August 7, 2005

Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost

Matthew 14:22-33


"Dancing on the Waves"



Knowing what we do about Jesus, is it really all that surprising to hear he could walk on water? He did, after all, rise from the dead! He turned water into wine, stilled storms, raised Lazarus, healed the blind, lame, deaf and dumb and the sick. Walking on water...probably not that big of deal.

What’s really miraculous about this story is that Peter got out of the boat. Peter was a fisherman and he knew better. He spent his whole life at sea. Everything he knew to the very core of his being told him it was just a bad idea to swing his feet over the side and hop onto the waves. But that’s exactly what ol’ Pete did. 

Everybody else, hanging on for dear life inside that boat thought for sure Peter had lost his marbles. Was he nuts? Anybody with half a lick of sense knows you stay inside the boat during a storm– says so right there in the Coast Guard safety manual.

But there he went, where common sense would not go. He went where Jesus was. In that moment, that compelling, irrational moment of faith he experienced something he never experienced before, a walk in the Kingdom of God, solid and sure and peaceful even in a storm, a dance upon the waves.

It might not make sense to follow Jesus – "Pick up your cross and follow me. Leave your fishing nets, boats and security behind and come. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor and follow me. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God. You have to lose your life to gain it." Hanging on inside the boat with our PFD’s strapped on tight, bailing as fast as we can to keep the old thing afloat, that makes sense.

When Peter started to sink, he did something else that didn’t make much sense – instead of lunging for the rail of the boat he cried out to Jesus, "Lord, save me!" 

Great faith is not moving mountains or overcoming gravity, but knowing Who to call upon when we need to be saved. And don’t we all?

Now let’s be completely honest with each other. First and Second Churches are sinking ships, have been for a long time. Just go back and review the membership rolls from 20 or 30 years ago. There are committees that can’t be filled and pews that gather dust and hymnals that don’t get opened and classrooms that go unused. There have been a lot of people hanging on inside these boats for a long time hoping the storm would pass and that things would get better. 

At First Church, we’re hopeful that things may be beginning to turn around a bit, but we still look out over that rail and it’s obvious we haven’t found smooth sailing yet. And we worry that more water might come pouring in or that another leak might spring up and we’ll run out of chewing gum to patch the holes. 

All the hanging-on, rowing and bailing in the world won’t save our churches. Only Jesus can...and he isn’t interested in patching leaks or propping up our institutions. He wants to transform us, make disciples of us, call us beyond the short-sighted desperation of common sense to uncommon faith. He beckons us to think outside the box, to put our feet on the water and experience what Peter experienced, to dance upon the waves. 

It’s not easy. Things seem stormy and that can be scary. We’ve sailed quite a way together, working, fellowshipping and worshipping together. But now, as we reckon with what it means to really be together, things are getting a little uncomfortable and difficult. There is a strong compulsion to hang on for dear life.

But the life Jesus offers is so much more than this. It is victory in the storm, peace among the waves. It is hope-filled wholeness, purposeful living, meaning, substance, joy that is complete. And he beckons us to step into it with him.

There are hopeful signs – after all, we are together today. We are imagining what it would be like to be together all the time. We are thinking outside that box a bit, living outside the norm, toes in the water. 

Where will this lead? Will we find a common course or continue on separate journeys? What great opportunities does God set before us now? What is our calling? Do we heed it? What vision compels us to look to the future with hope? Dare we swing our feet over the side and step out? Will we dance upon the waves?