For morning Light
We humbly thank you
And offer our praise to you
Open our hearts and our minds
Give us your presence
In our life today
Song “Spirit pour out”
Loving God
Come into our confused and troubled lives
Send your Spirit
To work in us
Realign us
So that we may know
You in our lives
Your joy, your peace, your Shalom
We say the Lord’s Prayer in our own language
Song “Lord I lift your name on high”
Reflection on Matthew 14:22-33
The story of Jesus walking on water was given a significant place in the oral
tradition of the early church. It was integrally linked to the feeding of the 5,000,
and when finally the oral tradition was documented, all four gospels
interestingly recorded the two stories together.
Jesus is still trying to find some peace and stillness after the beheading of
John the Baptist his cousin. Life as today was full of business and a lack of
peace and stillness even after such a traumatic event.
Literary evidence exists showing that in first century middle eastern world
people were interested in the way gods or God could exercise control
over nature. The miracle demonstrates that Jesus is who he says he is. The account also shows Christ's has authority over the sea, not just water, but the sea seen as chaos.
For the Jews the sea was a dark and foreboding place, not just because of its many dangers, but because it was the dwelling place of dark powers, of Leviathan, the whale. Jesus can control these deep places. Even the deep places of our minds, our soul.
The gospel tradition was shaped by oral transmission so that the stories
developed their own particular shape in different geographical regions and
churches. When it came time to write these stores down, with the
increasing age and death of the apostles, the gospel writers selected, shaped
and edited the stories and gave them their own characteristics.
Although there are differences between Matthew and Mark's accounts, they describe the same event. Even the wind and the waves obeyed him.
Ultimately the story is about having faith when the going gets tough. Fix on
something beyond the immediate and you will ride the storm and be at peace.
Wise words for today when we have to walk on choppy seas and we get
frightened and start sinking!
Do you know what its like to be lifted up when the waters of life threaten to
overwhelm you. Do you know Gods hand reaching out to catch you when you start sinking?
Faith helps us overcome the next wave.
Christ holds us, calls me, back toward the boat that holds life.
What is it carrying us now through Covid 19, BLM, political unrest, unemployment, hunger homelessness, global warming, fascism, sickness, depression, divorce, death, new relationships?
Faith leads us on in hope to leave the familiar places we have known and to let go of our usual ways of moving through the world. Peter comes inviting us to wonder if there’s a leap—even a little one—that Christ might be calling us to make, as we open ourselves to the voice that calls to us across the waves, and step out toward it.
How about you? Amid all that tugs at you or tosses you about, is there a
deeper invitation, a more compelling call, a leap that would draw you closer to
the Christ who is making his way toward you, as the waves lashing at our ankles?
God is in the boat, on the sea, in the waves and the drowning.
And if we find ourselves flailing, God will hold us by the hand that reaches towards us, the voice that calls our name. Amen
Song ”Your kingdom knows no end”
Our Prayers…
This is the day that God has made
We will rejoice and be glad in it
We will not offer to God
Offerings that cost us nothing
We will go in Peace
To love and serve the Lord
Amen
With thanks to © Iona Community adapted
