Sermon
of August 7, 2005
Presented by Rev. Julia Williamson
Scripture lesson: Matthew 14:22-33
“Finding Faith Amidst Fear”
There are
always things that we can do to find faith when we are afraid. On the other
hand, faith is not something we find at all. It’s a gift. We can’t conjure
it up when we need it most, and we can’t demand that it be there for us
whenever we want. What we can do is
to make sure that when faith does arrive on our doorstep,
it’ll have a place to settle down and feel at home inside.
With that in mind, let’s explore two ways to begin to open the gift of
faith in our lives. The first is “ Go For It” -- and the second -- “Let
Go.”
Go For It!
... Do you remember what it was like to learn how to drive?
My most vivid memory of learning how to drive was the day my father made
me get on the highway. We were out driving for practice and I thought we were
just going on local roads. We were right by the cross county shopping plaza in
Yonkers, NY, just one town over from where we lived. I was driving past the
entrance ramp to the Cross County Parkway. Dad was in the passenger seat. And
then I hear him say, “Turn here, onto the parkway.” And I said, “But
that’ll get us on to the highway!” And he said “I know.” So I drove up
the ramp, and I could feel my heart beating faster. And I gripped the wheel even
harder. I got up to the top, looked to the left at the cars racing by, took a
deep breath and then floored the gas, and off we went onto the highway. I was
terrified and he still made me get onto the highway! No warning ahead of time!
But I did live to tell about it.
This might
have been what it was like for those disciples, when Jesus made them get into
the boat and go on ahead to the other side without him.
Some people say that the boat is really a symbol for the church and
the water stands for all the unknowns and scary things about our world.
Jesus’ absence from the boat can be compared to what it’s like for the
church not to have Jesus right there in a physical kind of way. When, as the
church, we’re not sure which direction to take, each one of us, as members,
has a say in the matter. That’s the beauty and the challenge of the Protestant
Church– that we believe each one of us is equally able to talk to God and
figure things out. So in a sense each one of us has to go for it, to pitch in
and overcome the anxiety that comes with making decisions, just like the
disciples in the boat.
I’m reading a book about President Truman who became president just at the end of WWII when Roosevelt died in office. Truman never wanted to be President. In fact he was nominated for VP (only 3 months before) in a very round about way, trying his hardest not to get nominated. But it didn’t work. Yet once he was President, the first thing he did was to break down divisions, to be among the people, to be informal and to build comradery. He knew he could never do the job alone and isolated. He needed other people to feel they had an important role to play too. He needed others to feel they could “Go For It” in using their own gifts. So let’s take his example and apply it to our church. Let’s be really deliberate in encouraging and enabling people to use their talents, to find the faith needed to get the job done and overcome the anxiety that can go along with responsibility and leadership.
Go For It! The first time I ever spoke in public was when I was a French teacher at a boarding school way up near Augusta, Maine. The faculty had to take turns speaking for 5-10 minutes at morning assembly. You could talk about anything you wanted. The first time I was so nervous I stayed up til 2 in the morning trying to put something together. I quoted a lot out of M. Scott Peck’s book The Road Less Traveled. Yet once it was over I felt pretty good! So the question is, why do something if it causes so much anxiety? Why did the disciples agree to get into the boat in the first place? Why put myself through all that just for a 5 minute speech? One answer is, “There was no choice!” The disciples really couldn’t say “No” to Jesus, and I couldn’t say “No” to my obligation to the school. There’s a lot of things to which we feel we can’t say “No”, or the cost to say “No” would be too high. So instead we start to regret the things we do say “Yes” to. That’s not good!
There’s a better answer. Part of being human is to grow. Not just up or out, but to grow more into the person God means us to be. That process is different for everybody. Peter was at a point that night in the boat where he was ready to take action Yet what Peter did doesn’t make a lot of sense at first. Why get out of a boat in the middle of a storm? If we truly believe that there’s a power greater than us, that’s pushing us to grow, molding us and shaping us, then some things will only make sense in hindsight. Peter was willing to believe that it really was Jesus out there on the water. In hindsight, he was right, just like my father was right in making me get onto that highway. But I could never have known that at the time.
Here’s another good way to find faith when we’re afraid. How about letting go? We’ve all heard the phrase “Let go and let God”. And yet I can’t hear it enough. Because just when I think I’ve got the knack of it, I forget all about it and I start to try to figure things out in my own way, and pretty soon I’m not letting go. I’m holding on tight. And I’m certainly not letting God do much of anything in my life. Here I like the image of a runner. When you run you need lots of energy focused in the right places. But some people tend to clench their fists when they run which diverts energy away from other muscles you need. When you run you have to relax your fists so that all the oxygen can get where it needs to go. Running has always been a way for me to let go and let God. But recently when I run I wake up the next morning with a really sore back. So I’ve had to listen to my body, let go a little of my love of running, and let God help me find some other way to practice letting go– like yoga. Yoga is a great practice for letting go and letting God. Peter had to let go and let God when he stepped out of that boat. Focusing on Jesus for him was a way of letting go. Focusing on the waves and the wind, on the other hand, was like trying to do it all himself, and down he goes.
In the church I worked at in Binghamton, NY, there was an elderly woman named Dorothy Foesten. She had a lot to share with others and she used to lead a Bible study on Tuesday mornings at the church. I remember her telling a story about crossing the Atlantic in a small cruise ship around 1930. There was a storm that came up while they were far out at sea. And it was pretty scary. The waves were high and the wind was howling. And she was lying in her bunk trying to fall asleep in the midst of this great storm. And here’s how she did it. She sang herself to sleep with the words of the hymn “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me” We’re going to sing it in just a moment. As we sing I invite us to think of one area of our lives where God may be calling us to either “Go for It” or to “Let Go,” and maybe we’ll discover the gift of faith there waiting for us. Let’s pray...