The first sermon I gave here was received quite well, considering I have never given a sermon in my life. My sermon was about Jesus walking across the water to his disciples and you can read it in the comments below. The point of the sermon was giving Christians confidence to overcome their fear of being outspoken about Jesus. I only preached about this because I was terrified to do so.
The sermon was received so well, in fact, that I can see now that it was a fluke, since I haven’t felt as confident about a single one of my sermons since then. I continue to be well received. I continue to prepare. I continue to preach. And I still think my best sermon ever will probably always be my first.
I’m giving the sermon tomorrow on one of my favorite parables. If you are reading this and you are a seminary student, you may know the fear that I am experiencing now. If you are a minister, you definitely do. There is nothing like the felling of being unprepared for the one thing you know the most about. Oh the irony that I can post this blog about my anxieties, but I don’t know how to sound confident in my sermon tomorrow!
This is the parable of the mustard seed. I’ve talked about this parable with friends, I’ve read these short 3 verses over and over throughout my life and imagined this image as the most beautiful vision of the Kingdom of God of which Jesus ever spoke.
Funny thing, it seems one needs all this other konwlegde of the Bible in order to have this dramatic love for this parable. Maybe I am wrong. There is very little instruction from Jesus regarding this single idea. He does not go into a long drawn-out tale. He just says,
“Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” (Saint Mark 4:30-32)
And now I find myself going along so many paths with so many ways of translating the seed, the tree and the story. The pressure to make this all make sense in a 5 minute tale by tomorrow morning is reminescent of midterms. That must be why we have them…
…yet my worry is that I have this one hour, this one opportunity to tell a story to people who actually care to listen enough to show up for church on Sunday morning. That is a very small amount of people, and it is a message I want these people to remember by at least Tuesday morning. God help me!
I’ll post my sermon soon enough. I’m happy to hear from you once you read it!
1 response so far ↓
transatlantica // 16 February 2008 at 9:32 pm |
My First Sermon: FAIR WEATHER FAITH
We can achieve the impossible through our faith in Jesus Christ. But all too often, we Christians have fair weather faith. The story of Jesus walking on water is not at all unfamiliar. In fact, it appears in 3 of the 4 gospels, Matthew, Mark and John. That Jesus miraculously walked on water is astounding, but it is not the point of the story for us this morning. Instead, let us look at the reaction of the disciples. How did they respond when seeing their Lord walking to them on these turbulent seas? What kind of faith did they show and how did Jesus response? This event takes place just after an evening when Jesus and his disciples feed 5000 men, plus their wives and their children. Yet, in the Gospel of St. Mark, we are told that the disciples “did not understand about the loaves, for their hearts were hardened.’ (Mk 6:52) They had just witnessed a miracle of the power of Jesus Christ, and to these men who had spent every waking hour with Jesus, it did not affect their hearts. They still did not fully understand all that Jesus was trying to show them. After the remaining twelve baskets of leftovers had been collected, “Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side.’ After he dismisses Peter, James, Simon, Judas and the others, he goes up on a mountainside to pray alone. When he finishes, it is late or more accurately, really early, the fourth watch, the end of night, almost dawn. And the disciples are already far from the shore. In St. John, it’s said “They had rowed about three or four miles’ (John 6:19) And Jesus sees his men struggling in the water. It says in the Gospel of St. Mark “he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them’ (like I hear it can be in Troon) So he walks toward them, into the wind, in the dark, right out on top of the waves. Step by step, he reaches him disciples.
But “when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.’ Anyone would be, right? But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ (Mt 14:26-28) Jesus’ closest friends don’t recognize their own Lord. To be fair, it is very dark, that in-between time of day when shadows look different and the eye can play trick. So it is easy to understand why the physically impossible would seem mystical.
THE CHALLENGE
But Peter replies “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.’ And to this, Jesus utters one word. “COME.”
This is the second time Jesus calls Peter. And just as before, in Peter’s first confidence on the shores when Peter had laid down his nets, scripture says “Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came to Jesus…’ Here is a confidence, a faith so strong that Peter didn’t even take the time to consider the impossibility of this request as he climbed DOWN out of the boat. He just did what Jesus asked. Imagine looking into the eyes of Christ, and hearing him say directly to you COME HERE. Christ’s confidence must have been so strong that it empowered Peter to ignore the impossible and GO.
We CAN achieve the impossible through our faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus is our power, and power from our Lord Jesus Christ is the strongest power there is in the universe. Faith is the power to move mountains. Faith is the power to walk on water. Oh, we want to be faithful like Peter, able to walk on water up to Jesus unafraid. To have that confidence! How wonderful it must have been to approach Jesus, not sinking, but walking step . . . by . . . step, across the sea….
Three or four miles out to sea, a man approaches his friends in the dawning of a new day, walking impossibly on the turbulent sea, and his first confident disciple comes out onto the water with him. Imagine what joy, what a celebration it must have been for Jesus to see his beloved disciple believe with such faith that they could do this together! “But when Peter saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!’ Maybe it was crashing wave, or maybe the salt water blowing into Peter’s eyes, we don’t know but imagine what sadness Jesus must have felt watching the doubt and panic flood into his friend’s face as he began to slip into the sea! Doesn’t this seem familiar? We ask Jesus to prove to us that we can achieve the impossible and just as we start to fell the strength of our faith, something in our surroundings distracted us, and we begin to sink. Peter, “beginning to sink, [cries] out, “Lord, save me!’ And “Immediately Jesus reaches out his hand and catches him, saying ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’“(Mt 14:31)
The book of Hebrews draws a comparison between Moses and Jesus. Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant … but Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son (3:5).’ The people who followed Moses into the desert were faithful to a point. Moses was more faithful, but Jesus was the most faithful of all. God’s people, whether it was the Israelites in the desert or Peter in the storm, began to look around their surrounding and felt doubt. The people of the Old Testament once had faith in Moses, as they followed him out of Egypt, but they lost it. The confidence they once possessed was lost because things weren’t perfect for them in the desert. They challenged Moses and his brother Aaron. They didn’t understand why, if they were God’s people, they did not have the best of all things. Looking at their desert surrounding, they began to doubt. We long to have that first confidence like Peter, so that we can make the seemingly impossible journey to Jesus. Sure, we’ve tried to remain focused on Christ in our own lives, but it’s hard! Even if we dare to get out of our boats, we risk the chance we will fall though the waves because we know walking on water is impossible. Like God’s people in the desert, we are so distracted by our surrounding misery that we often forget there is a greater life ahead of us. We forget to look Jesus directly in eyes and follow him. And if we do muster up courage to strike out, inevitably something causes us to fail. Life is not always sunny in Troon. The computer breaks down or finances get tight and we become frustrated to the point of distraction. We stop focusing on what God wants for us and become so fixated on the wind and the waves around us, it is no wonder we begin to sink. But Jesus is standing there for us, just as he was for Peter, ready to pull us to safety. We have to remember that God wants us to get out of the boat and follow him, and though it may be stormy, He is there always ready to take our hand and pull us up, if only we ask for his salvation.
Scripture tells us, “When they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.’ (Mt 14:32-33) We will falter, just as Peter did. And when we do, all we need do is say “Lord, save me!’And he will reach out his hand and lift us up. He calls us to COME and with Him. And though we are afraid, he will save us. Let us do TODAY what we would put off until tomorrow. Let us go to Jesus, and when he enters our lives, as he entered the disciples’ boat, let us worship him. Truly his is the Son of God! We can achieve the impossible through our faith in Jesus Christ. There will be waves and wind and constant distraction, but Jesus is ever faithful. Have confidence, the confidence you have in fair weather will carry you that much more through the storms of life. “For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.” Amen.