Faith vs. Chaos

When I was a vicar at Holy Communion Church in Berlin, I did a little exercise with the youth group there.

It turns out, if you make a solution of 2 parts cornstarch in 1 part water, you can walk on it.

You see, cornstarch and water forms what is known as a non-Newtonian fluid.

When you put a non-Newtonian fluid under force—like by stepping on it—it acts like a solid.

As you might imagine, this totally appealed to me as a science nerd.

So, we filled a kiddie pool with the cornstarch solution and told the kids they could walk on water.

The thing is, you can run across it and it will act as if you are walking on a solid.

But, if you just stand on it, you sink as if it were quicksand.

Needless to say, the kids had a ball doing this.

Now, to be clear, I didn’t tell that story to offer some quasi-scientific explanation for how Jesus and Peter walked on water.

My point was two-fold.

First, it was to share a moment of joy.

I hope you were able to imagine children taking their shoes and socks off—much to the horror of their parents—to see if they could really walk across water.

I can assure you: it was loud and it was messy and there was plenty of laughter.

It was truly a joy.

Second, I think there is a message in there about stepping out in faith versus hesitancy.

If you ran across the water, it supported you.

If you hesitated, you sank.

I believe that life is also like that.

When we step out in faith, God provides.

When we hesitate, that’s when things go wrong.

Traditionally, sermons on today’s gospel focus on Peter.

How the power of Peter’s faith allowed him to walk on water.

And how his doubt caused him to fall.

You’ve heard all that before.

Today, I’d like to focus on Jesus.

Take a moment to imagine the scenario.

There were fierce winds and the boat was being tossed about by waves.

Now, think in terms of first-century knowledge.

There was no understanding of global wind patterns or thermal inversions or clashes between hot and cold fronts.

Wind was a destructive power.

It was supernatural—sometimes governed by God, other times by demons.

The sea represented the unknown—dark depths hiding untold monsters.

Together, they were chaos.

Jesus walks on the water and quiets the wind.

What the disciples observed was their rabbi exercising control over chaos.

I say this, not to reduce the miracle of Jesus walking on water to a simple allegory.

I say it to add color and depth to how that miracle would have been seen by the disciples.

It has echoes of the creation story when God brought order out of chaos.

It’s no wonder it inspired the disciples to declare Jesus “God’s Own”.

As many of you know, Teresa has been continuing to run a day camp for community children after our week of Vacation Bible School ended.

She has assembled a group of women from the community, including her sister Maria, as staff.

For those of you that were involved or have been involved in pulling off a week of VBS—the staffing, the activities, the meals, and the snacks—you know what is involved.

It’s a lot.

To organize all that for 9 weeks is nothing short of amazing.

Teresa is a force to be reckoned with.

If you haven’t gotten to know her yet, I encourage you to do so.

I bring up our community day camp because I spent some time with the older kids this week and it struck me that there is a parallel to this week’s gospel in my experience.

When the children in our community look out at the world, they see chaos.

Family members and neighbors abducted and detained.

Stories in the news about people killed by ICE or dying from neglect in detention.

If you think I’m being dramatic, you aren’t paying attention.

We are a community in crisis.

It would be a good and noble thing to provide a safe place for children to go for a few hours every day.

A quiet place where they are fed, do some arts and crafts, and just be kids.

And that is exactly what we provide for the younger children.

But, for the older children, we are providing something more.

We are acknowledging the chaos.

And we are saying that is not what God intends for you.

You have power—power to shed light into the darkness.

Power to take steps to restore order.

In addition to being fed and doing some arts and crafts, the older kids are learning about civics.

How the bills that discriminate against their community become law.

How politicians who harm their community come to power.

How democracy works and how they can influence legislation and elections.

I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am that Emanuel is part of this.

Our country is adrift in turmoil.

Injustice, particularly for our immigrant and transgender neighbors, is rampant.

We could sit back and say this too shall pass.

We could say that the current winds buffeting the country will die down.

That the storm will eventually quiet.

But that’s not what Jesus did.

And I will remind you what St. Augustine once said, “Without God, we cannot; without us, God will not".

Now is the time for us to step out in faith.

We need to get out of the safe space of our privilege and walk on the stormy waters, knowing full well that God is with us.

The young people at our day camp are going to be canvassing in New Brunswick leading up to the midterm elections.

We need adults to accompany them.

I know that this is not something everyone can do.

But I’m hopeful that some of you will.

I am.

If canvassing sounds like too much, perhaps you could phone bank.

Or write to your legislators to tell them that social justice issues matter to you.

Maybe you could pen a letter to the editor.

If you can do nothing else, I at least implore you to vote.

This is a moment for us to show our faith.

To say that we worship a God who rejects chaos.

A God who shines light into darkness.

A God who loves us—ALL of us—and calls us to act justly.

Love mercy.

And walk humbly on the turbulent waters with God at our side.

May this meditation on God’s word keep our hearts and mind on Christ Jesus. Amen.