1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,080 Will you pray with me? Lord God, through the power of your Holy Spirit and your 2 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:14,600 word as we read today, open our eyes to recognize you here among us. Give us 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:20,040 courage to step out in faith to meet you and confidence to follow where you lead. 4 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:26,340 Amen. Our gospel lesson this morning comes from the Gospel of Matthew, the 5 00:00:26,340 --> 00:00:33,040 14th chapter beginning with the 22nd verse. Here now God's word for you. 6 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:38,640 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the 7 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:44,760 other side while he dismissed the crowds. After he had dismissed the crowds he 8 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:51,360 went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone but 9 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:57,440 by this time the boat battered by waves was far from the land for the wind was 10 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:04,200 against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the lake but 11 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,120 when the disciples saw him walking on the lake they were terrified saying it's 12 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:14,880 a ghost and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said 13 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:23,160 take heart it is I do not be afraid. Peter answered him, Lord if it is you 14 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:30,760 command me to come to the water come to you on the water. He said come. So Peter 15 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:36,760 got out of the boat started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when 16 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:41,640 he noticed the strong wind he became frightened and beginning to sink he 17 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:48,240 cried out Lord save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and 18 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:56,160 caught him saying to him you of little faith why did you doubt. When they got 19 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:01,600 back into the boat the wind ceased and those in the boat worshiped him saying 20 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:13,280 truly you are the son of God. The word of the Lord. Well we're moving through our 21 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:18,400 fourth week of our sermon series on the disciple Peter. You'll remember that 22 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:23,360 Peter was given the name by Jesus when he correctly answered Jesus's question 23 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:30,800 who do you say I am? Peter or Cephas in Jesus's native language means rock. 24 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:37,160 Peter then was thereby proclaimed by Jesus to be the rock upon which the 25 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:43,040 church would be built. Bryant ended last week's sermon with the same question that 26 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:50,240 challenged us to consider who do you say that I am? This week our scripture ends 27 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:57,880 with the response that we strive to affirm truly you are the son of God. A 28 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:03,160 lot happens between the question we heard last week and the response that 29 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:07,760 we're given today. We're gonna navigate that space this morning for at least a 30 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,320 little while by way of an experience that I had when I was a very little girl. 31 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:18,880 When I was about six or seven and my brother was about 12 my mother took us 32 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:25,960 on a summer vacation to where we called the Eastern Shore. One afternoon we went 33 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:32,640 to a then quiet but now quite well-known beach called Bethany Beach. There was 34 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:36,120 nothing particularly noteworthy about that day. You know we played in the sand, 35 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:41,620 we played in the in the in the sea, we made sand castles, we laid out, we did 36 00:03:41,620 --> 00:03:44,480 this sort of thing that you do when you're on a family beach vacation right? 37 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:50,400 Nothing fancy. So like I said nothing particularly noteworthy though until the 38 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:57,720 tide rolled in. When the tide came forward things got a little trickier and 39 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:06,200 on that hot summer day a rip current caught me in its grip and my ocean 40 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:12,880 innocence was gone. There were demons in that water. There were demons that could 41 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:18,680 grab your heel and whip you around. There were demons that could hold your head so 42 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:23,520 firmly under the water that you couldn't begin to surface for air. There were 43 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:28,040 demons that could scrape your knees and fill your bathing suit with stinging 44 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:35,240 disks of jelly. There were demons in that water and when I finally surfaced by 45 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:40,040 the strong grip of my mother's extended hand I decided there was nothing that 46 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:47,040 was ever gonna get me back into that water at least for that family vacation. 47 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:53,240 Through many life experiences if not from volumes of research I've come to 48 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:59,520 know that large bodies of water are often a source of fear. From the very 49 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:04,600 first verses in Scripture and in through several of the other ancient texts we 50 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:10,200 read of marine spirits and water demons. Through the time of Jesus it wasn't 51 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:15,440 entirely unusual for people to believe that there were actually demons in the 52 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:22,120 water. Today we think about chaos a little differently. We look at the water 53 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:26,760 from the shore and we see that there's a rip current. We know how to identify one 54 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:32,760 and we know that that could carry us far from safety. We avoid it. We observe 55 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:39,280 crashing waves and we reason that one could crash on us. Maybe the surface of 56 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:45,320 the water is nice and calm and we wait along happy as a clam until we step on 57 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:53,600 that fateful broken shell. Suddenly we feel dragged down in a different way or 58 00:05:53,600 --> 00:06:00,840 possibly as with the case with Peter maybe the conditions are so unnerving 59 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:07,240 that save for a momentary boost of confidence that we'll call faith. We 60 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:13,680 might even begin to question the miraculous power of the Lord. I was 61 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:18,520 introduced to a well-known longitudinal study some years back when I was in a 62 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:23,920 graduate program studying behavioral psychology. The study observed school 63 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:29,920 children in high poverty neighborhoods. These kids were at risk of poor outcomes 64 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,760 because they faced social and environmental disadvantages including 65 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:38,800 neighborhood poverty, low family income status, and other economic or educational 66 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:44,320 hardships. The conclusion reached was that children who had caring people 67 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:49,720 walking alongside of them in school and in social settings, educators who believed 68 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:56,160 in the children's capabilities and potential, children who had mentors to 69 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:00,200 guide them through the complexities of their disadvantages and remind them that 70 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:06,760 they are good, performed far better, far beyond the group of school children who 71 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:11,240 did not receive guidance and encouragement and support. You see faith 72 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:19,600 goes both ways. Kids rise to the lowest level of expectation theirs and ours. 73 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:27,760 Adults too we rise to the lowest level of expectation. For the kids just by 74 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:33,560 receiving persistent affirmation that they were worthy as any child is worthy 75 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:38,240 that children of the Chicago longitudinal study rose beyond the fear 76 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:43,160 and the chaos of the known and the unknown. They had newfound faith in 77 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:48,480 themselves to lean faithfully forward toward a good and favorable outcome. A 78 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:55,360 plan that the Lord has had in mind since the foundations of the earth were drawn. 79 00:07:55,360 --> 00:08:04,320 Each of us deserves to be persistently reminded that we are loved and supported, 80 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:12,360 that we are capable, and that we are not alone. We deserve to know that God has 81 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:19,000 faith in us, that the Lord is with us when we feel ready to sink from whatever 82 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:26,480 life situation is around. This is just one reason that I'm grateful that we 83 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:31,560 read a unison statement of faith during most worship services here at Palms. Each 84 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:37,240 statement of faith reminds us in its own way of God's persistent, gracious, 85 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:44,280 life-saving involvement in our every day. Studies show that the more we more often 86 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:49,000 we hear and read these affirming messages, especially when we're affirming 87 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:55,200 truths in a corporate body, the more deeply we believe it. Specifically today, 88 00:08:55,200 --> 00:09:00,040 particularly in light of Peter's floundering faith, we can joyfully, 89 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:05,080 gratefully lean into our statement of faith as found in the Apostles Creed 90 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:12,440 through which we are invited to say with gratitude and with joy, he descended 91 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:19,560 into hell. Because of these four words, we can claim right before we acknowledge 92 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:25,080 that Jesus rose from the dead, these four words tell us every single time we bring 93 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:31,760 them to mind that there is no place on earth or above the earth, and yes even 94 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:37,760 below the earth, where our Lord won't go to meet each one of us and bring us back 95 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:44,840 to a place of new life with Christ. Thanks be to God. No matter whether we've 96 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,720 been hurled into the depths of despair or we felt lost in our faith for so long 97 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:55,520 that we can't begin to see the sunlight through the tide, no matter if we sense 98 00:09:55,520 --> 00:10:03,160 that no one else has faith in us, we can have faith that our God believes in us. 99 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:10,560 God will seek us out. God will help us to believe with complete confidence that 100 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:16,960 God has gone and will continue to go anywhere he needs to go to offer his 101 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:25,200 hand and deliver us home. Indeed only scripture promises us that those 102 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:32,200 sinking experiences of pain and crying and suffering and death will be no more. 103 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:38,160 Scripture gives us faith to believe that wars and bias and oppression, ill-equipped 104 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:45,120 hospitals and drug addictions will be no more, because Jesus has reached out to 105 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:51,600 Peter, signals not only new life for him, but Jesus's outreached hand to Peter 106 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:57,080 signals new life for you and for me and for all of creation from now in through 107 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:03,520 eternity. Jesus raising Peter up from the chaotic water reminds us that even when 108 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,840 we're struggling with our faith, even when we've been shaken or stirred, our 109 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:16,960 Lord is with us still. Even in the darkness we have someone to cry out to, 110 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:22,160 not simply because Jesus was part of the darkness from the chaotic start of 111 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,640 Genesis through to his light in the darkness as described in the Gospel of 112 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:34,000 John, but because our Lord has promised to be in the darkness with us. So as the 113 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:39,320 great pastor and theologian Walter Brueggemann said, that the darkness is 114 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:45,160 strangely transformed not by the power of easy light, but by the power of 115 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:51,960 relentless solidarity, particularly when we're feeling laid low or less than 116 00:11:51,960 --> 00:12:00,000 confident or faithless or less than worthy to be called a child of God. Now 117 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:07,640 I understand that life isn't so easy. Sometimes we can't just recall a few 118 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:12,720 words from a statement of faith and pop out of pain. There have sure been a few 119 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:17,800 times in my life where I sunk so quickly that I wasn't sure Jesus would ever be 120 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:23,760 able to reach me again, let alone raise me up. Maybe you've had some of those 121 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:29,620 experiences too when a hideous strike of misfortune has landed on you or someone 122 00:12:29,620 --> 00:12:36,320 you love or maybe a bad decision led to another bad decision that left you with 123 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:45,200 a dull ache that still hasn't gone away. If you have a haunting, nagging memory 124 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:50,080 and it suggests to you that it is unlikely that Christ will deliver you or 125 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:57,360 yours from the depths, let me tell you that just because God hasn't erased 126 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:02,920 those experiences from our thoughts doesn't mean that God doesn't want to 127 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:10,840 lift us up from the pit. Sometimes, as I've told you, God preserves a bit of the 128 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:17,080 pain of our past in order that we can remember with joy that God has loved us 129 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:24,360 out of it. And here we are. This might be one reason why 130 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,680 Brueggemann also teaches us to categorize scripture, to make sense of it 131 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:34,200 and more effectively apply it, pull it out when we need it. We look at these 132 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:38,880 texts and reconsider them in a way that allows us to redirect our lives to a 133 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:43,960 life of faith. He tells us that there are texts of orientation that lead us to 134 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:49,560 reflect on God's creation, God's universal goodness, God's blessings on 135 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:55,080 our lives. They orient us to the purpose of God's laws which make the world and 136 00:13:55,080 --> 00:14:01,680 order the cosmos right. Think of the first psalm, happy are those who walk in 137 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:06,880 the counsel of the ungodly. Their delight is in the law of the Lord on which they 138 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:15,480 meditate day and night. And there are texts of disorientation that remind us 139 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:20,600 of those seasons in our lives that are difficult and painful, disorienting, 140 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:25,440 causing many of us to question the very goodness of God. We're in a state of 141 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:29,640 despair over something that's been done or left undone, something that's been 142 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:35,880 said or left unsaid, and we wonder if Jesus is with us still. Think of how you 143 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:40,560 might relate to the accounts of the beheading of John the Baptist or Jesus 144 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:47,360 is death on the cross or maybe the Apostle Paul's imprisonment. And there 145 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:54,120 are texts of new orientation or reorientation, those texts that speak 146 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:59,760 boldly of God's intrusion into a difficult world where faith can waver 147 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:06,360 and we can feel surprisingly open to the undercurrent of despair. These texts of 148 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:12,500 new orientation or reorientation enable us to reconsider the way we see 149 00:15:12,500 --> 00:15:18,800 ourselves and our place within God's created order. And this is where we are 150 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:26,020 with our reading today. Our text about Peter and his floundering faith, like our 151 00:15:26,020 --> 00:15:31,480 first reading from 1st Peter in his letter to his friends, are prompts for 152 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:37,320 reorientation as we recall together with great conviction that Jesus went not 153 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:43,080 first into his glory for all of eternity but into the depths to be with those in 154 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:50,040 their spiritual prison. This leads us to have faith that Jesus prioritizes each 155 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:55,960 one of us in our moments of weakness to instruct each one of us in the truth 156 00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:01,760 that we are ones named worthy as children of God who have not been 157 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:06,640 forsaken in spite of poor judgment, bad decisions, unquestionable sinfulness, 158 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:16,120 matters of circumstance, or a momentary lack of faith. Like when God waited 159 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:22,240 patiently in the days of Noah and never stopped believing in the basic goodness 160 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:31,160 of all people, Jesus never stops believing in us today. So too, when we 161 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:37,800 descend into the depths of sadness, fear, faithlessness, or pain, our Lord reaches 162 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:46,840 out to retrieve us and lead us back toward the light. Now, did Jesus actually 163 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:54,480 descend into the underworld and meet all evil head-on? We don't know. But what we 164 00:16:54,480 --> 00:17:02,160 do know is that the deep, unordered chaos was neither Peter's nor Christ's final 165 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:09,940 destination. Therefore, it shall not be ours. So may we live as a people of deep 166 00:17:09,940 --> 00:17:18,680 faith who embrace Christ's faith in us in this deeply chaotic world. In times of 167 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:24,880 deep darkness or despair, may we thank God for Christ's daily walk toward the 168 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:31,520 horrible pain and the disease of the world. May we thank God that Jesus walks 169 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:37,240 on water for us, orienting us in this world, acknowledging our occasional 170 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:46,320 disorientation, and reorienting us to a new way of life. Indeed, may we thank God 171 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:53,560 for Christ's great descent into hell. So as John Calvin wrote, not because he was 172 00:17:53,560 --> 00:18:01,080 to be engulfed in its abyss, rather in order that he might lay it low. 173 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:07,640 Thanks be to God. Amen.