This Week's Sermon
August 13, 2017 The Rev. Bill Van Oss
There once was a man who got a new hunting dog. He was very excited about his new dog and couldn’t wait for duck hunting season to arrive. The first morning of duck hunting the man and his new dog were sitting in his blind and along flies a duck. The man shoots and the duck falls into the lake.
The hunter sent his dog and it proceeds to walk on the water, pick up the duck, and bring it back. The man was stunned. He shot another duck and it fell into the lake and again the dog walked on the water and brought it back.
Not wanting to be thought a fool, the man told no one about this, but the next day he asked his neighbor to come out and hunt with him. As before, the man shot a duck that fell into the lake and the dog walked on the water to get it. His neighbor didn’t say a word. Several more ducks were shot and retrieved by the dog that could walk on water. Each time, the owner said nothing and the neighbor said nothing. Finally, unable to contain himself the dog’s owner asked his neighbor, “Do you notice anything strange about my new dog?” “Sure do,” his neighbor replied, “Your dog doesn’t know how to swim.”
A dog walking on water . . . Peter, in today’s Gospel, walking on water, an impossible thing, walking on water, (unless it’s January in Minnesota). Peter was able to do an impossible thing until he became afraid.
When I was a boy you could almost walk on the water of the Fox River in Green Bay, and the mouth of the bay, because the water was so polluted. Think PCB’s and PCP’s and all sorts of junk tossed in by industries and people. Then the environmental folks and government folks and local people affected by this pollution decided to do something that seemed impossible, clean up the river and the bay. Out of this the Clean Water Act was born, people worked hard, industries and individuals changed their practices and today the water is clean enough to swim in. Clean enough to eat the fish caught in the water.
I am sure there were many who said it couldn’t be done, or that the paper companies would go under, but they didn’t give in to fear and they did what seemed impossible. Thirty years ago, a hole in the earth’s ozone layer was growing and a group of scientists and policymakers met in Montreal to figure out how to solve it. It probably seemed impossible, to fix a hole in the earth’s atmosphere, but the Montreal Protocol, restricting the use of harmful gases like CFC’s led to the rebuilding of the ozone layer; it’s starting to heal as the result of wise collective human action accomplishing a seemingly impossible thing. As with the cleaning up of lakes and rivers in the 1970’s and 1980’s, there were certainly people who said it couldn’t be done, who tried using fear to derail the efforts.
Peter believed he could do the impossible, that he could walk on water, and he stepped out of the boat and did it until he became afraid. Once he stopped focusing on the good, the destination, the dream, once he stopped focusing on Jesus and instead turned his attention to the headwinds and chaos around him, once he became afraid, he began to sink.
Fear of the unknown, fear of ridicule, fear of failure, fear of change, all keep us from doing what seems impossible. What impossible thing are we being called to do? End homelessness and hunger in our community? Heal the planet from climate change? Provide decent healthcare for all? End violence and racism like that in Charlottesville, VA in all its ugly forms? Take the first steps in recovery? Reconcile with someone in your family? Learn to love yourself as God loves you?
Peter’s stepping out into the seemingly impossible so long ago reminds us that we can do difficult, even impossible things, with God’s help if we stay focused on the One who is always inviting us into deeper relationship and if we do not allow fear to swallow us up.
August 13, 2017 The Rev. Bill Van Oss
There once was a man who got a new hunting dog. He was very excited about his new dog and couldn’t wait for duck hunting season to arrive. The first morning of duck hunting the man and his new dog were sitting in his blind and along flies a duck. The man shoots and the duck falls into the lake.
The hunter sent his dog and it proceeds to walk on the water, pick up the duck, and bring it back. The man was stunned. He shot another duck and it fell into the lake and again the dog walked on the water and brought it back.
Not wanting to be thought a fool, the man told no one about this, but the next day he asked his neighbor to come out and hunt with him. As before, the man shot a duck that fell into the lake and the dog walked on the water to get it. His neighbor didn’t say a word. Several more ducks were shot and retrieved by the dog that could walk on water. Each time, the owner said nothing and the neighbor said nothing. Finally, unable to contain himself the dog’s owner asked his neighbor, “Do you notice anything strange about my new dog?” “Sure do,” his neighbor replied, “Your dog doesn’t know how to swim.”
A dog walking on water . . . Peter, in today’s Gospel, walking on water, an impossible thing, walking on water, (unless it’s January in Minnesota). Peter was able to do an impossible thing until he became afraid.
When I was a boy you could almost walk on the water of the Fox River in Green Bay, and the mouth of the bay, because the water was so polluted. Think PCB’s and PCP’s and all sorts of junk tossed in by industries and people. Then the environmental folks and government folks and local people affected by this pollution decided to do something that seemed impossible, clean up the river and the bay. Out of this the Clean Water Act was born, people worked hard, industries and individuals changed their practices and today the water is clean enough to swim in. Clean enough to eat the fish caught in the water.
I am sure there were many who said it couldn’t be done, or that the paper companies would go under, but they didn’t give in to fear and they did what seemed impossible. Thirty years ago, a hole in the earth’s ozone layer was growing and a group of scientists and policymakers met in Montreal to figure out how to solve it. It probably seemed impossible, to fix a hole in the earth’s atmosphere, but the Montreal Protocol, restricting the use of harmful gases like CFC’s led to the rebuilding of the ozone layer; it’s starting to heal as the result of wise collective human action accomplishing a seemingly impossible thing. As with the cleaning up of lakes and rivers in the 1970’s and 1980’s, there were certainly people who said it couldn’t be done, who tried using fear to derail the efforts.
Peter believed he could do the impossible, that he could walk on water, and he stepped out of the boat and did it until he became afraid. Once he stopped focusing on the good, the destination, the dream, once he stopped focusing on Jesus and instead turned his attention to the headwinds and chaos around him, once he became afraid, he began to sink.
Fear of the unknown, fear of ridicule, fear of failure, fear of change, all keep us from doing what seems impossible. What impossible thing are we being called to do? End homelessness and hunger in our community? Heal the planet from climate change? Provide decent healthcare for all? End violence and racism like that in Charlottesville, VA in all its ugly forms? Take the first steps in recovery? Reconcile with someone in your family? Learn to love yourself as God loves you?
Peter’s stepping out into the seemingly impossible so long ago reminds us that we can do difficult, even impossible things, with God’s help if we stay focused on the One who is always inviting us into deeper relationship and if we do not allow fear to swallow us up.
