We can imagine being on a small fragile boat, in stormy waters,- no match for the elements..

Just so, we can imagine ourselves feeling very small  and  fragile when the storms of life threaten to overwhelm us.

The ship, or boat, has always been a common image for the church.

That’s where we get the word “nave” for the area you sit in- it’s from the Latin for ship.

There are cruise ships and ocean liners- and some churches are like that., or used to be.

But the boats known to Jesus and his friends were , it seems, rickety makeshift affairs, patched together from whatever came to hand.

And so too the young beginning church was rickety, small, makeshift, with a very random , ill-assorted crew-,

buffeted by persecutions from outside and conflicts from within, it could have sunk any time.

This gospel story really isn’t about a physical boat in a physical storm,

but a spiritual community in a spiritual storm.

No wonder they needed help- from the peace and safety embodied, for them,  in Jesus..

In Mark and Luke, this same story ends with Jesus friends feeling his presence and then either experiencing the storm stopping or making it to harbour, and so not needing to be afraid anymore.

But Matthew puts his own spin on the story.

Peter wants to be like Jesus, walking on water.

He gets out there, he’s off to a good start, but then loses his nerve, he starts sinking, and Jesus reaches out his hand, and catches him.

In an  emotional and spiritual storm, what does it mean to walk on water?

It means not sinking, not being overwhelmed.

it means tapping into an unshakable inner strength and confidence,

the same breath, the spirit, the energy that is at the heart of the universe-

Something like Yoda in the Empire Strikes Back, teaching Luke to connect with the power within and around him, to get past his limited concept of what he can do.

In Matthew’s story, it seems that, spiritually speaking, anyone  can walk on water,

Anyone can move through the storms with inner strength, with unquenchable spirit.

This is your story and my story, whenever we go out where it is risky, scary, out of our depth, where we are uncertain of our ground, we don’t know what we are getting into but we go anyway.

Maybe we are moving across the country, starting a new job, taking on new responsibilities, adjusting to a drastic change or loss , whatever it is that makes us scared and anxious.

We might start out managing quite well until the fear kicks in,

and the self-consciousness and the inner critic-

we’ve all got those inner critics, you know who yours are!-

We remember everything that hasn’t worked, every time we’ve messed up.

We’re scared of all the things that can go wrong.

We forget our strengths, our accomplishments, our track record of surviving.

All we want is to go back where we used to be, –even when we cannot!

It’s like an aspiring classical  singer in full voice , letting breath and energy flow abundantly through her,

and finding she can now , finally, hit those high notes-but if suddenly she remembers, oh my gosh, I can’t sing high A or B or C,, she gets hooked by fear and tenses up her muscles, the voice goes all thin and  squeaky. 

And she wonders- why did she ever think she could do this?

I’ve never sung high B or C, but I’ve been  there –at voice lessons and in life lessons- out there, thinking I can’t do it.

I wake up mornings and sometimes nights feeling out of my depth in today’s church, today’s economy,

or I’m adrift between the God-language which got me through in the past,

and the language that fits where I am now or where I’m going to be.

And I know this isn’t just about me- there’s a  whole bunch of us out in these troubled waters.

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In such times. we might want a strong Divine Rescuer or even a strong human rescuer to bail us out.

But that’s not our good news story for today.

In our story, it’s not about about Peter believing in Jesus- it’s about Jesus believing in Peter, and getting Peter to believe in Peter.

Peter discovers that what keeps him afloat lives inside him- Divine Energy, Holy Spirit, - sometimes manifested simply in feistiness, just plain refusal to quit..

And that very same Energy lives inside you and me! 

On stormy waters, anyone can be Peter and anyone can be Jesus.

Anyone’s hand will do, as long as this someone believes in us and helps us find our footing till we can believe in ourselves again, till we can take the next step, or the next leap,

Or we might find ourselves reaching out our hands to each other.

Here’s my own story of being scared of the deep water, literally.

I was afraid to jump into the water.

My father had tried pushing me in, other people had tried criticizing and shaming me.

None of these methods made me any less afraid or any more confident!..

Finally, in grade 9, a friend got into the pool and offered to catch me if I sank.

I trusted her and I jumped- and I did not sink.

It’s when someone else believed in me and turned down the scariness thermostat- that I could do this- and could do it again if I had to..

Another story comes from the Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin.[CBC Radio 2, Aug. 6/2011]

As a young singer, she received a phone call from the conductor Bernard Labadie-he was about to conduct Handel’s Messiah, and his soprano soloist had turned up sick and could not sing a note- Karina had 15 minutes to decide if she would fill in.

Very uncertain and anxious about this, she used the time to phone her voice teacher- who said, of course, say yes, you can do this, you have to jump in sometime,

Emboldened by her teacher, Karina went for it, and it launched her collaboration with Bernard Labadie- and you can now hear Karina all over the place on the concert stage, on radio and on CD.

Don’t believe for a moment that you can take the walk or the leap without physical , practical , emotional and spiritual support-

whatever that leap is, whether it’s a new venture or a challenge or a crisis- whatever feels scary and overwhelming for us.

Some of the important people in our lives may make it worse rather than better- like those wanting me to jump into the water.

It takes a while sometimes to discover  who the right person or people might be.

But who knows who it is- often someone , or a whole bunch of people we never expected- who will tip the balance for us. so we can step out or leap out where we need to be..

And sometimes , down the road, even if those people aren't physically with us, their energy and their love and their confidence still help us take another step or leap

For me, in all my geographical moves, many’s the time when I would never have made it out of town, if someone hadn’t shown up in the last desperate few days.- and did whatever I needed done, and then gave me a hug,  and waved as I got into the car and drove away.

I still had to do the leap into a new life- but the loan of someone else’s hands and brain and patience made it possible.

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You and I are here to be the channel of Spirit, Energy, Divinity, Compassion- call it what you will?

It’s through our listening and caring and being there, that we can individually and collectively get through the scary stuff.

And in these anxious times for our church, we can all hide out in our own homes, we can all hold back wondering if it’s really worth supporting a sinking ship.

Or we can get together and work out of a spirit of trust and hope, dare each other to come out of the cabin, even dare each other to go where we have not yet been.

Fear does not need to have the last word.

The same Spirit that animated Jesus and helped him animate others also lives in you and me.

If we share that Spirit in generous measure,

if we reach our hands and help each other take a leap of faith,

we can live fully, boldly , creatively, compassionately for whatever time we have.

Together may we see by the Light that refuses to be put out,

and find safety in the Mystery, the Mercy, the Compassion that go wherever we go.

May it be so..