friends” is not out of the question. 


Jesus sends his disciples to Jerusalem for the Festival of Booths, the Summer Harvest Festival. He attends secretly, like we see in books about princes or princesses sneaking out of the castle. He wanders through the crowd anonymously. And there he is able to hear what people think of him.


Some think him a demagogue, some think him a good guy. He was not ready to be exposed and potentially threatened so he kept quiet (at first, keep reading if you want to know more).


Leading, putting out ideas and ways to get there, will always cause problems. There will always be division if something of value is getting done, AND value is always in the eye of the beholder. If you are making no enemies, you are probably selling ice cream. If you are getting anything done, especially something meaningful or life-changing, you will have people opposed to you. Always. 

It is hard when you get attacked for doing what is right. It hurts.


Here is a poem I always think to when I someone mis-represents my intentions or accuses without fully understanding or taking the time to ask me about whatever it is that got them so worked up.


People are often unreasonable,

Illogical, and self-centered;

Love them anyway.


If you are kind,

People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.


If you are successful,

You will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.


If you are honest and frank,

People may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.


What you spend years building,

Someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.


If you find serenity and happiness,

They may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.


The good you do today,

People will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.


Give the world the best you have,

And it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.


You see, in the final analysis,

It is between you and God;

It never was between you and them anyway.


May God guide our steps, and strengthen us when we are like Jesus and getting attacked for what is good. Amen

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Year A Proper 16 2020 Not Aiming for Perfect

 Year A Proper 16, 23 August 2020

Video Service from St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Not Aiming for Perfect”


Collect: Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Romans 12:1-8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.


Matthew 16:13-20

When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.


Good morning. We are living in hard days. Often we are confused about what to do. I remember in graduate school one of the axioms that they drilled in our heads was, “A good solution today is better than the perfect solution tomorrow.” Now, sometimes we have the luxury of perfection. But that is very rare. And in these imperfect times, Perfection is even more of a pipedream than even in normal times.


And today I want to explore that. I teach and preach about those I believe to be perfect. Our Holiness Church brothers and sisters often preach that perfection is possible and expected of us. My theology will not allow me to go there.


So what is the point of perfect? Why even bring it up? Many of us, myself included at times, still think in that black & white, all-or-nothing thinking. We think that anything less than perfect is not acceptable. Thanks be to God, God does not have that same point of view. God meets us where we are, and guides us step by ever loving step mto where God would have us go.


In our Romans reading today, St. Paul says to the Romans and us, 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I think that is it. God is guiding us to the perfect. Slowly, patiently, lovingly.


When I taught middle school, I knew that whenever I introduced a new topic I would most likely have to introduce a new idea more than a few times in more than one way. We all learn at our own pace, in our own way. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, the Psalmist penned. I have seen it in that career and this one. 


God is working in us, helping us to discern, to see clearly, what is good, what is acceptable, and what is perfect. Notice that order. Think on teaching a child. Glue this to that. “Good. Good job!” we say, even though the paper is dripping of glue and the item is 90 degrees off of what was intended. Alas, such is the progression of learning. 


After more time, the child can do it on their own. It is in the right direction, and they only used a quarter of the bottle. It is acceptable.  It is better than what was before, and it will pass once it dries.


Later, maybe days, maybe years, the child will bring their work to show us, and it is beyond good, beyond acceptable, and is actually fantastic. We may even say something like, “Did you do this? Wow!” It is meant as a compliment, but might hurt their feelings not knowing how impressed we are. They have almost obtained perfection. They have learned, and grown, and are ready for what comes next.


The Greek word here for perfect is actually the same root as distance, tele-. I have spoken to this before. It means the full measure. We might better translate perfect in the New Testament as complete. Full. Accomplished. Finished.


I preach about a perfect God, and Jesus Christ his son our Lord. Even there, Jesus in the living of his life went the full distance. He even declared from the cross, “It is finished.” Now to the world’s eyes, how on earth could this be “perfect?” Think of his mom and his disciples witnessing it. The Romans mocked him as a failure. Be he went the distance. He made it perfectly.


I know of so many people who wait to be in daily relationship with God because they want to get their act together first. They want to get to a point when they can say to God, “I am lovable now!” God does not love us because we have become lovable. If God’s love of us was merit based, not a one of us would be loved by God.


Perfection, friends, is unattainable, not by me, not by you. But each and every one of us is lovable and capable of loving. Each and every one of us is God’s Beloved. Open up God’s Wallet and your picture is right there smiling back, probably with spaghetti in your hair and all over your face. We do not love our kids because they are perfect. (Thank God!) We love our kids because they are ours! They are fascinating and beautiful, and people becoming. (Thanks be to God!) Are you and I any different?


Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.


When Jesus asked his disciples who others thought he was, he got all kinds of answers. Prophets mostly, recent like his cousin John who had just been beheaded, or more established and historical like Elijah. Notice he did not kick anyone out. He was not expecting perfection. He was not expecting 100% All-A’s from all 12 disciples. 


They obviously saw something in Jesus, or they would not have followed him. A teacher, their Rabbi, and maybe, just maybe something more… That was a Good Start.


And then Peter charges ahead. It comes out of his mouth. Had his brain actually thought about it first? Consciously? Peter always struck me as a verbal processor, meaning maybe he needed to say it to truly ponder it.  

Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

That was what St. Paul was talking about in Romans. God gives us the ability to discern, to see it from God’s point-of-view. We see what is good. We see what is acceptable. We see what is perfect.


In these crazy days, we need all the discernment we can get. We need God whispering in our ear, this is the better way. And to help us, I would encourage you to think like this. Let go of the perfect. Until we have “gone the distance,” it is impossible to go the distance. So what then? Maybe this is something that will help us.


Consultant Seth Godin says we should aim for this: 


The best available option. That’s not the same as perfect. The best available option is always available. The perfect almost never is. If you care enough to contribute [to a project], you can care enough to not wait for the perfect. 


So much in life is about that, the best available option. What is it I can do TODAY? Discerning with God the next steps we should take, often we find what we once thought was perfect was so off base with hindsight. Our inability to claim the perceived perfect option, was actually a life saver. And God was good. God took us to what God thought of as perfect for us and perfect for his beautiful dream for the world, God’s salvation plan.


God loves our imperfect, learning/growing/discerning selves. God loves us where we are, and is so pleased when we get to where he wants us to go. Most of the time, we think we did it, too. God is okay with that. One day we will see fully, until then we can chalk it up to ignorance. 


In these days, especially if things get more contentious and relationship-straining, remember that the one you are seemingly up against is as imperfect, and fully loved as you are. And maybe, really maybe, we can get to the place where we can take the best available option and together go down that path.


May God bless our discerning, now and forever more! Amen





Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Year A Proper 14 WED 2020 Chance Encounters

 Year A Proper 14 WEDNESDAY, 12 August 2020

Video Service from St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Chance Encounters”


Collect: Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


John 4:1-26

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.


A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’


Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he,the one who is speaking to you.’


We all have moments when we are different after they happen. Some of them are expected or planned, like the birth of a child or a wedding where we are the ones saying, “I do.”


But I have experienced many a time when a cosmic collision took place, unexpected, unplanned, and my life has been redirected (mostly for the better). 


I think the Gospel story this morning is exactly that, when God’s hidden strings directed Jesus and this woman at the well to be at the same place at the same time, and both left differently.


This Sunday’s Gospel is much the same way, and I look forward to hearing what Harrison will share with us. Another chance encounter which leave both parties changed.


We see the woman coming alone in the heat of Noonday to get her water, not in the morning with the other woman which would have been the norm. Many read into this that she wanted to be alone.


Jesus is tired, and just wants to be alone. He sends his disciples into town to get some food while he waits.


When the woman shows up, he asks her for water. She is surprised, not that a man would ask a woman for this, but rather a Jew would even recognize the existence of a Samaritan woman.


He is longing for water. She is longing for meaning, a far harder thirst to quench. 


Both leave changed.


Harrison and I will soon be gathering to prayerfully seek our theme for the year. Last year we were led to “Lead Holy Spirit into the Depths of God.” Little did we realize what Depths we were going to be plumbing. God knew, I believe. And I am still learning. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us to these moments. Trust that. Find encouragement in that, even when it makes no sense in the moment. Hindsight, they say, is 2020. 


I think that phrase will soon find a quick death, but it still works for now. Lead Holy Spirit where you will, may we have the faith to follow, even into the Depths of God. Amen


Monday, August 10, 2020

Year A Proper 14 2020 When We Have Too Little Faith (In Ourselves)

Year A Proper 14, 9 August 2020

Video Service from St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“When We Have Too Little Faith (In Ourselves)”


Collect: Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 


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.”


There are few sermons I can remember decades later. The best sermon I ever remember hearing live was while I was in seminary. They had hired one of the greatest sermonizers in the world. His name was Fred Craddock. He had written a textbook called Preaching. It was as simple as that. He was so very well known and well respected, that he could write a book called Preaching, and no one would question the hubris of that title. 


Fred Craddock came and preached and gave a great sermon. I still remember bits and pieces of it. Later that same evening a local preacher, Dr. Kinney, the Dean of the seminary from Virginia Union University, gave a sermon on this passage. I will never forget it.Most people stop at the pithy phrase, “If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat.” I thought that is where the sermon would end, like most sermons on this topic. Dr. Kinney went further. 


He likened us to Peter. He talked about how Peter had the faith, that he wanted to get out of the boat. That was one thing, a great thing, that he was actually able to get out of the boat and walk on the water. And then some people say that Peter lost his faith. But I’d like to take a look at the passage again. “Then Peter got out of the boat. He started walking on the water and came towards Jesus.” He actually had the faith to get out of the boat and walk on the water. “But then he noticed the strong wind and he became frightened.” In other translations of this it says that he “saw” the wind. Now, you can’t “see” wind. You can see the effects of the wind. I think that’s why he became afraid. I think of the times we are going through now and all that is going on in our society and it causes a lot of fear, if you let it.


Fear is something that can get a hold of us if we see things and don’t have the faith to know that God is bigger. He “saw’ the wind but really it was the effects of the wind, the dark clouds moving so quickly. He saw the waves. Look at the waves on a still lake, like this one. It is a lake. We can call the Sea of Galilee a sea, but it was really just a big lake. He saw the effect of the wind on those waters and it caused him to be afraid. It caused him to let go of the faith that had him step out of the boat in the first place, that had him walking on water. It caused him to think, “I can’t do this.” That is where fear comes in. That is the devil whispering in our ear, “You can’t do this.” And what does Jesus say? Come, come out and walk on the water. 


We know that Jesus was where Peter had his faith, because as soon as he starts to sink he says, “Jesus, save me!” He doesn’t have a lack of faith in Jesus. Where is his lack of faith? His lack of faith is in himself and who God made him to be. God made us to follow wherever He calls, even if it is to walk on water. He calls us to have faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed. We can move mountains with faith that size. Peter’s lack of faith was not in Christ or in God. Peter’s lack of faith was in Peter. God help Peter. And for me and for you, maybe that is where our lack of faith is as well. Maybe we lack faith in who we are in Christ. May God forgive us and help us when we have that lack of faith. We have been provided all we need. We have abundance. God is God of everything. Why are we afraid? If we are afraid of death, death will come. Death will come for all of us, but Christ is with us. Christ is Lord of life and Christ is lord of the world to come. He sits at the right hand of the Father. Of what should we be afraid? Nothing! Nothing can separate us from the love of God.


I still remember that sermon. I still remember Dr. Kinney imploring us to have faith in who we are in Christ. Brothers and sisters, that’s the only word I can give you today. When we have faith to move mountains, when we have faith to step out of the boat, when we have faith to walk on water, we need to have faith in who we are because of WHOSE we are. We need not fear these days. We need not fear. For Christ is always with us! 


And when the disciples who did not have the courage to get out of the boat saw Jesus and Peter get back in the boat, it says the winds ceased. Those things they were so afraid of just stopped. And then those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” And if we believe that to be true, what do we have to fear? Remember that this day, because God is with us, even in the midst of the storms of life. We have nothing to fear. Thanks be to God.