Proper 21A September 24, 2011

          Hymn 661. They cast their nets in Galilee just off the hills of brown; such happy, simple fisherfolk, before the Lord came down. 2. Contented, peaceful fishermen, before they ever knew the peace of God that filled their hearts brimful, and broke them too. 3. Young John who trimmed the flapping sail, homeless in Patmos died, Peter, who hauled the teeming net, head-down was crucified. 4. The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod, Yet let us pray for but one thing -- the marvelous peace of God.

          That was written by a Mississippi lawyer, a graduate of South at Sewanee, foster-father of Southern writer Walker Percy. In a life filled with tragedy and family suicides he wrote this  hymn of faith in time of conflict.

          We’re coming to the end of the church year. Pentecost season ends November 20 with Christ the King Sunday. Our Old Testament readings will bring the Children of Israel through the desert into the Promised Land and into conflict with the people of the land and their neighbors. Epistle readings from Philippians and Thessalonians are St. Paul’s teachings about how to live a Jesus-centered life in a pagan society while we wait for the final coming of Christ in triumph. And the gospels include stories of Jesus’ final week of controversy with the leaders of the people that ended with his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.

          People don’t like controversy and conflict in churches. Too easily it gets personal and divisive. But our scripture readings over the next 8 weeks help us deal with the inevitable conflicts that come in life. We learn to keep our eyes on Jesus and trust his grace in the guidance of his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of Truth leads into truth; the Holy Spirit of Power gives us the grace “to run to obtain God’s promises and partake of his heavenly treasure.”

          Our gospel readings are from St. Matthew chapters 21 through 25 – Jesus in Jerusalem after the Palm Sunday Triumphal Entry – 4 days of controversy. The Triumphal Entry is followed by the account of the Fig Tree. The follows today’s Gospel, 23-32 where the leaders question Jesus’ authority and he responds by questioning their non-response to John the Baptist and the parable of the two sons.  Next week, October 2, is the parable of the Vineyard. The following week October 9 is the parable of the Wedding Banquet. Then October 16 is an  attempt to entrap Jesus about Tribute to Caesar. The lectionary skips a complicated question about Marriage & Resurrection and on October 23 we hear about the Great Commandment. October 30 is where Jesus endorses the leaders teaching but not their actions. The lectionary skips the Woes to the Pharisees and a lament over Jerusalem and all of Chapter 24 about the last days. On November 6 All Saints Day we will miss the parable of the 10 Virgins, and finally November 13 we will hear the parable of the Talents. Then Christ the King and Advent.  

          Controversy after controversy for the next two months. It gets tiresome. Controversy does get tiresome, in church and in life. But that’s what we’ve got, “The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod, Yet let us pray for but one thing -- the marvelous peace of God.”

          The first Holy Week controversy is about authority. “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” When he entered the Temple Jesus drove out those who were selling and buying in the Temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers; he cured the lame and blind, and accepted the cheers of the children, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” recognizing Jesus as Messiah.

          That takes some explanation. The Temple priests had a racket going. The Temple included three areas: at the center was the building where the Ark of the Covenant had been kept and the Chief Priest worshipped once a year. Surrounding it was an open area the court of the priests where animals were killed as sacrifices. Then came the court of Israel, an open area where Jews came to worship, and adjacent to it the court of the women or the court of Gentiles.

“For the convenience” of those who came to offer the sacrifices commanded by the Law, the priests had allowed authorized dealers of authorized and certified sacrificial animals to set up stalls in the court of the gentiles. And since money contributions could only be made in money coined during the 100 years of independence 100 years before worshippers had to change Roman money into Jewish money at authorized money changers, and the priests controlled the rate of exchange. Jesus had broken up the racket. And when he came back to the Temple on Monday he was asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered the question with a question about John the Baptist which the Jewish leaders for political reasons failed - or refused - to answer.

We’ve all had to deal with authority questions. The child who keeps asking, “Why” ends up with the answer, “Because that is the way it is” And all personal and social change comes from questioning “that is the way it is.”  At some point we each come to recognize and accept the authority of the loving God who made us and all creation, who has revealed himself and his will in Holy Scripture and uniquely in the life and teachings of Jesus.

Jesus in the controversies of Holy Week kept his mind and will focused on the will of God the Father. In the controversies of our lives we can, by his grace given us in his gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and of Power, focus our minds and wills on the will of the Father shown us in Jesus.

The correct answer to the question Jesus asked the Jewish leaders was “John the Baptist was of God, and we failed to believe him. We acknowledge our sin and repent.”

 We who acknowledge Jesus’ authority say the same, “We failed to believe. We acknowledge our sin and repent.”

And by the grace of God poured out on us in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are forgiven, and given yet another opportunity “to run to obtain God’s promises and partake of his heavenly treasure.” Amen.

Proper 20 September 18, 2011

          For a lot of us these are tough times. Last Wednesday the Census Bureau reported that the income of the family at the statistical mid point fell to an inflation adjusted $49,445. Half the families in the country had income less than $49,445 and half had income greater than $49,445. That is 2.3% less than last year and 7.1% down from the 1999 peak.

            When I was rector in Shelby in the 1980’s a parishioner was an engineer at a local electronic parts manufacturer. Parts were designed in Shelby and some were made there – for the US military. Civilian market parts were made across the border in Mexico. Our government wanted to be sure that we retain in this country the ability to make these parts.

          The laborers who had worked all day perceived the landowner’s action as unfair to them, but if the goal is to get the work done you have to pay what is necessary.

   Jesus’ goal is the salvation of the world through faith in him. There is no other secure and certain means of salvation and reconciliation with the Father. Jesus believed so firmly in the goal of salvation and reconciliation that he was willing to undergo the shameful and excruciatingly painful death of the cross necessary to accomplish that goal. He calls us to be his witnesses, to proclaim in our lives his death and resurrection – to bear his cross. And he calls us early and he calls us late: early in the morning, 9, 12, 3, even in the last hour, he calls us.

He offers us the salvation and new life we experience and proclaim. He offers  us freedom from past sin and guilt; he offers us the truth and the power of his Holy Spirit – regardless of when we come to accept his call.

God’s goal was to set the children of Israel free from slavery in Egypt. When they complained for the fleshpots of Egypt he gave them first quails and then manna – every day except the Sabbath but on the eve of the Sabbath a double portion.

St. Paul trusted in God’s provide-ence for the little church at Philippi that “so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.”

For many of us these are tough times. Many of us have had tough times before, and we will have them again. God provides. For some he provides through cooperation in government; for others he provides through church, family, friends. Those of us who have enough to be able to share have the positive obligation to share, to look for ways to give to those in need as we are able.

Some years ago a survey asked people, “How much would you need to feel comfortable?” The general answer was “About 10%” more than I have now.” God understands us; he made us, and he calls us to tithe, to give away 10% of what we have. My father was a priest and taught me to give the first 10% to the Lord’s service, to save the next 10%, and to live on the rest. I’ve tried to follow that advice and God has blessed me.

The older I get the more today’s collect resonates in my life, “Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen.

Proper 19A 9-11-11

          God’s character includes liberty and justice, and justice includes forgiveness and reconciliation. God sent his pillar of fire and cloud of smoke to guide the people of Israel to liberty and to confound their enemies who sought to keep them slaves. God offers liberty of conscience to believers, liberty combined with responsibility under God’s perfect judgment. And Jesus by his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection offers God’s gift of forgiveness for us to enjoy and to share.

          The Pledge of Allegiance, composed in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress in 1942, expresses ideas valued from the beginning of our nation. A bitter and bloody Civil War determined that this country is one nation, indivisible. And in 1954 congress added “under God,” the national motto - from the Star Spangled Banner and coins since 1864.

          As a country we have worked for a very long time to make real “liberty and justice for all.” We aren’t finished, but liberty and justice are our goals, liberty and justice in the character of God, revealed to us in his holy word written.

     In the Sermon on the Mount (St. Matthew 5:14-16) Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  Puritan leader John Winthrop preached on this text in 1630 to the new colonists in Massachusetts and Presidents John Kennedy in 1961 and Ronald Reagan in 1989 referred to it. President Reagan said, “in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.”

We’ve heard and seen much in the last week or so of the smoke and destruction of the attack on the World Trade Center, and on the Pentagon, and of the heroism of those who prevented a further attack at the cost of their lives, attacking the attackers and crashing Flight 93 near Pittsburgh. Ten years ago on the Sunday after 9-11 our nation resolved that smoke of destruction would not overcome the light of the city of God shed forth from a land where liberty and justice are the goals.

It has been a rough 10 years As many have been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan as were killed on 9-11. The continuing conflict and other factors have stressed national economies all over the world. Our common resolve is not as evident now as it was 10 years ago.

But we continue to strive for liberty and justice for all. The struggle will not soon be over. The people of Israel escaped through the Red Sea waters and wandered 40 years in the desert. We learn today that “the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.” That did not keep them from complaining about the lack of water and yearning for the fleshpots of Egypt.” But they kept moving and God provided for them. To live in freedom requires some hard choices, but God provides when we trust in his provid-ence.

          Justice also requires some hard choices. Justice costs. St. Paul reminds us that we are called to live in fellowship with those whose choices are not ours. A big controversy in the early church was over eating meat that had been sacrificed to the false gods of the pagans. Some said that since these “gods” were not real one could accept the meat ration passed out since it was the only way to get meat. Others said that the meat had been tainted by the sacrifice and was not acceptable. Paul calls the Roman church to set this controversy aside and leave it to God and the Christian conscience.

          Justice includes forgiveness. Resentment over past injuries is “giving others rent-free space in your head.” For our own soul’s health, we have to let past events go. That’s hard to do. We have a natural right in justice to self-protection and self-preservation. There is no Christian duty always to put ourselves back in danger. We are normally called to stay out of danger and to live in peace. Jesus died for our sins so we don’t have to die for our sins or the sins of others. He did it for us.

          That said, for our own souls’ health, we have continually to forgive, to give up the desire to “get even” and to commend to God’s judgment those who have sinned against us. That includes the 9-11 terrorists and all our enemies. We don’t forget, but we do forgive. And we need to receive God’s forgiveness for our sins against others. Jesus died for our sins; continuing to nourish feelings of guilt dishonors his sacrifice. We don’t forget; we remember and seek in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit to amend our lives, but we do forgive .

God’s character includes liberty and justice, and justice includes forgiveness and reconciliation. God sent his pillar of fire and cloud of smoke to guide the people of Israel to liberty and to confound their enemies who sought to keep them slaves. God offers liberty of conscience to believers, liberty combined with responsibility under God’s perfect judgment. And Jesus by his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection offers God’s gift of forgiveness for us to enjoy and to share.

Proper 16A August 21, 2011

          Was Moses a Jew or an Egyptian? He was born into the tribe of Levi, but he was raised as an Egyptian prince. We’d call him bicultural. Bicultural people are equally comfortable and uncomfortable in two cultures.

          Saturday two weeks ago a school friend from Richmond came to visit three cousins, all retired children of China missionary parents. At lunch we talked about their lives as bicultural people equally comfortable and uncomfortable in two cultures.

          St. Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Christians are bicultural people. We live in this world, and spiritually we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We are transformed by the grace of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus, made new people, given a new life.

          For over 1600 years the Christian church has taught that Jesus is both truly human and truly divine. The definition is the first of the Historical Documents on Prayer Book page 864. Jesus is our example and his Holy Spirit gives us the power to live both in this world and in the kingdom of heaven.

          First let me set the scene, then discuss Peter’s confession of faith and Jesus’ response, and finally call us to our own confession of faith. Last week we heard of Jesus and his disciples moving from Galilee to what is now southern Lebanon. Today we find them moving back again across the mountains into more Gentile territory to one of the sources of the Jordan river. I was there some years ago. It is a cool, refreshing place at the foot of Mount Hermon; a big spring feeds into a large pool from which flows a little brook with a park and a café. There is a shrine to the Greek god Pan and the place is now called Banyas. When Jesus came there it had been recently been rebuilt in the Greek style as a resort town by Herod Philip. He was one of the sons of Herod the Great who had massacred the innocents when Jesus was born. Herod Philip’s wife had recently left him for his brother Herod Antipas, and when John the Baptist criticized Herod Antipas for adultery, Herod Antipas had John arrested and executed.

          We can understand Jesus wanting a rest from the constant conflict with the Jewish intellectual and religious leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees, who had refused to accept Jesus’ teaching that the kingdom was at hand. We can imagine the disciples at the pool, rested and refreshed, ready to talk as good friends do at the end of the day. Jesus begins with a broad question, “You’ve been out in the crowds, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’” We can imagine the eager responses.  “Some say John the Baptist” come back to life. Others Elijah – returned (as the Passover ritual still expects) to prepare for the Messiah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. John the Baptist had recently been executed; Elijah had been taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, and though his return was expected he had not been seen for over 800 years; Jeremiah had survived the fall of the kingdom of Judah to Babylon in 586 and was taken to Egypt, but that was also over 500 years ago.  What all these historical figures had in common was that they were dead.

          Then Jesus asks the disciples, “’But who do you say that I am?’ The first to speak was Simon Peter, good, impulsive, bold Peter who blurted out “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” I can imagine an almost audible sigh, partly from being off the hook of the question, partly from agreement that Peter had put their common feeling into words.

     We know Judas Iscariot remembered because when he betrayed Jesus he told this to the high priest who used it as his final accusation before the council, (St. Matthew 26:62-68) “Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so (that’s right). But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves death.”

     At Caesarea Philippi Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” “Blessed” is the same word as in the Beatitudes. “Blessed are you, Simon” for you are speaking what God my father has put in your heart. Peter called Jesus the Messiah, Hebrew for “anointed one.” Kings were anointed and the Dead Sea scrolls witness to the wide-spread expectation that David’s kingdom would soon be restored. Peter knew Jesus power – he had recently saved him from drowning – and he remembered Jesus proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Peter reflected on his experience and concluded that Jesus was the promised Messiah. But Peter’s confession went on to say, “you are the son of the living God.” Peter recognized in Jesus a new life. All the others were dead; Jesus offered new life. In Jesus Peter found the supernatural experience of being made new. He expressed this supernatural experience as the faith of his heart, and Jesus blessed him.

          On this rock of Peter’s confession of faith Jesus promised to build his church. Remember that when the people of Israel were about to die of thirst in the desert God provided for them water from the rock. Remember that Jesus and the disciples were right there where the water came from the rock from which the river Jordan flowed. The water that comes from the rock of faith is the life-giving Holy Spirit of God.

          We all have an individual experience of Jesus as the Messiah, the son of the living God, for ourselves. We are not saved by any one else’s confession of faith; we get to do that ourselves. We all take out our own individual passport in the kingdom of heaven. We are by adoption and grace made citizens of that kingdom, transformed by the renewing of our minds.  I invite you to make that personal confession, to renew your confession of faith, to be reborn again as you come to the rail today.    Was Moses a Jew or an Egyptian? Are we citizens of this world only or of both this world and the kingdom of heaven?

Proper 15 August 14, 2011

          When I read today’s gospel I remembered the Prayer of Humble Access in the old Prayer Book, “we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table, but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.”  In Romans we are  reminded, “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” And Joseph is reunited with his brothers.

          The lectionary leaves out some of the good stories about Joseph. Last Sunday we left him sold as a slave to Midianite traders on his way to Egypt. In Egypt he was bought by Potiphar, the captain of imperial guard, and became his overseer. After a time Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me,” but he refused her, so she accused him of attempted rape and Potiphar had Joseph imprisoned. He became a trusted prisoner. The royal cup-bearer and baker offended Pharaoh and were also imprisoned. Joseph interpreted the dreams of both men. The cup-bearer was restored and the baker hanged.  The cup-bearer restored to office forgot Joseph for two years until Pharaoh had a dream about 7 fat and 7 ugly, thin cows. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream as prophecy of 7 good and 7 lean years, and proposed a 20% income tax to store up grain in the good years for the coming time of famine. The Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the project and gave him a daughter of an Egyptian priest as a wife. They had two sons Manassah and Ephriam.

          When the famine came Pharaoh sold the grain collected in the good years and gradually collected all the money, all the livestock, and title to all the land. Jacob sent his ten sons to buy grain, keeping Joseph’s full brother Benjamin at home. After testing their sincerity by requiring them to bring Benjamin to him, Joseph accepted their repentance in the scene which is our Old Testament lesson. Their life experiences had brought the brothers to repentance for selling him into slavery and brought Joseph to accept that repentance, to desire and to accomplish reconciliation.

          Historically the stories explain how the people of Israel came to be in Egypt. The story of Joseph seems to fit into the period from about 1750 to about 1550 BC when northern Egypt was ruled by the Hyksos who had invaded from the north and east.. Genesis says that Joseph lived long enough to see his great great grand -children and to have these part-Egyptians included among the people of Israel. Today we heard the last of the stories of Abraham, his son Isaac, his grandson Israel, and his great-grandson Joseph and his brothers.  Next week we begin the stories of the slavery of the people when a Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph, of Moses, and the Exodus, the 40 years in the desert, and the coming to the promised land. At the Exodus Joseph’s descendants took his body with them and eventually buried it at Nablus in the West Bank where Palestinians and Jewish settlers continue to fight over it.

          Joseph is a lesson about God’s ability to bring good out of evil, about God’s will for repentance and reconciliation, as the psalm says, “how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity.”

          But unity, and repentance and reconciliation are hard work. It is easier to exclude those who are different. In today’s Gospel Jesus went to what is now southern Lebanon – perhaps to get away from the crowds seeking healing. It didn’t work. A woman of that country cried after him, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David, my daughter is tormented by a demon!” The disciples were also tired of the crowds and wanted to shut up the noise. Jesus’ response is “"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." It is a strange response to us who know Jesus as the savior of the world. But Jesus knew the limitations of time and space. He knew that the responsibility and authority to heal the world would be the gift of the Holy Spirit to the whole body of believers after his death and resurrection. Jesus’ earthly ministry was limited in time and space; the spiritual ministry of Jesus by his Holy Spirit in the church is limited only by the short time remaining until Jesus comes to earth at the end of time.

          Jews and Canaanites called each other names. The Greek has kuna’ria. We vary that some, and not always do we use it as an insult. The bread of the children can refer to God’s special gift of manna in the desert. But the woman gives it right back, in words that we used to hear in the Prayer of Humble Access, ““we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table, but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.”  Jesus recognized her faith and not only healed her daughter but in doing so brought her into the fellowship of saving faith. “’Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.”

          God’s can bring good out of evil. God’s will is for repentance and reconciliation. “How good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity.”   

Civil and Religious Marriage

          I recommend the Wikipedia article on Civil Marriage for a review of the history of civil marriage and its relationship to religious marriage, and I offer these comments based on my work on the Church of England clergy who served in British America before 1785.

          In England from about 1215 to 1837 marriages were normally celebrated in the parish church after the banns had been read on three Sundays and were registered in the parish register. Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act 1753 made publishing banns a legal requirement.  Couples who wished to avoid marriage by banns could pay the bishop’s office for a common license to be married at a particular church or pay the archbishop for a special license to be married in any church.  England’s registry office marriages begin in 1837.

          Lord Hardwicke’s Act did not apply in Scotland and I find no record of its being enforced in any of the North American colonies. And there were no bishops in America until 1785.

          Remember that the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England had jurisdiction over marriage and probate cases until 1858. They acted under the royal ecclesiastical prerogative of the supreme governor of the church.

          In the American colonies the royal governors exercised the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the crown. They issued the marriage licenses and dealt with probate and collected the fees. The fear of losing these fees helped cool the enthusiasm of governors and the legal establishment in the colonies for the efforts by some Church of England clergy to establish an American episcopate.

Each colony established its own laws on marriage. So far as I can tell all the colonies authorized clergy to officiate, and many also allowed local justices to witness marriages. , and in New Jersey, for example, the Anglican clergy objected to local justices conducting marriages. In Virginia in the mid-18^th century Presbyterian ministers could officiate at marriages, but the marriage had to be entered in the register of the Church of England.

At the Revolution the new state governments continued the marriage license system and expanded it to require licenses for all marriages. The state continues to authorize clergy to certify that the marriage has taken place and also authorizes a number of other people to do so.

Proper 14A August 7, 2011

“If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.”

          “Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”

“Reuben delivered him out of their hands, saying, ‘throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him’ that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. . . . When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.”

Today’s Bible readings are about salvation. By the death of Jesus our sins are forgiven; by the resurrection of Jesus we receive new life in him. Jesus’ death and resurrection saves us. We receive that salvation by faith as we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, and we witness to that salvation as we proclaim in word and deed that Jesus is our Lord.

St. Paul reminds us that the wages of sin is death. Physical death comes to all living beings with a physical nature, and physical nature dies. But human beings are made in the image of God. We have a physical nature and that physical nature will die. At birth we also receive a spiritual nature, and that spiritual nature is by God’s intention eternal. We are created for fellowship in love with God our creator. One  of the mysteries of God’s creation is that we are given free will. We can choose to live into the promise of our creation in fellowship in love, or we can choose to ignore that promise and deny ourselves that fellowship and love.  The tragedy is that every one of us has at one time or another chosen to ignore and deny God. We have frequently chosen spiritual death over spiritual life.

        From those  bad decision and its consequence of spiritual death we have been saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection, believed in the heart and confessed with the lips. From the moment of belief and confession we begin a new spiritual life in Jesus. Baptism is the sign and seal of belief and confession. At baptism, “candidates who can speak for themselves and parents and godparents speak on behalf of infants and younger children.” Three times they renounce evil: “renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God; renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God; renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God.” And three times they claim salvation: “turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior; put your whole trust in his grace and love; promise to follow and obey him as your Lord.” We are baptized and we are saved; we are saved and we are baptized.

        We live not only in the hope of future salvation; we live in the present experience of God fellowship and God’s love. Today’s gospel reading is a witness. After feeding the 5000 Jesus had sent the disciples back across the sea and gone up the mountain to pray. But a storm blew up on the sea; the boat was battered by the waves; the wind was against them. Twice recently, above Danville two weeks ago and yesterday coming up Black Mountain from Hickory Lucy and I were caught in a terrific rainstorm; I slowed down to 20 mph, put the flashers on, and held tight to the wheel. The wind was against us. We’ve all had life experience of the wind against us. Our rain storms didn’t last 20 minutes. We’ve all had longer times to fight against the winds. But it does stop; the storm clears; the wind shifts, and we experience the presence and power of the Lord getting us through.

     Jesus came to the disciples; he comes to us to save us. He called Peter to come to him and Peter did – until he began to fear and to sink. Peter took his eyes off Jesus, but Jesus never took his eyes off Peter. He reached out his hand and saved Peter from drowning. “When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Today’s Old Testament reading is also about salvation. Joseph’s brothers were almost angry enough to kill him, but two of them saved him from death and sold him into slavery. Later in a time of famine Joseph in Egypt was able to save the whole family from starvation. God’s plan is salvation; his will is best for us, despite what we think.

“If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.” 

“Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”

 “Reuben delivered him out of their hands, saying, ‘throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him’ that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. . . . When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt