Many of you know that we have “Open Mic Nights” here at Vision four times a year. It’s a night where teen-age musicians are invited to play and we invite the community teenagers to attend.   It’s very well attended.  The last one we had was attended by over 100 kids, some of them are from Warwick, some are from surrounding towns.   At one point Don saw 4 girls walk into the bathroom carrying a backpack that they had brought into the event.  We decided I should go into the bathroom and make sure that the girls did not have anything they shouldn’t in the bag. I saw them gather in a circle with the bag between them.  I went directly into a stall.  I realized pretty quickly that they were not drinking but did have the opportunity to listen to an interesting conversation.  

One of the girls remarked, “I can’t believe that a church does this.”  The other girls said, “I can’t imagine my church doing this”.  One other girl said, “Do you go to church?”  They talked about what churches they attend.  Then out of nowhere the fourth girl who hasn’t spoken said, “My mom and dad go to church but I don’t go cause I don’t believe in God” 

“Why don’t you believe in God?” her friend asked.  She replied, “Because when my Mom goes to church she only goes to see her friends and to make sure she’s seen there.”  

I never did enter the conversation because I didn’t want the girls to think I was spying on them.  However I thought how perceptive this young girl was.  She ceased to believe in God because she didn’t see her Mon risking anything. 

If God is real, God is worth risking something for.   We are never going to lead people to God if we keep thinking of church as a safe place o see our friends.  We need to move out into the stormy water of ministry. You can’t lead people to God unless you’re willing to take risks.  I didn’t make that up.  That’s what Jesus did.  Jesus knew that!

We could tell a bunch of stories where Jesus took risks.  Whether he was accepting a glass of water from a woman at a well or stopping the “people in the know” from throwing stones, Jesus constantly put himself in the middle of risky business. Whereever he went there were arguments. 

The Story we heard today is all about comfort zones…taking risks.  When I first heard this story so many years ago I thought the story was about power. Jesus had Power that made it possible for him to walk on water.  After all he was the Son of God.  And the Son of God should be able to walk on water.  For Visionkids I look through a lot Sunday School curriculums and kid’s Bible Study resources.  You know what this story is called in all the resources I’ve looked at, “Jesus walks on water”.  So, it would stand to reason as a child I thought that this story is primarily a story that defined the supernatural quality of Jesus. It was a story to prove his God-ness.  And it certainly does that.  But when I read the story again as an adult, it’s apparent that there is more to the story than that.  It is a story of obedience, comfort zones and risk taking.  And it is not a story about Jesus at all.  It is a story about Peter.

The real power in this story is not just that Jesus can walk on water.  As adults we need to move beyond that simple school understanding and find the more mature faith within.  Jesus calls people who are comfortable to move out of their comfort zones, and to move into the storm. 

It’s pretty clear that Jesus does not expect his disciples to stay comfortable for long. And that in itself is a difficult message.  Our story today of Peter walking on water takes place right after the miracle of Jesus feeding thousands of people with just two fish and five loaves of bread. We hear in the story that everyone ate and was satisfied.  They are comfortable.  And Jesus dismisses them. 

But not his disciples.  He doesn’t let then stay comfortable for long. We are told he immediately makes the disciples get into a boat and go ahead of him to the other side."  And being good disciples, they do it.  But soon the boat is battered by the waves, it was far from the land, and they were not making much progress. They find themselves in a very uncomfortable place. And that’s when Jesus appears.  When the wind was against them.  When they were being knocked and battered and they were standing still.  They must have looked out at Jesus coming toward them and thought ”what in the world is he thinking?  Why would He take US…his friends out of the comfortable place where we were eating and resting and stick us out in the middle of a storm?”  Can’t you see them huddled in the boat, hanging on one another wondering how long it would take for Jesus to get them out of this?

Except for Peter.  Peter wasn’t thinking that all.  Peter wasn’t thinking about the storm.  Peter looked out at Jesus and thought, “I can walk on water”. A ridiculous idea especially since he was a fisherman.  He knew the principles of water. He was in it and around it all the time.   He knew they were far off land.  He was aware of the depth of the ocean, the power of its waves.  But this day the apostles looked out at Jesus and saw him walking toward them and they sat in the boat waiting for Jesus to come to them but Peter said, “Bid me to come to you on the water”.  

What Peter is actually saying, “If you tell me I can do it, I can do it”.   What he’s not saying but is so apparent is “I want to do it”.    Right there is the essence of the relationship between Peter and Jesus.   Jesus is taking his friend Peter into risky areas for the kingdom of God and Peter is willing to go.  It is because of their relationship that Jesus calls Peter “his rock” and let me tell you, it’s not because Peter is rational.

It’s easy to look at that story and not see how it can have anything to do with us.  Jesus is the Son of God and Peter is clearly the leader of the disciples.  He is the only disciple to get a solo appearance by Jesus after he is crucified and he is eventually martyred for teaching about the resurrection.

But Peter is not so different than us.  Let’s talk about Peter for a bit - “this rock”.  Peter does not always succeed.  Peter’s spontaneous actions lead him to make some big mistakes. Peter always shows human weakness and even provokes Jesus to scold him once or twice.  Peter accuses Jesus of being “too negative” to which Jesus responds “Get behind me devil!”   Later, to Jesus’ dismay, at the time of His arrest, Peter is angry and needs to do something and raises his sword and cuts off the ear of one of the guards. Prompting Jesus to reattach it as if to say, “Are you insane?”   Then, of course there are the 3 denials the day of the crucifixion when Peter denies knowing Jesus.  But still through all of this, Jesus has this unshakable confidence in Peter.  It’s because Peter got out of the boat, because Peter is willing to take risks on Jesus’ behalf.  Peter is the living picture of a man who cannot live below his level.  Jesus knows that he is full of human weakness but he also knows that he is more full of fire and enthusiasm.

What does this all mean to us? Do we ever expect to walk on water?  I don’t think I will be anytime soon.  But we are confronted all the time with opportunities to takes risks for the kingdom of God.  How do we respond?  Do we sit in the boat and wait for Jesus to come to us or do we ask Jesus to make it so we can come to him?

I think Jesus felt comfortable living his church to Peter because Peter was not comfortable with being comfortable.  Peter took risks.  Peter had the kind of attributes it takes to be a radical disciple of Jesus and move Jesus’ uncomfortable message forward.  I crave to have the kind of relationship that Peter had with Jesus.  But we are human and so many things stand in our way.

One of the things we can learn from Peter is to stop over thinking everything.  Peter does what we all have a hard time doing.  He doesn’t let his limitations stop him.  He doesn’t think to hard about what God is leading him to do - he just does it. There are times in our lives when we have to stop thinking about our limitations and start thinking about asking Jesus to “bid us to come.”

Peter doesn’t worry about what his friends are doing.  It says in the passage that they all stayed in boat.  They stayed comfortable.  They were not giving up their seat in the boat.  They were not getting wet.  They were not willing to jump into the chaos of the stormy water.   Peter was and he didn’t look at them.  He was looking at Jesus.  If your thinking about doing ministry talk to people who are happy in ministry.   If you talk to people who are afraid to go out onto the water guess what, they’ll talk you out of it.  If you want to do something, help somebody, fix relationship or fight an injustice look toward people who are already doing it.

The most courageous thing Peter does is that he relies on the power of Christ to do what Christ has done.  First of all, notice that Peter doesn’t say “make it so I can stop the boat from rocking”, or “make it so I can stop the waves”.  Instead, he asks, “ bid me to come to you on the water.”

Peter doesn’t rely on his own power.  He asks that Jesus “bid him to come”.  And still the fear of the storm gets the best of him.  But while he is fixed on Jesus he is walking on water.   You cannot do it alone.  Philosopher and writer, William Ernest Hocking once said,  “You can not swing on a rope that’s tide to your own belt”.

And you can’t.  We can accomplish great things for the kingdom of God because the living Christ thinks we can.

When I was a kid I had this crazy thought in my head that I wanted to be on stage.  I didn’t know why or what I was going to be doing I just had this crazy thought that I should be in front of people.  And the really crazy thing about that is that I was a painfully shy kid.  I was the kind of kid who wouldn’t walk into a crowded room.  I didn’t like attention.  But still I had this voice (if you will) telling me that was where I belonged.  The only place I could imagine being in front of people was to be a performer.  To make a long story short, I went to a high school that was VERY academic but had no real arts program and certainly NO drama department.  Still I continued to think I should be on stage.  When I got old enough to think about regional theatre that door had closed because I was diagnosed with scoliosis and wore a body brace from my chin to my hips 23 hours a day.  That character trait doesn’t fit into many parts.  Eventually by my senior year in high school I was still hearing my calling but had never been on a stage.

So I did want any teenage girl in their senior year of high school whose never been on a stage would do.  I applied to college as a theatre major.  One of the things we had to do in the application process was an audition.  When I got there I walked into an auditorium of kids preparing to audition.  They were practicing monologues, stretching, exercising their voices.  And there was me…armed with a monologue I picked up on a table outside the room incase you didn’t have one and desperately trying to memorize it quickly.

When my name got called the director told me to go up on stage and move toward stage right and I quickly ran up and moved the wrong way.    Then I clumsily fumbled trying to get myself into the spotlight.  I took a deep breath held the piece of paper at my side, I looked directly as the director and I spewed out the words with all my fear, and anxiety and self-consciousness all wrapped up in them.  I didn’t get to finish the monologue.

He stopped me and said, “You’ve never done this before have you?”  And I sheepishly said “no”.  And he said, “Why are you here?”  And I said, “Because I think I can.”  He said, “OK…next”

I left feeling like I had made a complete fool of myself.  I beat myself up for even trying, I resented never having the opportunity to do it before and I grabbed my stuff and ran out the door of the auditorium.

Months later I received a form letter of acceptance with the handwritten words on the bottom saying,  “I think you can too”.

That is what the story of when Peter walks on water is all about.  An impetuous, impulsive and sometimes fool hearty guy wanted to do great things for the kingdom of God and Jesus said, “I think you can”.

My life has veered and turned and moved in many directions since than but here I am in front of a room full of people yet again.  And I can’t help but think it had something to do with taking a risk so many years ago.

And we all sit in a brand new church in the middle of Warwick, New York and you can be sure it has something to do with Peter’s desire to walk on water.  We have a lot of ministry to do here.  And I for one, think we can.  You?