The
holy gospel according to Matthew (14:22-33)
22Immediately
Jesus made the disciples get into the boat
and
go on ahead to the other side of the Sea of Galilee,
while
he dismissed the crowds.
23And
after he had dismissed the crowds,
Jesus
went up the mountain by himself to pray.
When
evening came, he was there alone,
24but
by this time the boat,
battered
by the waves,
was
far from the land,
for
the wind was against them.
25And
early in the morning Jesus came walking toward them on the sea.
26But
when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,
they
were terrified, saying,
“It
is a ghost!”
And
they cried out in fear.
27But
immediately Jesus spoke to them and said,
“Take
heart, it is I;
do
not be afraid.”
28Peter
answered him,
“Lord,
if it is you,
command
me to come to you on the water.”
29He
said, “Come.”
So
Peter got out of the boat,
started
walking on the water,
and
came toward Jesus.
30But
when Peter noticed the strong wind,
he
became frightened,
and
beginning to sink, he cried out,
“Lord,
save me!”
31Jesus
immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him,
“You
of little faith, why did you doubt?”
32When
they got into the boat,
the
wind ceased.
33And
those in the boat worshiped Jesus, saying,
“Truly
you are the Son of God.”
The
gospel of the Lord.
-----
Storms
are not new to us.
10
years ago next week, a storm crashed waves of water through this town,
destroying homes, a sense of safety, and this church building’s basement.
8
years ago the ELCA decided to follow Jesus more closely during the Churchwide
Assembly by beginning a campaign to raise millions of dollars to fight malaria
and by recognizing and affirming the calls to ordained and consecrated ministryof people of a variety of sexual orientations and gender identities. The response of some to the latter
commitment was a storm that tore through communities of faith, including here
in Rushford, tearing friends and colleagues apart.
Storms
are not new to us, nor are they new to Peter, a fisher by trade. Peter knows the danger of the sea—the
water that can be so calm one day and life-threatening another. So when he’s in the boat, “battered by
the waves,” he knows how to handle the boat. That’s not the terrifying part of it all.
The
terrifying part is Jesus.
Jesus
shows up in the midst of the storm, heading for the boat, walking on water, and
this terrifies the disciples in the boat.
The storm isn’t terrifying, Jesus is.
How
often are we scared of Jesus coming to us?
Are
we scared of what it means to follow Jesus? If we’re not yet, we probably should be. We know where Jesus ended up.
We
are currently in the midst of many storms. A storm is raging as our president threatens and escalates
this country towards a nuclear war with North Korea, which would likely destroy
this whole planet. Even as we’ve
been praying for peace and de-escalation each week, the president has been
intentionally escalating the threat.
Another
storm, this one of white supremacy, has been raging, last week in the bombing of a mosque in Bloomington, and most especially this weekend in
Charlottesville, Virginia.
Uninvited and unwanted white supremacists, engaging in acts of domestic
terrorism, gathered without the KKK’s usual white robes of anonymity, carrying
torches, and violently protested the planned removal of Confederate General
Robert E. Lee’s statue. These
neo-Nazis chanted many horrible things, including “Blood and Soil,” a philosophy
of the Third Reich, used as a Nazi chant in Germany. The storm of racism and evil is real and alive in this
country.
And
Jesus is walking towards us in the midst of this storm. It is easy for us to gather here in
Rushford and dismiss what is happening in Charlottesville or with the president
and North Korea as far away and not connected to us. In college we called it “living in the Luther bubble” as we
were fairly ignorant to much of what happened outside of our sphere of study,
college, and community.
But
Jesus comes to us, walking on the water through the storm with a different way
of being. The ministry we do here
in this place as Trinity and First is important. It matters. It
matters that we make this place more welcoming of Spanish-speaking folks,
especially immigrants working on the farms, and of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
Queer, and questioning folks.
These are important ways of following Jesus by resisting racism and
forces of oppression.
And
yet we are also part of a larger body of Christ. We are part of a whole country and world in which storms are
raging and Jesus calls us into this world and that can be terrifying.
We
call this place where we gather a sanctuary. A place of safety amidst the storm. Many church buildings have historically
been constructed like ships and have areas called “naves” to reinforce
this. And, the implication is that
life is not always safe. That’s
true. Jesus doesn’t call us to
safety, he calls us to discipleship.
In
our first reading for today, Elijah has just stood up to the priests of Baal,
as God bests them in a challenge of sacrifice and power, which then ends the
drought. This provokes the ire of
the powerful followers of Baal and so Elijah responds by hiding in a cave in
the desert far away, feeling alone and afraid for his life. And God comes to him as “a sound of
sheer silence,” or in other translations: “a gentle and quiet whisper,” “a
sound of gentle blowing,” or “a sound. Thin. Quiet.” God’s gentle presence contradicts the storm of anxiety,
fear, and loneliness raging in Elijah.
Yet
even God’s presence cannot shake Elijah’s terrified and lonely lament, which he
repeats word for word when God asks again what Elijah is doing. And God persists, calling and equipping
Elijah and those who would come after him to continue the work. And Jesus keeps calling to us in the
boat in the midst of the storm, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Jesus
calls us to deep commitments locally—in welcome and hospitality and boldness as
we proclaim the gospel here. And
we are faithful in this call as a community of faith.
Jesus
also calls us to deep commitments to justice throughout the world. And what a witness that could be—
--to
gather in our own town, or travel to the state or national capitols, advocating
in solidarity with people of color being menaced by proud white supremacists,
or to travel together as a community of faith to show up with people of color
to resist racism.
--to
challenge the narratives that separate our country into rural republicans or
urban democrats, showing that more than any political party, we are children of
God, caring for our kindred, our friends, and our neighbors around the country
and the world.
--to
challenge the narratives that claim at best that we don’t care about and at
worst that we support the president’s threats of nuclear war with North Korea,
the bombing of the mosque in Bloomington, or the white supremacists’ presence
in Charlottesville.
But
more importantly than any of those, what if we took this action to follow Jesus
even in the storm that rages, because that is what faith means to us.
This
weekend the ELCA issued a statement from Bp. Bill Gafkjen, the chair of the Conference of Bishops, with this prayer:
“Just
and merciful God, we give you thanks for … bishops, pastors, deacons, people of
God – who this Saturday walk the way of the cross in Charlottesville, Va. On
this day and in that place, they join other courageous and faithful people
across time and space to stand against bigotry, hatred and violence; to stand
with those who are intended victims; and to stand for justice and mercy, peace
and equality for all people.
“We
stand with them in prayer, asking you to empower them, protect them, and use
their witness as [a] hopeful sign of your resurrection reign afoot in your
beloved and troubled world. By your might, break the bondage that bigotry,
hatred and violence impose on their victims and their perpetrators. May your
kingdom come on earth as in heaven. And, we pray, empower us in our own
communities to follow their lead as fellow servants to your dream of a community
in which all people and their gifts are welcomed and honored, cherished and
celebrated as beloved children of a just, merciful and loving God; through
Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the life of the world. Amen”
The
PCUSA stated: "Because of our biblical understanding of who God is and
what God intends for humanity, the PC(USA) must stand against, speak against,
and work against racism. Antiracist effort is not optional for Christians. It
is an essential aspect of Christian discipleship, without which we fail to
proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ."
- Facing Racism: A Vision of the Intercultural Community, 222nd General Assembly (2016), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
- Facing Racism: A Vision of the Intercultural Community, 222nd General Assembly (2016), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
These
are prayers and commitments of words and they are important, but so are the prayers
we pray with our feet and with our resources. Where we show up matters and resisting this mob of white
supremacist terrorists, resisting nuclear war, is praying with our whole
bodies. How will we show up? What are we willing to risk in the
storm, to follow the Jesus who is walking to us now? Jesus is calling to us, how will we respond? How will we connect to those who suffer
injustice not only in our community, but around the country and the world?
Our
Church in the World moments have been a great way to keep us aware of what is
going on in the world and we include places and people all over the world who
are facing injustice and hardship in our prayers each week. Awareness and spoken prayers are an
important step, and they are good beginning steps.
I
think we are ready for our next step.
What
if we commit to showing up or hosting even just one thing a year that addresses
injustice in the country or the world?
What if we show up at the state capitol, the nation’s capitol, or the
site of resistance in the face of white supremacy? One embodied prayer, one form of resistance to the storms of
injustice that rage around us. We
stay in the boat to fight the storm, rather than escaping. Jesus is walking toward us and calling
us to follow. So, we pray with our
bodies because we trust that the storm can never stop Jesus.
Thanks be to God.
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