Who do you say Jesus is?

Welcome to this weekly sermon from Trinity Episcopal Church in Vampire in Arkansas.

Thank you for joining us.

Let's listen to today's message.

I feel like on Sunday we should be listening to Simon and Marco, soon we're first didn't want to play it, I'm sorry.

Fear of Faith is the sermon titled this morning.

Beloved, I am easily afraid.

You can ask my children or my spouse, but I don't ride roller coasters.

Why?

Because you can fall out and die.

I don't do very risky things because something stupid can happen.

And I could I don't like going over bridges.

Because bridges can collapse into the waters.

And I could you get the point.

I'm a little afraid of God.

And contrary to popular opinion, they can't and won't eat anything.

And also from the first moment of their birth, they seem determined to do what?

God.

So raising goats and doing any number of these things I have mentioned requires one thing.

Risk.

Risk.

You have to risk something in order to do it.

And risk love is not an easy thing to live into, especially if you have an aversion to die.

As Kitty Chesney says, we all want to get to heaven, but no one wants to get there right now.

In our first reading this morning, we find ourselves mid-story, if you will.

Alan Judge has just found enough.

Jezebel intends to kill him and kill him that day.

And so he is on the run, beloved, and he finds himself hiding in a cave.

But guess what?

God is the Lord of all creation after all, and he can find you even in a cave without GPS.

And he wants to tell you to Elijah.

Elijah is afraid.

Afraid for his life.

Afraid of what God will tell him.

Afraid he hasn't been good enough in his work as a prophet.

So God wonders and asks him, why are you in a cave in the middle of nowhere?

Reasonable question for a prophet of God.

Because you can't really prophesy if there's no one to prophesy to, right?

And so he explains to God how bad the people have been, and that he's on the run for Islam.

And God tells him to go stand on the mountain because he might become a bot.

But what Elijah expected when he encountered God was the opposite of what happened.

Instead, like that sounding hardle, something God comes in the sound of silence.

Not the rushing wind, not the earthquake or the fire.

So now God is there for real, and he tells him, Elijah tells him the same thing.

I guess he thought that God forgot.

Or perhaps he's fighting in fear as he encounters the living God.

And what God has to tell Elijah is not reassuring.

He has to go back to where he came from.

Where they were going to kill him, remember?

And he has to anoint two warring kings.

And then he has to anoint his replacement.

Crushing news, I'm sure, for Elijah.

And it's not like it's going to be easy.

There will be all kinds of risk.

And nothing good for Elijah except that he's listened to God and has decided to do God's will.

Why would Elijah do this?

Because he has faith in his God.

I certainly would have faith in God if I had encountered a living God in my midst.

Wouldn't you?

Love it this morning in Paul's letter to the Romans, he asks two questions when you get to the meat and potatoes of it.

Are we looking for God and are we ready to do his bidding?

Sounds very much like the questions Elijah was encountering from God.

The key is, will or are we able to overcome our fear to become faithful?

God is faithful, right?

In verse 9, Paul reminds the Romans that because they confess with their lips and believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord and raised from the dead, that they shall be saved.

The problem beloved is summoned up in verse 14 and 15.

But who are they to call on in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in one in whom they have not heard?

And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim it?

Our job, like Elijah, is to proclaim.

To proclaim Christ crucified, dead, buried, and alive again.

Hallelujah.

Why?

Because resurrection life brings meaning, hope, and purpose to our lives.

We are not just doing that every day on our own, but instead we live each day with Christ walking beside us through all of life's journeys, and yes, even our final journey to that heavenly reward.

We don't have to fear death anymore.

Beloved Trinity family, the world is hungry for this good news.

So what's stopping us?

Or what is going to propel us as the people of God?

I think our gospel this morning reveals for us a glimpse into the mirror.

You know, we find three characters in the gospel story this morning.

You get Jesus, you get Peter, and then you get the fearful disciples.

Two of them are very afraid, and it ain't Jesus.

The disciples are afraid of the storm that's going on all around them.

Peter is two until he sees the Savior.

Jesus tells them those amazing words.

Those four words that are so integral to my life and hopefully to yours.

He tells Peter, do not be afraid.

Peter listens.

Peter is locked into Jesus like a high school crush.

Peter gets out of the boat.

But then, then I don't know where the strong wind came up.

Peter is really striking.

For he realizes that the sea is rushing around him and the wind is rushing around him, and he had forgotten for a moment because he was locked in to Jesus.

Entering into the wonderfulness of our life with Christ.

Beloved Peter had already got out of the boat.

He was walking on water.

He was being the best mustard seed he could be in the moment, but he begins to sink into the sea.

And so he does what we often do when we encounter ourselves sinking in sin, as the old hymn said.

And he begins to pray, save me, save me, save me.

A modern theological writer, Anna Lamont, is one of my favorites, wrote a book where she boils all of our prayers down to three titles.

Prayers of help, prayers of thanks, and prayers of wow.

I encourage you to read it.

If you need to borrow a copy, I'm happy to lend it.

Give it a read.

Beloved, in this moment, Peter's in that help mode of prayer.

He's praying it up in the storm, literally, as the storm is happening.

But notice, is Jesus praying in the storm?

No.

Paying careful attention to the story.

The story began with Jesus and Prayer all day.

Maybe all three.

But what if we're at peace with the Lord in prayer every day before the storm comes?

So that when it does come, we don't find ourselves sinking.

But Jesus hears his prayer.

The prayer of his friend shouted, I can imagine, in terror, as he sinks into the sea.

And Jesus does what Jesus always does when he needs to save someone.

He takes them by the hand.

He touches them in some way.

Some preachers might imagine that Jesus that is angry, like an angry parent, shouting, You have little faith, why did you doubt?

But I choose to think of it as him saying, Peter, with the faith of a mustard seed.

Why did you doubt when you were on the waves?

But the fear, the fear is what overtook him and distracted him from what his focus should be on.

His focus should be on Jesus.

On Jesus.

Elijah, he had a task to do, even though he didn't want to do it.

The Romans had a need to find their faith.

And we, beloved, have a Christ to proclaim in Van Buren, Arkansas.

The last part of the Romans reading this morning is this.

How are they to hear without someone to proclaim it?

How are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?

Beloved, I want you to think about this and ask yourself, on behalf of yourself and this congregation, are we that person?

Are we the ones to proclaim him?

Are we the ones to be sent?

For that is what we are called to do.

In our gospel hymn, we hear that we want to be children of the wall.

In Christ, there is no darkness at all.

For the Lamb is the light of the city of God.

Do you and I have certainty in Christ?

And if so, if so, should it should it be wished to share that with anyone and everyone who comes along our path?

Particularly those and I'll finish with just these words from the end of the Roman tree from the ball.

How beautiful are the feet of those in the rain.

Thank you for listening to this week's sermon from Trinity Visible Church.

We invite you to join us each and every Sunday and to follow the podcast so that you can stay connected with future messages.

Until next time.