Pentecost VII, Proper 12, Year B

2 Kings 2:1-15
Ephesians 4:1-7,11-16
Mark 6:45-52

"THEIR HEARTS WERE HARDENED."

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

I am going to speak frankly to you this morning about a very sensitive and delicate matter. I do this with confidence because this is a parish where people with differing points of view are respected and honoured, a place where we can be honest in our efforts to be faithful to Christ, a place where we try to love one another.

Last summer the Roman Catholic Church took a pounding in the media as it struggled to deal with its sins. Our proper response was to pray for our Roman brothers and sisters. I am afraid that this summer the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion may be in the media spotlight, and the media stoke dissension and pettiness. The Episcopal Church's governing body, the General Convention, begins its triennial meeting this week. It's too bad these meetings are not once a decade, or even once in a generation. To our sadness and shame, they are usually accompanied by bitterness, hostility, threats, and ugliness from both sides of whatever is the controversy of the day. There are always predictions of schism and charges of infidelity, heresy, and callousness. Unfortunately, that has been characteristic of church meetings since S. Paul and S. James fought each other in the decades immediately after the Resurrection. I consider Church politics, and specifically the General Convention, to be a cross to bear, and I bear it mostly by trying to ignore it and by offering prayer for peace, unity, and concord. Indeed, the prayer for last week in the ‘28 Prayer Book included the petition that "thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness." (Trinity V) That's my prayer for the next couple of weeks! It's not that the Church should be quiet in the world and keep to herself, but that sometimes it seems that we're loud about our disagreements and quiet about the good news of Jesus Christ.

I have a fantasy that on the first day of its meeting, the General Convention, led by the Holy Spirit, votes to reject its agenda and to adopt a new agenda. This new agenda does not focus on controversy and division, but seeks to proclaim the gospel: that Jesus loves us, cares for us, forgives us; that God offers us strength in the difficulties of life; that in Christ we have unity and charity. The media would leave, but Christ would be honoured and glorified. I pray that the General Convention is a rally for Christ, a mission of preaching, teaching, and prayer. Should not we be more passionate about evangelism, about sharing God's love with the unchurched, about supporting one another in Christ, than about fighting with one another over the complexities and mysteries of sexuality?

A friend of mine quotes Chesterton: "The Church has sex on its mind, and that's not the right place for it." All of the Church's talk and anxiety about sex clouds over the joy and fun and love of it. It's exasperating. I recognize, however, that my lack of patience for all of this may be unfair because the Church is addressing important issues, just maybe not essential, core issues. They are important issues, but they are also difficult issues, and I would feel inadequate and unworthy to cast a vote about them. I know that since the first century, the Church has cast votes to make decisions, that in the fourth and fifth centuries the Church agreed upon the fundamental doctrines of the Trinity and the nature of Christ by voting, that the Holy Spirit has often guided the Church through voting, and at times fiercely cantankerous voting, but living in a democracy makes us sensitive that the majority is not always right and true, and I know that my discernment of God's will is far from perfect and that, like the disciples, my heart is sometimes hardened.

I also know that both sides of this controversy have legitimate concerns. Clearly people in gay relationships find strength and growth and love in them, expanding, enriching their lives and souls, strengthening Christ-like qualities of sacrifice, generosity, charity, mercy, compassion. But is our age and our culture more spiritually advanced than others? Because the Church through time and space, that is throughout its history and throughout the world today, has with pretty strong consistency been reluctant about it. It's a tough, sensitive matter that deserves charity, humility, prayer, respect for all people – not politicking. It is also a matter that the Episcopal Church, a small part of the Anglican Communion, a small sliver of the universal Church, should be extremely cautious about trying to resolve on its own.

What is particularly troubling to me is that this is one of few issues in which my experience and understanding of life is at variance with the teaching of the Church and the Bible. This unsettles me, and I live with this tension. But that does not diminish my faith. In fact, it is a mark of faith. A large part of a mature faith is the ability to deal with ambiguity and to be humble in recognizing our limitations. It's okay not to be absolute and definite about everything. What is fundamental, what is essential, what is absolute, is that we try to keep Christ in our hearts, try to be like Jesus, and try to accept everyone, to have mercy for everyone, to pray for everyone, to love everyone.

Most of the points I have just made are not my own. They are the gospel, and specifically we find it in this morning's gospel, this weird event of Jesus walking on the sea. The story is full of symbolic meaning. The boat on the sea has long been a symbol of the Church. It reminds us of Noah's ark, which saved all of creation from destruction. The storm may be understood as the result of the disciples being without Jesus, and Jesus' presence calms the storm, the crisis. The boat is steady when Christ is present.

Our Lord's words of comfort are also full of meaning. He says to his disciples, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." These words of encouragement have important antecedents. First, Jesus says, "Be not afraid," three times as he sends out the twelve in mission. Although they were afraid before it, the mission had gone well; the disciples had nothing to fear. Second, "It is I" comes from the Greek phrase , which means, "I am." This is the Divine Name. Most obviously, at the burning bush Moses asks God his name, and God tells Moses, "I am who I am. Tell the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:14-15) The Greek phrase is also frequently the translation of the Hebrew phrase, "I am the Lord." If God, if "I am" has come to the disciples in the boat, all will be well. Third, ‘Be of good cheer' recalls Moses' words to the Hebrews before they crossed the Red Sea and escaped the Egyptians. God saved Israel from the Egyptians and from the flood waters, and he will save his disciples, his Church.

The Exodus story is vital to understanding today's gospel. Jesus walking on the sea is a symbolic repetition of Moses leading Israel out of Egypt. The Psalmist writes of God: "Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters. . . Thou leadest thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron." (Ps 77:19-20) Again, there is this strong association of Jesus and Moses, that Jesus is the new Moses, the leader of the new Israel, the Church. Prior to Jesus walking on water, Jesus had fed the five thousand in the wilderness – our gospel for last week. Moses also had fed Israel in the wilderness when he had found manna, the bread of heaven. Jesus walking on water confirms the point of the multiplication of loaves, that Jesus is the new lawgiver, the true leader of Israel. The disciples don't get it. They are astonished, confused, uncomprehending.

S. Mark tells the story of Jesus walking on the water in a much different manner than S. Matthew. Matthew concludes the story with the disciples falling down and worshiping Jesus; Matthew thinks the disciples get it. I think Mark's rendering of the story is more accurate in describing the Church, not the Church as we'd like it to be, but the Church as it tends to be – and each of us, the way we tend to be. We do not get what Jesus is doing in the life of the Church today, but we need to have faith, to focus on Christ's presence in the Church and to focus on our mission of sharing his presence and his mercy with the world. Nothing separates us from the love of God, but the hardness of our own hearts.

Our hearts are hardened and we lack courage, if we believe that Christ has forsaken the Church. Like the disciples in the boat, we toil in troubled times, but we don't have to have hardened hearts. The winds and seas are not favourable for the Church and Christ's mission, but over the last couple thousand years the Church has dealt with far, far more difficult problems. What is fundamentally good and true and beautiful about the Church will continue to exist; Christ will continue to change lives and love people through his Church.

Our response to this controversy should be to focus on Christ's presence with us and to redouble our efforts to share his presence with the world. Our response should be to pray for one another and to love one another. Our response should be what we heard S. Paul tell the Ephesians: "I beseech you to remember your calling that you live with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.