Fear Is in the Boat

On behalf of your sisters and brothers, I bring you greetings. You are part of a family from Jackson Wyoming to Moab UT to Albuquerque. Through your mission support, you are sending missionaries to every continent except Antartica. You are working with girls and boys who have been trafficked into the sex trades and domestic service. You are working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and here in our region, you have a sister church of refugees from Myanmar. Sometimes we think that we don’t touch the world much, but you do.

Introduction

How to we engage the the storms of life? Are we washed overboard? Do we panic? Do we climb the mast and scream at the storm, at God, like Captain Dan in Forrest Gump?

For some, the storms of life are simply a sign that you have sinned. They teach us in various ways, that when we struggle and have problems, when life attacks, we must have done something wrong. I think most of us have let this creep into our thinking.

When I went to Africa, they asked us to teach on Stewardship. When we had been there a week, we realized that part of the problem was that those who preached a propserity Gospel had so enamoured their people that they were leaving their churches or just sending their money to one of these “billboard” preachers in the hope of getting their blessing.

These are challenging days for churches. ABC Fort Collins, “Do we go on?” Grace River, “What happens when 1/4 of your church says, we can’t keep doing this?” As I have said before, many churches are simply struggling to maintain. One pastor said to me, “It won’t be long until we have to choose between stained glass windows and ministry.”

I don’t want to cry out that the sky is falling. Nor do I want to ignore the very real dangers and challenges facing. I want to tell a bit of a story. It is a story by a preacher who I first encountered my freshman year in college.

I hope that as I prepared this sermon, as I preach this sermon, and you engage with this sermon, it will give us a sense of hope.

First, I want to read a very familiar passage of Scripture,

Storm Clouds

It is January 15, 1933, the Second Sunday after Epiphany in Berlin Germany. A young (27) German pastor and scholar is asked to preach for vesper services. What to preach on? What do people need to hear?

I need to remind us of a bit of history. I feel a bit like the History Channel, because we are going back to the days before World War II. For the past 10 years, a firebrand politician has been stirring up the crowds against the government. Germany had endured fifteen years of hardship since the end of World War I. The reparations they were required to pay crippled their economy. Then came the Great Depression. There was anger and unrest everywhere in Germany. The Communists in the Soviet Union were making inroads into Germany. This young firebrand was offering hope, a better tomorrow economically. He was promising that the once proud Germans would regain their status in the world. He would not let the hated Russians win. He appealed to many Germans. He wanted to be German Chancellor. He was offered other positions, but he refused. It was Chancellor or nothing.

While many in Germany enthusiastically cheered his rhetoric, not everyone did. This young pastor was afraid that the rhetoric would become reality. He knew that many Christians (especially pastors) were afraid to stand up to the popular upswell. He knew that many Christians were sympathetic or even supportive of this rhetoric of hate and fear. They were fed up and secretly agreed with Hitler. He also knew that the political philosophy espoused by Hitler could not be stand unchallenged. For this young pastor, Christianity and this political philosophy could not coexist. Would the German church have the courage to stand up to Hitler in spite of the consequences? He chose that night on January 15, 1933 to preach on Overcoming Fear.

He was right. Two weeks after this sermon, Adolf Hitler would be elected Chancellor of Germany. The church, at least the Confessing Church, that part of the church that would not swear allegiance to Hitler and the Nazi Party would face horrible persecution. Jews and others would be slaughtered. The world would be drug into the most devastating war imaginable, only two decades after the War to End all Wars was fought.

Over the next twelve years, this young pastor would challenge and fight the rhetoric of hate. He would leave Germany, but would always return to be with his people. He would challenge the older, more comfortable pastors. (Pastors like me?) He would stand up in defense of Jewish professors and people. He helped establish and taught at a seminary for those pastors who refused to follow the state church. On April 9, 1945, two weeks before the Flossenbürg concentration camp was liberated, he was tried and hanged for treason and sedition. He became one of the most famous Christian martyrs of the 20th century. His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He preached on overcoming fear.

The Boat

Bonhoeffer began his sermon with this version of the story

Let’s say there is a ship on the high sea, having a fierce struggle with the waves. The storm wind is blowing harder by the minute. The boat is small, tossed about like a toy; the sky is dark; the sailors’ strength is failing. Then one of them is gripped by . . . whom? what? . . . he cannot tell himself. But someone is there in the boat who wasn’t there before. Someone comes close to him and lays cold hands on his arms as he pulls wildly on his oar. He feels his muscles freeze, feels the strength go out of them. Then the unknown one reaches into his heart and mind and magically brings forth the strangest pictures. He sees his family, his children crying. What will become of them if he is no more? Then he seems to be back where he once was when he followed evil ways, in long years of bondage to evil, and he sees the faces of his companions in that bondage. He sees a neighbor whom he wounded, only yesterday, with an angry word. Suddenly he can no longer see or hear anything, can no longer row, a wave overwhelms him, and in final desperation he shrieks: ‘Stranger in this boat, who are you?’ And the other answers, ‘I am Fear.’ Now the cry goes up from the whole crew; Fear is in the boat; all arms are frozen and drop their oars; all hope is lost, Fear is in the boat.

Then it is as if the heavens opened, as if the heavenly hosts themselves raised a shout of victory in the midst of hopelessness: Christ is in the boat. Christ is in the boat, and no sooner has the call gone out and been heard than Fear shrinks back, and the waves subside. The sea becomes calm and the boat rests on its quiet surface. Christ was in the boat!

Followers

This is a “Follower” story. Yes, it is a miracle story, but it is more. It is more than just a story of Jesus’ authority over nature. Most commentators write of it as a story over nature, but the word “follows” and the text just above reminds us it is still about following Jesus.

In the verses ahead, Jesus encounters some “wanna be” disciples. “I will follow you wherever you go,” declares one. Another just begs some time to go bury his father. This is a fundamental family purpose for Jews. You care for your elders. You honor and respect them. You grieve them. Unlike many cultures, you don’t worship your ancestors or pray to them, but you do honor them.

As Douglas Hare writes, “In any event, Jesus insists that following him must take precedence over even the highest of family responsibilities.”

The Storm

The disciples followed Jesus into the boat. In spite of other commitments, they followed Jesus. In spite of the high cost and low guarantees of following Jesus, they follow him into the boat.

The storm comes. Fear shows up in their boat. These professional fishermen are convinced they are about to die.

Jesus is asleep.

I have never been in a storm in a small water craft. Chris and I took our first cruise last April. One night we had “3-4 meter waves.” We could barely feel the waves in that huge ship, but if we would have been in a 4-6 person fishing boat, the waves would have scared me to the point that sea water wasn’t the only liquid in the boat.

A few years back, however, Chris and I were stranded in a blizzard. We knew snow was coming, but we were out running errands before the storm hit. We were driving in Chris’ Taurus. The storm came up quickly. I had been watching the clouds, but I convinced myself that we had time for one more stop. When the storm hit, we were turning from a main road onto a shopping center road. Almost instantly, I could not see if the car that was in front of me when we turned was still there. We slowed down and suddenly, we were stuck in a drift that had blown up instantly. The windshield was icing. We were blind and couldn’t see where the medians were or even how to get to a safe place to park. We were stranded in the middle of the road and I was afraid that someone would rear end us. We knew that there were stores all around us, but we couldn’t even see 15 feet around the car. I climbed out of the car to scrape the windshield and knock the ice off of the wipers. I didn’t have a heavy enough coat or gloves to withstand the gale force winds. I climbed back in the car, cold and afraid. Fear showed up in that car. I failed the fear test that day. That voice wasn’t just whispering in my heart but screaming, “We are perishing!”

We weren’t going to die. The storm wasn’t going to last forever. At worst, we were going to be stranded for an hour or so. But fear was in that car. We had cell phones. The motor was still running. We were 500 feet from a Kohl’s and 1500 feet from a Walmart. But FEAR was in that car.

Followers and Storms

Matthew brings these two realities together. Being a disciple and storms.

When we say yes to following Jesus, we know there will be storms. The scribe says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus says, “Let’s go to the other side.”

The storm blew in for the disciples that day. They are convinced they are going to die. “Lord save us! We are perishing!” I can just see the water filling the inside of the boat faster than they can bail it out. The wind is twisting them to the point that they can’t even row or steer the boat. Fear was in the boat.

Jesus wakes up, calms the storm and asks, “Why are you afraid?”

Our faith teaches us that Jesus will calm the storm. We might get wet, but God will not abandon us. God will calm the storm. That is what we believe when the skies are clear. It is harder to remember this when the waves are crashing over the sides of the boat.

Our faith also teaches us that the storms will come again. The great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon preached of fear in 1859,

“It seems as if doubt were doomed to be the perpetual companion of faith. As dust attends the chariot-wheels so do doubts naturally becloud faith. Some men of little faith are perpetually enshrouded with fears; their faith seems only strong enough to enable them to doubt. If they had no faith at all, then they would not doubt, but having that little, and but so little, they are perpetually involved in distressing surmises, suspicions, and fears. Others, who have attained to great strength and stability of faith, are nevertheless, at times, subjects of doubt. He who has a colossal faith will sometimes find that the clouds of fear float over the brow of his confidence. It is not possible, I suppose, so long as man is in this world, that he should be perfect in anything; and surely it seems to be quite impossible that he should be perfect in faith. Sometimes, indeed, the Lord purposely leaves his children, withdraws the divine inflowings of his grace, and permits them to begin to sink, in order that they may understand that faith is not their own work, but is at first the gift of God, and must always be maintained and kept alive in the heart by the fresh influence of the Holy Spirit.”

Once the storm clears, we breathe a sigh of relief and try to convince ourselves that we always knew that God was going to calm the storm. We are embarrassed by how fear took hold of our lives. We don’t tell the stories very often when we were stranded in a blizzard or in a boat.

We also know that sometimes people will jump out of the boat or get washed overboard. Can we be honest about this? We see in those who have said they would follow Jesus wherever he leads, but in the midst of turmoil of life, they simply abandon their faith.

Can we also be honest about the next storm? When the next storm comes, fear will get in the boat with us again. Let’s just look at the disciples. They followed Jesus. They survived this storm. A couple years later, Jesus is tried and convicted. He is hung on a cross. They were afraid. This little life lesson on the Sea of Galilee did not prevent them from being afraid. Peter denied knowing Jesus. They all hid behind locked doors. Even after the resurrection, they hid. Then came Pentecost. The storm cleared.

Then came the persecution of the church. Stephen was stoned to death. The church scattered. Some walked away. Many hid.

Many scholars believe that Matthew’s gospel was written to the church in Palestine shortly after Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans (70 AD). Another storm. Another chance for Fear to get in the boat with them.

Storms are not selective. They will hit us as individuals, as families, and as communities. They will even hit us, as Bonhoeffer knew, as a nation. Rarely are fears eased by being caught in the storm with others. More often, their fear becomes our fear and vice versa. In the language of family systems, anxiety is contagious. As quickly as a stomach bug spreads through an elementary cabin at camp, anxiety spread through us. As Bonhoeffer wrote in his little story, “Fear is in the boat; all arms are frozen and drop their oars; all hope is lost, Fear is in the boat.” They don’t rally to support one another in a time of fear and anxiety. In fact, often, fear freezes everyone in the boat.

Conclusion

How do the skies look today?

I know that Highland Park is facing some pretty dark skies. The winds are blowing.

Bonhoeffer writes, “Fear is, somehow or other, the archenemy itself. It crouches in people’s hearts. It hollows out their insides, until their resistance and strength are spent and they suddenly break down. Fear secretly gnaws and eats away at all the ties that bind a person to God and to others, and when in a time of need that person reaches for those ties and clings to them, they break and the individual sinks back into himself or herself, helpless and despairing, while hell rejoices.”

Whether your storm is personal or part of the church, I am hear to say, “Jesus can calm the storm.”

I proclaim to you this morning, “Jesus is in the boat with you.” When fear grips you, it is hard to remember this very simple, but very central truth to our faith, “Jesus is in the boat with you.” We often feel fear in the boat, but Jesus is in the boat.

Bonhoeffer goes on to write, “In the midst of every situation where there is no way out, where nothing is clear, where it is our fault, we know that there is hope, and this hope is called: Thy will be done, yes, thy will is being done.”

The reality for Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church, the storm was just beginning. This was 1933. The calm did not come until 12 years later. They would endure many storms. Many times they would fear that they were dying. Along the way, Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller and others would call the church to faith in the midst of the storm. They would preach faith in the midst of fear. They would proclaim the cross of Christ and the resurrection. In 1942, Bonhoeffer wrote the essay, “After 10 Years” reminding the pastors who were resisting Hitler of their ideals. It was not time to compromise. In fact, it was time to remember and recommit to the very principles that they proclaimed early in the resistance.

Maybe that is what we need to do. In the midst of the storm, take time to remember why we followed Jesus in the first place. Remember what God called us to do and to be. Jesus called us to follow him. Jesus warned us that if we follow him, it will be hard. The road is not smooth. It is not an interstate, it is often more like a mountain road in Mexico. When we said “yes” to Jesus, we climbed in the boat.

You are called to be the church. You are called to be a gathering of followers of Jesus who seek to live out your faith in a world full of storms.

Be the church.

The winds are blowing, but soon the sun will break through again. For today, we pray together, “Thy will be done.”

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