Wadhams United Church of Christ
2569 County Route 10, Wadhams, NY 12993
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Sermon by Steve Smith          Order of Service 
August 10, 2008,          Planks and Plunks    Matthew 14:22 – 33

I can’t speak for any of you, of course, but yesterday’s sunshine really made a mess of my plans for the day. For weeks now, I had been figuring on spending a good share of my day yesterday bitterly complaining about the weather. I’d also been hoping to spend a fair piece of time just sitting around moping over how listless I felt. And all the foul-weather friends who had gathered to help with building the ark suddenly up and scampered away as soon as the sun stuck its nose into our business. But what really has me steamed is all the time and energy I had spent in planning the spiritual disciplines workshop I was going to lead. I had a location all worked out: we were going to use the new pond that’s been forming in the lowest section of Brant and Evelyn’s acreage. All we needed was a little more cooperation from Mother Nature, and we would have been good to go, but no! I know some of you were looking forward to the water-walking workshop, but this unexpected dry spell set us back a long ways. We’ll just have to hope for another extended spell of rainy weather.
Speaking of walking on water, some of you may have heard the legends about Joseph Smith’s aquatic adventures. I tried to pin them down more specifically, but all I could come up with were variations on the same theme, as people tried to discredit the founding prophet of Mormonism in the various towns where his new religion was taking hold. The details I found were a little sketchy, so I’m going to use a little color commentary to make the story come alive. Joseph Smith, who had spent most of his childhood and adolescence believing that he had special powers, had come under increasing attack on a variety of fronts, as people charged him with being a fraud and charlatan. In his role as God’s anointed prophet, he came to believe that God had given him supernatural powers to help launch the new community of the redeemed, the new Israel promised by the prophets.
His detractors, like the skeptics of old, challenged him to perform a miracle. A local newspaper picked up the story of his response. To convince the unbelievers that he did in fact possess supernatural powers, he announced that he would walk on water, and even publicized the date. The performance was to take place in the evening, so as you might expect, a bit of a crowd formed to see what would happen. After all, it’s not everyday that you get to see someone perform a miracle, and they hadn’t invented television yet, so the crowd was bigger than what you might get these days.
A hush came over the crowd as he prepared himself and stepped toward the water. Much to the astonishment of believers and unbelievers alike, he did walk on the water where it was known to be several feet deep, only sinking a few inches below the surface. Folks had a hard time getting to sleep that night, as you can well imagine. Who was this wonder-worker? Since this had proved to be so hugely successful, a second trial was announced which promised to be just as spectacular as the first. When the evening rolled around, the crowd was just as big, if not bigger than the first time.
Once again, a hush settled over the crowd when the great man made his move into the water. People held their breath as he steadied himself ever so slightly, once again sinking only as deep as his ankles. Astonishment soon had them not only exhaling, but crying out with surprise and delight as he moved further away from the shore. Just as the crowd was breaking into cheers, Joseph suddenly disappeared from view, kerplunk, causing a stir as the great leader plunged beneath the waves. When he came back up for air, coughing and spluttering, it was clear that he and his disciples were disgusted, and even a little angry.
After Joseph and his cadre of leaders squished away, some of the more courageous souls on hand went out to investigate, and surprised the landlubbers by demonstrating that anyone can walk on water, given the right circumstances. They had to do it single file, because that’s all that can fit on the width of a single wooden plank that had been submerged just beneath the surface of the water. According to one story, some mischievous boys had witnessed the building of the underwater system, and removed the plank that caused his plunge. In another account, some of the townsmen had been curious as to what Smith and his followers were up to, what with all the banging and sawing they were hearing, and had seen them constructing a platform to be set into a pond. They later went out to take out one of the sections, with the same disastrous results for Joseph Smith.
Since our modern minds are so skeptical of anything even remotely hinting of the miraculous, it’s difficult to take today’s gospel reading seriously. Whatever our theological persuasion, however, the story has the power to compel us just as surely as Jesus compelled his disciples to get in the boat and leave without him. However we might choose to interpret the larger message, it’s the details just below the surface of the story that help me pick my way through to insight and understanding of how God may be challenging us on our voyage through life. Earlier in this chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus had learned about the beheading of his cousin and co-worker in God’s field. He had withdrawn to a quiet and isolated place, only to be met by a needy crowd clamoring for his attention.
After healing their sick and feeding their hunger, he was ready to call it a day. According to John’s gospel, the crowd gathered there that day was ready to make Jesus their king, by force if necessary. So Jesus sent his disciples out on to the sea in order to deal with these restless and insistent folks, he himself still hurting from John’s death, and no doubt weary to the bone. Once he had accomplished that feat, which was a minor miracle in itself, given the prickly nature of people’s expectations, he finally had a chance to take a few hours for himself and retreat into the hills to pray.
As one commentator points out, this interlude between sending his disciples out, dispersing the crowd, and retreating to pray would have taken several hours. All the while, the hapless disciples were struggling against a contrary sea, no doubt rowing as hard as they could, but making little progress while the waves worked against them. I can relate to this part of the story, because it seems like I spend a fair amount of my time in contrary seas, rowing as hard as I can, if you please, but never getting anywhere or feeling like I’m accomplishing anything except wearing myself out for a good night’s sleep. And I swear that anytime I attempt something significant, the winds pick up to gale force and do everything in their power to drive me back to shore for an old-fashioned shipwrecking.
During the fourth watch, or sometime between three and six a.m., Jesus finally came down off the mountain and strolled toward his struggling, beleaguered band of followers. Setting the miracle aside for just a moment, I get this little imaginary dialogue going in my head as Jesus shows up, and I have to admit that it’s laced with sarcasm. “Jesus! How nice of you to join us! Did you have a nice little quiet time by yourself? That’s good, because while you were up there on your precious mountain, we’ve been down here breaking our backs against this raging sea. Could we trouble you to lend a hand with one of these oars?”
The disciples didn’t have a chance to think such sacrilegious thoughts, however, because they had just been plunged into a sea of terror. They had been plodding along on their carefully constructed planks, cautiously trying to live within the narrow set of rules and regulations they had inherited, but never feeling like they were getting anywhere. Finally, Jesus had come along to give them a vision of a different kind of spirituality, a spirituality that could transform them. Now, here they were again, struggling against the waves, no doubt weary to the bone. When they saw some ghostly figure coming toward them, kerplunk, down they went into the briny deeps of irrational dread. They thought they were seeing a ghost.
I used to think that God’s coming to us would only ever result in a peace that surpasses comprehension, in an explosion of joy and wonder, and in an unshakeable love that could withstand any trial we might endure here on earth. I’ve had to adjust my thinking to accommodate the fact that sometimes God’s coming to us evokes fear, and even outright terror. Having said that, I should point out that it was the way that the disciples perceived and interpreted what was happening that sent them into a frenzy of panic. Even when Jesus was standing within shouting distance of where they were, they still couldn’t believe what was happening.
How many times have we found ourselves in those kinds of predicaments? We invest huge quantities of time and effort in constructing our subterranean support system, propped up here and there with pillars of faith. We steady ourselves against the wind and the currents, and plod along the narrow planks defined by the rules and regulations we’ve been told are the path to our salvation. Inevitably, though, there will be a gap that remains unseen, and we won’t know a thing about it until we experience the kerplunk, and some crisis plunges us into the briny deep. Awash amid our sense of betrayal, or abandonment, or feeling left out, or simply sensing our helplessness against the churning tides of events over which we have no control, our perceptions and interpretations of what is happening will be skewed and distorted by our internal storms.
Impetuous Peter was the first one to volunteer to find a new way of perceiving and interpreting what was happening. “If it’s really you,” he ventured toward the shimmering apparition, “then tell me to get out of the boat.” I’m not sure what would have happened if it hadn’t been Jesus, if it had only been a ghost, or a figment of their hyperactive imaginations, but the ethereal voice compelled him: “Come.” I’m not altogether sure that this is what Peter was expecting, but he was committed now. With a glance at his shipmates, whose eyes probably couldn’t get any bigger without jumping right out of their sockets, he first threw one leg over the edge, then the other, balancing himself briefly on the edge of safety.
With one deep breath to protect him in case he went kerplunk, he pushed himself off toward a future he had never dared to dream of before this moment. As the story goes, he amazed his spectators and himself by staying afloat. Unfortunately, his brain couldn’t process what was happening, and chose that moment to freeze up, much like our modern computers do when they perceive that we have just done something very, very wrong. As his brain worked desperately to pull him back to the safety of the old way of thinking, perceiving, and interpreting, he went kerplunk.

Order of Service     August 10 , 2008          Back to Sermon
"NC" refers to The New Century Hymnal, The Pilgrim Press (1995)

Welcome, Announcements, Joys and Concerns
A Candle for Peace NC #575 (verse 3)
Call to Worship 
Leader: We thank you, most gracious God, for this day and for calling us here to your place of worship.
People: We gather to praise your name, for your faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
Leader: Signs of your faithfulness are all around us: love, mercy, forgiveness, and new life.
People: Help us to claim your faithfulness, as we seek to increase our faithfulness to you.
Leader: Help us to take those small steps that help us to stay with you every day.
People: May we walk in your presence, trusting in your guidance.
Leader: May we live and worship with faith, open to your call and presence.
People: We come now, seeking to be faithful disciples of Jesus, and to respond to you with our love, our prayers, and our praise.
Hymn NC #275                  Come Now, Almighty God
Responsive Prayer        
Leader: O God, gather us close to you, that we may find refuge in the strength and wisdom of your sheltering presence.
People: Loving God, in grace and love you sustain us, though we do not always recognize your care.
Leader: We confess that our worries often consume our attention. We sometimes feel like we work hard without ever moving forward. Forgive us, deliver us from anxiety, and give us ever greater trust in your ability to care for us.
People: Whether strong in our faith or disheartened and burdened, we find that your eternal love feeds us and replenishes us with love and endurance.
Leader: Merciful Lord, we think of those who suffer some anguish of body or spirit, and pray that you would give them your peace and restore  their hope.
People: We know that you work through us for love, even when we are unwitting vehicles of your grace. Make us more conscious of your presence and more sensitive to your promptings so that we may serve you more.
 Leader: We ask you to strengthen us, moving us to refresh the weary through some personal, energizing gesture that renews a right spirit within them.
People: Trusting in your faithfulness to your promise of love, we thank you that you have already begun the work for which we pray today.
Pastoral Prayer, Lords Prayer        
Hymn NC #488                                  Be Still, My Soul
Psalm 105:1-11, Genesis 37:1-11, Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon           Planks and Plunks
Offering, Doxology, Dedication
Hymn NC #77                                  Lord, Dismiss Us
Benediction
Leader: O God, we have heard your call, beckoning us to a life of love and service.
People: As we offer our lives for your service, we ask your blessing upon us and your continued grace to direct our path.
Leader: May the Lord grant you the grace to abide in God’s love, the peace to abide in God’s forgiveness, and the power to live in God’s faithfulness.

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