​To say that things are getting hot around here would be an understatement. Our great country has been under attack over the last month, and it has caused us all to feel weak and powerless. Sadly, there’s very little we can do outside hiding in our houses with the A/C running and fans oscillating.
 
From sea-to-shining sea, Americans are feeling the burn of a brutally hot summer and a malicious weather pattern that has decided to turn up the heat. Some suggest this is due global warming, while others believe it’s cyclical; it happens every four years during presidential elections, which might explain all the record breaking hot wind. Either way, I’m sure we can all agree it’s hot!
 
In fact, it’s so hot that I am actually longing for the snow to come and cool things down. Since I don’t anticipate that anytime soon, I must live vicariously through a snow-globe that was given to me by my son on my birthday this year. Inside the globe is not a tiny plastic replica of the leaning Tower of Pisa or palm trees on a tropical island, but a crudely drawn body with a photograph of my head glued to it. 
 
As I sit at the kitchen counter wondering why I am sipping hot coffee, I shake myself up and watch the little white flakes float in the make-believe wind. It’s amazing how lively each little round speck dances around my head with very little effort on my part. It doesn’t take long for each one to settle at my stick figure feet until the next jolt awakens them. Waiting for my coffee to cool, I oblige and shake.
 
This particular snow globe, which I assume is typical of all snow globes around the globe, doesn’t do much unless it is prodded. Occasionally it has been employed to keep various papers from blowing away in the breeze. But most of the time it does nothing more than take up a small but valuable piece of real estate on our kitchen counter. So every now and then someone must shake it up to ensure it doesn’t become something it wasn’t meant to become.
 
Human beings are more like snow-globes and less like paperweights. We too need to be shaken up to keep us from stagnating. Sometimes it’s a new baby, an old friend, or a stranger in your midst. Being shaken up is part of Christian culture too. Moses shook up Israel. Jesus shook up the world. Luther shook up the church. In their stories we learn faith must remain active in order to address the ever changing world.
 
When you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, your life becomes dramatically different. You are no longer your old self, but made anew.  The Apostle Paul says “put away your old self,…and be renewed in the spirit of your minds,… clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). As you seek to follow Jesus, it’s only natural that you do a little restructuring to refine yourself and your faith to be like his.
 
The church too must always moves in new and different directions in order to be relevant and reach people in new and different ways. God has charged us with the responsibility to wake up the hearts and minds of all people so their faith can come alive in new and exciting ways. And so, like the evening wind that cools down a hot day, we welcome a shake up or two so we can swirl in the wind and be what we are meant to be.

Once every now and then a summer movie actually lives up to the title, “Blockbuster.” The Secret Life of Pets, in my book, is one such movie. The story is about Max, a cute little mutt whose life comes under attack when Duke, an enormous rescue dog, moves into the small Manhattan apartment.

As one jealous dog tries to sabotage the other, both Max and Duke wind up lost in the scary and seedy underbelly of New York City. And it’s up to their animal friends to retrieve them before all their owners get home from work.

Gidget, a sweet puffy poodle, who is secretly in love with Max, leads this peculiar posse. She makes it very clear that she will go to any length to save her beloved pal. And thus the great adventure begins.

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As the movie unfolded, I couldn’t help but think how far God goes to retrieve us from the mess we make for ourselves. Both John’s gospel and his epistle were chosen this morning, to remind us that God’s love knows no boundaries, and has no limits. In fact, God will do some amazing things for us simply out of love for everyone here.

Have you ever wondered why that is? Have you ever asked yourself, why would God do all this for me?John’s words say it all: God is love.

I’ll admit it sounds a little too simple to believe. But I think it’s good for us to go back to the basics, and to remind ourselves that God is the source of who we are. If God is love, then so are we.

John 3:16 begins, “For God so loved the world that He gave us his only Son.” This is one of those verses that can seem so familiar that we often shrug it off as nothing more than a Sunday school lesson. But these 27 words make up the single most important sentence in the entire New Testament, perhaps even the entire Bible. They are the very foundation of Christian theology. In fact, Billy Graham is reported to have said that all of his sermons come down to these pivotal words of Jesus to Nicodemus. One pivotal word in particular: Love. God’s love for us. And our love for God. (Indermark 2011)

Simple, yet profound, these familiar words challenge us constantly. They force us to always hear them with freshness, and in a way that will constantly shape our understanding and practice of love as a gift from God.

Love first arises from God. “For God so loved…” this is the constant message, from Genesis to Revelations. It began with creation when God deemed it good, and will one day return to God…redeemed again by the gift of love through Jesus Christ. Nowhere does John say we earn God’s love. It just shows up in our life. It’s not on Amazon Prime, and we can’t buy it at Meijer, which should say a lot. Love comes from God without any precondition outside of God’s own will to love. And it draws us towards God in the same way. And it’s given to us whether we deserve it or not.

This is what the church must always strive to practice and proclaim to keep us from drawing circles around those we deem worthy of receiving this great gift. Judgment, shame, ego and dogma are some of the ways we make it difficult to accept and appropriate God’s gift. Look at today’s political climate, and all the violence that is rooted within it, to see why it’s imperative we make love the root of our being; the very foundation of who we are as the church and as a people of God.

If you were at morning prayers this week, you might remember hearing the St. Thomas Music Group sing “Mysterious Amoris.” Based on the words from John Lane, the choir sang:

“The meaning of life is the mystery of Love;
just as the roots of the trees hold firm the soil,
so it is the roots of Love
that hold the ground of our being together.”

Try to think about what happens inside you when you are consciously aware that the roots of your life are held together by God’s love…. Think about the fruit such divine roots allow you to bear. 

Now think about all the other kinds of roots that are out there: fear, addictions, anger, a deep lack of trust to name a few. These roots are like weeds that confuse and choke our desire to love. They hinder our ability to see, feel, or even believe that God’s love is the true ground that holds our being together. Jesus tells us otherwise. (Ziegenfuss 2008)

 God’s love is foundational. And it’s personal. We are the objects of God’s love, because God has chosen us to love. “For God so loved…the world.” You, me, and everyone around us. If the church is going to bear good fruit, then we must practice and preach God’s loves to everyone, even to those who don’t believe what we believe, or behave like we behave. God’s love is deeply personal because we are all made in the image of Divine love. So is it any surprise that God will go to any length to retrieve us and redeem us.

God’s love is foundational and personal. And comes to us with a great purpose. Yet, many of us fail to grasp the extraordinary breadth of this wonderful gift, because we don’t see ourselves as being worthy or deserving of it. But such thinking negates, and dare I say rejects, the redemptive power of Jesus when we believe God’s love and grace has the power to forgive other people of their sins, but not our own.

Jesus reveals our real value and worth. The words He spoke to Nicodemus are the words we must not only put in our hearts, but put our trust into daily. Say to yourself, “For God so loved me that he would do anything to bring me home to his loving heart.” God’s love knows no boundaries, and crosses all lines, goes all depths and heights to redeem us. This is why we call it the good news.

Our self worth begins with the sure and certain truth that we are loved, no matter what. In spite of whatever has gone horribly wrong in our life, whatever has wounded or hardened our hearts and caused us to stumble or rebel, God has made peace with us through The Son. The Beloved. The Christ.

God sent us this gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes, to give us true freedom, and a new life beyond the many places we are in right now. Jesus meets and redeems us in all the ways we have it together and all the ways we don’t, because Jesus perfects God’s love. And so there is no other place for the church to stand, than upon that great foundation.

Through Jesus, God embraces the world in love. God breaks down all barriers with love. God fashions peaceful communities for love. And God calls us into personal relationships by love. Those who believe and put their trust in this gift, become one with the Son. It’s that simple.

We all need John 3:16 tattooed on our heart. We need to memorize it, reflect upon it, teach it to our children, and give ourselves over to it, so God can take full root within us. Without such love we suffer, anguish and perish. But with it, we thrive and bear the good fruit.

So if you were to ask me, I'd say today is a perfect day to make love…and be strengthened by it. Amen.


Works Cited
Indermark, John. The Greatest of These: Biblical Moorings of Love. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011.
Ziegenfuss, Lynn. Youthworkers.net. Oct. 2008. http://www.youthworkers.net/pdf/T5200810.pdf (accessed July 22, 2016).

Two weeks ago, we were called to be the hands of Jesus, to bear the fruit of our faith. Last week, we discovered that God pushes our faith to the edge to prepare us to do the things we never imagined doing. Today we discover if we trust God and take him at his word, then we will be able to handle even the most difficult of journeys.  
 
As we see in this morning’s reading, Peter doesn’t have the luxury of time travel or the time to reflect back on the purpose of of his call. Instead, he is put into a boat with the other disciples, and pushed out to sea to carry on Jesus’ mission. There’s no time for rest. There’s work to be done. In fact, they move at such a fast pace that it often causes them to stumble, both physically and spiritually.   
 
The Bible is quick to point out that it’s Peter who messes up the most. He frequently trips over his own feet, that is to say when they are not in his mouth. More than once, Jesus reprimands him for his lack of faith, yet he doesn’t abandon his call. Three times he denies his relationship with Jesus, but still continues to follow him. Through hell and high water, Peter keeps plodding along, carrying his cross and doing the work.  
 
By Pentecost, he becomes a faithful, spiritual giant; the rock upon which the Christian Church would be built. All his flailing, kicking, and fretting, all his fears, faults, and struggles, are the very things that make up the church’s DNA. His rocky start, his imperfect-ness, his doubts and misunderstandings made his faith all the more remarkable, which is why he is the example that continues to shape the Body of Christ today.
 
I hate to be the one to say this, but this house is not filled with perfect people. Lucky for us, Jesus isn’t calling us into perfection. He is simply asking for our faithfulness. As Peter seems to illustrate, it’s far better to be a faithful sinner than a faithless saint.
 
We have a big job to do, or as I am constantly reminded…we have big shoes to fill. It takes real faith to step into Jesus’ shoes, muchless take the journey to get the job done. Yet the more we practice our faithfulness, the stronger it becomes.
 
You will need that strength on those days when you feel like you are drowning under the pressures of life, (and we all have those days). It might be the earth rattling pain of losing someone we love; the tornado-like anger of a bitter relationship; the physical or mental abuse that comes at you with the rage of a hurricane; the cold dark nights of depression that isolate you, and the flood of helplessness that cuts you off from others; the downpour of work or the avalanche of anxiety we try to outrun but can’t. But Jesus is always ready to come to our rescue, always offering up a helping hand.
 
The furious waves of life hit the church too. It seems like every time we try to do right by God, the world comes crashing against us, hitting us from every side, flooding us with fear and doubt.  We can either bail out at the first sign of trouble. Or weather the storm holding tightly to the power of God’s helping hand.
 
Now it’s worth noting that the seas have always held a negative connotation for Jews. In fact, the Hebrew word for water, mayim, comes from the root word meaning ‘chaos,’ which makes sense when you consider they grew up hearing that a flood wiped out the earth. So why do Jesus push his disciples out to sea in this chaos?
 
Now being a skilled fisherman and witness to countless miracles, I am surprised that Peter and the disciples are frightened by the turbulent seas, and by this figure walking towards them. You can almost hear Jesus say, “Seriously? This is what you are afraid of? What did you expect? The Spanish Inquisition?”  Instead, Jesus says, “Do Not Fear. It is I.” They do not yet know that Jesus was sent to show the world that he is in control of ALL chaos.
 
Even after this reassurance, Peter questions and doubts God’s power. Like me, he wants proof. In fact he demands it on his terms, saying, “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water.” When Jesus says, “Come,” Peter cannot ignore the invitation. He pulls his foot out of his mouth, and steps out of the boat in faith and faithfulness. As a result, he does something the world would tell us is not possible.
 
On his journey across the sea of faith, he naturally becomes frightened and begins to flail in the wild currents. Yet, he remains faithful. The second he realizes the danger he is in, Peter’s first response is to cry out, “Lord save me.” Immediately Jesus is there.  
 
We are called out to the rough seas of life, where there is work to be done.  This is scary and rightfully so. Our natural response is to fear, panic, or run away. But God constantly pushes us out of comfort zones so that our natural response will be to rely on his saving grace.  This is the faith muscle we need to always build up.
 
Even though our faith is not always perfect, we must never lose sight that Paul declared, “The righteousness of God is revealed through faith in faith” (Rom. 1:16). God is faithful to us, so we can be faithful to God. By this we can step into the boat and sail to whatever storm Jesus calls into. And we can step out of the boat to do whatever Jesus wants us to do.
 
So what’s stopping us?  What’s keeping us from moving forward? Is it the stormy seas that await us? Is it fear? Uncertainty? Or are we simply unwilling to do it? Ernest Campbell, former minister of the famed Riverside Church in New York, believes “the reason that we seem to lack faith in our time is that we are not doing anything that requires it.”
 
He’s right. Today the church doesn’t expect much from her members. We are afraid that if we push you to do what Jesus has called you to, then you might not show up the next week. I get it. It’s hard to change who you are and how you do things. It’s even harder to change a worldly system that supports an economy where greed causes great poverty; violence begets retaliation and more violence; and skin color, nationality, or sexual preference are acceptable targets for abuse.
 
But there’s work to be done, sins to forgive, injustices to redeem, people to feed. We cannot ignore the hard work of faith… but instead must hold fast to the words of Jesus who
says, “Come. Take my hand. And do not be afraid.”
 
Campbell says the key to faith, and finding our fullness of life in Christ, is to follow Peter’s example. We must “be willing to step out of the security of the boat and head into the troubled waters of the world to proclaim the love, mercy, and justice of God that we find in Jesus Christ.”  
 
The world doesn’t need any more nominal Christians splashing around in the safe shallow waters where we miss the opportunities to push and deepen our faith.  What the world needs is more stumbling and bumbling disciples like Peter. If we want to be close to Jesus, then we have to prove his promise by trusting his promises, through risk and venture, doing what he has called us to.  
 
By taking this brave step, we begin to move from having little faith to possessing the kind of faith that Jesus says can move mountains, heal the sick, cast out demons, forgive sins, love one another and live in peace. Heaven knows, the world needs more peace.
 
If you leave here today remembering anything, it should be this: Do not worry if your faith scares you or trips you up from time-to-time. Do not give up. Weather the storm. Keep moving forward. Keep doing the hard work of the Kingdom and bear the good fruit of your faithfulness. And by the power of Jesus Christ our Lord you too will discover the impossible is, in fact, very much possible. Amen.
 
 
Works Cited(NRSV), Bible. Romans 1:11-17; Matthew 14:22-33.
Bartlett, David, and ed. Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting On The Word; Year A, vol. 3. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009.
 

Read: Exodus 14:10-14; Matthew 16:24-26
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​Two weeks ago, Kathleen got a deal on GroupOn to a place in Grand Rapids called Treetop Adventures; a rope and zip-line obstacle course that’s supposed to be fun for the entire family. It didn’t take me long to discover this is a gross misrepresentation. It’d be more accurate if they renamed the place Phobia Forrest.
 
Imagine an intricate web of ropes and wires that connect planks of swinging wood and platforms that float high above the ground where only birds and squirrels and people who get discounts to face their fears dare to go. (You might have guessed I don’t like heights.)
 
The general idea is this. Your risk your life to move through a series of swinging rope challenges. Each one takes you to the next level of slightly more terrifying obstacles. If you know my wife, it shouldn’t surprise you that Kathleen made me go first; knowing I’d never leave the ground if she weren’t behind me to prod me on.
 
In front of us was a young couple. Like me, the guy was putting on a brave face for his date, whose fear of heights seemed to be match only by mine. Having navigated the first part of the course, they came to the final platform of this particular “adventure.” The only way to get to the next set of stress tests was to strap yourself to a very thin rope, jump off the platform, and float gently to the ground.   
This was something the young lady was not willing to do. In fact, I wasn’t sure I was going do it either.  So there we were, the two of us, facing our fear of heights and discerning our willingness to trust our lives to a rope no thicker than a clothesline.
 
On the ground her boyfriend made all sorts of promises to coax her and calm her fears. Adding to the pressure was Colleen balancing on the wire behind us as she waited patiently to take the woman’s space on the small platform. I did my best to help this frightened stranger, but next to just pushing her off, my most gentlest pastoral voice was rendered useless. Fear had gotten the best of her. 
 
Long story short, she eventually closed her tear-filled eyes and, either out of her deep shame or total embarrassment, she jumped; floating gently down as promised, into her boyfriend’s awaiting arms. When she landed, she grabbed him tightly and sobbed. It was a beautiful and heartwarming reunion.
 
But here’s the kicker, I was next. And there were no arms waiting for me all the way down there. Instead of gentle coaxing, I get two kids and wife yelling at me to keep moving. I won’t tell you what they said, or how long I sat there, but suffice it to say, I too eventually took that great leap. And as you can see, I did not plummet to my death, but instead, like the girl before me, I too floated gently through the air. When my feet touched the ground, an overwhelming surge of life welled up in me, and in that amazing sensation I was ready to take on the next set of challenges.  
 
Such is the world of faith. It can either scare you, or it can fill you up with life. The choice is ours to make.
 
Imagine what would have become of the Hebrew nation had God’s people just stopped at the bank of the Red Sea, too scared to move forward across the muddy path that God had made for them. Even though God said, “Do not be afraid,” many wanted to turn around and go back to the devil they knew instead of trusting their savior.
 
As we celebrate our country’s birthday, I can’t help but wonder what would have become of our own nation had the patriots not taken the first step into the dangerous waters of rebellion and treason? From the creation of our constitution to the bordering of our states, our forefathers kept their eye on the future, always looking faithfully ahead to the next generation to carry that movement forward. Some might suggest we have come to a stand still.
 
We all face that moment in life where we find ourselves on the edge of faith. We can either move forward or we can retreat. But how we handle the situation often determines who we are, and what we will become. While many will jump fearlessly, most of us will reluctantly do so with great doubt.  And that’s okay. Even our doubt can lead into a deeper relationship with God.  
 
Where we often mess up is when our doubt turns us away from our faith completely. This can leave us sitting on the edge of the platform having only ourselves to rely on as we try to navigate through life’s toughest challenges.
 
But what happens when you’re at the edge of something difficult and you can’t help yourself, or you make a wrong decision? The results can be devastating. Yesterday I buried a 41 year-old Army vet whose choices and struggles with drugs destroyed a family. Without God, faith has no purpose. It has no real meaning. Worst of all, it cannot save you. Only God can. 
 
The Hebrew word for faith is e-mu-nah, a verb that literally means, “to take firm action.” This means our faith requires us to act with a forward motion. For example, in to the Phobia Forrest, I believed the platform in the tree was safe, but I knew I couldn’t stay there forever. Kathleen and the kids wouldn’t let me. I also knew the ground was safer. And it’s only one brave leap away. But until I take that scary first step off the platform, how would I ever experience the true joy of a steady foundation. My faith, not in the rope but in God, delivered me as promised.
 
It’s not enough to just believe in God. We must faithfully trust that God liberates us from our fears and anxieties. And for some mysterious reason does so by taking us to the edge of our comfort zone and asking us to jump.
 
Why would God do such a thing? Is he trying to test us? Or trick us? Or does he push us to the edge for a reason? Perhaps God does this because he know what he is asking us to do is hard.  Repent. Forgive. Love. Heal. Feed. Create. Thrive.  These are the actions of our faith.
 
Jesus says, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him or her take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus doesn’t just say have faith, but tells us to have courage and take action! Jesus empowers us with the Spirit of God to move his ministry forward. Without total trust in God, we are susceptible to failure.
We all have a cross to carry.  We can choose to ignore it, reject it, refuse it or hate it. Or we can pick it up and follow the one who redeems it, transforms it, and moves it into God’s mercy and grace.
 
When life gets hard, when we are faced with difficult choices, or fear like we can’t go on, we can either stand on the platform afraid to move. Or we can trust that when life pushes us to the edge God is in control. To him and through him, we can leap forward into a wonderful adventure; floating on faith, and finding comfort and assurance in His loving arms.