Walking on Water
Sermon preached at St. Paul’s
by Andrew Terry, Summer Seminarian-in-Residence
August 7, 2011
Matthew 14: 22-33
This morning, we encounter the disciples out to sea. The waves are battering their boat. And just as, earlier in the gospel, pain tormented a paralytic and demons tormented a demoniac, the winds are tormenting the disciples.
This morning, you are sitting in the nave of St. Paul’s Church. In many churches, an arched roof of wooden beams covers the nave. The architectural intention in this type of design is to simulate the inverted hull of a boat so that we, the people of God, might recognize that we are safely in the ark while the seas of the world and the winds of opposition swirl all around us.
I am reminded of a New York Times advertisement that appeared in last Sunday’s paper. In the international section, just below a picture of bare-chested South Korean marines shouting in the snow and just opposite a picture of the bodies of eleven Pakistani Shiites killed by gunmen, there is an advertisement for the World’s Finest Pool Floats for only $119.95 each. And above a picture of a woman lying on her 3 inch think, “most buoyant” pool float, there are the words: “Float above it all.”
And sometimes I fear that Christians see the Church in the same way. We construct the most buoyant boat we can with the finest infrastructure we know how to build. We hope and pray that this boat can weather the waves and winds of economic woe and political posturing out there. We crowd into the boat on Sunday mornings and hope for roughly an hour to “float above it all.”
But, as our gospel passage this morning reminds us, Jesus is not currently in our boat. He is in the world out there in forms that at first glance might frighten us, like a ghost walking upon the sea.
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking on Main Street, not far from this church. And I began to talk with a man who was homeless. He asked me for money. Now I have a personal policy of not giving money to people on the street but rather I tell them about Emmaus Lunch. But this guy had a great story. It involved a broken bicycle and a trip to the emergency room so I gave him a couple of dollars. And as I began walking away he raced by on his bicycle and said, “See you next Thursday at Emmaus Lunch.”
I have to laugh, but that encounter also left me feeling a little bit unsafe about the world out there. I went to Butch and asked him about the man. And Butch told me that he and Linda called this man “Shawn of Many Names.” Shawn apparently comes to Emmaus Lunches and always signs with a different last name so that he is harder to track down. Butch told me that Shawn has been on the street a long time and is a swindler. But then Butch said to me, “Shawn is a kind man. Shawn is a good man.” Butch taught me that day and continues to teach us to recognize Christ in unexpected forms, even ones that at first glance might frighten us.
And then there is Peter. Oh Peter, who was so near to Jesus: Peter, who is the rock on which the church is built, to whom the keys to the kingdom are given. Peter looks out of the boat, out towards a misty sea and says: “Lord, if that is you who is out there frightening me, Lord if that is you, command me to step out of this boat, and walk towards you on the sea.”
Jesus says, “Elthe!” “Come!”
I believe that Jesus’ call to come is a call to step out of the boat of the church and into the public realm of the world out there. And I believe there are at least two things for us to recognize when stepping out into the public realm.
First, notice that Peter steps out of the boat and walks on foot! To truly be in the public realm out there, we cannot allow the triangle of our house, our car, and our office to be our only three venues for interaction. When traveling in our metropolitan city, we are called to travel at times in public transit or to walk in order to meet new people and to be a part of the public realm. When we serve at Emmaus lunches, we are called to walk among our guests, visiting with them and listening to them. When we go down to Shockoe Bottom today, we are called to walk through the 17th Street Market, interacting with vendors and with our neighbors as members of St. Paul’s out in the world.
The second thing we must recognize when stepping out into the public realm is that the waves that batter us and the winds that torment us are embedded in the infrastructure of our society. This is RISC Sunday, Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities. And what I most appreciate about RISC is the willingness to step into the public realm and address the infrastructure of our metropolitan city through public policy advocacy.
We at St. Paul’s are called not only to feed the homeless through the Emmaus Lunch Program, but also we will call on our representatives to provide affordable, mixed income housing in our metropolitan city including in the counties.
We at St. Paul’s are called not only to be present to the children of Woodville Elementary School through the Micah Program, but also when the city begins to look for places to move low income families in order to de-concentrate poverty in the East End. When everyone is saying “Not in my backyard,” we will go to our city councils and county boards of supervisors and say “I know these children. Put their families in my backyard in Chesterfield, in Henrico, in the Fan and I will help take care of them.”
We are called to take the RISK of stepping out into the public realm of policy where we address society’s infrastructure. Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities will reach its fullest manifestation, not through combative encounters with Richmond City administration officials, but in the recognition that when you and I step out of this boat and begin speaking the words of Truth and Justice in public, the combative waves and winds of opposition will come for us: we need not seek them out!
And Peter, oh Peter, when he sees the battering waves and strong winds coming for him on foot, he becomes frightened and begins to sink. Now I don’t know about you but I expect that when I start speaking the Truth and trying to carry out God’s work out there that everything is going to be beautiful from here on out, that the sun is going to shine, and everything will be fine. And when the seas start swirling and the winds start blowing around me, I have mistakenly taken it as a sign that my Lord has abandoned me – that God’s faithfulness has failed. And I cry out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reaches out his hand, catches me, and asks, “Why did you doubt?”
Does anyone else out there expect that if you are in touch with God’s will for your life that there will be sunshine from here on out?
Does anyone else expect that if you respond to Jesus’ command to step out of this boat, out into the world, on foot, that the waves and the winds of the world are not going to try to destroy you?
Here is the truth:
You and I will be vulnerable when we step out. And the powers of this world will come for us.
But know that if you have one moment of fear or doubt, God will reach out a hand and grab you.
Know that God will not abandon you to face those currents out there alone.
Know that it is God who is calling you, who is more faithful than any husband, any wife, any partner, any parent.
Know that it is God who is calling you, out of this boat, into that public realm, and nearer to him.
Know that it is God who is calling you with that simple but sweet word: “Elthe!” “Come!”
