Sermon: Water Walking (10th Sunday after Pentecost – A) August 13, 2017
Matthew 14:23-33 Panzer Liturgical Service, Stuttgart
Background: My husband retired from 27 3/4 years in the USAF on July 1, and we have been hoping for the last six months find civilian employment in Germany. Time was running out, and less than one day before shipping our first car home, he was called to interview for a position here in Stuttgart. Within 48 hours from first contact, he signed a contact and we were able to cancel car-shipping and house-packing appointments and change over to "We're staying!" mode. That's a lot of drama to surround sermon-writing... here's the result.
In his book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat, pastor John Ortberg tells a story about an unexpected birthday gift from his wife. He was excited to get a hot air balloon ride for two. When they arrived at the field where the balloons were tethered, he climbed in the basket with his wife, the pilot and another couple, and off they went.
In his book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat, pastor John Ortberg tells a story about an unexpected birthday gift from his wife. He was excited to get a hot air balloon ride for two. When they arrived at the field where the balloons were tethered, he climbed in the basket with his wife, the pilot and another couple, and off they went.
It was a beautiful day, flying high between the California mountains and the Pacific coastline. The majesty of the scene took his breath away. But soon he realized that he was feeling something unexpected… fear.
He always thought those baskets went about chest high, but this one only came up to their knees. He worried that one good wind would be enough to pitch someone overboard. One look at his wife told him that she was even more uncomfortable than he. So, he decided that if he got into a conversation with the balloon pilot, it would make him feel calmer. “How did you get started flying balloons,” he asked.
“Dude, it’s like this.…” Uh oh… it turns out the guy actually didn’t have a job, but was a local surfer who did this a little money on the side. He went on to explain that he got started flying hot-air balloons after he had crashed his truck drunk-driving, injuring his brother. While his brother was recovering, the driver-brother learned to pilot balloons so that he could take his brother for a ride.
“By the way,” he added, “if things get a little choppy on the way down, don’t be surprised. I’ve never flown this particular balloon before, and I’m not sure how it’s going to handle the descent.”
John’s wife looked over at him and said, “You mean to tell me we are a thousand feet up in the air with an unemployed surfer who started flying hot-air balloons because he got drunk, crashed a pickup, injured his brother, has never been in this balloon before and doesn’t know how to bring it down?”
Then the wife of the other couple looked at John and said, “You’re a pastor. Do something religious.” “You mean, like taking up an offering?” John asked. They were not amused.
In hindsight, he realized that the real question of the day was, “Can I trust the pilot?” You know how it is. We tell ourselves that everything will be OK – a positive attitude makes for a pleasant journey. But in the end, John realized that the real issue concerned the dude who was flying the balloon.[i]
Our gospel lesson today falls immediately after our lesson from last week – Jesus feeding the multitude by the sea. When Jesus hears of the death of John the Baptist, he retreats to a place alone, to pray and I’m sure to wonder about the turn that life has taken. The disciples head out to cross the water in a boat – the kind that they were familiar with, in the same waters where they had fished before. As the small storm buffeted them around, I’ll bet it didn’t feel like anything they had been through before.[ii]
The language of the original text speaks of a storm that “torments” the boat… the disciples did everything they could to keep it from going down. It was then that one of the disciples noticed a shadowy figure walking toward them… on the water. Frightened and amazed, they realized that the closer Jesus gets, the calmer the sea becomes. Jesus’ presence is their port in the storm, even in the middle of the water. His presence with them says, “You can trust me. Your destiny is in my hands and it will be OK.”[iii]
Peter, never one to mince words, blurts out, “If it is you, Lord, then command me to walk on the water to you.” Jesus responds with just one word. “Come.”
Peter, feeling himself sinking, cries out, “Save me, Lord.” And Jesus reaches out a hand, reminding Peter that doubt is often the greatest enemy. We aren’t meant to live this life of faith on our power or instinct alone. We are created to be in relationship with, and walking with, the One in whose image we are created.
This passage is about radical discipleship. It reminds us that Jesus asks us every day to do some amazing, scary things. Often, they make no sense to us. They are outside our comfort zones. They require us to behave in a way that seems unsafe and outside of the world’s expectations. And many times, in the middle of our water-walking, we feel ourselves slipping under, unsure of our path and fearful of the way ahead.
We talk about this as the story of Jesus walking on water. But what if we’re putting the emphasis on the wrong part of the story? What if the lessons to learn come from what happened next?
I’ve spent a lot of years in ministry with military families, and it didn’t take long to realize that some locations are more desirable than others. We have had some great postings, including living in Germany twice, but we have also gone to a few places where people asked, “Who did you make mad?”, usually in a much more colorful way. To many, those assignments are seen as punishment, or as a place to lay low. Many people try to leave for greener pastures as soon as possible.
But those wilderness assignments were some of the best for me. Those were the places where I made the best friends, where people really appreciated the contributions I made to church and community, where people reached out to include me and make me feel loved. And it was in those places that I learned one of the most important lessons of my entire faith journey. And this is it….
We get lured into thinking that we are choosing between two things. In this year alone, for us it’s been, should we take that next assignment or retire and see what’s next? Should we try to stay in Germany or go back to the US? Which one does God want? Which choice has God’s blessing? What happens if we make the wrong choice? Will our future be ruined forever?
More and more, I realized that these are the wrong questions. Because God is down every road. He’s in our going out and our coming in. He’s in Stuttgart and in Grand Forks, ND, in Newport, RI and Altus, OK. He’s in the career choices that worked out well, and in the ones that left a lot of be desired. Here God is, with us, holding out a steadying hand, saying, “Just get out of the boat.” Choose something. Keep moving. Don’t play it safe. Put your trust in me. Believe in me. These are the signs of encouragement along our way. These are God’s promises.
They say that hindsight is 20/20. We see this working in the Bible as God’s story throughout time is told through the eyes of those who see and record how they are connected to the story. In my own life, I can look back and see how God was present in my life, even if it didn’t feel like it at the time. Sometimes the choices I made were difficult and judge harshly by those around me. But time and again, I came out on the other end and said, “I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
As we have shared the news of our staying in the Stuttgart community, many have answered with, “God answered our prayers.” But I am convinced that the answer to prayer was not that we are staying, but that we had become peaceful that no matter what, be it staying or going, it was going to be just fine. I’d say 95% of this sermon was written before we knew how it would all turn out, and the only difference is there are more smiles and fewer tears than if the packers were coming tomorrow.
God never promises us a rose garden… unless you count the thorns as a part of their beauty. If we live life to its fullest, there is every possibility that we will get banged around and be disoriented as life unfolds around us. Jesus is not a ghost from the past, or a miracle worker who comes to take our troubles away. He isn't our guide or life coach. He is the Son of the living God, who is present with us, and whose grace upholds us in the times we cannot stand by ourselves. He's our Savior, the One who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
A faithful Christian life is about much more than having the correct theology. It’s about living a particular and peculiar kind of life. The gospel can never be reduced to just another spiritual self-help recipe, hardly different from what you might hear on TV or read in a magazine. The Jesus who walks on the water in this story not only directs the winds and the waves surrounding the boat, but also death and life as we experience them today. This Jesus wants more than to command our attention; he wants to save our lives. And he has promised to do just that.[iv]
With that salvation, come responsibilities. This morning we prayed for peace in Charlottesville. But prayer is not just about saying words or invoking the name and the power of God to change a desperate situation. Prayer requires us to love more perfectly, to speak truth to power, and to become a part of the solution instead of sitting silently by. Our Christianity is not just about what we do on Sunday morning, but how we love and serve God and one another every other hour of our lives.
We see the violence and the attack on peaceful protests in the Charlottesville and we wonder, what can we do about that from over here? Will anything I say make a difference? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”[v] If you go to the Nordbahnhof station in Stuttgart, you can see what happens when good people say nothing and do nothing. This is the location from where the Jews of Stuttgart were loaded onto trains and transported to camps outside of Germany’s border for “the final solution.” Their names engraved on the walls speak loudly in ways no other words could.
I’ve read a lot of statements from Bishops in the traditions that are represented among us, and they all tell us to take our baptismal vows seriously… to resist evil and injustice in whatever forms they present themselves. But the quote I share to end this sermon come from Rev. Kathy Lewis James, the Director of the Council on Ministries for the UMC in SC and a long-time, trusted friend and colleague.
Amen.
As a Christian, I believe that we are all on equal footing at the foot of the cross and at the communion table. I cannot follow Jesus faithfully if I am not working to make this world a place where love, compassion and respect for all of God's creation is the foundation for life together in community.
I confess that I don't know how to combat racism and white supremacists. I do know that I must continue the uncomfortable, painstaking and far too slow work of listening to people of color about their experience, reflecting on and changing my behavior when needed, being intentional about how I relate to people even when no one is looking, and pray, pray, pray.
I pray for God to open my eyes to what I am not seeing, for hearts filled with arrogance and hatred to be changed, for courage to speak out when my voice is needed, and for peace, justice, and healing in the hearts of people of color. I pray for God to stir the compassion of good, loving people everywhere that we all might care enough to work to make the world better for people who aren't just like us. Lord have mercy on us all.
Amen.
Peace, Deb
[iii] John Ortberg, ibid.
[v] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/29333.Dietrich_Bonhoeffer?page=2
[vi] Kathy Lewis James, August, 12, 2017
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