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Sermon Notes from Sunday, August 10, 2008
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
Prayer of the Day:
“Through the Waters”
The very thing that frightens Peter in our gospel reading—the danger of the sea—is not so different from the waters by which we are baptized into Christ's death and life. Like the tumultuous sea, our baptismal waters initiate us into the turbulence, as well as the peace, of a Christian life.
This story is sometimes connected with the Hebrew slaves' deliverance from Egypt and their miraculous escape together through the Red Sea, fleeing from the army of their former tyrant. It is also said that this story portrays the difficulties of discipleship through the image of waves battering a boat of believers. The wind does not cease until everyone is on board: Peter, his friends, and their savior. Only when the community connects with one another and invites Jesus into the boat can the chaotic suffering of everyday life lose its position as tyrant. As Jesus walks on the sea toward the gathering, he offers a new exodus from slavery, a new escape through the waters.
Our escape, however, does not entail a simple disconnection from daily chaos and suffering. As disciples we are freed to turn toward others, offering ourselves as agents of God's life and freedom. We seek to heal the world's wounds. We tell others of the new life we have found in Christ. We work to deliver those who are oppressed, not deterred when the wind is against us. The way Jesus ministers to his followers and to all who approach him gives us a heading for our journey across the waters.
Take heart, for the waters of baptism have marked you as a disciple and claimed you a place upon the sea. No one and nothing else can rule for long when the God who made the sea approaches.
O God our defender, storms rage around and within us and cause us to be afraid. Rescue your people from despair, deliver your sons and daughters from fear, and preserve us in the faith of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. AMEN.
Bulletin Notes