Gen. 37:1-4

Mt. 14:22-33

Do any of you have a fear of heights? I know I do. Whenever Peg and I have had the opportunity to take a cable car or ski lift to some mountaintop, it's always been . . well an "adventure" for me, shall we say? I'm usually alright and gung ho as we start up the mountain---but then something happens as soon as I look down. The fear kicks in when I start to think about how high off the ground I am. So I've learned. Look up! Keep your eye on the mountaintop!

Well you know I think that tells us something about what happened to the disciple Peter in our gospel reading this morning. Don't you just love Peter and his enthusiasm. In fact very often Peter's faith I think is something like the faith of a little child. So as he sees Jesus walking across the water to the disciples, Peter, with complete childlike faith in Jesus, asks his Master to command him to walk on water, too--and he does . . [keep in mind-- in spite of starting to sink a little later, Peter at least, of all the disciples, was the only one willing to try]--so for a moment he does walk on water--until he notices then the strong wind--and undoubtedly the turmoil of waves beneath him--he looks down, is afraid and begins to sink. He cries out to Jesus to save him. And Jesus does.

What happens to Peter here--yes, even Peter with his strong child-like faith and enthusiasm for following Christ -- what happens to Peter brings some important lessons to you and me today about faith--because isn't it true--whether going up in a ski lift, or just in the face of any of life's crises, or when looking at our world today which seems so often to be in turmoil--isn't it true that there are times when even those of us who are the most dedicated Christians can momentarily lose our faith? That's tragic, for it's especially in those times of trouble-- of greatest fear for us, when we need our faith in God the most.

So how can we follow Jesus out onto the water today? What is it that instead too often makes our faith fail?

Well first isn't it because we too often focus on the reasons to fear, instead of the possibilities for hope--like me, looking down from the ski lift, instead of up? Indeed for Peter, what greater reason for hope could he have than to see a waterwalking Jesus--but even with that sight, when Peter switched his focus from that vision of hope, to the wind-blown sea, his faith momentarily failed. So it is for all of us, I think. Our faith fails when our primary focus--like the news on television--is on our problems, all the things that are going wrong. But if instead we focus on the good news--the possibilities for hope--and walk toward them, then with God's help, says our faith, the troubled seas are overcome.

Speaking of that childlike faith we need to have--focussing on the hopeful, instead of what's wrong, I think of the way people sometimes react to my wife Peggy when they see she's in a wheelchair. I find it interesting that while some adults will shy away from people in wheelchairs, because it reminds them of our vulnerability as human beings--and we don't want to be reminded of our vulnerability--yet very often small children, by contrast, trusting as they are, are just fascinated by Peggy's wheelchair. Many think that's the most interesting thing, and they'll come up--as with many objects they see for the first time, and will grab on to the wheelchair, feel it's texture, and then as Peggy slowly starts to move, they'll let go and watch almost amazed as Peggy rolls along. Yes the faith-focussed eyes of children, Jesus wants us to have I think, instead of the fear focussed eyes of adults. Our faith won't fail us, if we learn to look for the reasons for hope, and new life and new possibilities, that God is always sending across our troubled waters for us, instead of looking down at the wind-whipped water and all the reasons to fear.

And then besides failing to see all the reasons for hope God gives us, another reason our faith sometimes fails us, is our failure to realize and take advantage of all the wondrous water-walking gifts and a talents God has already given to each one of us. Peter was able to walk on water, with faith, and he actually used that ability, until his fears made him think otherwise. In his case of course he probably hadn't had much practice at waterwalking, but perhaps if he'd done it more often he wouldn't have lost faith in his own God-given ability to do what is wondrous.

How often do you practice doing something that takes faith? The more we practice, the less we are afraid to take those steps on the water. And the more the water indeed holds us up. God has given each of us a number of faith-filled talents and gifts that are uniquely ours. But far too often we fear using them. If only we'll step out in faith and use them more often, we'll see how many faith filled talents we are actually able to use!

When I was in high school our church youth group one year did some-thing exciting for us. We were a large enough group that we had kids with a pretty good variety of talents and so we decided that year that a great way to raise money for some projects we were working on would be to have a variety show. We worked hard on the show, getting out a lot of publicity, arranging to use the auditorium of a local elementary school, and most of all practicing and practicing some more on our respective performances. We had kids doing all kinds of different acts, from playing musical instruments, to various types of vocal groups and soloists, to kids doing skits or readings, and other demonstra-tions of a talent. I got together with three other boys in the group and with the help of one of our fathers, who was musically talented, who directed us, we formed a barber shop quartet. And we practiced and practiced . .and practiced some more. Until we had, I think, a great sound.

Well we had rave reviews to that talent show, and as I thought about it afterwards, I realized something ---that the show had been successful because of the variety. None of us, by ourselves, would have had all that talent that entertained the audience that night. But each of us did have a gift to share, and our faith community encourage d us, so we practiced hard and behold each act was a success.
Thank God, then, you see, for our churches, for in the context of the loving faith community, and where others have faith, we are encouraged, each of us to have the faith to try and use our own God given talents, and when we do, we realize we are far stronger and far less fearful than we were before, and there is much less reason for our faith to fail.

And then there's another note we need to add here--another reason our faith sometimes fails--and that's , very simply, we too often have narrow, "doubt horizons" rather than wider "faith horizons." Put in another way, we fail to lift our eyes high enough, with a wider vision which would enable us to see possibilities for hope in the distance that God is always holding out there for us.
In our lesson today, Peter walked on water when he lifted his eyes enough to see Jesus walking toward him. But his faith failed momentarily, when instead of that wider vision of hope, he started looking down again at the wind whipped water beneath him. We need to lift our eyes, you see, to wider horizons of faith. If only we will, we'll begin to see a whole world of possibilities, rather than just reasons to fear.

Some of you in my own congregation, have heard me talk of the year I went with my folks to India, when I was in high school, and the especially nerve wracking first few days in that new country for us. Talk about a tough time having faith. That was a scary time for me as a young kid in high school, to think about going to that strange foreign land, far away, and not just for a visit, but to live there for a whole year! In fact it was even scarier, for I knew, for the first time in my life I wouldn't be even living with my parents for much of the time, while we were in that far off land. My younger sister and I that year attended a school not only thousands of miles away from this country, but hundreds of miles from my folks as well, while they taught at a Methodist College else-where in India. And it was interesting, speaking of learning to have faith , how very quickly we had to learn faith in this strange new land where we'd moved. Some very vivid scenes from that time will always be with me. Like the lizard crawling up the wall in our hotel room our first night in India after our very long journey there. Then there was. Then there was our wild ride north for several hundred miles, with our bearded Sikh taxi driver, He was taking us to the school where my younger sister and I would spend that year--a school run by missionaries--Woodstock school in the southern Himalayas. I'll never forget that ride, for our driver, who may not have been a wild person, nonetheless drove like one. You see in India, at that time at least, the roads were not very good--no divided highways, all two way traffic--in fact often they were barely wide enough for one car, and often the roads were dirt roads, besides. In addition, there was constant foot traffic, not to mention animals, and carts on the streets. Yet our driver bombed along at what seemed dangerous speeds, and when he came to a group of people he would lay on his horn and they all seemingly wouldn't part for the car until the very last minute. Each time it seemed a miracle that everyone got out of the way just in time.

Then, with nearly the same speed, as we reached the foothills of the Himalayas, we went bombing up the narrow switch back roads that climbed that southern most slope of that great mountain range. When finally we reached the mountain top town near the school, our car was quickly surrounded by crowds of beggars, and coolies all wanting to earn some money from the well dressed Americans, carrying our luggage and trunks. We were told we should hire some rickshaws, too, for the school was still a couple of miles by mountain road, so we did--only it turned out that the rickshaws in this case were more like a poor man's versions of a sedan chair . We were to be literally carried, in contraptions that looked like small canoes with poles at each end, hefted by mountain coolies--men, seemingly undernourished and poor, who yet make the only living they can carrying other human beings and their luggage in the thin mountain air. And if persons like us had not hired them, they and their families, poor as they already were, would have starved--we were told by our new American missionary teachers, once we reached the school. Talk about learning fast how to have faith. That year in India, taught us a great deal about faith. And indeed--in spite of all that was strange and wild, and new, nonetheless, as the year went on we came to love India. Over and over as we got to know countless new friends, we found that instead of strangers to fear, because they were so different, that underneath the vast majority were gentle people. We came to love their caring, their friendliness, and their slow deliberate, unhurried ways, and eventually could see past even the poverty, to India's beauty.

What a difference it makes you see, if we'll have the faith to just step out on the water and widen our horizons--to get beyond our own comfortable boat--our comfortable little life--with faith in God? Then we discover a whole world of possibility for the sharing of love, for a less fearful world, and we find water-walking gifts and talents God has given us we didn't realize we had, let alone could use.
So why has our faith failed us lately? If it has, let's lift up our eyes with a wider horizon of faith--focussing on God's ever new life possibilities, not all our reasons to fear. If we will, God will be with us, will enable faith-filled talents we didn't know we had. And will take you and me to whole new worlds . . . of hope! Amen.