December Fireflies

Matthew 16:21-28
After this Jesus began to explain to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer greatly before the elders and high priests and scribes and to die and on the third day to rise.

Taking him aside, Peter began to censure him saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This will not happen to you!”

But turning around he said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan; you are a stumbling block to me because you are not thinking about the things of God but the things of humans.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, that person must deny their very self and pick up their cross and follow me. Because whoever wants to save their life must lose it, but whoever would lose their life on my behalf will discover it. For what good is it for a person to gain the whole world if their soul suffers damage? Or what can a person give in exchange for their soul?

“For the Son of Humanity is destined to come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he will reward each one according to their deeds. Truly I say to you that some of those here will not experience death before seeing the Son of Humanity coming in his kingdom.”

It was the end of the summer in Mattaponi Courthouse, a small tidewater town that may not exist but that is very real to me. The days were growing shorter and there was just a hint of the sharp, crisp air of the autumn to come. The crape myrtles were starting to fade and drop their pink and purple petals. Schoolteachers were heading back to prepare their classrooms for a new crop of students. And Vera Allen was heading to college.

She wasn’t too sure about doing this. She had lived in Mattaponi her whole life and the prospect of heading across the state to attend a large, state school was intimidating. But on the other hand, she had lived in Mattaponi her whole life and she felt like, just maybe, it might be time for her to see how the world looked from another place…especially a place that didn’t roll up the sidewalks at 8 PM.

Move-in day was only three days off and she was ruminating about all the packing she had left to do while she sat on the back porch of her house with her 8-year-old cousin Trudy. Trudy’s mother was out shopping with Vera’s mother and they had left the two together at the house. For Trudy this was just great because she thought Vera was just about the coolest teenager in Mattaponi. Whenever Vera started wearing some new fashion, Trudy wasn’t far behind. It was Vera who had introduced her to Live Strong bracelets, butterfly hairclips and multi-colored flip-flops. Even though Vera had outgrown all these phases, Trudy had clung to them as statements that she wanted to be just like her older cousin.

Trudy was sitting next to Vera on the porch watching her ruminate as the sun started to set. She wasn’t sure what to say so she just said the first thing on her mind. “Vera, do lightning bugs need batteries?”

Vera looked down at her redheaded, gap-toothed cousin with the totally serious look on her face and smiled. “No, Trudy. They don’t need batteries.”

“Then how do they light up?”

“Well, it’s just…I mean they…there’s some sort of chemical thing I think…photosynthesis? No, that’s not right. Uh…maybe they do have batteries, Trudy. Do you want to catch some?” The back yard was twinkling with little lights.

“O boy. Yes!”

Vera went in the kitchen and returned with an old mayonnaise jar with a lid that she had punched holes into with a can opener. For about ten minutes they chased lights around the yard and captured quite a few lightning bugs. Trudy was fascinated with the collection and kept trying to look for how the lights worked. “I don’t see where you can put in the batteries,” she said to Vera playfully.

It was right about this time that Vera noticed a person standing in the driveway of the house next door staring up into the sky. It was Rex. Rex was her super serious neighbor. He was in the same class in school as Vera and was also a member in the same church, Mattaponi United Methodist. Vera thought they got along pretty well but she was aware that they were very different and she always looked for ways to break Rex out of his very serious shell.

With Rex staring up into the sky in the dark he was an easy target. Vera motioned to Trudy to be quiet and she tiptoed up behind Rex until she was right by his left ear. Then she said, in a very conversational voice, “So, what you looking at Rex?”

Rex jumped and let out a very undignified shriek. His face was flushed and he was glad Vera couldn’t see it in the dark. “Gosh, Vera, you freak. Why did you do that?”

Vera was laughing so hard she couldn’t answer. Partly because of Rex’s reaction, but mostly because Trudy had dropped her jar and was laughing harder than she had ever seen her laugh before. Finally she said, “I’m sorry, Rex. I couldn’t resist. You were just, like, staring into space and well, you know, that’s a great temptation for me.”

“I was looking for Mars, Vera. Don’t you know it’s supposed to be closer to earth this weekend than it has been in hundreds of years?”

“No, Rex, that was last year.”

“But the e-mail said…”

“Yeah, I know, I got that one, too, but it was old. I read it in the paper.”

“No wonder I was having a hard time finding it. So are you ready for college?”

“No. I haven’t even started packing. Mom’s been on me but I just can’t seem to get it together. I think I’ve got like this subconscious thing about leaving. Separation anxiety. I don’t know.”

“Yeah, well, I can see that. Justin’s going to Christopher Newport, isn’t he?” Justin was Vera’s boyfriend and he was going to a different college.

“You know, Rex, I just can’t talk about that.”

“That’s cool.”

“So what are you going to do?”

Rex hesitated before he answered. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Try me.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m going to Suriname.”

“Is that a college?”

“No, it’s a country.”

“You’re making that up.”

“No, I’m not. It’s a little place on the coast of South America. Jungles, anacondas…that kind of stuff.”

“And you’re going…why?

“Because it will be hard.”

“You’re going because it will be hard?”

“Yeah. I just…well, I just feel like I need the challenge. I have been so confused about what to do. I mean, I really feel like I’m supposed to be doing something important…something big. Going to college just didn’t hold any attraction for me. I need something to make me feel like I’m doing something for the world. Doing something for…Jesus.”

This wasn’t a surprising thing for Vera to hear. Rex had always been attracted to the church and she had always suspected he might end up as a minister or missionary or youth director or something. But going to Suriname was something new.

“So why Suriname?”

“There’s a young adult mission group going for three months to do some church-building. They send people all over the world, but I chose Suriname because it was the worst place they go.”

“The worst place? What’s up with that?”

“Well, I just kept thinking about what Jesus said: If anyone wants to follow after me that one must deny their very self and pick up their cross and follow me.”

“So this is your cross?”

“I don’t know. I think so. I mean, I hope so. I don’t know, Vera.”

“Rex, I always thought when Jesus said that it was a metaphor. Do you really think taking up your cross means seeking out suffering…looking for the worst place you can go?”

Rex didn’t answer right away. Vera couldn’t really read his face in the dark but he took another deep breath, which told her that he was really struggling. Finally he said, “Vera, you know Harold.”

“Your brother?”

“Yeah, my brother. You know he’s in Iraq. And from what he says it’s a hard place to be right now. He’s facing death every day. It must mean something to face that with a purpose. I want to live for something, too, and it seems like, well, you know…it’s kind of cheesy but ‘no pain, no gain.’”

Trudy came running up between them with her jar, now populated by about twenty little lightning bugs. “Can I keep them, Vera?”

“No, Trudy, I don’t think they’ll survive very long in there.”

Reluctantly Trudy unscrewed the metal lid from the jar and shook the bugs until they flew off into the night sky, glowing faintly as they disappeared. “Vera,” Trudy said. “Why aren’t there lightning bugs in the winter time?”

“I don’t know,” Vera said. “Would you like there to be lightning bugs in the winter?”

“Yeah, because there’s a lot more dark then. We could really use them.”

“You know you’re pretty smart, Trudy.” Vera looked up at Rex. “Well, I hope this is the right thing, Rex. I’m not sure Jesus wants us to go suffer just because we can.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure we should avoid suffering just because we can.” He turned to go back in his house. “Take care, Vera.”

“You too, Rex.”

A few days later the summer was over. Trudy went back to elementary school. Vera loaded up her stuff in her folks’ van and traveled west to college. And a week later Rex went to an orientation school for his mission to Suriname. It wasn’t easy for any of them except Trudy, who loved school. It was also a challenge for the parents who felt their world changing beneath their feet as children they had held close and cared for for so long were suddenly many miles away.

Early in September Vera’s mother went into the hospital for what they initially thought was a heart attack. They finally ruled that out but the doctors could never fully explain what was going on with her.

Vera thought it was pretty appropriate that something was affecting her mother’s heart. She certainly felt a strain in that region. She adapted pretty well to the classes and started to develop some new friends, but by October it was clear that her relationship with Justin wasn’t going anywhere and she didn’t know what came next.

Then news came that Rex’s brother Harold had been injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq. He survived but he lost a leg and was going to require a long rehabilitation. After spending two months at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. he finally came home to Mattaponi in mid-December just as Rex was returning from South America and Vera was finishing up her semester.

Back at home, Vera was curious how Rex was doing but they didn’t really get a chance to talk until after Christmas. Trudy was over again, riding around Vera’s yard on her new bike. It was a frosty late afternoon. Vera could see her breath in the cold air, but the golden sunlight was enough to keep her outside. Rex saw her out with Trudy and came over to talk.

They talked about school and exams and then Vera asked Rex about his experiences in South America. Rex smiled. “Well, the banana rats were probably the worst.”

“Banana rats?”

“Yeah, they’re like rats on steroids. One of them was so big I thought about teaching it to fetch.”

“That’s just gross, Rex.”

“Yeah, it was bad, but not nearly as bad as I had hoped.”

“Rex, you are so weird.”

“I guess I am. But you’ll be happy to know you were right, Vera.”

“Right about what?”

“I had to get over myself.”

“Did I tell you to get over yourself?”

“No, but you did tell me not to go looking for suffering and somewhere along the line I realized that what I was doing was really all about me and not about the people I was supposed to be serving and certainly not about Jesus. Jesus doesn’t want us to suffer; Jesus wants us to love.”

“So you don’t think what you were doing was good?”

“No, it was very good. It was good ministry and I think I helped but I was there for the wrong reasons. And the problem was I took all my burdens along with me. It’s like that old saying, you know, ‘wherever you go, there you are.’ There I was in South America, just as confused as ever.”

“So what about the cross, Rex? Is it a metaphor? Have you found yours yet?”

Rex was about to answer when Trudy’s bike tipped sideways and spilled her off into the driveway. Vera and Rex went running to help her, but she escaped without major injuries. She was wearing so many clothes that the padding cushioned her fall. Vera saw that even as they helped her up she was smiling, enjoying the attention. “Trudy, it’s getting a little dark. Don’t you think it’s about time to put the bike up?”

“Ten more minutes, Vera.”

“O.K.”

Rex smiled. “She really likes you.”

Vera watched Trudy pedal off. “Yeah, the feeling’s pretty mutual. But you haven’t answered my question, Rex. The cross?”

“Right, the cross. It’s real but the main thing the cross is about is not suffering. I mean it is that, but the main thing it’s about is love. God loving us so much that God is willing to suffer with us and for us. So when Jesus asks us to take up the cross he’s not asking us to go out and get beat up just so we can show off the bruises.

“I think what Jesus wanted me to do was to love. I think that’s what Jesus wants us all to do – to love other people, to love the world, to love God so intensely that we can’t imagine living any other way. Most of the time we walk around like we’re under anesthesia anyway. If we really loved we’d really see that there’s something more to the world. But if we really live that intensely and love that fully, it’s going to involve suffering. We’re going to hurt when the people we love hurt. We’re going to hurt when the world doesn’t understand why following Jesus makes us look different. We’re going to look a little unnatural when we love like this.”

Vera found that she was nodding her head as Rex spoke. She was remembering how she felt when she heard that her mother was in the hospital. She was wondering how, if Jesus calls us to a life that looks different, how her life looked any different from anybody else’s.

Rex went on, “So, I’m back here and I realize that I’ve got a brother who’s looking at a totally changed life because of what he went through in Iraq.”

Vera interrupted, “Does he talk about it much?”

“No, he doesn’t. He has good days and bad days, but he can’t figure out yet what his injury means or how he makes sense of it all. I think he’s going to teach me how to love him and maybe we can both learn how to love Jesus. I think I’m going to try to get into college, but not until after I spend a few months here helping Harold and my folks get adjusted.”

Vera looked at Rex’s eyes, which were getting hard to see in the gathering dusk. “So, it’s not about learning to love suffering?”

“No, it’s about learning what you love enough to suffer for.”

Trudy came riding up to the two of them and skidded to a stop. “Look, Vera. Lightning bugs.”

Vera looked at her. “Trudy, there can’t be lightning bugs in December. It’s just not…” But then she saw them. Little lights like strands on a Christmas tree sparkling in the winter night. Vera and Rex stared. Vera tried to speak, “How…how…”

Trudy answered. “I’ve been praying for them. We needed more lights in the dark.” And with that she rode off.


John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, once said that he understood why people would object to the Christian life if we present it as a life of misery. If it’s only about what we give up and what we must suffer, then why would anyone choose it? It’s true, he said, that taking up our cross and following Jesus does lead to suffering, but only because it calls us to love. “Love itself,” Wesley said, “will on several occasions be the source of suffering.”

As when we watch those we love suffer through pains we can’t relieve…as when we are challenged when our Christian calling conflicts with the priorities of the world around us…as when we realize that if we find our lives in Christ we will be transformed…love may be the source of suffering.

But it’s not misery we are called to. Underlying it all is a confidence that this way of love ultimately leads not to suffering but to life. And that life is assured by the cross, which is our trademark in the world.

There is too much darkness in the world. It needs to know this love that is a light in the darkness. We need a few more December fireflies—magical signs of God’s amazing grace and continuing presence and eternal love. Thanks be to God.

Present at the Birth: Working with God to Transform the World

Exodus 1:8-2:10 (NRSV)
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land."

Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, "When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live."

But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?"

The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them." So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live."

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, "This must be one of the Hebrews' children," she said.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?"

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Yes." So the girl went and called the child's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed it.

When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, "because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."

We have a new website for Franktown Church. Lois Fawcett and her team have been working hard to get it up and running. I hope you’ve had a chance to visit it. You’ll find it at www.franktownumc.org.

Besides the pictures and information on all of the exciting stuff going on here at Franktown that you will find there you will also see, at the top of the site, a moving logo of the cross and flame with the words of our slogan for the United Methodist Church: Open hearts, open minds, open doors. Those words have gotten out into the culture around us and the experts in our Communications Office in Nashville tell us that because of the ad campaign we have done as a national church over the past few years, a good chunk of the American population now associates those words with us.

Open hearts, open minds, open doors. It sounds pretty basic. Very welcoming. We like to think that we have open hearts that care, open minds to use our intellect to grow in our understanding of God, and open doors that welcome in every person in our community, no matter what they look like and no matter what sort of economic situation they are in and no matter what their life has been like. We are an open, welcoming, mission-minded, searching, loving church. That’s what I believe Franktown United Methodist Church is. But I’m not sure we realize what sort of attitude this gives us toward the world around us. What does it mean to have open doors to the community and world out there on Bayside Road and beyond? What might it require of us?

Well, I’m not going to answer those questions. At least not right now. Instead, I want to tell a story. No, what I really want is to have you help me tell a story about Egyptians and Hebrews.

Last week I talked about Joseph and his brothers and how their story brought God’s people into the land of Egypt. It looked like Genesis was going to leave us with a happy ending, but in the first chapter of Exodus things change. Joseph and his whole generation have died. Their descendents have become settled in the land and a new king has arisen in Egypt – a king who didn’t know Joseph. The stage is set for a new conflict.

What happened was that a huge rift grew between the Egyptians and the Hebrews, the descendents of Joseph—a rift we’re going to represent by the aisle down the center of the sanctuary. Today you get a role to play in this story. Those of you on the right side of the congregation are going to be Egyptians and when I point in your direction I want you to say, “There are just too many Hebrews!” You’re saying this because this is a very upsetting thing to you. These Hebrews are multiplying like rabbits. They’re everywhere. Egypt used to be a quiet, peaceful place. You didn’t have traffic jams in the summer time. You didn’t have carts with license plates from New Canaan or PennsaJerusalem clogging up the roadways. These come-heres are taking up the good land; they’re threatening to change our way of life. Why is this sounding so familiar? Anyway, you are Egyptians and your refrain is “There are just too many Hebrews!”

Those of you on the other side of the aisle are the Hebrews. You have only been doing what God has told you to do from the beginning of creation. You are being fruitful and multiplying, which is exactly what God told Adam and Eve to do in the garden. You are experiencing blessing in Egypt and, as God told Abraham and Sarah, you are being blessed to be a blessing for others. The Egyptians should recognize that God is with them because God is with you!

So you need a chant to recognize that. What I want you to say when I gesture toward you is “Multiply, multiply, multiply!” Are you ready for this story?

O.K., let’s start with you Egyptians. I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is: You are the strongest nation on earth. You are civilized and cultured. You have built pyramids and temples. Your king is probably Ramses the Great, though the Bible doesn’t give us his name. The kinds of building projects described here seem consistent with what Ramses did. The bad news is that Ramses the Pharaoh is a fool.

I mean, he can recognize some significant demographic trends. He can see that the Israelites are multiplying. [This would be a good time for your chant, Israelites - “Multiply, multiply, multiply!”] But he really doesn’t know what to do about it. He’s afraid of what might happen.

So the Pharaoh gathers together the Egyptian people and says to them, “Look, there are just too many Hebrews. We have got to be smart about this because if they keep multiplying like this they’re going to join our enemies and fight against us and they might escape.” It’s kind of a rambling argument. He doesn’t want so many Hebrews but he also doesn’t want them to escape. What he seems to be arguing for is that the Hebrews stay but just stop being so prolific.

It’s not the last time a ruler will be afraid by signs of life among the people. It’s an old, old story and in Jesus’ time the king will be named Herod but the result will be the same. There’s some oppression coming.

So the Egyptians buy the argument and they start chanting, “There are just too many Hebrews!” They set up taskmasters to oppress the Hebrews. They force them into slavery. They have them go to work on the city-building projects that are making Egypt a great nation. But an interesting thing happens. The more the Hebrews are oppressed, the more they multiply and the more they spread. This passage doesn’t tell us what God is doing through this time, but we can suspect, because this is the kind of thing Israel’s God liked to do, that God is blessing the Hebrews. They are taking God’s command seriously. Their chant is, “Multiply! Multiply! Multiply!”

But the Egyptians still believe that “There are just too many Hebrews!” They have decided that the Hebrew baby boom is bad news for them and so they come to dread the Hebrews. And you know what happens when people in power become afraid…they do terrible, terrible things. That’s just what the Egyptians did.

The Bible says they became ruthless with the Hebrews. They made their life bitter. They put them on the worst work details making mortar and bricks and working in the hot fields. And just so we don’t miss what’s going on here, the Bible tells us a second time that the Egyptians were ruthless with the Hebrew slaves.

In the meantime, Pharaoh hatches another plan because he’s sitting up in the palace thinking to himself, “There are just too many Hebrews.” It’s like a plague, all these Hebrews multiplying all over the place, “Multiply, multiply, multiply.”

But being a not-very-bright man, Pharaoh thinks up a not-very-bright plan. You know and I know that when humans have babies it’s the females who give birth. In Jewish tradition this is such an important point that Jewish descent is traced through the mothers and not through the fathers. If Pharaoh were really going to do something about all the Hebrew births, it seems like he would try to impact the female population. But Pharaoh’s plan was to wipe out the male population.

Pharaoh must have been very proud of himself for thinking up this plan. He calls in the midwives who help deliver the babies for the Hebrews. We don’t know whether they were Egyptian or Hebrew. The Bible doesn’t say. It does tell us their names, which is interesting. Shiphrah and Puah. We know the names of these two midwives but we don’t have the name of the most powerful king of the age. Guess you know who’s more important in this story!

So Pharaoh says to Shiphrah and Puah, “When you deliver Hebrew babies, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him and if it is a girl, let her live.” We don’t know how the midwives reacted to this in front of Pharaoh. They may have been horrified. They may have sniggered at this ridiculous plan. We just don’t know.

What we do know is that Shiphrah and Puah decided to ignore Pharaoh’s command. The Bible says the midwives respected God and God’s command was to “Multiply, multiply, multiply.” Even Pharaoh couldn’t oppose that. So they let the boys live. (I think they also realized that if word got out they were killing the children they were supposed to be delivering they wouldn’t be asked to help at many births!)

So once again Pharaoh’s plans were thwarted. He’s still seeing little boy Hebrews running around in the streets. He’s still seeing the Hebrew population boom and grow. “Multiply, multiply, multiply!” And he’s still scared. All of Egypt is scared. And why are they scared? “There are just too many Hebrews!”

So Pharaoh calls in the midwives and says, “What is going on? Why am I still seeing little boy Hebrews?”

The midwives, who have figured out by now that Pharaoh’s elevator doesn’t run all the way to the top, tell him a white lie that they know he will believe. “Well Pharaoh, you know those Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They’re...uh…strong and…uh…vigorous. They have the babies before we can get there. What are you going to do?”

Sure enough, Pharaoh buys this argument and the Bible says…and this is the only place in this passage where God is mentioned…the Bible says that God dealt well with the midwives and guess what happened to their families? “Multiply, multiply, multiply!” Their families multiplied. And so did the Hebrews. Pharaoh has now tried two different plans and the Hebrews are stronger than ever and the Egyptians are still saying, “There are just too many Hebrews!”

So now Pharaoh comes up with a third plan and it is more terrifying than any that has gone before, but just as misguided. He enlists the whole population in a purge and says, “Every Hebrew boy that you see must be thrown into the Nile River, but every girl…eh, she can live.”

Well, a pair of women foiled the last plot of Pharaoh and it’s a different pair that foils this one. There was this woman, a Hebrew woman, who had a child…a son. And like any mother she could not bear to see him harmed and so she hid him for three months. But when it became clear that she couldn’t hide him anymore, she decided she would follow Pharaoh’s order and throw him into the Nile. But she wasn’t going to let him drown.

She made a basket for him. I say a basket, but it was more like a little boat. I say a boat, but it was more like a little ark. That’s the word that’s used here. It’s a word that is only used one other time in the scriptures, when describing Noah’s ark that opened a new chapter in God’s saving work. That’s what’s happening here, too.

The mother puts her baby in the ark and floats him down the river. She sends her daughter, Miriam, to watch over the baby. It floats down to a place near the king’s palace where Pharaoh’s daughter was coming down to bathe. Do you see how great this ending is going to be?

Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby crying in the ark and has him brought to her. She realizes it is one of the Hebrew children, but she’s not about to follow her father’s ridiculous command. She’s going to keep the child. And Miriam happens upon them at just that moment to say, “I know a Hebrew woman who can be the child’s wet-nurse.” And that’s how the child’s mother ended up as a nurse to her own boy in Pharaoh’s house.

Pharaoh’s daughter named the child Moses, which is really only half a name. It means the son of. But whose son is he? Is he a son of the Hebrews or of the Egyptians? That, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.

For now what we know is that despite this third plan, the Hebrews will continue to “Multiply, multiply, multiply!” And the fearful Egyptians with their bumbling king will continue to say, “There are just too many Hebrews!”

So the plans of Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler of his age, were thwarted by two midwives, a Hebrew mother, and his own daughter. In the end he looks pretty foolish for being fearful. What Pharaoh didn’t realize that the Hebrew people were not a threat to him and the Egyptians…God was a threat to him and his pretensions of power. If Pharaoh could not be the lord of life and death then he would have to acknowledge that someone else was…that the God of the Hebrews was.

Pharaoh ran up against a truth that gets illustrated time and again through the Bible—God’s purposes will be fulfilled. God is transforming the world. God is taking slaves and making them free. God is lifting up the poor and frustrating the plans of the powerful. God is saying ‘no’ to evil and ‘yes’ to good. God is doing all these things and we can either cooperate with God’s coming victory or look like fools as we operate out of fear and try to block God’s reconciling work.

Which brings us back to our United Methodist slogan. To have open hearts, open minds and open doors is not just a saying; it’s a statement. It’s a statement that we are not afraid of what God is doing in the world. We are not afraid of the people we may be in ministry with. We are not afraid of who might walk through those open doors or whom we might meet when we walk out through those open doors. We are not afraid to love this world with open hearts though every message we have tells us not to trust and to love what we do not know. We are not afraid to approach the world with open minds that recognize that God is at work in universities and schools and culture and even in government.

It is a radical thing to have open hearts, open minds and open doors. It puts the Pharaohs of this world in their place. It tells them that they do not deserve the respect and attention we have given to them. A media culture that celebrates the degradation of people, particularly women, is a Pharaoh that doesn’t deserve our respect and attention. Drug and alcohol addictions that dull our senses and ruin our relationships are Pharaohs we cannot respect. The glorification of violence is a Pharaoh we cannot respect. In the end these evils, which seem so insurmountable, are fearful and foolish responses to what God is doing to liberate the world.

Karl Barth, one of the great theologians of the last century, was asked once why he wrote so much about angels and so little about demons. He said, “I have no taste for demons, not because I think they are a creature of myth, but because they aren’t worth it. The very thing which the demons are waiting for, especially in theology, is that we should find them dreadfully interesting and give them our serious attention.” [Church Dogmatics III.3, pp. xii. & 519].

So then what should be our response to the demons and Pharaohs of our day? We should laugh at them, like the midwives chuckling over Pharaoh’s gullibility at their white lies, like Moses’ mother smiling as she was paid to breastfeed her own baby by the man who ordered the child’s death. The world doesn’t know it yet, but evil has had its day. God’s new day is coming. We know because, through the scriptures, we were present at the birth – the birth of this child Moses and more so in the birth of the child Jesus of whom it is said, “in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” [John 1:4-5. NRSV].

And the Egyptians join the Hebrews to say, “God is light and life. Multiply, multiply, multiply!” Thanks be to God.

God in the Dysfunction

Genesis 45:1-15
Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood with him. He cried out, "Send out everyone away from me," and not a one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He gave himself over to weeping in a voice that the Egyptians heard and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Does my father yet live?" But his brothers could not bear to answer because they were anxious in his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come to me" and they drew near. He said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold to the Egyptians. Now, do not be grieved and don't be angry with yourselves because you sold me. Look, Elohim has sent me ahead of you for the preservation of our lives. For this famine has been in the land for two years and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God has sent me ahead before you to preserve a remnant for you in the earth and to preserve alive for you a great many delivered descendents. So it was not you who sent me, but Elohim. Elohim made me a respected father for Pharaoh and a superintendent over his entire house, ruling in all the land of Egypt.

"Go quickly and return to my father. Say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, "Elohim has appointed me as superintendent over all Egypt. Come down to me and do not delay. You shall live in the land of Goshen and you will be near to me. You and your children and your children's children, as well as your flocks and herds and all that is yours. I will support you there -- for there are still five years of famine --so that you will not be dispossessed along with your house and all that is yours."

"Look, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must report to my father all the respect with hold among the Egyptians, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father here."

Then he fell upon the neck of Benjamin his brother and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Then he kissed all his brothers and wept over them and after this the brothers spoke to him.

The world is full of imperfect reunions and broken relationships. Most of us know of persons with whom we are unreconciled and of past hurts we can’t let go of. That’s why we want to see a word of hope when we come to the story of Joseph and his brothers.

If ever there was a dysfunctional family it was that of Jacob and his twelve boys. There were two wives in the picture – Leah and Rachel – who lived in conflict and there was a daughter as well, though she, too, was at the center of violence and tragedy. But the biblical story leaves us with a central story that focuses on Jacob and his boys, and the climax of that story comes in the Genesis reading we have for today – a moment when it seems that finally this family will be reunited and reconciled, a moment when the old, destructive patterns will be left behind. But I’m just not sure that’s so.

First, a little background. Let’s go back a generation to Joseph’s father. Jacob liked to play favorites. It was natural, I suppose, since his mother and father had played favorites, too. His own father, Isaac, had shown a definite preference for his older brother, Esau, and Jacob, the younger child, had to rely on the favor of his mother, Rebecca, in order to find a place in the world. It was a recipe for conflict and at one point, after Jacob had stolen his father’s blessing, he had to run for his life as Esau, in his anger, sought to kill him.

His long exile had been fruitful. He had married…twice…and collected a large herd of cattle, possessions, and a gaggle of children – all signs of prosperity. But he continued to find conflict wherever he went. He lived uneasily with his father-in-law, Laban, and finally had to sneak out of town when he managed to trick Laban out of the best of his flocks.

He returned home and met Esau, not knowing what to expect from the brother he had wronged. But Esau met him with tears and forgiveness and Jacob was so moved that he told his brother, "Truly, to see your face is like seeing the face of God." It seemed like peace would finally come to this troubled family, but when Esau offered to accompany Jacob back home, Jacob refused and the only time that we know they met again was when they gathered to bury their father.

His parents played favorites and so did Jacob. He loved his wife, Rachel, more than Leah, a wife he was tricked into marrying. He loved Rachel’s sons, Joseph and Benjamin, more than his other children. And he loved Joseph best of all. Joseph got a special coat to wear – the fabled coat of many colors. Joseph had his father’s ear. He could do no wrong. For this his brothers hated him.

Well, for that, and for the fact that Joseph had some major character weaknesses from their perspective. He was a tattletale. He was arrogant. And he had some disturbing dreams, which would not have gotten him into trouble with the brothers if he hadn’t insisted on sharing them.
Once he was out in the fields and he said to his brothers, "Hey, guys, I had a dream. In my dream we were out binding sheaves in the field and then, all of a sudden, my sheaf stood up and all of your sheaves came and bowed down to it. That’s a funky dream, huh? What do you think that means?" The brothers didn’t appreciate Joseph’s dream.

On another occasion he was out in the fields and he said to his eleven brothers, "Hey, guys, I had a dream. In my dream the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. Weird, huh? What do you think it means?" The brothers did not appreciate this dream either.

In fact, they became so upset that the next time they saw him heading towards them out in the fields they said to each other, "Oh, boy. Here comes the dreamer. Let’s get rid of him before he tells us another dream: ‘Hey, guys, I just dreamed I was riding eleven mules. What do you think it means?’" So they conspired to kill him. And they would have, too, if one of the brothers, Reuben, hadn’t intervened. Instead they stripped him of his fancy coat and threw him in a pit and when some passing slave traders arrived, they sold Joseph to them for twenty pieces of silver and went back to Jacob with the sad tale of how Joseph had been eaten by wild animals.

That’s how Joseph ended up in Egypt as a slave to a high Egyptian official. But God played favorites, too, and Joseph’s story didn’t end there. Through a series of events that included Joseph’s famous ability to dream the future, he rose to become the right-hand man of the Pharaoh himself, ruler of all Egypt. He foresaw seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and convinced Pharaoh to prepare for what was to come. Pharaoh placed him over the project and Joseph, who dreamed as a child of being a great man held in high esteem, became just that person.

Then the famine came and it hit Egypt but also Canaan, where Joseph’s father and brothers lived. Jacob recognizes that they are starving to death and he calls in his remaining sons and says, "What are you doing just sitting around here looking at one another? There’s grain in Egypt. Go get some!" He sends them ahead but will not let them take Benjamin, the youngest son, because Benjamin is now the favorite and Jacob is still not sure he trusts his other sons. He doesn’t want anything to happen to Benjamin.

The brothers go to Egypt and they appear before Joseph, whom they don’t recognize since he is made up like a mighty Egyptian. How could they have known that the brother they had sold off to slavery would have risen so high? But Joseph recognizes them. And even though the brothers’ lives were changed forever by that day in the wilderness when they threw their brother in the pit, Joseph is still the same old Joseph. He relishes the opportunity to toy with his brothers.

First, he accuses them of being spies and demands that one of them return to Israel and bring back their youngest brother, Benjamin. He knows what torment they will have to go through, and his father will have to go through, to bring Benjamin back. Meanwhile, he says, the other brothers will have to remain in prison. Later, he changes his mind and says that only one of them had to stay in prison while the rest went back for Benjamin. Which they do, though Joseph increases their anxiety by putting the money they had brought to buy food back into their sacks.

They return with Benjamin, but still Joseph doesn’t reveal who he is. He does show his favoritism, though. At a meal he prepares for the brothers, Benjamin gets five times the food that the others receive. And when the brothers leave to go home, Joseph has one more trick for the brothers. He arranges that his silver cup be placed in one of their sacks.

Joseph sends a servant after the brothers and accuses them of theft. They deny it profusely. They say to the servant, "If anyone of us has stolen the cup that one should be cut off." The servant agrees and says, "Very well. If I find the cup in one of your bags, that one will become a slave." And the cup is found in the bag of Benjamin.

The brothers are distraught. They know they can’t go back to their father again having lost his other favorite son. Life would be unbearable. They go before Joseph and plead for Benjamin’s life. Finally Judah throws himself on Joseph’s mercy and cries, "It will kill our father if Benjamin doesn’t return with us. Take me instead, only let the youngest go."

At this, Joseph’s demeanor changes. He knows that he must tell the brothers and stop this cruel game he has been playing with them. So he sends all the Egyptians out of the room, though he begins to cry so loudly that everyone in the whole palace knows what is going on. He says to the brothers, "I am Joseph. How is my father?"

The brothers hesitate. Knowing that this high Egyptian official is Joseph doesn’t relieve their anxiety; it only increases it. Joseph thinks he knows why they hesitate, so he invites them to come closer. In a softer voice he says, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold to the Egyptians."

So far Joseph has not helped them. He has only identified them by the crime that has haunted them to this moment. "Don’t be grieved," Joseph says. "Don’t be angry with yourselves because you sold me away." Joseph assumes he knows how they feel, though we haven’t seen a lot of grief and self-loathing from this crew.

Joseph goes on to interpret the situation. "God sent me ahead to preserve our lives. God sent me to preserve your future. You didn’t send me. God sent me and made me a respected man and ruler over all Egypt." Three times he repeats it – God sent me. This is not about the brothers at all. In fact, Joseph seems to deny that they had any hand in this at all. The emphasis here is on God and Joseph. Joseph is the object of God’s favor. Joseph is the one who was the focus of those dreams he shared with them in the fields so long ago. Now Joseph’s dreams have come true. His brothers have come to bow down before him.

So Joseph uses his position to give them a command, "Go and return to my father and tell him that his son, Joseph, says, ‘God has made me lord over Egypt. Come down to me and live with me, you and your children and all of your possessions. I will support you through the famine.’" The brothers will be taken care of, but primarily because of Joseph’s concern for his father.

Then Joseph takes one of the brothers in a strong embrace and the weeping begins. The brother he chooses first is not a surprise. It’s Benjamin, who weeps as well. Then Joseph turns to the brothers but the Bible does not say if they join in Joseph’s weeping.

There is reconciliation here. A dark chapter in this family’s history is beginning to be closed. But it’s an imperfect reunion. The old Joseph is still present, less scarred, it seems, than the brothers by the impact of the violence done to him. Joseph can find comfort in his dreams and visions that tell him that he stands within the realm of God’s favor. What he doesn’t offer the brothers here, and what they desperately need, is the blessing of God. What they need is the recognition that they are recipients of God’s grace, too.

What’s missing here is an affirmation of the significance of the brothers’ humanity. They are denied credit or blame for their sin and are denied the opportunity to take responsibility for their sin. They are also denied absolution and blessing, the things they need for their healing.

What I love about the stories from Genesis is their honesty. They don’t present us with perfect heroes that we should emulate. They give us very real people who make big mistakes and have big character flaws who even so find themselves a part of God’s story. In this story we see a very human attempt to get beyond a very painful moment. It’s a passing glance at reconciliation on human terms. We rejoice when we see people long estranged embracing.

When I was in Dallas recently I met with one of my former teachers, Bert Affleck, who told me about one of his first pastoral experiences with conflict. (I think he was trying to prepare me for life back in the local church!) He went through a very tense board meeting at which tensions were running high, particularly between two cousins who both served on the board. The issue was something incredibly important, like the color of the church roof, but it was causing deep pain.

Finally, a wise, older member of the board said, "I think it’s time to pray about this." So they did. For forty minutes they prayed in total silence. Finally, Bert said, he heard some shuffling and people moving and he looked up to see the two cousins at the center of the controversy standing and embracing and weeping. Those glimpses of reconciliation are transformative. They inspire the psalmist who declared in our psalm of the day, "How good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity."

But there are some warnings in Joseph’s story, too. We hear them when we listen for other models of reconciliation and forgiveness in the biblical witness. What we learn is that God does not merely paper over our real pains and sins so that we can go on as if nothing ever happened. In true reconciliation, God enters our lives, is incarnate in our lives, and transforms our lives. As Paul notes about the fate of Israel in the passage from Romans, God doesn’t just leave things or people behind; God meets them face to face, or, we might say, face to grace.

It’s an old-fashioned way to put things, but no less true—we are really sinners, held in the grip of the wrongs we have done and the wrongs that have been done to us. Anything that denies that aspect of our nature is demonic. But we are not passed over for all that. God refuses to leave us behind. God is taking evil intent and using it for good. Joseph was right about that. But God is also taking us sinners and restoring us to health and wholeness.

We know this because we have seen God in Jesus Christ. One of the earliest theologians in the church, Athanasius of Egypt, talked about the miracle of the incarnation this way – God became human so that we could become God. There is a deeper mystery here as well. God became human so that we could become human. We have become so distorted by the evils of this world and by the violence and God-forgetfulness of our lives that we have lost the capacity to be the human beings we were intended to be. So God came in Jesus to reconcile us to God and to reconcile us to ourselves and, in however imperfect ways we might express it in our lives, to reconcile us to one another.

This week Dick Myers and Martha McNair and I met with Carmen Colona, who is leading our Hispanic Outreach Ministry here on the Eastern Shore. She operates out of a traveling school bus that was outfitted by this church and out of a building in Wachapreague that houses her food and clothes pantry. A man who experienced deep pain in his life donated the house. A Mexican migrant on the Shore killed his daughter, Alyson. It’s a crime that we find hard to contemplate. It’s a crime that might have led to a lifetime of bitterness and hatred. If Alyson’s father had never sought reconciliation with the man who killed his daughter, who would have blamed him? If he never reached out to the migrant community, who would have thought that unusual?

But he made the attempt. He wrote to the man in prison and offered his forgiveness for what the murderer had done. And he gave the building in Wachapreague to Carmen Colona’s ministry to serve this large group of Mexican sojourners in our midst. The building is called the Alyson Jolly Casa de Esperanza – the Alyson Jolly House of Hope.

Can you tell me that reconciliation isn’t a powerful thing? Can you tell me that our stumbling, imperfect reunions don’t echo in heaven where the God who is reconciling all things to God’s own self is ever and always reaching out to us? Can you say that you don’t need the healing, the forgiveness, the love that we see, if not in Joseph’s tears, then in Jesus’ cross?

We live with imperfection and we long for something more. We see our world wounded and scarred. We see our lives imprisoned by old wounds and bad habits. We see huge chasms and rifts between us and those we would love.

But God…God sees brothers and sisters reunited, long lost children—prodigals even--returning home, orphans given new homes, and communities where all share in God’s abundance. God sees the world as it should be and as it will be and as it already is, if we will open our hearts and eyes. How good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity! Thanks be to God!

Web-footed Discipleship

Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. Having dismissed the crowd, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone.

Now the boat was already many yards distant from the land, being harassed by the waves because the wind was against them. During the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea. Seeing him on the sea walking, the disciples were terrified, saying, “It’s a ghost!”, and they cried out with fear. But immediately Jesus said to them, “Pull yourselves together; it’s me. Don’t be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it’s you, order me to come to you on the water.” So he said, “Come.” Getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came to Jesus. But, seeing the strong wind, he became afraid, and as he began to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

Immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand, grasped him and said to him, “You of little faith; why did you doubt?”

As they got into the boat the wind stopped. The ones in the boat worshipped him saying, “Truly, you are the son of God.”

As many of you know I spent the last two weeks in Texas. I was teaching students at the Course of Study School at my old seminary, Perkins School of Theology. Every morning from 7:45 until almost noon I was talking about church history and theology with local pastors who serve churches throughout the southwest.

But in the afternoons, when I wasn’t grading papers, I was seeing old friends and remembering the things I liked about Dallas. I was a student at Perkins in the late 80s and early 90s and while I was there I developed a lot of good habits but I also developed a very bad one: I became a fan of the Texas Rangers. Now that the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series I think the Rangers can lay claim to the mantle of futility that they wore for so many years. To be a fan of the Rangers is to suffer, but we suffer in hope and for Christians this is a very natural thing to do. Our lives are about hope and we know, because Paul tells us, that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. [Rom. 5:3-5]. Paul was talking about the love of God poured into our hearts through the working of the Holy Spirit, but it’s a good reminder for Rangers fans as well.

I was in Dallas during the Nolan Ryan years. When you would go to Rangers games at old Arlington Stadium you would enter the main gate beside this huge 5-story poster of Saint Nolan. When he pitched the place was full and I still have my certificate that says I was there when he struck out Rickey Henderson to get his 5,000 career strikeout.

But one game that really sticks out in my mind was a game in Nolan’s last year of pitching. Everyone knew it was his last year and they came out just to see him. He was still as full of fire as he ever was and just as intimidating. I think Roger Clemens has been learning a lot from Nolan’s later years. But in baseball terms, he was ancient, and, as I said, a saint.

In this particular game Nolan was facing off against the Chicago White Sox and one of the batters was Robin Ventura, who, at that time, was a young, promising player and a good hitter. Well, Nolan was not going to give any ground to this young whippersnapper and he was throwing brush back pitches to get him off the plate. And they would come flying in there at close to a hundred miles an hour so they were intimidating pitches, but Ventura wasn’t giving any ground. So Nolan hit him.

Now this brought about a huge moment of decision for Ventura. And he paused. You could see him pause and I know just what he was thinking. The informal laws of baseball dictate that when you are hit like that you must charge the pitcher to defend your dignity. It’s a stupid rule, but it’s definitely there. So Ventura was thinking this, but he was also thinking, “Hey, this is Nolan Ryan. Am I really going to rush the mound and attack Nolan Ryan?” That’s what the pause was about.

There was no winning for Ventura if he rushed the mound. Either he was going to beat up an old man or he was going to be beaten up by an old man. Being young and foolish he didn’t heed his better judgment and he ran to the mound and was beaten up by an old man. As Martin Luther said, “If you’re going to sin, sin boldly.”

There is something profound about that pause that Ventura took before rushing the mound. I see in it the condition that many of us find ourselves in. We are confronted daily by moments when the messages we have about what we should do in a situation are conflicting and we are sometimes paralyzed. How do we make the right choice when we are fully immersed in life? What do we do when we feel lost at sea? Perhaps there’s a message for us in the story of Peter.

Peter is a familiar character for us. You know Peter. He’s the one who, when Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?”, says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Peter is the one Jesus calls his rock. Peter is the one on whom Jesus says he will build his church. Peter is the one who says, “Even if everyone else falls away, I will never fall away.” You know that Peter.

But we also know the Peter who does fall away. The Peter who fears and doubts and finds it so hard to live up to the words he says. The Peter who looks so familiar because he is so much like you and me. Peter is at the heart of this story.

It’s an uncertain time. O, Jesus has been drawing great crowds and doing great miracles, but it is a dangerous time. He has been teaching and healing and he had just fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish just before this episode begins. The ministry is going well.

But Jesus is seeking some time alone. He had just received word that his cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded by Herod. There are threats and warnings and enemies on the horizon. Jesus has been hinting to his disciples that down the road there will be suffering and persecution. In a few chapters he will tell them about his death. It is a dangerous time.

Jesus goes off the pray in a lonely spot and sends the disciples ahead in the boat. Late in the night the boat was struggling against the waves and wind in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus comes to them walking across the waves and the disciples are terrified. They call out, “It’s a ghost!”

But Jesus is used to the disciples not being able to comprehend what’s going on. He calls back, “Pull yourselves together. It’s me! Don’t be afraid.”

This doesn’t seem to do it for the disciples. They’re still not sure what they’re seeing, so Peter devises a test. It’s not a very good test, but it’s the best he can come up with on the spot. He says to Jesus, “Lord, if it’s you, order me to come to you on the water.” You can see why it’s not a very good test. If it fails Peter drowns, but O.K., that’s what Peter’s got. And Jesus says, “Come.”

So Peter gets out of a perfectly good boat and starts to walk across the water. His test is working. He’s walking. He’s looking at Jesus. He’s on his way. He’s starting to think about fishing without boats.

But then three things happen. First, he notices that the wind is pretty fierce and that’s a little unsettling. Second, he gets scared. A natural response but that leads to the third thing: he starts to sink. As long as Peter was focused on Jesus things seemed to be going…swimmingly. But now he’s gotten beyond the command. He’s in uncharted waters. And he starts to sink. So he cries out, “Lord, save me!”

Jesus stretches out his hand and he grabs a hold of Peter, and he says…as he has said to the disciples before and as he will say to them again in the future…he says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

“Why did you doubt? You were doing it, Peter. You were walking on water. When you threw caution to the wind…when you stepped out in faith…when you believed my command could change the way the world as you know it works…when you took a risk and trusted that I am who I say that I am, you could walk on water.

“But when you listen to your doubts and fears, Peter, when you hear the fierce winds…when you are overwhelmed by the waves…when you believe the voice within that says, ‘You can’t…he’s not…the world doesn’t work this way!’, then the world doesn’t work that way.”

Then something pretty remarkable happens. The winds stop. They stop not, the scriptures say, not when Jesus alone gets into the boat, but when Jesus and Peter together get into the boat.

This is a sign of what is to come. At this moment the disciples are living by sight, following Jesus, living day by day by his teachings and his commands. They’re not doing a great job of it, but they’re learning. But the day is coming when they will no longer have Jesus’ physical presence with them. The day is coming when they won’t be able to face their fears and the decisions they have to make with a clear word. The day is coming when they will have to walk beside Jesus, as people formed in the way, as partners with Jesus in the amazing work that God is doing in redeeming the world.

One of the other things I did when I was a student in Dallas was to work as a youth coordinator in West Dallas, an inner-city area that has always been a home to troubled youth dating all the way back to the 1930s when it was the home of Bonnie and Clyde. I worked in that neighborhood doing things I was totally unqualified to do. I was a basketball coach, an organizer for a teen pregnancy prevention program, I even helped out coaching boxing. Most of all, however, I was a mentor to a rag-tag group of Hispanics and African-Americans. My experiences at Wesley-Rankin, a United Methodist community center, during that year convinced me that when the church is in touch with the deepest needs of the world around it, the church is close to God’s redeeming work.

It didn’t look like it when I came to work and the gang graffiti was still on the walls and the drugs were still on the streets and kids were still neglected and abused. But I knew there were a few kids who had an opportunity to do something different. And some of them did. Some of them got out. Some of them got to college. Some of them came back and became leaders at that very same community college.

A few years ago that community center gave birth to a new summer internship program. Partnering with United Methodist churches throughout Dallas, Project Transformation started bringing in college students to work with children in these very same neighborhoods. For eight weeks during the summer the college students led camps for children that were part Vacation Bible School, part reading programs, part nutrition programs, part recreation. And they were transformed. Not just the kids but the college students. And not just the college students but the local churches. And not just the local churches but the communities that they serve.

I checked in on the program while I was there this week because we have started the very same program at my old campus ministry in Charlottesville. This year in Dallas there were 72 students from all over the nation working in nine sites. Some of the children they began to work with eight years ago are now going to college and some of them will be coming back to work as interns with a new generation of children.

I love Project Transformation because it is the kind of program that goes to struggling churches that are having trouble reaching out to the struggling communities around them. Project Transformation goes into places where the prevailing story is, “We can’t. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have the means. We don’t have the people. We don’t have the will. We can’t.” But this program, fired by the gospel of a Messiah who will not take ‘no’ for an answer, takes that “We Can’t” and turns it into a “O, yes, you can. You do have the resources. You do have the means. You do have the people. You do have the will. If you are really following me, you need to step out of the boat and live a risky, wind and wave-defying life like me. Don’t say you can’t because everything the resurrection tells you is that you can because God can. Why did you doubt?”

There’s a simple message in Peter’s story…a traditional one. In the midst of change and threat and fear and possible death, the constant for him was Jesus. When Peter could look to and trust in Jesus rather than listening to his fears and doubts, he could walk on water.

But there’s a more radical message. Peter wasn’t able to be truly web-footed, to truly feel at home on the water until he did something else. Don’t just keep your eyes on Jesus, walk beside him. Don’t trust the status quo because your natural home just might be outside the boat. Don’t be afraid of the change, afraid to confront the wind and waves how ever loud or frightening they may be. Because you just might discover that Jesus really is changing the world and inviting you to help and that’s far more miraculous than walking on water.

How many of you know that God is changing the world? How many of you know that you can participate in that if you put your faith into action? How many of you know that you can’t become a Christian by sitting in church any more than you can become a car by sitting in a garage? How many of you know that it takes practice and exercise of those spiritual muscles you’ve got in order to be a web-footed Christian? How many of you know that even if we are not trying to get alongside Jesus that Jesus is trying to get alongside us? How many of you know that there is within your heart a melody Jesus whispers sweet and low? Fear not, I am with you, peace, be still, in all of life’s ebb and flow? How many of you know that you do not have to be deadened by doubt…you don’t have to be paralyzed by fear…you don’t have to wonder if your salvation and the world’s salvation will come because it already has come? God has come in Jesus Christ. God is changing the world. God is waiting for us to get out of the boat!