SUNDAY 19

7-13 August

Matthew 14: 22-33 (Sermon 1: “Walking on Water”)

Romans 10: 5-15

Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28 (Sermon 2: “A Sorry Story””)

Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45.

PREPARATION

We are welcomed here

in the name of Jesus Christ

to worship the God who cherishes us,

and to adore the Spirit who nurtures us.

God is always close to us; It is written:

“The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.”

God is always available to everyone; it is written:

“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”

It is good to be here because God is here,

lovingly blessing us as we gather.

Let everyone give thanks,

calling upon God’s name

and publishing the good news.

It is good to be here because Christ is here

whenever two or three meet in his name.

Sing to God, sing psalms,

tell of all his remarkable doings.

It is good to be here because the Spirit is here,

leading us into the only truth that really matters.

We will seek the Lord and his strength,

we will seek God’s face evermore.

PRAYER OF APPROACH

Glorious are you, most wonder-full God,

we come to you with loving awe.

Glorious are you, most beauty-full God,

we come to you with loving adoration.

Glorious are you, most love-full God,

we come to you with loving praise.

By your Holy Spirit inspire us beyond our expectations,

and enlarge our faith beyond our understanding.

Through Christ Jesus our Friend.

Amen!

CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE

Let us commit our lives to the mercy of God.

Let us pray.

Holy Friend, in the name of the Love that takes away the sins of the world,

we put ourselves at your mercy.

It is just as well that we do not see the consequences

of all our ignorant or ill considered actions,

for the burden would frighten us.

It is just as well that we do not comprehend the shortcomings

of all our wisest thoughts and kindest deeds,

for such knowledge would depress us.

It is just as well we cannot chart the complete outworking

of our many recognised faults and sins,

for the grief would overwhelm and cripple us.

It is well, very well, that you alone can see the complete picture,

and that you alone are capable of being the One who

“has born our griefs and carried our sorrows.”

It is well, very well, that we can repent those things

that we are capable of recognising and repudiating,

and leave all that, and everything else that is sadly amiss,

in the arms of your indefatigable mercy.

Through Christ Jesus our Redeemer.

Amen!

FORGIVENESS

My sisters and brothers, it is truly written: “Every one who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be rescued and healed.” Humbly embrace the total forgiveness and the healing and liberating love that is freely offered to you, and you will be made new and young in heart again.

Thanks be to God!

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

God of Jesus and my God,

some folks reckon

that all things are possible

if we only want them enough.

I don’t believe that stuff.

But I do believe in your love

and that all things are possible

if they fit in with what you know

is really good for us.

Help me to want the things you want,

and to be brave enough to go for them,

with the help of Jesus,

Amen!

PSALM 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45

Be thankful, call on the name of our God,

let it be heard in every country!

Sing, sing, sing your best praises,

tell the wonderful things God has done!

Revel and delight in our God’s name,

let all seekers rise up and celebrate!

Set your mind on God’s kind of strength,

set your heart on the presence of the Spirit!

Remember all the great things that have happened,

the unexpected deeds and justice of God,

by love we are spirit-children of Abraham,

descendants of Jacob and God’s chosen people.

When God saw famine come on their land,

and their food supply was cut off,

a man had been sent on ahead of them:

Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.

Joseph’s feet were injured with shackles,

his neck was clamped in iron.

But what he forecast really happened,

God’s word proved him right.

The Pharoah gave the order for his release,

a great nation’s ruler liberated Joseph.

He made him lord of the royal household,

manager of all his affairs.

He was to instruct the princes as he pleased,

and to teach old advisers new wisdom.

So that they could know God’s commands

and practice them. Hallelujah!

Ó B D Prewer 2002

DARING WITH CHRIST

Matthew 14:22-33

We dare to walk on water

and manage a few steps;

not big stylish strides of course,

but many starts and stops.

Then daunting fears arrive

blown on an alien wind.

With instant understanding

he grabs us by the hand.

It’s plain we have not mastered

the basics of this game;

only his presence saves us

from sinking in the storm.

Sometimes we sourly grumble,

and wish for quick rewards.

Does walking on water matter?

It’s easier on the roads!

Yet when He says "Come join me!”

a soul-deep christ within

leaps up with expectation

impatient to begin.

Ó B D Prewer 1996

COLLECT

Most loving God, Source and Goal of all creation, for you fierce wind and storm are much less than the work of your little finger. Please give to us that faith which does not panic when things go wrong, but dares go forward with humble commitment to the next few steps to which Christ calls us. In his name, and to your praise, in the unity of the Spirit.

Amen!

SERMON 1: WALKING ON WATER

Matthew 14: 22-33

Have you ever walked on water?

I have. Not literally speaking, but metaphorically I certainly have.

I have walked into stormy situations where no sensible person would have attempted to get anywhere, and the good Lord has helped me through. I have been up to my waist in temptations, and in danger of going under, but by Christ, I have escaped. I have looked ahead and gasped at the size of the waves, thinking it seemed almost possible to get from point A to point B within sinking, yet I have made it.

Not always. Not as often as I would like. Not every time with the balance and dignity I would wish. But by love I have walked across stormy seas.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to where I should have started.

WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS STORY?

What do you make of the story of Jesus, walking across stormy seas at night to save the disciples in their fishing boat?

I don’t know about you, but that is not the kind of activity I often see when I holiday by lake-side or ocean. Literally walking on water is not something that appears likely. For some it might sound impossible. How do we interpret this story?

Before I go one step further, let me clear one point. The question is not whether Jesus, by the will of God, could or could not walk on water. If God wanted Jesus to walk on water, Jesus would do so. Not by magic but by the power of God. It is either stupid or arrogant to say God cannot do certain things. To assume limits on that Creative Power who brought the universe into being and holds it constantly in existence, is not being very smart. The ways of God are so far beyond our human understanding that we should proceed humbly, shedding that hubris which taints so much of human activity.

VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS

Now let’s move to some of the interpretations of Jesus walking on the waters of Lake Galilee.

1/ It is just a superstitious story.

The sceptics assert that this is just another fable concocted by the early Christians to try and make their hero seem like one of the gods. The sceptics compare the Gospel account with other stories from Greece, Rome and Egypt, where the gods are thought to perform that type of miracles. This is without doubt the quickest way to dispose of the matter. File it under religious superstition.

2/ A misunderstood event.

This interpretation looks for what is “a rational explanation.” Its purveyors assert there must be a rational explanation for everything. This universe, they assert, is a closed system. There is no room for miracles of any form.

They suggest that the disciples had become lost in the storm and were much closer to land they realised. Jesus was actually walking along a low-level promontory, meeting them at a point where they would have soon run aground. Through the darkness they suddenly spotted Jesus and jumped to the conclusion that he was walking on water.

3/ A psychic phenomena.

This is put forward by those who claim that the mind can have power over physical things. They believe not only in minor events like bending spoons but also in the levitation of the body. By mind power, they say, large articles or furniture can be moved around. Some of them even claim that some advanced minds can go on astral journeys. Visit distant cities, turn up in unexpected places. Americans Indian shamans, and some Australian aborigines, they say, could make these journeys. They also quote Ezekiel while an exile in Babylon, visiting the temple in Jerusalem.

Jesus, they say, was one of these advanced minds. Maybe he was the most advanced mind of all time. He was on something akin to an astral journey when he came to the disciples at sea.

One day, they suggest, when humanity learns to understand and harness the full range of our largely untapped human potential, we will all be able to do such things.

4/ Lord of creation theory.

This has always been one of the prime interpretations.

Jesus was Lord, not just the Lord and Saviour of human soul, but also Lord over all nature. He shared the divine power of the Creator over land, sea and air. In such events as walking on the sea, calming the storm, or turning water into wine, Jesus revealed his true Divinity and Lordship. The account is an accurate, eye witness record of what actually happened.

Matthew 14:33 “Then those who were in the boat came to Jesus and worshipped him, saying, “You truly are the Son of God.”

5/ The basis of this story was a parable.

Some interpreters believe that this was a parable slowly turned to an actual event. Jesus, they suggest, originally told his disciples a parable about terrified fishermen, caught in a violent storm, who prayed to God and were saved. God was a God whose care for his people knew know limits; walking on water, or stilling storms, was no big deal to this God.

In time, as the stories of Jesus were passed on from mouth to mouth, things became altered in the telling. Just as they do today as rumours go around a community. Some parables were gradually transformed into literal events. The fishermen became identified as the first disciples, and the sea became Lake Galilee.

There you have it: five among the interpretations you might encounter when this story is freely discussed.

WHY WAS THIS EVENT TREASURED?

I’m not asking you to pick one of the five for yourself at this time. Maybe you will opt for a sixth.

Rather I invite you to explore this question: Why was this story so treasured by those first few Christians spread the Gospel throughout the arrogant Roman Empire? Why did it become so embedded in the oral sources which missionaries and evangelists used both in the spread of the faith, and in its nurture? Why did it end up written down in three of our four Biblical Gospels.

I believe it was because it spoke to those trail-blazing Christians in a special way. It spoke to them of two important aspects of their own Christian experience.

IT SPOKE TO THEIR SITUATION: A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT

They lived their faith in a hostile environment.

The first important message was to believers who were living in very troubled circumstances. The culture in which they lived was hostile to the way of love, mercy, humility as it was practised and taught by Jesus.

When everything seemed against them, they recalled the voice of Jesus:

“Cheer up, my sisters and brothers. It is I. Do not be afraid.”

It was a risky thing to be a Christian in that first century. At the beginning, in the Holy Land, they were persecuted by the more rigid of orthodox Jews. Peter and John were in and out of prison. James, the brother of John, was beheaded. Then followed purges and persecutions in other places. We get glimpses of this in the floggings and imprisonments meted out to missionaries like Paul and Barnabus, and the exile of John to a remote island. Later, as the first generation of Christians were nearly all gone, from the sixties until the end of the century and beyond, Christians because officially persecuted by Roman authorities.

Nero made them the scapegoat fro the disastrous fire of Rome. They were labelled traitors and cannibals. Subsequent emperors sought to extinguish what they called “The Christian superstition” once and for all.

To be a Christian was like being at sea in storm. It was like beating upwind, or rowing against a strong current. The waves were always threatening to sink the Christian vessel. Life was most insecure. Yet even in their darkest moments, hiding in the catacombs under Rome, or dying in sports stadiums from Pompeii to Corinth, to Alexandria in Egypt, their Lord Jesus came to them, saying:

“Cheer up, my sisters and brothers. It is I. Do not be afraid.”

He came through the storms to their side. He walked over the waters to Ephesus, Patmos, Corinth, Crete, Malta and even to those persecuted saints in imperial Rome. And when he was with them, they found peace which surpassed all understanding. The storm could not destroy their faith. The worst seas could not separate them from the Lord. Even in death itself, their Lord Jesus was there to accompany them to a safe shore where stormy seas would be no more...

“Cheer up, my sisters and brothers. It is I. Do not be afraid.”

The treasured this story because it spoke to them in their troubles. They found Christ to be faithful, always.

FAITH WAS A BIG RISK

It illustrated the daring nature of faith.

Peter said: Lord, if that is really you, then say the word and command that I come to you across the water. And Jesus said come. Then Peter left the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus.”

The story mirrored the nature of Christian faith. It spoke to them about not only belief but of trust, and trust meant daring to take risks.

Faith is not something we gain in full, by immediate, sharp human perception. It is not like eyesight or hearing, or instinctive like eating or drinking or sleeping. Nor do we have faith by working it all out in theory and saying, “Yes, it must be right.”

From numerous standpoints, faith looks ridiculous.

Faith only functions when we take the risk and try it. Faith is like walking on water. It cannot be proved. It does not provide a substantial path ahead of us like concrete or granite. The option of faith appears to be precarious. We only know if faith will support our weight by trying it.

So it was that the story of Peter attempting to walk on water like his Lord became extra precious to those pioneer Christians. On Lake Galilee, and later in his missionary work, Peter did not always do the faith thing very well, and at times he doubted and began to sink. But Jesus was there for him. Always there for him.

Peter said: Lord, if that is really you, then say the word and command that I come to you across the water. And Jesus said come. Then Peter left the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus.”

Those Christians scattered across the Roman Empire treasured that story. Savoured the telling and re-telling. It was Peter’s story. It was their story.

FAITH STILL INVOLVES THAT DARING RISK

So it is for us today.

When we live by faith we won’t always get it right. Doubts will intrude. Temptations will unsettle us. We will be at risk. But Christ will not let us sink. He is there for us. But we will never know that unless we try it for ourselves.

Sermons often speak of the “leap of faith;” of stepping into the unknown. It has always been so. And it always will be so as long as our mortality endures.

Once in Lucerne, in inclement weather, Marie (my wife) and I took the rack-rail up the steep ascent to Mt Pilatus. At the summit cloud rolled in and soon cut off the views we were eager to enjoy. Then we made ready to descend by cable, in a gondola. We rationally knew it should be safe. But to launch off into that dense cloud? We could not even see the cable. The only way we would ever know if it was a safe way to journey was by trying it. We stepped into the cabin. My stomach did a flip at the moment when it launched out into the unknown.

What a relief it was when we did not plunge but gently descended. It worked! What larger pleasure when we later slid below the cloud line and gently travelled over mountain slopes and conifers, steep pastures and dairy cows; then barns, houses, gardens and women hanging out their laundry.

Trusting Christ is a bit like that. It is a journey into the unknown. Jesus says, as he said to Peter, “Come. It is I. Don’t be afraid.” One must leave the relative safety of our little boat and walk. We must take the step of faith and find out for oneself. There is no other way to through the storms of life with Jesus.

SUMMARY

That is why those followers of Christ in that first century loved this story. It is why it ended up in the Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke. It spoke to their experience.

I am sure that they swapped anecdotes with each other of their own stormy adventures, when they did the seemingly impossible and lived the faith against outrageous odds. And of the worst moments when they started to sink, yet their Lord was there with them. saving them from sinking further into fear and despair.

It began as Peter’s story. It became their own story. But supremely it was a part of the glorious story of Jesus of Nazareth, child of man, child of God, who in terms of loving God and loving those around him, ‘dared to go where no human being had gone before” and brought those who loved him to a safe and glorious shore.

Have you ever dare to walk across the waters when Jesus said to you, “It is I. Do not be afraid. Come.” Maybe it is time?

SERMON 2: A SORRY STORY?

Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28

Lovers of musicals (and of course Andrew Lloyd Webber) will be happy that our version of the lectionary includes the story of Joseph and his many-coloured coat.

Our lectionary selection for this day ‘cuts to the chase’ and moves swiftly from the technicolour coat to the dastardly brother’s deeds that follow. It is a sorry story.

THE YOUNGEST CHILD

Joseph was the youngest child of Jacob, son of Rachel, for whom he worked 14 years to pay the bride price.

It is not unusual that the youngest child gets away with things that older children could not. It hurts me to admit that the youngest child may get a bit spoilt (you see, I was the youngest in my family) and receive favours. In this case Jacob doted on his youngest boy, Joseph, and kept him around the home. Life was easy.

The other eleven sons spent their days and nights away in the outback, doing it tough, looking after the flocks and herds. One day the seventeen year old lad was sent off to see how his hard-working shepherd brothers were faring. (I’ll bet the others were out working six days a week well before they were seventeen!)

The brothers saw Joseph coming. Their resentments seethed and they plotted a savage revenge. They would kill him and throw his body into a pit. Only the eldest, Reuben, wanted to save his youngest brother, and he thought of a way to delay the murder. He suggested that they just put him a pit alive. He planned to return and night and rescue him. So they stripped young Joe of his pretty clothes and put him into a pit.

When Reuben was out of sight, Judah talked the others into selling Joseph as a slave to a party of foreign traders who came by with their camel train. They sold the youngster for twelve shekels of silver. (Twelve pieces of silver? That rings another bell, doesn’t it? Another person who was sold for twelve pieces of silver? The price paid for the life of Jesus was indeed the price of an ordinary slave.)

This is indeed a sorry story.

THE OLD STORY

What possibly can this story have to say to us? Nothing? It’s just a story, isn’t it?

When I read this Genesis passage in preparation fort this Sunday I thought: “There is no sermon waiting for me to uncover here. There is nothing it except as a good story line leading to next week’s more hopeful Old Testament lesson. It seemed that my plan to preach mainly on the Old Testament during this year would have to be set aside this week.”

Then I sat back and asked myself: Okay, at the bottom line what does this passage say? What is it speaking about? I proceeded to jot down the very simple things that came readily to mind.

It speaks of the foolishness of a father who has a favourite child and bestows favours.

It speaks of the dangerous sibling rivalry that can get out of hand and do tragic things.

It speaks of the cowardice of an elder brother who will not openly go against the majority.

It speaks of the evil of humanity that sees some members as disposable.

And behind all this, it speaks of a God who is watching, not as a spectator, but as a participant in the drama, a co-victim with Joseph in the pit.

That’s about it.

DISTURBINGLY FAMILIAR

“Hey! Wait a minute,” I then exclaimed to myself, “That sounds disturbingly familiar!”

It could be taken from a thousand situations around us in the community today. This story takes us back thousands of years, yet in culturally different patterns it may be happening in our culture, maybe even in our street!”

It speaks of the foolishness of a father who has a favourite child and bestows favours.

It speaks of the dangerous sibling rivalry that can get out of hand and do tragic things.

It speaks of the cowardice of an elder brother who will not openly go against the majority.

It speaks of the evil of humanity that sees some members as disposable.

This is a sorry story.

And behind all this, it speaks of God who is watching, not as a spectator, but as a participant in the drama, a co-victim with Joseph in the pit.

Now this bit is the good story!

LOOK MORE CLOSELY

These are the simple themes which make up this story. I looked more carefully at them:

* The story reveals: Stupid old Jacob, doting on one child and blind to its consequences

Foolish parents? Foolish mums and dads who spoil a child or children. Special gifts. Pretty clothes. Shielding them from responsibility. Wanting them to always outshine others. We know that scene. Foolish parents and their damaged kids.

Over indulgence towards children is one of the blights of our contemporary society. Too many toys cluttering their rooms, too many special junk-food treats, too much pocket money, too much instant self-gratification, too many parents protecting badly-behaved kids against their teachers.

Too many parents wanting to give their children all the things they did not get as a child, plus a thousand things more.

It seems to me that there is a rising generation of numerous sociopaths, where there is no sense of good and bad but only what pleases the individual’s immediate wants.

* The story reveals: The fierce rivalry from Joseph’s brothers.

Personal rivalries that get out of hand and do tragic things are sadly common today... Some competition is certain, and natural, wherever you put two or more people together. In families, in marriages, in schools, in work, in leisure; rivalry will always be there.

But when it gets out of hand, tragedies occur. Families are usually much smaller today, but that does not seem to eclipse the possibility of damaging rivalry. Especially where resentment and anger is fed by unfair or inconsistent parents.

Even more damage is caused where each parent’s own rivalry gets in the way; where they compete to curry favour with the children.

In pre-marriage counselling, it is important that couples recognise and acknowledge the competition that is already present and always will be to some extent.

In family counselling, children and parent need to be encouraged to bring their rivalries to the surface and work out mechanisms for dealing with them in constructive ways.

* The story reveals: Big brother Reuben’s cowardice.

He knew how wrong it was for his brothers to plan the death their young sibling. But he would not stand up against angry Judah and the others. Instead, he tried a diversion, hoping to go behind the back of his brothers and make a rescue later.

That is a scene we quickly recognise. We have been in it. We find ourselves in situation where we should make a stand on an issue but we chicken out.

There are matters of faith, of social justice, or ethics, where our voice needs to be heard. But we keep silence, or divert the conversation in another direction, or in some circumstances try to employ cunning to get around the problem without bringing unpopularity or trouble on ourselves.

Later, we discover we were ineffective or too late. While we go away scheming the injustice is perpetrated; events get out of hand.

We may excuse ourselves, and remember our good intentions. But that does not count for much when Joseph gets sold into slavery is carried off to Egypt.

* The story reveals: Men who were among the many in this world who believe that some people are of less value, and therefore disposable.

This is a heinous doctrine yet is remarkably widespread:

Jews are worth less than Aryan Germans.

Palestinian Arabs are worth less than Jews.

Aboriginals dying of disease are worth less than Anglo-Aussies suffering a cold.

An earthquake killing 20,000 Asians is not a disaster to be reckoned with a flood

killing three Queenslanders.

Moslems are less valuable than Christians.

Some people are more disposable than others. On one occasion this perversion reached its nadir:

A carpenter from a small town was considered not worth much compared with the power and status of the religious dignitaries.

He too was disposable and met his end on a cross.

For the arrogant, even God is disposable.

This is the most sorry of all sorriest stories!

* The story reveals: A God who is watching, not as a spectator, but as a participant in the drama, a co-victim with Joseph in the pit.

The God of the Bible it not an outsider but and insider. God is not like an academic

philosopher observing and theorising. God is always practitioner.

These Bible ideas would have appalled many of the most noble ancient Greeks. Their

God was a lofty ideal, the unsullied perfection of which all else is only a shadow.

But the Bible God gets all emotional and personally involved. This God allows human beings to impinge on his happiness. Yahweh can get jealous and pleased, angry and proud, weary and unhappy, distressed and joyful. Yahweh feels things in his guts; what else can the expression “bowels of mercy” mean.

God is involved: with Joseph the slave, Moses the fugitive murderer, Deborah the prophetess, Ruth the Moabite migrant, David the Shepherd, Judith the freedom fighter, Hosea the deserted husband, Job the fellow struck with every conceivable calamity, Mary the pregnant teenager.

God is always involved, and from the point of deep involvement, takes the shattered shards of the experience of those who have faith, and makes a beautiful mosaic out of them.

That is the very good story!

SUMMARY

This is our own, continuing story: Joseph with his coat of many colours. Joseph at the mercy of his jealous brothers.

It speaks of the foolishness of a father who has a favourite child and bestows favours.

It speaks of the dangerous sibling rivalry that can get out of hand and do tragic things.

It speaks of the cowardice of an elder brother who will not openly go against the majority.

It speaks of the evil of humanity that sees some members as disposable.

And behind all this, it speaks of God who is watching, not as a spectator, but as a participant in the drama, a co-victim with Joseph in the pit.

More of the story of Joseph will unfold next week. But for the moment we have enough to go on with, as we apply our own faith, hope and love.

(And all that from a Bible passage that I thought had no notable text or thought in it that was worth being picked up by this foolish preacher!)

Once again we find how remarkable the Holy Scriptures are. If we let them loose in our mind and soul, the most unpromising chapters can prove to be surprisingly fecund,

and lead us to-

The saving love of the God who gave us Christ Jesus, the living Word.

The Gospel, the greatest story of all!

THANKSGIVING: A WORLD OF MANY COLOURS

Loving Creator, you could have made a utilitarian world, functional and dull, but instead you have filled it with countless bonuses that enrich our lives beyond measure.