The Voice of Truth

“The Voice of Truth”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

August 10, 2014

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Romans 10:5-15

Matthew 14:22-33

         It may be August, but this week, A Charlie Brown Christmas from 1965 came to mind for me. Has everyone seen it before? There is a scene where Charlie Brown goes to see Lucy for “psychiatric help” at a booth she has set up. Lucy requests five cents in payment- in advance of course. Then, she begins trying to diagnose him. She says,

“Lucy: Are you afraid of responsibility? If you are, then you have hypengyophobia.

Charlie Brown: I don't think that's quite it.

Lucy: How about cats? If you're afraid of cats, you have ailurophasia.

Charlie Brown: Well, sort of, but I'm not sure.

Lucy: Are you afraid of staircases? If you are, then you have climacaphobia. Maybe you have thalassophobia. This is fear of the ocean, or gephyrobia, which is the fear of crossing bridges. Or maybe you have pantophobia. Do you think you have pantophobia?

Charlie Brown: What's pantophobia?

Lucy: The fear of everything.

Charlie Brown: THAT'S IT!”

Does anyone here have a phobia? I have a fear of heights and a fear of complete darkness. Anyone else?

In today’s Gospel reading, it may seem that as Lucy may suggest, that Peter has thalassophobia- fear of the ocean. But no, it was not the fear of the ocean or even aquaphobia- the fear of water or drowning that was the problem. I don’t want to belittle the reality of phobias because they are very real for people. They cause real trauma in peoples lives. I am not a psychiatric professional, so please don’t take anything I say today as psychiatric advice. But there is spiritual truth in the way that phobias are treated professionally. A common treatment is called Prolonged Exposure Therapy. In this therapy, people are slowly exposed to the thing they are afraid of over time. So if you have arachnophobia (the fear of spiders), a therapist may bring you a tiny spider in a cage. Over weeks or months, s/he would work you up to a tarantula to pet.

Again, I am not a psychiatric professional, but I would unofficially diagnose Peter with a fear of trusting people (unofficially known as pistanthrophobia). So maybe Peter needed an exercise in trust. It was very late at night, between 3 and 6am when Jesus came down from his prayers on the mountain and found the boat with the disciples far from land. A storm was brewing and the winds had picked up. So like you do, he walked on top of the water toward the boat. Hold on… what? I know Jesus is called the Son of God and all, but walking on water? That’s just showing off! What ever happened to humility? He couldn’t have waited until the storm let up and the disciples sailed back to shore?

People have put theories out about how Jesus walked on water, from the density of the water in that particular sea to using reeds on his feet to walk across. They miss the point completely. I don’t care if Jesus literally walked on water or not. A magic trick is not going to make me believe the gospel. But the truth behind this story does.

Jesus had sent the disciples ahead of him, just as the risen Christ would later send the disciples out into the world without his bodily presence. Inevitably, things around them became difficult. We have some storms in our lives, amen? We even name those storms after our exes: Tropical Storm Trina, Hurricane Henry, Tornado Trudy… The winds pick up and your life starts to rock back and forth. The electric bill hits the left side, the mortgage payment hits the right side, the wave of health problems washes over the port, the rain of depression falls down on you from the sky. You’re in the midst of it and think, “Am I on Noah’s Ark??”

Life can sometimes feel this way, overwhelmed by everything around us. But Jesus comes in the midst of the storm to deliver us. When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they were now not only afraid of the storm, but also afraid of the ghost coming toward them. But Jesus gives them the affirmation they need: “Take courage, it’s me; don’t be afraid.” In the midst of our storms, Christ comes to us in the form of other people. It may be a friend or family member, a true psychiatric professional, or even a stranger. Their words may not calm the storm around you, but their words and presence give you enough courage to reach out for help.

The next part of the story is where it gets tricky. It wasn’t Jesus’ idea for Peter to try walking on water. Peter gets that bright idea himself. So he starts walking out on the water, but as soon as he notices how bad the storm is, he starts sinking. It’s actually kind of comical. Jesus had given Simon the name “Peter” (Petros), meaning “rock” or “stone” in Greek. So as rocks do, Peter sank. Sometimes we step out in faith, either giving ourselves too much responsibility or giving God too much responsibility. We can’t bear the storm alone, so we need God to help us through. But we also can’t sit back doing nothing and allow God to do all the work. Our faith journey is a two-way connection; it is a relationship. We co-create our lives with God.

Peter cries out for help and of course Jesus pulls him back up. Jesus then asks the question, “Why did you doubt?” The word for doubt here in Greek is “distazo,” meaning “indecisive.” So Jesus is asking, “Why can’t you make a decision?” Peter does not give an answer in the text. They return to the boat and the winds stop. The scripture leaves us with the same question: “Why can’t you make a decision?” Why can’t you decide to be happy? Why can’t you decide to be your best self? Why can’t you decide to stop worrying and start trusting that the storm will indeed end?

A Course In Miracles says this (5:III:19): “When [humanity] made the ego, God placed in [each person] the call to joy. This call is so strong that ego always dissolves at its sound. This why you can choose to listen to two voices within you. One you made yourself and that one is not of God. But the other is given you by God Who asks you only listen to it. The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. [Hers] is the Voice that calls you back to where you were before and will be again.”

Within our storms of struggle, the ego has a lot to say. It may say, “I’ll never make it through this. All of this is too much for me to bear. I deserve this punishment. I need someone to blame for this. Where is God now? I must be weak to be tossed like this.” But as the Course teaches us, the ego is not the only voice we hear. The Presence of Christ, as on the raging sea, is with us through the Holy Spirit within.

The Course continues (24-25), “The Voice for God is always quiet because it speaks for peace. Yet peace is stronger than war because it heals. War is division, not increase. No one gains from strife… The Holy Spirit is your Guide in choosing. [Spirit] is the part of your mind which always speaks for the right choice because [Spirit] speaks for God. [Spirit] is your remaining communication with God, which you can interrupt but cannot destroy.”  Remember that question Jesus asked Peter: “Why can’t you make a decision?” Here we find the answer. We too often listen to the ego instead of listening to the Spirit. We are taught from a young age that to mature and grow up, we need to be independent. We need to do things on our own. “Suck it up; you’re a big boy. Get over it; you’re a big girl.” We hold on to that mentality for life, forgetting that God calls us to be interdependent with others and with God.

We can’t face this world of illusions alone. Some of our troubles are real and others are just in our minds, but even the illusions seem very real to us. So we need the Voice of God in each other and the Voice of God within ourselves to silence the ego and heal our lives. A verse from our passage from Paul’s Letter to the church in Rome reminds us what we need to do in the midst of the storm: “Everyone who calls on the name of God shall be saved.” It doesn’t matter what the trouble is. Just call on the Voice of Truth within and trust that it will deliver you to inner peace and joy.

And also don’t forget- when your winds die down, someone else’s are still raging. As the Apostle Paul says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” So don’t hide this truth like something that can be stolen from you. Spread the good news: the storm will end, God is here, and wherever God is, all is well. And so it is. Amen.