EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Aug. 4, 2020. This was the 18th digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.
Some of you know pretty well that one our favorite past times is canoeing. I've talked about that a lot over the last couple of years. We've shared those stories, and you know that's one of our favor pastimes in the summer is to get away out on the water, just the two of us, Shelley and I. Finally, this past weekend, on Saturday, we got out our canoe that we affectionately call "Unit 1" for the first time this year. Incredibly, for the first time this year.
We were on this very small lake just northeast of Detroit Lakes, and if you recall, Saturday was a bit of a windy day. And we had decided on one lake, but as soon as we got to the public access, and we saw the chop on the water, those 12-inch waves with little white caps, I looked at my wife who already is a skittish canoeist, and I said, "Let's try another lake."
So we went to a smaller lake that is a little more protected by trees. And we had a gorgeous day. We were on the water for several hours. At one point, we were coming back around the lake, and the wind was just right. So we picked our oars up, and we were able to just glide. So we were riding a crosswind, a northwesterly wind, that was gently pushing us across the lake.
We sat in this canoe, listening to a couple of swans on the other side of the lake, that had a couple of baby swans. There was a loon. ... And the sun was glistening down through the trees off the water. And the colors were just indescribable.
At one point, Shelley looked at me and she said, "Why don't you ever make a sermon out of this?" ... And I said, "You're right. This would make a lovely sermon."
So this weekend, I started studying this particular gospel for this week, and I thought to myself, "My wife is a genius!" There are so many correlations between canoeing and today's gospel that it is uncanny.
For anyone else who maybe is an avid canoeist, or even for those who may not know, one of the very cardinal rules of canoeing is, of course, is that if given the chance, a canoe will always perform the task it was designed for, which is to float. First and foremost, a canoe is designed to float.
Some of you may be sitting there right now, thinking, "Well, duh!" ... It seems natural, right?
But you would be amazed at how easily that that first principle of canoeing is forgotten as soon as you're out on the lake and a LITTLE bit of wind comes up. And then those waves start to ripple. And then your canoe gets crosswise to the waves from a wind. ... It can easily flood from your brain at that point, that that canoe is designed to float!
It often happens. ... Whether it might be a wind, and it doesn't take a lot of wind. Or if you're on a larger lakes, it might be the wake that a motorboat makes. They come by, and they forget that there may be people on the edges of the lake who may be in nonmotorized boating apparatuses. Or you might hit a sand bar that is unsuspected. Or you might hit a cross wave because of the current in the lake. Or there could be a hidden rock, or a hidden tree. And of course any of these things will send a canoe of course. Any of these things will make a canoe wobble. And often times in that moment, you're very first thought is to ... correct. And what human nature will often do is ... overcorrect.
There are any number of things that can affect your ride on that canoe. But, generally, if you just trust the canoe to do its job, that the canoe is designed to float, and you stay out of its way ... it will.
Coincidentally, and this may sound a little bit familiar from something we just read, when you lose your faith in that canoe, when you don't trust that canoe to do its No. 1 job, that is when you are headed for trouble. ... And very likely for a bath.
So, did any of that sound familiar to something that we read tonight?
In tonight's gospel, we are told that Jesus dispatches the disciples to a boat after he dismisses the crowds. And this is really key here: We don't see it in tonight's gospel, because it's not part of those prescribed verses that we hear tonight, but he's dismissing that crowd, that very big crowd that we just talked about last week. If you remember in last week's gospel, Jesus fed 5,000, or more likely double when you add in women and children. It might have been 10,000 or 12,000. And we remember the lesson of last week that we talked about in the disciples and their lack of trust in abundance.
So I find it very key because this week's gospel comes on the heels of that very important scripture lesson. You would have thought that after really important lesson last week, that just that same evening when the disciples go off to the boat, that they forget that lesson so quickly, so often like we do.
The disciples do as they are told, of course. They do get into that boat, and they head off. And then Jesus goes off for his quiet time. But then what happens? ... We know that night falls. We know that the wind picks up, which is not uncommon as evening comes. And then we read in the text that this is no longer a sunset cruise for these disciples. They are fearful. And they seem to be in real trouble.
I've known that feeling a time or two, when that wind rises. ... It's very easy to forget. It's very easy to lose your faith.
We read in tonight's gospel that their immediate reaction is not to go to their faith. It's not to trust in the Lord's abundance, or the fact that Jesus is there, present, in the midst of those moments when we need him. Their immediate reaction is fear. ... So a human reaction. ... And I don't think any of us in here, or listening online can fault them for that reaction. We've all been in a similar circumstance where we fear that we are in danger, and our natural inclination is to go to that dark place.
They are so fearful, of course, that even as Jesus happens along in that moment of need, they do not even recognize their savior, their messiah. Jesus is walking along, and their initial thought is, "Oh my goodness! There's a ghost!" ... They are so fearful of the moment they are in, that they don't even recognize Christ. ... Now that is some fear!
And I suspect that each and everyone of us has had a moment such as this. If not more times in our lives. We all know that fear of danger. And we all know that in that moment, it is a very human thing to be fearful and not trusting the fact that Jesus is in that moment with us.
We read on, and what does Peter do in this moment? Peter is so scared that he actually tests Jesus! ... He looks to Jesus, and he says, "Well, if that's really you, Lord, then tell me to come here." ... And Jesus does. Jesus says simply, "Come."
So Peter gets out of the boat, and of course, he had just ask for the Lord to give him a sign. And he receives that sign. ... And what is the very next thing that Peter does? ... The wind picks up, and there is his fear again. He loses his faith; he doesn't trust. And he begins to sink. And he screams to the Lord, "Lord, save me!"
We see this pattern throughout last week's gospel leading into this week's gospel: These points where disciples experiences in the scriptures, they are symbolic of the times that we go through. We know innately ... intuitively ... as faith followers, as those who walk in Christ's footsteps, that he promises to be there in those instances. In these parables, he demonstrates that: He feeds the multitudes the night before, and in the early morning is there on those darkened waters to save those disciples again. And Peter still doubts him, even after he's tested him once.
But instead of being angry, and instead of leaving them there on the water to fend for themselves, Jesus responds, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
I think it's really important in this instance to notice that Jesus mentions them "of little faith." ... Jesus doesn't mention those of "no faith" in this instance. It gives me heart because I can put myself in that place because I like to believe that on any given day that I do have faith. That on any given day, that I will trust in the fact that Jesus will be there in that moment. That on any given moment, that in that canoe, if the wind picks up, that Jesus was going to be there.
But I know that I fail. ... And I suspect that you have a similar feeling. And so it heartens me that Jesus' response isn't that these disciples who are in that boat who are fearful have NO faith. ... He tells them that they have LITTLE faith. And I find that heartening.
Now, the Lord knows that I've doubted many a time in my canoe, that I've had a lack of trust in what it was supposed to do, and it has led to disaster a time or two. I seem to relearn that lesson just as Peter learns that lesson again here as he exits the boat. And I've even doubted many more times in my life at points where I've wondered where Jesus is. I've wondered if I'm maybe even looking him in the eye, thinking, "Who is that? Maybe it's a ghost!"
And yet, it's Jesus, standing there, saying, "No, it is I."
I wonder if you've had similar experiences?
But luckily for me, and luckily for the disciples of this night in that boat, and luckily for all of us, Jesus shows up time and again to save the day. Whether it's to feed the multitudes. Or to calm the storms in our lives. To reassure us that even that to us of little faith he is still there; he still loves us; and we are still part of his heavenly kingdom.
And that is the Good News for this Tuesday night, Aug. 4, and Sunday morning, Aug. 9, the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. ... Amen.
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