9th
Sunday after Pentecost
August 10, 2014
Genesis 37:1-4,
12-28; Matthew 14:22-33
It
had all the makings of a perfect storm.
My husband was out of town. I was
preparing to be out of town for four days at Annual Conference. We were moving in three weeks. I was seven months pregnant. And my daughter’s sitter called: she had a
fever. And not a low-grade fever, but
the highest one she’s ever had in her short life. I left the church immediately to go pick her
up. The fever was the only symptom the
first day, and I knew the doctor couldn’t do anything for it, so I just stayed
home with her. The fever didn’t break
for 24 hours and we were up repeatedly during the night. I learned that “I Love Lucy” comes on at 5 a.m.
and Isabel prefers that show to the early morning news. After the fever broke came the other symptoms
and so I finally called the pediatrician to get a sick visit. She squeezed us in at the end of the second
day. I was still hoping for something simple,
like an ear infection, something that can be treated with medicine and you see
improvement pretty quickly. The
pediatrician was hoping for that, too, and apologized that it was not that kind
of sickness, which she would prefer, because then you can treat it and be done
with it. But, no, it was hand, foot, and
mouth disease, a virus common in little kids and with no treatment, other than
to wait it out as it runs its’ course over ten days or so, keep her hydrated,
and make her as comfortable as possible.
Until I finally offered her Gatorade, Isabel had pretty much stopped
drinking. She also learned about
popsicles that week. Meanwhile, I was
still supposed to go to Annual Conference.
The sitter couldn’t keep her, because she had her own two year old, and
Isabel was contagious as long as she had symptoms. My mom was out of town. My sister who lived nearby had work
engagements she couldn’t break. And our
other friends all had little kids we couldn’t risk getting sick. My youngest sister, however, lives in the
town where Annual Conference was held, and while she had to work in the
morning, she had the afternoon off and Isabel and I could meet her as soon as
she got off work. I missed the opening
session of Conference, but that afternoon was the executive clergy session, and
so I made that one. Isabel and I
returned home afterward, and then once Lee got home at the end of the week, I
drove back for the last day of the Conference.
It was a hectic, overwhelming, exhausting week.
When times get tough, when the sea gets
stormy, we turn to each other for help.
Our family and friends, including our church family, are those we count
on when the storms of life are raging. They’re
the ones we rely on to help us through the tough times, whether with moral
support or a hug or advice or whatever it is we need to weather the storm. There’s a reason why the Bill Withers’ song,
“Lean On Me,” is so popular: because we can identify with it. When you need help moving, you call your
friends. When your boyfriend dumps you,
you call your best girlfriend and tell her to bring some ice cream, STAT. When you need help replacing the kitchen
garbage disposal, you call your dad. And
when there’s something strange in the neighborhood, you call the
Ghostbusters. It’s ok, though. I ain’t afraid of no ghost.
We
are a community of faith, which means that we get through the tough times
together. The Christian journey is not
one we do by ourselves. We walk with
each other, celebrating together when it’s time to celebrate, and mourning
together when it’s time to mourn. One of
my favorite bible passages on friendship is from the book of Ecclesiastes: “Two
are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if
they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls
and does not have another to help. Again,
if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And
though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold
cord is not quickly broken.”[1] Here in the church we provide that support
for one another.
When times get tough, we also turn to God
for help. Sometimes family and
friends cannot help. Peter was out there
in the water all by himself. The other
disciples couldn’t throw him a life preserver.
They couldn’t steer the boat over to where he was to pick him up out of
the water. The only person Peter could
call on to save him was Jesus. Likewise, in our Old Testament
story this morning, it was Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery in
another country. His family betrayed
him. But God had plans to use that
betrayal for good, in the end using Joseph’s presence in Egypt to save
Israel. While “Lean On Me” is the pop
song that talks about relying on friends when we need help, it’s counterpart in
the hymnal is “Stand By Me,” hymn 512 if you want to look it up. “When the storms of life are raging, stand by
me; …in the midst of tribulation, stand by me…
When I’ve done the best I can, and my friends misunderstand, thou who
knowest all about me, stand by me.”[2] Even if family and friends, or God forbid,
the church, forsake you, God will not. God
is faithful and will see you through.
Now,
there are times when it may seem like God is absent, too. The “dark night of the soul” is a lonely
place to be, when you’re going through a really rough time and you’re not sure
even God is there. I have a friend who
claimed that God wasn’t there for her when she was going through a divorce and
the only person she could rely on was herself.
I pointed out to her that God gave her that ability to rely on herself,
gave her her intellect and stamina and saw her through it, even if not in
obvious, direct ways. All that we have
is from God, and that includes more than just material things, but our very
beings, as well. We can rely on God. He is
faithful and will see us through, regardless of what we believe about him. Even “if we are faithless, he remains faithful;
he
cannot deny himself.”[3] God does not go back on his word and every
one of his promises comes true, even if sometimes we have to wait a long time
before seeing its fulfillment, or may never see its completion. God is
faithful and calls us to be faithful as well.
Faithfulness
in tough times is not easy. It’s much easier to ask where God is in the midst of suffering and pain and hate. I’m reminded of the answer given by a
Holocaust survivor, which was that God was there, too, in the internment
camps. God suffers with you, God is
present in the midst of your struggle, in the hospital room, in the totaled
car. He doesn’t save us from tough
times, but he does stand by us through them.
The
psalmist says that ““Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the
morning.”[4]
Once
we have gotten past the storm, the appropriate response from us is to praise
God. The gospel story ends with
everyone on the boat worshipping Jesus: “Truly you are the Son of God.” Worship reminds us that we are not God; only
God is God. We come each week to worship
to regain whatever perspective we have lost during the week, to remember who we
are and whose we are. We were made for
worship; it is our proper response to God, it is our proper posture before our
creator. The disciples recognize what
Jesus has done for them, are grateful for it, and have grown in their faith
because of the ordeal they went through.
Their deeper faith manifests itself through worship.
Tough times can cause us to grow closer to
God, if we remain faithful in spite of our doubts, or to draw apart from him,
if we let the winds and waves of doubt drown us. There are times where faith is simply a choice:
I choose to believe that no matter what’s going on, God is in control of
it. That doesn’t mean God caused it, but
God will take care of me through this current storm. He does not abandon us in tough times. Exercising faith may be more challenging than
we thought, taking a step of faith is always risky. Remember the third Indiana Jones movie, in
search of the Holy Grail? He has to step
out of the cave into what looks like thin air, into what looks like he’s going
to fall thousands of feet to his death, to take a leap of faith. And even after he crosses and looks back, he
still can’t see the path he took until he throws sand on it. There are rough patches we can look back on
and wonder how we made it through. If the
path were clear, there would be no faith involved. Instead, we step out in faith, trusting to
that which God has called us to do and to his faithfulness, because he will not
let us down. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray:
Lord, if it's you, we need to hear from you
When we are alone
When we go away to pray
When we have little faith
When we are battered by the waves
When the wind is against us
When we get in the boat
When we're terrified by our ghosts
When we seek you on the mountain
When we cry out in fear
When we start walking on water
When we begin to sink
When we are far from land
When we go away to pray
When we have little faith
When we are battered by the waves
When the wind is against us
When we get in the boat
When we're terrified by our ghosts
When we seek you on the mountain
When we cry out in fear
When we start walking on water
When we begin to sink
When we are far from land
Lord, if it's you,
speak to us,
calm our fears,
calm our storms
Strengthen our resolve
Remind us who you are
Walk to us
Call to us
Save us
Reach out your hand and catch us
Quiet the wind around us
speak to us,
calm our fears,
calm our storms
Strengthen our resolve
Remind us who you are
Walk to us
Call to us
Save us
Reach out your hand and catch us
Quiet the wind around us
Lord, if it's you, we worship you for “Truly you
are the Son of God.”[5]
Amen.
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