Sermon Lectionary __ Year A
August 10, 2014
Westwood Lutheran
1 Kings 19:9-18
Matthew 14-22-33
I grew up in northwestern Minnesota, most of my childhood was spent in
the Red River Valley. I did not grow up
a lover of nature or the great outdoors, because to be honest, the most
exposure I had to wilderness was the smell of the sugar beet factory and the
sight of the Red River, which is not red so much as a mysterious, murky brown. The most popular activity that takes place
on this ugly-duckling river is the summer festival Cat-Fish days – which is
apropos considering that one of God’s oddest looking creatures is pulled out of
a homily rushing river. My little
hometown of East Grand Forks has some treasures to it, but natural beauty simply
is not one of them. As a growing girl I
would hear people talk about finding God as they spent time in creation – it
was an equation that simply did not add up for me. Finding God in mosquitoes and river rats?
This Creator-God was even further from my understanding in 1997 as I watched
the Red River outgrow its banks in a dramatic way and witnessed it flow all
over the little town, the neighborhood and my childhood home where it then swirled
around for weeks before leaving us with little more than its nasty smells and
dried mud floors. What I grew up knowing
of creation was its danger, its destructive powers.
After college I moved out to the Pacific Northwest. And there…day after day I was astounded by
the natural beauty that surrounded me – mountains that stood mightily along my
drive to work, countless trails primed for weekend hiking, waterfronts to sit
by and lush, abundant green all year long. One of the richest experiences in those years
was the discovery of a new side of creation…one that is beautiful and
restorative, a side of nature that challenges and somehow beckons humanity to
sit in its wonder and just be astounded at its beauty.
I do not think we can hear today’s gospel and today’s
Old Testament reading without acknowledging the manifestation of God’s power
and presence in natural elements. And
this is a wonderful and somewhat easy thing to do when nature is tame and
attractive, inspiring and alluring.
Acknowledging the power and presence of God in nature becomes much more
complicated when nature is unkind, relentless and destructive. Nature, from a glorious distance, is
inspiring and does remind us of God's divine and creative power to make life.
Yet, up a little closer we are also reminded of the darkness and harmful powers
of our world which cause suffering and death. This is what we call, the
hiddenness of God, not the full nature of God, but the hidden side. The side of
God that seems to stay silent as nature rages against humanity or the side of
God that is difficult to feel during the times we feel so vulnerable to all we
are exposed to.
Who is this God when the river is
overtaking my home?
Who is this God when we paddle along
our favorite Minnesota lake?
Let’s turn back to our readings from
today and let God’s word speak for itself…
First, we have Elijah. Mighty
prophet who finds himself with a bounty on his head and is now cowering in a
cave, awaiting further instruction from God.
The Word of God came to Elijah and there was a great wind splitting
mountains and breaking rocks, and then an earthquake shaking the ground under
Elijah’s feet and then a fire – and Scripture says that God was not in the
wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire.
Elijah is left waiting, trembling after witnessing the destructive,
powerful natural elements.
Who is this God?
Next, we have Peter, the disciple who endures hours of the relentless
storm on the sea and the disciples who desires to follow Jesus so closely and
so well that he too will walk on water! And the Word of God made flesh, Jesus
himself shows up in the storm, commanding Peter to join him on the rough
waters. When the fear and reality sets
in and Peter finds himself going under it is Jesus who extends a hand and leads
him back into the boat.
Who is this God?
The God of Elijah and the God of Peter
and the God of our lives is a God who approaches us -- the encounters between
Elijah and the Word of God and between Peter and the Word of God and the
encounters we have with God are based on something other than creation. Though creation certainly testifies to the
love of God in a very powerful way…our connection with our Creator is
beautifully brought together through Jesus alone. And this relationship, with God through
Jesus, is a relationship that recognizes and embraces our fear, our mortality,
our failures and even our hopes.
This
is different than our earth and all the creation it holds. You see we cannot
become fully engaged with nature to fully know God. Because God is finally and fully revealed
through Jesus Christ and his grace. The
wildness of the good creation will put us in our place as creatures on the
earth…it is the love of God in Christ that puts us in our place as God’s
beloved and chosen people.
God, creator of heaven and earth, Jesus
the miraculous one, comes to us this morning and wants to be known by us. Elijah
finally encounters God in silence, in humble…stilling….silence. Peter grabs hold of Jesus and is brought back
to the boat…delivered from death, saved from fear. God does not want to be known
by the destructive power of creation, but by the transforming power of the
risen Christ! God does not want to be known by the destructive power of
creation, but by the transforming power of the risen Christ!
What happens after Peter encounters the
Word of God, walking upon the waters?
What happens after Elijah witnesses the
glory of God, both in dramatic fashion and in the silence?
What happens to us after we step off the
trail, climb out of the boat or recover after the natural disaster?
Our hope is in God’s mission which continues in us today…Around the
world, bombs are falling – like the storm that tormented the disciples in the
boat. And as a confused, fear-filled
child of God I cry out like Peter…I think many of us do. Who is this God in the midst of this
unimaginable storm? Do not be silent, Jesus tells us “Take heart, it is I, do
not be afraid.”
As children of God who witness such power and presence as the God we
meet in Scripture today, we as called – like Elijah and Peter – to take this
revelation and be a part of God’s mission and movement all over the
world.
May you know and share the transforming power of the risen Christ,
present in the silence, present in the storm.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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