31^st August 2014

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 10 August 2014

Lessons - Genesis 1:1-10; Revelation 21:1-4; Matthew 14:22-33

The story of the storm-tossed boat is a Parable of the Church. It portrays the perils of discipleship, the fragility of faith and the saving grace of Christ.

* It captures the mood of times, like ours, when traditional securities are being swamped by forces for which we are no match.

* It unmasks the Church's false bravado and loss of nerve. The reluctant disciples are 'made to get into the boat' by Jesus (v22) and they are helpless in the storm.

* It reveals the power of God's grace in Jesus, who calms their fears by saying 'Take heart, it is I' (v27) and by 'rescuing' Peter by stretching out his hand and pulling him back in the boat.

The parable does not tell disciples to try hard to become self-sufficient in faith and good works. It invites us to trust in the all-sufficient grace of Jesus for mission in a hostile world.

Nor does the parable make disciples guilty of cowardice. It invites us to see that Jesus names their fear and Peter's doubt only after he has
encouraged them and rescued him.

It is becoming easier for us to grasp this parable today:

* Until recently, the 'terrors of discipleship' which were so real to small, vulnerable communities of early Christians in a pagan empire, and to many others in persecuted churches today, have seemed unreal in our experience of living in what we imagined was a 'Christian country'. That has dramatically changed with increasingly vicious attacks on the religious freedom of those with traditional Christian beliefs and ethics.

* Until recently, too, we were confident that we could influence public life by our Christian principles. Belief in the 'saving grace of Christ'
may have given us a sense of personal acceptance but many of us saw it as an impediment to our contribution to social well-being. Nowadays, however, our motives are treated with suspicion, our need of grace is mocked, and it is becoming more obvious that, in our own strength, we cannot prevent our culture being swamped by powerful forces that are hostile to fullness of life in Christ.

Unfortunately, many of us are blind to what is taking place. What seems obvious to us and many Church leaders is that we should keep the little ship of the Church afloat by every means at our disposal. Churches are constantly plugging holes and charting new directions. The forthcoming UCA Synod of Victoria and Tasmania will discuss a Strategic Review which, in light of the financial mismanagement that has cost the church millions of dollars, will focus on Uniting our Future. To try to prove our relevance, we continue to 'set up endless committees, run campaigns and launch new lifeboats for the preservation of members' (Church and Nation), oblivious to the fact that we are merely 'rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic'.

This does not flatter us. But it should alert us to the fact that our calling to share Christ's mission in the world does not depend on our Christian principles, our strength of character or our desperate plans.

That Jesus 'makes the disciples get into the little boat' (v22) is an indication that being part of the Church is not something for which we naturally volunteer on the basis of what we have to offer. That he 'comes to the disciples in the midst of the storm' (vv 26,28) -saving them from being swamped by forces for which they are no match and encouraging them to 'take heart' - is proof that we have done nothing to deserve our place in the Church.

The true miracle is that the Church's life is not sustained by our faith, goodness and efforts but by the all-sufficient grace of God in Christ.
Despite our fears and doubts, we are enabled to proclaim the grace of God in Christ, even when God's goodness is mocked and human dignity demeaned.

The parable is therefore a sign of hope and encouragement because of who Jesus is. He is not simply a teacher but the One whom disciples call 'Lord' and 'Saviour' (vv 28,30) who is to be worshipped truly as 'the Son of God' (v33). The same title is used by the Roman centurion (and others) at Jesus' crucifixion (27:54). For what took place on the cross is also what is anticipated in the parable of the Church (and in the rest of Jesus' ministry). The 'Son of God' is the 'Lord' who 'saves' us from evil.

In this episode, Jesus acts with divine authority in calling disciples into the little boat of the Church (v22) - calming the storms which come from outside (conflicts in the world) and from within (our own fears and doubts). This is portrayed in our Pentecost banner, based on the symbol of the World Council of Churches with the empty cross amidships keeping the Church upright in a chaotic world.

This is the essential point about the life and witness of the Christian community. The cross and resurrection of the Son of God is the place where the 'wind and waves' of evil have been 'calmed' and where timid, fragile and faithless people like us are given courage and hope to worship and serve God amidst the continuing 'storms' which rage outside and within the Church.

Moreover, what has been embodied in Christ and promised for all shall be completed when, as Revelation puts it so graphically, the 'sea is no more'
(Revelation 21:4). The storms that threaten to destroy faith and hope and have intimidated many disciples shall cease.

This is Good News to Christians who must now learn what it means to be a minority community formed by God's 'saving grace' and sustained amidst fierce opposition to Christ - not by our faith and good works, but by the Lord of history. The parable is a comfort to all who are now experiencing the 'eclipse of God' (Buber), the 'subversion of Christianity' (Ellul) and 'assaults on human dignity' (John Paul II).

Thus, 'For those in physical exile, for those suffering for their faith, for those despised and marginalised by the world around them, the knowledge that history is under God's control provides encouragement.
However weak the Church appears to be, however many setbacks it faces, the end / purpose of history is already determined in Christ. This knowledge allows believers to taste here and now something of the delights of the end time.' (Prof. Carl Trueman, First Things August / September 2014, p33).

Often these pleasures are hard won. Christ calms the storms and saves from drowning, not so that disciples can drift on calm seas but so that we are encouraged to row against the tide even when it seems that we must be swamped by powerful forces that mock God and demean human dignity.

I was reminded of this when seeing the film Amazing Grace on television.
In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries William Wilberforce, with his evangelical Christian friends and political allies - including the converted slave-trader John Newton - battled against seemingly insurmountable odds to end the inhuman slave trade in the British Empire.

Such is our Christian calling! We are summoned to uphold the God-given dignity of all people and follow the 'Lord' and 'Saviour' who came that the world might have Life in all its fullness. Let us, therefore, look to the One who saves us from being swamped, that we may be emboldened to represent the Gospel wherever it is threatened.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is the minister of St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is a member of the Council of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.