Get
Out of the Boat

a sermon by Pastor Sonja Dalglish, M.Div. for
Weslaco First Presbyterian Church

August 7, 2011

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-29, Psalm 105, Romans 10:5-15,
Matthew 14:22-33

1. Introduction

I just returned from Canyon Lake
yesterday and drove up and back with two other women ministers.  I found that the time we spent together in
the car was so enjoyable that it seemed so much shorter.  People can be a blessing to us, and we can be
a blessing to others.  Today’s Gospel
text is about this very topic.  What are
the gifts that you bring to this world that are uniquely yours?

Remember that Jesus has just the night
before, while grieving John the Baptist’s death, had looked upon the crowd with
compassion and healed the sick.  He had
fed the five thousand men plus the women and the children.  Then, we see Jesus walking on the water and
coming to them in the boat. And, finally, the disciples say, this is the Son of
God.

II.
Listen for Jesus’ Call to You

The amazing thing about this passage is
not that Jesus walked on the water, but that PETER walks on the water.  This is the amazing miracle.  That an ordinary disciple like you or me
could accomplish something that we know is not in our power to do.  Only when he loses focus and takes his eyes
off of Jesus, does he sink.  Could this
be where the saying “Keep your eyes on Jesus” comes from?

Surely Jesus is the Son of God.  And as we try to live lives that honor him
perhaps we will find that we are doing things that we never dreamed would be
possible.

First, we need to notice where Jesus is
working in this world or where Jesus would like to work.  Then, we need to go there and do what we know
needs doing.  This could be in a classroom,
a home, a city hall or a laboratory.
There are things that God wants done in every arena.  What can you do that only you can do?  What is your unique contribution to the
world, making the world a better place?

III.  Fear, Courage, and God’s Power and Presence

When you find what it is that you can do
to make the world a better place, the first obstacle to face is fear.  In the novel, Dune,
Arthur C. Clarke used a line that has stayed with me through the years:  “Fear is the mind killer.”  We combat that fear with courage.  Courage is not the absence of fear but is the
ability to do what is right even while being afraid.  Prayer in these times is a great resource,
calling on strength outside yourself, a strength much greater than your
own.   There is a tendency to think we
need more faith.  Remember the mustard
seed in those times.  It is not faith we
need, but courage, the ability to move forward and act, no matter how scared we
are.  Remember that God is with you.

There will be times when like Peter, you
begin to sink.  Again, as at the
beginning, ask God for help.  Allow the
power of God to lift you up.  With God’s
help, you can do more than you dreamed possible.  Mother Teresa began numerous hospitals and
hospices to care for the poor.  This
started with her desire to help one poor child.

III.  Examples

Begin with examining what gifts and
talents you have.  No matter where you
are in life, whether a child, or a youth, young, middle aged or older, there
are ways for God to use you.  Look for needs
around you.  Allow God to keep drawing
you forward and work through you.  If we
are willing to be disciples and show up for duty each day, God will have things
for us to do.  Ordinarily, a person does
not receive just one calling for a lifetime, but several through the years,
maybe even many calls that can each result in helping the world be a better
place to live in.

Ben Carson today is a surgeon at Johns
Hopkins teaching hospital.  He grew up in
a black ghetto.  To get to college, then
medical school and finally residency was an enormous challenge.  There were times when he wanted to quit.  He suffered from loneliness and a lack of
self-confidence.  He felt he did not fit
in and never would.  However, something
kept him moving forward.  Partly, it was
his mother and partly it was prayer.
Many times, he knew he could not have done it without God helping him
while he studies, helping him with necessities of food and clothing, and with
an attitude that helped him to keep working against the odds.  He helped to develop and perfect a surgery to
help children who had continuous seizures by removing half of their brain in
order to save their lives.  He would be
the first to tell you that he could not have achieved what he has without the
dedication of his mother, one of her friends, and help from God.  You might not be the surgeon, but one of his
staff, or the mom or the babysitter or even the Sunday School teacher who
teaches the surgeon to pray.  Or one of
the many teachers or donors of scholarships.

Several years ago, at a Hospice
convention, I was fortunate to meet Sue Baker, a wonderful Presbyterian who is
a member at Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in Houston.  She had Guillain-Barre Syndrome which caused almost
total paralysis.  She could blink her eye
lids.  Inside, her mind worked as well as
always.  As she lay for months in ICU in
Bed Ten, she realized the only thing she could do was to pray for those around
her.  And, she did.  She prayed for the others in ICU.  She prayed for the medical staff.  She prayed for her family and friends.  Gradually, her nerves grew back and she
regained most of her movement and wrote about her experiences in her book.  She wants to share her experience in order to
give hope to others.  When I worked with
Hospice, many people began prayer lives when no longer able to get out and
about.  They prayed not only for people
but for peace.

You may find that your purpose is to
learn a skill in order to help people, to teach, or to encourage.  One gift we can give to one another is to
notice and encourage gifts and talents in others.  Mary Mattar has encouraged our two young
sopranos who did solos this past year.
Another gift is to recognize a valid ministry and make sure that it does
not disappear.  Marvin Miller has
accepted the responsibility of organizing our popcorn ministry so that it will
continue to be an outreach of love to the middle school.  Many of you are helping to present our Camp
Creativity in order to teach our children about the faith.  And, we all pray for each other.  But let’s not stop here.  What we are doing is wonderful but I’m sure
there is more we could do.

IV.
Conclusion

The message of this Gospel for us today
is that we need the courage to step out of the boat.  Where is Christ calling you?  What is your special call that only you can
answer?  What gifts, talents and
knowledge do you have?  As long as there
is life, there is work to.  Jesus is
calling over the for you and me to join him.

If you want to explore more and think
more about these possibilities, John Ortberg wrote a book with that very title,
If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get
Out of the Boat.
Life is not about being safe or comfortable, but about loving God and
people enough to get out – stretch out – and reach out to others.  If you stop and listen, what needs are you
hearing that you could fill if you were not afraid?

——————-

References -
[all books can be found at Amazon.com]

Carson, Ben Gifted
Hands

Baker, Sue, Bed
Number Ten

Ortberg, John, If
You Want to Walk on the Water, Get Out of the Boat

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, August 7,
2011

the Nineteenth Sunday
in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Gospel Matthew 14:22-33

²²Immediately
he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while
he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he
went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the
land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he
came walking toward them on the sea. ²⁶But when the disciples saw
him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they
cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said,
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter
answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He
said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and
came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became
frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹Jesus
immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little
faith, why did you doubt?” ³²When they got into the boat, the wind
ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you
are the Son of God.”

First Reading Genesis
37:1-4, 12-28

¹Jacob
settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.
²This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock
with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his
father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ³Now
Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son
of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. ⁴But
when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers,
they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

¹²Now
his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. ¹³And
Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?
Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁴So he
said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock;
and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.

He came to Shechem, ¹⁵and a man found him
wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” ¹⁶“I
am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the
flock.” ¹⁷The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say,
‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at
Dothan. ¹⁸They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to
them, they conspired to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, “Here
comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, let us kill him and throw him into
one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we
shall see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹But when Reuben heard
it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” ²²Reuben
said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness,
but lay no hand on him” — that he might rescue him out of their hand and
restore him to his father. ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers,
they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; ²⁴and
they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water
in it.

²⁵Then
they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming
from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to
carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, “What
profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come,
let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our
brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. ²⁸When some
Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit,
and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took
Joseph to Egypt.

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

¹   O
give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make
known his deeds among the peoples.

²   Sing
to him, sing praises to him;

tell
of all his wonderful works.

³   Glory
in his holy name;

let
the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

⁴   Seek
the Lord and his strength;

seek
his presence continually.

⁵   Remember
the wonderful works he has done,

his
miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,

⁶   O
offspring of his servant Abraham,

children
of Jacob, his chosen ones.

¹⁶  When
he summoned famine against the land,

and
broke every staff of bread,

¹⁷  he
had sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph,
who was sold as a slave.

¹⁸  His
feet were hurt with fetters,

his
neck was put in a collar of iron;

¹⁹  until
what he had said came to pass,

the
word of the Lord kept testing him.

²⁰  The
king sent and released him;

the
ruler of the peoples set him free.

²¹  He
made him lord of his house,

and
ruler of all his possessions,

²²  to
instruct his officials at his pleasure,

and
to teach his elders wisdom.

^45b  Praise
the Lord!

Second Reading Romans
10:5-15

⁵Moses
writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person
who does these things will live by them.” ⁶But the righteousness
that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into
heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷“or ‘Who will descend
into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But
what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that
is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹because if you confess
with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For one believes with the heart
and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. ¹¹The
scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” ¹²For
there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and
is generous to all who call on him. ¹³For, “Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

¹⁴But
how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to
believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless
they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!”