Tenting on Water

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who walks through the storms and stands with us in the rising waters. Amen.

Well it was a quiet week in Clitheral Lake, Minnesota. Actually, it was a loud week at the lake as we enjoyed hours of swimming, water fights, kayaking, canoeing, campfires, and nearly perfect weather for camping.

I was rather proud of myself on that perfect weather bit, actually. I had checked over and over what the 10 day forecast for our time in Minnesota. Before our trip, I assured Ashley of the weatherman prophesied near-idyllic conditions that awaited us in the land of 10,000 lakes. I assured Ashley that we could camp in our tent the entire time with basically no chance of storm.

And I was right about our time... in Minnesota. But in my planning I had overlooked one little detail. You see, in planning the trip, we decided to break our drive to Minnesota up a little bit with an overnight stop in the beautiful Lewis and Clark State Park right along the Missouri River in Iowa. Reservations were in place, we had selected and pre-paid for our campsite… it was a beautiful tenting nestled right alongside the easy-flowing river.

And from all of my forecast checking, the weather was going to be perfect up in Minnesota. But as the miles remaining to our Iowa campsite trickled down into the double digits, I began to notice that the scattered fluffy white clouds I had enjoyed throughout the day were drawing more closely together… and they were no longer looking quite so fluffy nor particularly white.

5 miles from our campsite and it started to rain. A quick glance at our weather radar gave the hope that it would be just a single wave of storms and then it would pass. We arrived at the campground. Set the tent up in a light drizzle.

We got the air mattresses blown up and pushed into comfortable positions at the sides of the tent with a nice walking path down the center… we laid out the blankets… children settled in… Gabriel and Daniel quickly disappeared into a deep slumber… and then it happened. The NEXT storm.

We felt the wind whipping around on the tent walls. Lightning flashed overhead, thunderous booms echoed from the distance… and yes… the rain came. I remember my words as I tried to keep the situation as calm as I could, “Boys, don’t you love the sound of the rain while we stay safe and dry in the tent?”

I had no sooner punctuated my voiced reassurance than I felt the first small splash of water land on my forehead. My mind raced… one drop isn’t so bad. Maybe we just have a small hole in the canopy that I missed and I got lucky enough to sleep under it. And… hopefully… Ashley and the boys didn’t notice anything. But then another drop… and another… and another.

Soon we had our own miniature rain forest ecosystem within the tent as water collected between the canopy and the netting of our tent and then dripped down on us from above.

Ashley and Luke, the wise ones, ran to the car for cover. I stayed, along with a sleeping Gabriel and Daniel. Why? I told myself it was to let the younger ones sleep… to hold down he tent… to be “the man.” Truthfully, it was probably out of sheer stubbornness, a desire to not be wrong, and feeling to cheap to give up on the campsite that we already paid for.

The latter options rang more true for me as a cold pool of water gathered in my air mattress behind my back as I held sleeping Gabriel tightly to my chest, protecting him from the wetness while still letting him rest. Even while I felt the cold water, I felt the warmth of this child that I embraced. My existence, in that moment, revolved around that little one in my arms.

Finally, around 1am, the rains let up and the storm passed. I stood and found myself standing and walking in a half-inch of water in the bottom of our tent. And I remembered the Gospel Story that we have in front of us today. Peter… walking on the water… almost.

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I imagine the feeling the disciples must have had that night as the storm clouds came in. Many of them were seasoned fishermen, so storms were nothing new. But still, to be on the Sea of Galilee during a storm was no small ordeal. Waves can crest as high as 12 feet against boats that would seem better designed to travel down a river than open sea.

But the fishermen were very alert to everything going on around them. Scanning constantly for unseen dangers in the waters that they could be blown into such as a shore or rocky outcropping. One or two disciples were likely assigned to bail water out of the boat as rain and wave alike would have left their mark on the little craft. Even in the boat, there were probably disciples walking on water.

And in the chaos... a voice… a voice from one of the disciples rang out, fear gripping him, “A ghost!!! There’s a ghost in the storm and its coming toward us!!”

The already heightened stress and anxiety must have skyrocketed for the crew as they strained to see. Several of them were perhaps skeptical… until they too saw the form of something or someone moving over the tops of the waves seemingly untouched by the storm raging around them.

Stress must have been truly abundant in that moment for those disciples. In the midst of the stormy sea and the ghost like figure on the water, I would imagine that several of them broke out into a cold sweat. They could feel the moisture not only from the sea but from their anxiety building up in their hands. Their breathing became quickened. Their hearts pounded. Have you ever felt that change in yourself as stress and anxiety changes the way your body works?

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For many years, experts in the field suggested that high stress moments like that were dangerous to us. Not just because of the predicament, but because of our body’s reaction to the predicament. The idea was that it was better to fight the stress and try to calm yourself back down again. Studies over the last 10 to 20 years have shown instead that stress, while not preferred, is actually something that we should embrace.

Health psychologist, Kelly McGonigal, gave a powerful Ted talk on this very subject. You can find it online, it’s titled, “How to make stress your friend.” In her TedTalk she worked on putting her audience in a stressful situation to remind them of what stress feels like. She talked about how she had urged people that stress was bad for ten years as a health psychologist. And then she cited an interesting study.

In this study, they tracked 30,000 adults in the US for 8 years and they started by asking the question, how much stress have you experienced in the last year? And then they asked the question, do you believe that stress is harmful to your health? And then they used public records to decide who died.

The study showed that people who marked having high stress had a 43% increased chance of dying in that year. However, Dr. McGonigal points out that that death rate was only true for those who BELIEVED that stress was harmful to their health. People who had high stress but did not believe stress was harmful actually had the lowest risk of death.

Later on in the TedTalk she talks about stress releases a special chemical called oxytocin, which some of you may be familiar with. It is a hormone that motivates us to seek support rather than bottling it up. Oxytocin tells us that we want to be surrounded by people that we know will love and support us… even as society had told us for years that we needed to do it on our own.

When I initially heard this, I was amazed. As God created us as human beings… God primed our brains to release a hormone in stressful situations that tells us to go out and be with others. Call a friend, hug a family member… lean on and love one another in stressful times.

Think about it. God biologically hardwired us to seek to be loved by our neighbors AND to also love our neighbors when we experience stress in our lives. We are engineered to follow what Christ called the two greatest commandments, loving God and loving neighbor, during times of trouble. That’s incredible!

Perhaps that is why we as the church tend to be most active in Christ’s Work in the world during stressful moments both in the life of the church and in the life of the world.

Now, let’s get back to those stress filled disciples… the disciples find themselves deep in the sea of stress as the waves continue to crash against the boat and this ghostly figure appears in the storm.

And then a voice was heard over the roar of the storm… over the cries of fear… a voice not stricken with panic… but a voice filled with familiarity and reassurance. “Do not be afraid, for it is I.”

I imagine the oxytocin kicking in. That yearning to be near one that they trust… one that they love… one that they know is full of compassion for them. For Peter especially his oxytocin levels must have kicked into overdrive as he calls out asking Jesus to command him to come out onto the water if it’s really him. This God given hormone pushing Peter beyond his fear of discomfort… beyond his fear of the wind and the waves… pushing Peter to trust in the one who comforts and he steps out into the water.

Now of course we know what happens next in the story. Peter, as he begins his first several steps out, realizes his predicament. He recognizes the threats around him and he begins to sink. HIs heart starts beating faster again… his breathing probably becomes very short… his body is fully engaging for the battle for survival… and what does he do? His desire to connect to the one who comforts and saves strengthens once more. And he calls out to his Savior on the water, “Lord, help me!”

The plea is simple. But the desire to be connected to the Savior is strong. In that moment of desperation, Peter does not turn to his years of being a fisherman to consider how best to return to the boat. He doesn’t look to his bank account to see what might be feasible for payment of a rescuer… no… he calls out to one he trusts and asks for help.

And immediately, Jesus reaches out… the Son of God grasps the floundering disciple, brings him to the boat, the storm stills… and the disciples worship him.

In our video this morning with the Fribergs… some of our missionaries to Africa, I was struck by the message of what they were learning from our African brothers and sisters in Christ. Steven Friberg, who has been a missionary in Tanzania for over 20 years now, said that in our culture in times of stress we often try to engage the numbers. We look to technology for our solutions. We look at the finances. We focus on quality training. We do these things because we know that they are helpful.

But in Tanzania, where technology, finances, and quality training are often all in short supply, he sees a resurgence of faith built not on our own self-created strengths but based in optimism for the future… hope… relationship with others… and a dependence on God that brings life. And Steven suggests that refocusing on hope and relationship both with neighbor and with God is a lesson that we in the US can perhaps take away from our African brothers and sisters in Christ. -----------------------------------------

Today, as we hear the story of Peter and the disciples as they encounter Christ in that stormy sea. I want us to consider the storms that we encounter in life. The greatest storms in life often have nothing to do with low pressure systems or cold fronts… though in Oklahoma they can certainly be a part of the equation. The greatest storms come through the sudden twists and turns of our own lives.

One day everything is fine and the next day your life is turned upside down by an accident, by the results of a medical test, by the words or actions of the people in your life. Or a loved one gets sick, or there’s a death, or there is a fire, or there is a major family problem of some kind. Suddenly, a storm hits and your life takes a dramatic and serious turn.

And while society tells us to look to our technology and money and experience for protection… while we might trust in our tent to help us weather the storm… God calls us to turn toward human relationship as well as God’s love. It is that sleeping toddler snuggled up against his stubborn father that provides God’s love, warmth, and meaning for a wet dad even as the stubborn father loves, supports, and protects the child.

God creates us to seek one another out in times of stress… to care for one another when we see a fellow human being stuck in a storm. And as we enter the seas of stress, we can take comfort in knowing that God is walking toward us… calling us out… and lifting us up. God gives us the biological tools to seek out one another and to seek out the Most High. And God proclaims, Do not be afraid, for I am here. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to call out for help… that is what we were made to do. And when you hear another calling, you might be God’s love for another in the midst of their storm.

May all who struggle and all who hurt this day take heart and not be afraid even in the midst of great stress; Jesus has come to share the storms with us. Thanks be to God. AMEN