Matthew 14: 22-33 (links validated 6/29/23)

In high school and college, on my list of career options that I was considering pursuing was a career in journalism. I wasn’t sure if it would be print journalism (like newspapers or magazines) or mass media because I enjoyed my experiences in both forms. I had done everything for our High School and College newspapers, from writing stories, designing layouts, creating opinion pieces, and holding various editor positions. I had a stint on our college radio that attracted tens of listeners. And I was able to take some introductory classes in journalism. One of the lessons that came up in all those experiences and have stuck with me ever since was the journalistic cliche “If it bleeds, it leads.” It’s a crude saying that’s been around for generations pointing out the reality that the bigger the scandal, the crisis, or the tragedy, the more people would be talking about it and looking for more information about it...

“And just when I thought, ‘Things can’t get any worse…’” is a pretty familiar storytelling trope. A google search produces plenty of memes that play on the sentiment, drawing both on personal experience to the socio-political arena (the economy, the climate, the pandemic…) It is not hard to imagine the disciples, perhaps especially Peter, recounting the events of this night. He might say, “There we were, caught in one of those storms that just pop up on the Sea of Galilee, struggling against the waves and getting nowhere. It was miserable and frightening. And then, just when I thought that this night couldn’t get any worse, we see this figure out on the water! We were convinced this was the end—a ghost was coming to finish us off! But you’ll never believe who it was…”

(includes lots of Greek exegesis!!)

(always good insights!)

(excellent exegesis)

("A Florida State University researcher believes he has a natural explanation for the biblical account of Jesus' miraculous walk on the surface of the Sea of Galilee – ice..." )

"If you're teaching a child to float on their back, and you want to release your arms under them, they may simply kick and splash in order to regain some control. However, as you try to calm the child, you could simply encourage, 'relax, let go, keep your eyes on me'. It's what Jesus encourages Peter to do. Jesus was the one in charge, not Peter. He was the one who would provide the ability to withstand the wind and waves. Peter needed to keep his eyes focused on Jesus..." and other short illustrations

Two friends made a promise in 1992: If one of them won the Powerball jackpot, they’d split the winnings. Nearly 30 years later, one of the men did win! Here’s the miracle, he made good on his word and his handshake! Last month Thomas Cook bought a Powerball ticket and ended up hitting the jackpot for 22 million dollars. Cook called his friend Joe Feeney and told him the news, Joe thought Tom was kidding! He wasn’t… Despite the odds, which were 1 in 292,201,338.725, it happened. Now, let me ask… what are the odds he would actually give away half? …oh ye of little faith.

Three local ministers decided to go fishing one day. They got into a boat, went a short distance out on the lake, and started fishing. After a few hours, one minister ran out of bait. Since they were close to the shore, he stepped over the side of the boat and walked across the water to the bait shop. He bought some more bait, walked back to the boat and got back into the boat. A little while later, the second minister ran out of bait. He stepped over the side of the boat and walked to the bait shop. He bought some more bait, walked back to the boat and got back in. A few minutes later, the third minister, who was new to the area, also ran out of bait. He stepped over the side of the boat, and almost drowned!!!!! The other two ministers pulled him back into the boat. One of them said to the other, “I KNEW we should have shown him where the stepping stones were!!!!!!”

One great spiritual director, the late Fr. Benedict Groeschel, once shared an insight he gained from his experience in counseling many priests. He said that whenever a priest would tell him that he is leaving the priesthood, the first question he always asks is "When did you stop praying? When did you lose sight of Christ?" I know that when I was on the receiving end of that question about 11 years ago when I was at a crossroads and was close to leaving the priesthood, I was angered by the question...

In his book One Crowded Hour, Tim Bowden writes about a small war in Borneo in 1964. The nations of Indonesia and Malaysia got into a shouting match that turned into a shooting match. Because of treaty relations, a group of Gurkhas from Nepal were sent to aid the Malaysians. Not long after they arrived, they were asked if they would be willing to jump into combat in a surprise attack. Because they were not trained as paratroopers they had the right to refuse. The Gurkhas usually agreed to do anything they were asked, but this time they said no. The next day, one of their leaders came to the high command and reported that they had met and reconsidered and would make the jump but only under certain conditions.

I remember going crabbing in Washington one time with my uncle, my dad, and brother. We had these great big crab pots that weighed about 60 pounds apiece. We had about 6 pots altogether but only two of the 60 pounders. We would bait them, tie buoys to them, then go out in our boat and drop them off. It was really important to have the buoys tied to them, otherwise you’d lose the crab pot to the bottom of the sea. Well, all four of us are in the boat and we are throwing out our baited crab pots. We hurled one after another over the side and let the rope run through our hands as it sank to the bottom, then plop the buoy out on the water. We grabbed one of our 60 pounders, threw it over the side, but realized that there was no rope running through our hands. We forgot to tie it to a buoy! There it was, sinking to the bottom with no way of pulling it back up. Well, my dad being the courageous guy he is, dove into the water before any of us could say a thing. Now, I was only about 8 years old at the time. I couldn’t believe what just happened. My dad had just jumped into the ocean! All of us in the boat just sat there staring at the water. All we saw was his hat floating gently on the surface. Then all of a sudden, my dad surfaced, splashing for a paddle with the crab pot in hand. It was pretty cool. I already thought my dad was tough, but after that, my dad was the toughest guy on earth to me. For my little 8 year old heart, the time between my dad diving in and coming back to the surface felt like an eternity. I didn’t know what to think! What just happened? Would he be able to make it? What could I do? Should I jump in after him? What would I do if he didn’t come back? All these thoughts made it feel like time stood still. I think the disciples felt the same way when they were caught in that storm by themselves...

As Barbara Brown Taylor said in a sermon, if there is a miracle worth savoring in this story, then it’s maybe not that Jesus could walk on water (after all, if Jesus is God, then his ability to walk on water is no more surprising than your or my ability to walk up a flight of steps.) And the miracle is not that Peter managed that same trick for a moment or two. No, the miracle is that when it was all said and done–while a soggy and chagrined Peter sputtered seawater out of his lungs and as the boat continued to bob around in the dead of that rather dark night–somehow in the midst of those humble surroundings way out there in the middle of nowhere, the disciples realized that no one less than God’s own Son was sitting right in front of them. So they worshiped him. They believed. If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat. True enough. And here and there, now and again, the church maybe needs visionary and courageous folks who step out on faith to do some new and bold thing...

Several months ago I began serving on the board of Hope Haven, our local homeless shelter. For decades this organization has provided emergency housing for the homeless. In more recent years we have come to the understanding that many who are homeless also suffer from mental illness and so need specialized kind of help. In fact, one of our units is long term housing for people who simply would not be able to function in the world without this support. Of late, the director has been putting more and more energy into addressing the root causes of homelessness — particularly with the children — trying to break the cycle for this next generation. Sadly, it is not surprising that many of these young people have been the victims of one kind of trauma or another, too often sexual abuse.

Here is a story of storm and faith. On Dec. 4, 1875, the transatlantic steamer the Deutschland departed from Bremerhaven, Germany. It was on its way to New York. The ship had a crew of a hundred men, and it carried 113 passengers, mostly German immigrants bound for America. Among them were five Franciscan nuns, who had been exiled from Germany in the Kulturkampf, the struggle over religious liberty between the Catholic Church and Otto von Bismarck, Germany’s Iron Chancellor. In the face of sorrow and suffering, the sisters were resolutely leaving their homeland behind, bound for hospital work in St. Louis. They were still very much in control of their lives. They were meeting struggle with spunk. Between midnight and the morning of Dec. 7, a winter storm off the coast of England sank the steamer. Some passengers and crew escaped. The five Franciscans were drowned.

The phone rang a 5:30 in the morning. Awakening I answered, the caller identified herself as the Coroner and asked if I was the father of my son, Stewart. She had some heart-breaking news; he had died in a fire at midnight. Shocked and numb as the conversation concluded, I reminded myself of my pastoral commitment later that morning. The evening before, I had conducted a funeral in the chapel of a funeral home. The family had requested we have a graveside committal service the following morning. Being retired and not part of a ministerial staff, I realized that I had no back up, but needed to show up and follow through with my morning responsibility. That crisis reminded me of Jesus’ need to grieve and pray, but also to embrace his calling and commitment to move through the valley and to the mountain top, from sadness and sorrow to a disciplined discipleship of faith, hope and love...

In her autobiography, The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day shares how she once prayed at a very low time in her life. Dorothy Day, as you know, wasn’t raised into the faith, but came to it on her own after a certain romance with atheism. An intellectual, moving in Marxist and anti-church circles, she entered her twenties convinced that if anyone had the courage to look life square in the eye, she or he would not believe in God. She had support in that. The love of her life at the time was one who shared her views. She moved in with him and bore his child outside of marriage. The birth of this child, a daughter, changed her in ways she had not foreseen. Holding her infant daughter, she was so overcome with awe and gratitude that she prayed spontaneously. “For so much joy, I need to thank someone!” Her faith was born from that, from the purest spring of all, gratitude...

Donald Nichol, in his book, Holiness, shares a story of a British missionary working in Africa. At one point, early on in his stay there, the missionary was called upon to mediate a dispute between two tribes. He had no preparation for this, was naïve, and totally out of his depth. But he gave himself over to the task in faith and, surprisingly, reconciled the two tribes. Afterwards, buoyed by this success, he began to fancy himself as mediator and began to present himself as an arbiter of disputes. But now, however, his efforts were invariably unhelpful. Here’s the irony: when he didn’t know what he was doing, but trusted solely in God, he was able to walk on water; as soon as he began to wrap himself in the process, he sank like a stone. Faith works like that: We can walk on water only as long as we don’t think that we are doing it with our own strength.

The word “liminal” comes from the Latin word for “threshold” and liminal space refers to an in-between or transitional condition in which one is “neither here nor there,” or, sometimes, both here and there. Peter has left the boat but hasn’t arrived anywhere yet. He is in transition. He is in a liminal space. Richard Rohr has described liminal space as follows: It is when you have left, or are about to leave, the tried and true, but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer. If you are not trained in how to hold anxiety, how to live with ambiguity, how to entrust and wait, you will run…anything to flee this terrible cloud of unknowing...

When I was away on vacation last week, I went to see the movie, Dunkirk. It’s got all kinds of famous actors in it, one of whom is the Shakespearean actor, Kenneth Branagh. In this role he plays a British naval officer, Commander Bolton, who’s supervising the evacuation of the defeated army from the beach. It’s a massive and desperate task. There are hundreds of thousands of British and French soldiers on that strip of sand — and there aren’t just enough rescue ships. Several of those precious ships, packed with evacuees, are hit by bombs or torpedoes and go down in minutes. The German army is frighteningly near...

Our family was staying overnight at a motel on our way from Illinois to visit the grandparents in Missouri. The motel had a pool and the 35 mm slide that I rediscovered, taken by my wife, placed me in the pool with our two children. What happened before the picture was taken was an experience somewhat like the one described in today’s Gospel lesson and which I have never forgotten. The incident involved me dogpaddling in the water and catching our six year-old daughter as she repeatedly jumped from the diving board into the water and into my waiting arms. Meanwhile, our 4 year-old son sat watching on the other side of the pool. At some point, he must have decided, like Peter in our text, that the water was not all that challenging and that he could get over to where we were. Fortunately, I turned around to check on him, only to discover that he was lying face down in the water. I swam faster that Michael Phelps and grabbed him up and out of the water. After spitting some water out of his mouth, he said, “I knew you were coming, dad.”...

("Sometimes ancient methods and ways of understanding something also speak across the centuries. There's a very old way of understanding today's gospel story that does just that. In this method the boat represents the church, and the winds and the waves stand for the persecutions that the early Christian community faced. The time being described is years after Jesus' earthly ministry, so he is not with them physically...This symbolic understanding lets the story immediately connect with Christians in danger or under threat....")

("When people ask, Why can't you just have more faith? I say, Because I've seen the rabbit. Now, before visions of Donnie Darko begin running through your head, let me explain. You've probably seen the famous optical illusion of the duck and rabbit. Well, let's say that the duck represents a faith-view of the world and the rabbit represents a chance-view...")

("Shrek and Donkey set out on a quest to rescue a fair maiden imprisoned in the tower of a castle that is guarded by a fire breathing dragon. Between them and the castle there is a great chasm with red hot lava at the bottom. The only way to get across is via a very flimsy swinging bridge. Donkey is definitely not going to walk across the bridge but Shrek says that he can do it as long as he doesn't look down. Donkey steps on to the bridge reminding himself not to look down, and feeling very bold and safe...")

("There is an old story that has often been re-told in especially the Eastern Orthodox part of the church. According to the tale, a devout abbot from a monastery decided to take a prolonged spiritual retreat in a small cabin located on a remote island in the middle of a large lake. He told his fellow monks that he wanted to spend his days in prayer so as to grow closer to God...")

("Even as we attempted to drive out of the way of Hurricane Bob, however, it was evident that others were traveling in the opposite direction. The next morning's paper showed some of those daredevils who ignored all the warnings and were photographed standing at the end of the pier at the end of the cape with their arms outstretched, seemingly daring the force of the storm to take them down...")

("there are storms we don't survive. Perhaps that's a truth only the old can tell. Consider this small vignette, about growing up in the Third Reich. It's from the German historian Joachim Fest, Not I: Memoirs of a German Childrhood. His family never supported the Nazi's and actively resisted Adolf Hitler. The war left Fest's family homeless and impoverished, grieving their dead...")

A pastor I once knew was conducting a large wedding rehearsal and was showing the bride just how she would enter and take her majestic walk down the aisle. The bride, already shaking from the magnitude of the event to come, said, “I can’t do it. I’ll never make it. It won’t work.” The pastor took the young woman by the arm and said, “My dear, do you see that huge window of Christ at the front of the chancel? Tomorrow, when you come down this center aisle, Jesus will be there just for you. Keep your eyes on him, and you’ll get there.” That is the message for you and me: to keep our eyes on Jesus...

Dazzling white flashes light up the sky and almost immediately thunder rocks the ground beneath my feet. Rain lashes down, and the wind shrieks around the chimney of the house. Thunderstorms are a guilty pleasure, guilty because they can do enormous damage, pleasure because I love everything about them from the light show to the raucous noise. This one is different, though, for I am late with my writing assignment and while I don't fear the physical violence of the storm (foolish me), I fear that the electricity, flickering on and off several times over the last few minutes, will go out for hours and I will be later still. That's a trivial fear, though a real one for someone who has agreed to undertake a commitment to produce a sermon by a certain time. There are far more frightening fears with which to contend than mine. We buried a twenty-two year old parishioner Saturday, a victim of some unknown malady, robbed of life in the strength of his youth. His loving parents grieve hard, though they do not despair, for they are faithful Christians, the way of the Lord is indeed engraved upon their hearts. But they mourn, oh how they mourn, as do I and the rest of the parish and the local community. They grieve with the family for the family, but, as the week unfolds, they become increasingly fearful for themselves. Every mother and father sees the face of their own beloved son or daughter in the face in the casket...

("A few years ago I applied for a position that felt perfect for me: a part-time chaplain at a local hospice. I worked in a hospice before. I'm ordained. I had excellent recommendations. When called for the interview, I confidently swung my leg over the side of the boat and stepped onto Lake Interview. My rock sank. Didn't get the job. Why? Arrogance...")

("I recall a seminary professor who offhandedly wondered about the preposition in the sentence, 'Jesus walked on water.' A preposition like 'on' is a 'function word that typically combines with a noun phrase' to express a 'modification'. Ah, a modifier! That which changes!...")

("The boat has, from very early days in the Christian community, been a symbol for the church. And no wonder. Think of a ship, a vessel large enough that it takes a number of people doing diverse things to get it to move.Moving through the waters on a gorgeous day can be simply glorious. Sometimes, though, life on the ship can get routine. The same chores need doing every day. The wind doesn't always do what the sailors want...")

["In Israel and Palestine fear runs deep in the bone. For Israel, a people driven off their land by the Roman Empire in 69 AD, people who lived in exile in Europe for the next 1900 years, learning to farm in forest towns (shetls, as in Fiddler on the Roof) in eastern Europe (what is now the Ukraine) or learning the skills of bankers and traders in western European cities where they lived in ghettoes, the experience of forced emigration was horrific..."]

("Anita Brookner states in one of her novels that the great tragedy in most marriages is that the man and woman cannot, in the end, console each other and that what each really needs from the other, but generally never gets, is a good confessor, someone to whom each can reveal all the secrets of his or her life so as to let go of the tension and finally just be himself or herself without pretense and effort...")

("The virtuoso pianist and composer, Franz Lizst, for the most part was not religious. But towards the end of his life, that changed. Lizst was particularly drawn to the story of St Francis of Paolo--a story which in turn was inspired by Jesus walking on the water. St Francis had hoped to get a boat across the Straits of Messina from the coast of Italy to Sicily. But he had no money, and the boatman refused to grant him any favours...")

("The final scene in The Truman Show illustrates this impulse nicely, when Truman leaves his boat and walks across the ledge at the horizon of the fake sea. Each step brings him closer to breaking out of an artificial, imposed existence. But here's a key difference:...")

"John Powell tells about a student named Tommy who was a student in a course he tught on The Theology of Faith. Tommy was the 'atheist in residence'. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined at the possibility of an unconditionally loving God. At the end of the course Tommy asked, 'Do you think I'll ever find God?' Powell answer, 'No!' but added as Tommy left the room, 'I'm absolutely certain that God will find you'..."

"If you're teaching a child to float on their back, and you want to release your arms under them, they may simply kick and splash in order to regain some control. However, as you try to calm the child, you could simply encourage, 'relax, let go, keep your eyes on me'. It's what Jesus encourages Peter to do. Jesus was the one in charge, not Peter. He was the one who would provide the ability to withstand the wind and waves. Peter needed to keep his eyes focused on Jesus..." and other short illustrations

("I have a stash of music stored on my computer and started playing Allison Krause and Union Station... I heard Allison Krause's beautiful rendition of Keith Whitley's song, When You Say Nothing At All. Then thankfully, I couldn't help but get a mental picture of Simon Peter and his relationship with Jesus from this morning's Gospel reading. 'There's a truth in your eyes Sayin' you'll never leave me The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall.'...")

("This story is evoked in the film The Truman Show, where the hero Truman - played by Jim Carrey - is an actor in a film within a film. At one point he tries to ride out a storm in a yacht...")

"St. Augustine, for example, goes a little overboard (if you'll pardon the pun) with his nautical allusions, using his sermon on this passage as an occasion for both ecclesial endorsement and pastoral care..."

("The blog OCICBW reflects on this passage as telling us about our life after Christ's death, resurrection and ascension. In our reading today Jesus sends his disciples away because he needs to be away from them and they need to be away from him...")

("Last Sunday night on 60 Minutes the amazing story of Nick was told. He came into this world without arms or legs. He told of the shock and grief of his parents when he was born. It’s clear no one knew how to react to a baby born without any limbs....")

("Once upon a time there was this doctor who was magical. He was witty, intelligent, sensitive, and a brilliant, brilliant diagnostician...")

("There is an old story that has often been re-told in especially the Eastern Orthodox part of the church. According to the tale, a devout abbot from a monastery decided to take a prolonged spiritual retreat in a small cabin located on a remote island in the middle of a large lake...")

("One of the controversies at the Nairobi Assembly focused on a sculpture made by Guido Rocha, a Brazilian artist. This figure is a large, life-size crucifix. Unlike most portrayals of Jesus hanging on the cross, however, this one is quite shocking. Its title is The Tortured Christ....)

Joyce Rupp, a Roman Catholic poet and author of devotional literature, calls a 'fearful heart' one of the 'chronic disorders of the spirit'. She points out that worrying keeps us from being free, from relishing life's goodness...

("Learning to step beyond our comfort zones is an important part of the life of discipleship. Comfort zones may feel safe but they are very limiting. The story of Peter's one small step offers us some valuable insight on how we should face such circumstances...")

("In her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard writes of reading Marius von Senden's book Space and Sight. She conveys von Senden's descriptions of what happened when eye surgeons began to perform the first successful operations to remove cataracts...")

("Some months ago I struck up a conversation with a stranger in a hospital emergency room waiting area. This outgoing middle aged man began to share how his life was saved by a prison chaplain who reached out to him...")

("Like the one about the recent seminary graduate young pastor who was invited out to fish with two of the codgers in their boat. After rowing into the middle of the lake they realized that they had left the bait on the dock...")

("Short prayers are long enough. There were but three words in the petition that Peter gasped out, but they were sufficient for his purpose. Not the length but strength is desirable. Our most desperate times are the Lord’s opportunities...")

("Still my heart, Lord! Still my heart! When all is calm, predictable, ordered…I can cope. Within the limits of my own ability I am fulfilled But with the breaking of the storm, when I am taken beyond my skills, my plans, when faced by failure...")

("The captain of the ship had ordered the shutters closed on the ship that sailed out of Folkestone Harbor toward Ostende, Holland. The sea, in late November could be gentle as a lamb, as it had been when my companions and I crossed over from the European continent to England two weeks earlier...")

("There is in New York City and maybe in a place near you people who gather at stop lights with squeegees or towels to wash your window hoping for some spare change. As I came up to a stoplight near Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx a few years ago and noticed one of the so-called "squeegee patrol" waiting for me...")

("A helicopter pilot who flew from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific told this story. 'I was flying the helicopter back to the ship when a blinding fog rolled in. Flying at a low altitude, I knew that a single mistake would plunge me and my crew into the ocean...")

("I remember back a few years ago, about 9, I think. A friend of mine told me of the misfortune that happened down in TN. They had several banks fail...")

("I'm thinking of the great Dr. Salk. You remember that he discovered the vaccine for infantile paralysis. The vaccine that would prevent it. As a child in Florida I remember very well what infantile paralysis could mean to the child...")

("So it is that this midrash comes to us from Oscar Wilde, poet and martyr: 'Come down, O Christ, and help me! reach thy hand, For I am drowning in a stormier sea Than Simon on thy lake of Galilee ...")

("In the movie Shrek, the ogre, Shrek and the donkey set out on a quest to rescue a fair maiden imprisoned in the tower of a castle that is guarded by a fire breathing dragon. Between them and the castle there is a great chasm with red hot lava at the bottom...")

("Have you ever had a yeah, but moment? I’m sure you have. Let me explain. Recently I had the Jehovah's Witnesses visit the manse and in the course of our conversation I was asked, 'You believe in one true God, don’t you?' Knowing that the questioner did not believe in the three persons of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this was a yeah, but… moment...")

("Probably many of you have heard the story of the woman who came as the new Episcopal priest to a small Minnesota town where they'd never had a woman clergy person. She worked hard at trying to gain the approval of the other local clergy...")

("One time a very important Cardinal and his aged auxiliary bishop were visiting a town in the West of Ireland. They left their cards at the house of the local bishop out of respect...")

("Once upon a time a group of young hikers were wandering through dense woods. They were singing and having a grand time. As the sun began to go down, some of them got worried. How are we going to get out of here, they wondered...")

("Once upon a time there was a high school physics teacher who gave very tough tests. But he was also a good teacher and liked his students and wanted them to learn. So he emphasized the really important parts of the course and prepared the students for the exam...")

Do you believe in Santa Claus? How about the Easter Bunny? The Tooth Fairy? Children do. They have tremendous, unquestioning faith. If they are told that Santa exists, they will believe, and their belief will be reinforced year after year by the presents under the tree, In the case of the Easter Bunny, the eggs in a basket every year are the reinforcement...

("I remember the first time I ever got into a kayak. Now, at this point in my life I was familiar with canoes. Our family had one of those and I was pretty good at maneuvering it on a river. A kayak, however, is a bit different. Whereas a canoe has a keel running down the middle, which helps it not tip over too easily, a kayak has a smooth, more rounded bottom..." and discussion of abuse)

("Other fears are external. They hold us hostage, silence us and dismantle our humanity. "The first time he hit me I was 19," says Anna Quindlen's main character in Black and Blue. "I can hear his voice now, so persuasive, so low and yet somehow so strong...")

A young executive in a congregation I served years ago experienced this in the midst of a dangerous battle with meningitis. His physician, in fact, told me to stay in close touch with the family because he did not expect the man to recover. But he did recover -- literally came back from the threshold of death. And he had a story to tell...

("when the Lord gets ready, in the words of the venerable spiritual you gotta move: You may be rich, You may be poor, You may be young, You may be old, But when the Lord gets ready, You gotta move...")

("Earlier this year, I told of one woman’s fears during pregnancy. She was writing in the Trinidad Catholic News which I read on the Internet. 'I think of pregnancy. What a time! Uncertainty, doubt, fears, apprehensions! We don’t know what’s in store for us..." and Footprints illustration)

("There is one that has gone around for years about three ministers out fishing together in a small boat. One of them, suddenly realizing that he had left his tackle box in the cabin, stepped out of the boat, and walked on the water over to shore. Just then, the second one said he had forgotten his faithful fishing hat on the front seat of the car...")

("Mark Twain refers to it in one of his books. He recalls a visit to the Holy Land and a stay in Capernaum. It was a moonlit night, so he decided to take his wife on a romantic boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Twain asked a man in a rowboat how much he would charge to take them out on the water...")

("The word miracle, and the experience of the miraculous, is in no way confined to Biblical times or the first century. The word miracle, and the experience of the miraculous, is very much part of our modern world and our everyday lives...")

("When I was not quite twenty years old I signed on as a crew aboard the ship Thomas Crosby V. That eighty-foot vessel was a floating church operated by the United Church of Canada to serve fifty-four ports of call on the coast of British Columbia...")

("In November of 1940, the Mother of All Blizzards struck Minnesota with a vengeance. That autumn day started out balmy enough, but in the early afternoon, the temperature plummeted and the blizzard roared. The Twin Cities got 17 inches of snow; 27 inches in St. Cloud. Farmers were caught unprepared in their fields, and hunters were stranded in their duck blinds. In all, 49 people died in Minnesota, while 59 sailors died on Lake Superior...")

("I read a story the other day about a billionaire who pledged the hand of his Miss-America daughter and a royal dowry to that man who could survive a life-threatening ordeal. On the appointed day, all the suitors lined up on one edge of a swimming pool. In the pool swam dozens of man-eating sharks...")

("During the summer of 1785, a frivolous young man decided to take a Continental tour with a few good friends. He had spent the past four years serving in Parliament and enjoying the social scene of London 'where unchecked passions and desires ran their course'...")

("In one of American culture's movie classics Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, we find a scenario the reminds me somewhat of our gospel lesson today. Do you remember the film? Indiana Jones is trying to find and save his father, who has been seeking after the Holy Grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper...")

One of the greatest American writers of the 19th century, Herman Melville, knew a lot about the sea and what it stood for....As a young man he had shipped out on an American whaler, and he spent the rest of his writing life using the experiences he had on that and subsequent voyages to explain what he knew or intuited about the ways of God and men and women...

("The young mother examined the toy rather dubiously. Finally, she turned to the salesman and said, 'Sir, don't you think this toy is a bit complicated for a little child?' The clerk answered: 'Madam, this is an educational toy. It is designed to help the child adjust to living in today's world...")

("She wasn't a very impressive looking woman - a little over five feet tall, late thirties, weathered skin beyond her years. Her clothes were old, inexpensive, and worn. She couldn't read or write and when she smiled you couldn't help but notice that her teeth were missing...")

("School was a negative experience for me. I spent a lot of time writing things on the board. That was humiliating. It was during recess and it had something to do with getting something in Marsha Haggerty’s hair. I had to come in and in front of the whole class write Tar is not a toy...")

("When I was growing up there was a creek in the woods behind our house. Any time we'd go out my mom would tell us to stay out of the creek. There was a rope and we could swing across the creek on this rope. That was one of the best things we knew how to do...")

("a duck hunter who bought a new retriever. Besides being a beautiful dog, it was guaranteed to be the best retriever anyone had ever seen. He couldn't wait to show off his new dog to his buddies...")

("On the night in question, I was on liberty. Two of the guys and I from engineering were in the galley (or kitchen for you landlubbers) fixing a snack. Some of the guys were watching TV, there was a poker game going on in the rec room. Some of the guys were shooting pool. Some of the guys had already gone to bed. It was about 10:15 at night...")

("a man gets too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, loses his balance, and slips over the edge. Just before falling 1000 feet, he grabs on to a root sticking out from the edge. 'Help me!' He hollers. 'Is there anyone up there? Help me! Save me! Is there anyone up there?'...")

("In the Navy I spent many weeks and months at sea. I am trained in bridge operations and I know that a sailor is always assigned to the helm. The helmsman’s job is to remain completely focused on his course. He does not change that course unless instructed by the Officer in charge of the bridge...")

("Bruce Larson tells a story about the time he almost drowned in a storm in the Gulf of Mexico. He was swimming far from shore, trying to retrieve his boat that was drifting away from him. The waves were seven to eight feet high and the sky was dark with gale force winds and lightening...")

("The famous novelist, James Michener, has this interesting insight in his book Chesapeake: 'A ship, like a human being, moves best when it is slightly athwart the wind, when it has to keep its sails tight and attend to its course....")

["Most of the residents at Hillcrest House, where I work, are recovering from drug addictions. When they are fearful about the future, they often do irrational and self-destructive things (like any of the rest of us.) Fear launches a blame game..."]

("The day after the horror of September 11, I saw this couple being interviewed on the news. They were standing on the street, before the wreckage of ground zero, obviously in great grief. Their beloved daughter had perished in the cataclysm. Through tears, they shared their grief with the reporter..." and other illustrations)

("There is a story about an old merchant ship that was caught In a dangerous storm on the high seas. The winds were wailing and the waves were pounding the little vessel. All of a sudden the captain ordered a young sailor to climb the main mast set free the mast which became tangled..." and other illustrations)

A few years ago a minister traveled to the Middle East and m visited the Sea of Galilee. He saw a boatman and asked about the place where Jesus supposedly walked on the water. Not only did the boatman know where it was, but, when asked the charge to row the minister there, said, "I'll take you for nothing." So the minister enjoyed the ride out, and when he was told that the boat was now at the precise spot, the pastor pulled out his Bible, read meditatively, then surveyed the water and distant shore. He then said he was ready to return, and was told that it would cost him $50.00. The minister protested, saying that he thought the trip would be free. The boatman replied that he had only been asked what it would cost to come out to the spot - nothing had been asked about a return trip. As the man-of-the cloth dug down for his wallet, he murmured, "No wonder Jesus walked!"...

There was an old Scotsman who was very, very ill. When his pastor came to see him, the suffering man told him about the empty chair by the side of his bed. The chair had held a key place in his life for many years. It began when he had trouble kneeling for prayer and a friend told him not to worry about kneeling. The friend suggested that he sit to pray and put a chair opposite him. In that chair, he was to imagine that Jesus was sitting and he was talking to him as a friend. He did it and continued to do it through the years. So the chair was still there by his bedside for his 'friend'. Some days later, the pastor returned to call on the sick man, only to be met at the door by his daughter who explained that her father had died during the might. She explained that he had seemed to be resting well, and she had taken a brief nap. When she awoke to go check on her father, he was dead. He had not moved since she had left him except for one thing: he had reached out and placed his hand on the empty chair next to his bed. The pastor smiled and thought, Jesus is indeed the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end and a part of each day's journey in between.

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(compares three gospel versions)

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("St. Augustine, for example, goes a little overboard (if you'll pardon the pun) with his nautical allusions, using his sermon on this passage as an occasion for both ecclesial endorsement and pastoral care...")