August 10th sermon

11Aug08

Sara suggested that I post this.

I hope one day soon that we will be able to have audio recording instead as sermons are living things, they tend to change shape and tone and reflex as they are spoken.

Pentecost13A

 

‘”The Dark Knight” is cultural rigormortis.  It’s what happens when we are done, and we are done.  Jacques Barzun had it right, when he wrote a history of western culture up through the 1990s, and said, certainly, that our age is defined by boredom.  We are excited by nothing, really, but maybe for a moment here, or a moment there, we can try to be turned on.  Sex can do it (or fake sex, much more likely) but brutal violence can work, too, if for a short time, (or maybe a hundred million dollar Olympic extravaganza)’ (from www.kinnon.tv)

Most people would not say that they lead boring lives- if they think their lives are not exciting, they make excitement for themselves- usually cheap, temporary, selfish excitement at the expense of someone else.

 

Following Jesus is designed to be a dynamic, challenging, exciting adventure

A couple of years ago we read the book called “If you want to walk on water… you have to get out of the boat.”  One of the most pivotal statements in that book that did not receive enough attention was with regard to the boat itself.

 

1)                 the boat was already a considerable distance^[a] from land, being beaten by the waves because the wind was against it. 

Sometimes we all feel like that, maybe most times.  Like we are working and working and never getting ahead.  Like life is battering and bruising us and like it will always be that way.

 

I want to point something out to you. Staying in the boat is not a “safe” option, it is not the boring option, it too is dangerous.   it leads to cultural and spiritual rigormortis- The boat is being tossed around, sinking, failing, the greek word is tortured or tormented.  The disciples choice is between torture and torment and the waves and Jesus.

 

Only Peter is willing to escape the torture and seek Jesus and it leads him to the adventure of a lifetime.

Was it Thoreau who said “people live lives of quiet desparation”

CS Lewis said most people live lives like a child in a ghetto who prefers making mud pies in the street to a holiday at the beach because they have never seen or heard of the sea.

 

Jesus says “Don’t be afraid, Take Courage, it is I.”  It is interesting Jesus says “do not be afraid, I am- the greek translation of the Hebrew name of God.  Be brave.”

Peter says, “if it is you, Command me, to come to you on the water”

 

2)                 Jesus calls us into the tumult, into uncertainty, into peril.

It is interesting to watch the calling of the great saints of the Bible.  They are not supermen and women.  Virtually every calling story contains some implied or overt objection.  Everyone contains a “who me?” moment.  Do you know me?   Are you sure you want me?

Do you know my history?  Last week, Jacob, Who me? I am a liar.  Abraham, Who me?  I am 100.  Moses Who Me?  I don’t talk so good.  David, I am an adulterer and a murderer. Mary, Who me?  I am a virgin.  Paul Who Me?  I persecuted the church and I have a thorn in my flesh.

I have said this before, Jesus calls us to faithfulness, to listen to Him and to trust Him, not to perfection.  In fact, Paul says, I boast about my weakness, because in my weakness, I know the power of God to save, to life me up and to do for me and through me better things than I could have ever imagined.

 

3)                 The Peter Paradox-

Peter says, Lord if it is you Command me to come out onto the water, and Jesus said “Come”.  So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.  In those moments, however brief, Peter knew what no one of us has ever known, the sensation of walking on water but more than that, he knew moments of complete and utter faith and obedience

And then Peter failed, he saw the wind and the waves, and he got scared and began to sink. 

Two things here

1)                 He was the only one of the 11, willing to take a chance.  He was the only one willing to get out of the boat, he was the only one willing to try, but he was the only one who experienced the thrill of walking on water and he was the only one who was absolutely certain of Jesus’ ability to save.  The others were Monday morning quarter-backs, pointing out how he failed, how he lost faith, criticizing him for focusing on the wind and the waves, when he should have been focusing on Jesus.

2)                 He was the first one who knew the power of Jesus to save and save him personally.  In the midst of the storm and the wind and the waves, when he had nothing else to hold onto, Peter knew the power of Jesus to lift him up from his daring failure. 

“Oh man of little faith, why did you doubt?”  It may have been smaller than the size of a mustard seed, but it was enough for him to walk on water.

Peter has enough faith only for a few glorious steps, then he knows failure, but then he experiences the greatest success, he knows the power of Jesus to save.

 

Our life as Christians was never meant to be static.  It was meant to be organic, it was meant to grow, to change, build us up.  It was meant to engage us and draw us through our fears and uncertainties, through the noise and peril, the sturm and drang of this life and into the arms of Jesus, our rescuer, our Saviour.

 

Can you see the storms and waves in your life?  Can you see the things that cause you to be afraid, cause you to remain as you are, in the boat that is being tortured from the outside?

Then with Peter pray, “Lord, if it is you, Command me to come to you on the water?”  Listen and then respond.

 

 

Our Anglican church is being tortured by waves and the wind is against it.  At Lambeth we saw the Good Ship Anglican church arrayed in all its glory, praying, singing, marching for the Millenium Development Goals, engaged in listening, going deeper, talking to one another, seeking to understand each other.  Debating, who is this Jesus?  Usually a good question to ask.  But they ended up saying that Jesus was an insubstantial, and ultimately inconsequential ghost, powerless and irrelevant.  Powerless to call people to faith, to trust Jesus with everything they have and are.  And unwilling to hear Jesus’ call to trust that His words are eternal and true

Our Anglican diocese of Montreal is facing the huge waves of financial disaster.  Debt, massive cutbacks, layoffs, back-biting, decline, lack of vision,

As a church and for many reasons, we are going to need to begin to ask ourselves whether we want to stay in the boat?

 

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