Psalm 85:8-13

⁸ Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.^[a]
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰ Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
¹² The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
¹³ Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.

 

 

 

Matthew 14:22-33

²² Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³ And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land,^[a] for the wind was against them. ²⁵ And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. ²⁶ But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸ Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he noticed the strong wind,^[b] he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

 

Sermon. August 9, 2020

by Rev. John Steitz

 

Seventy-five years ago, on August 6, 1945 the United States exploded an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was exploded on Nagasiki.  The bombing killed between 150,000 and 250,000 people, mostly civilians.  Let us pray that atomic weapons are never again used.

 

The late John Lewis spoke about the need to engage in what he called “Good Trouble.”  Good Trouble is about disrupting domination and resisting harm and oppression. Ending domination, harm and oppression is good. But to disrupt and to resist is troubling for those who have vested interests in maintaining a status quo that enriches them as it keeps another in poverty.  Disrupting and resistance are troubling to those who gain privileges at the expense of another’s pain.

 

To engage in Good Trouble is to take risks.

 

John Lewis was part of the Nashville Workshops on nonviolence that Rev. James Lawson led in the fall of 1959 and early 1960.  The Nashville Workshop prepared young people to engage in Good Trouble to disrupt segregation.

 

Four African American students in Greensboro, North Carolina began the Sit-in movement in February 1960.  Those in the Nashville Workshops including John Lewis, Diane Nash, James Bevel, Bernard Lafayette, and Marion Barry were ready.  They started a series of nonviolent protests in Nashville that quickly caused local white merchants to lose profits. These merchants treated Black people as second class citizens in the stores, but those merchants still wanted their business, their dollars.

 

The Sit-ins were troubling that arrangement. The profits dried up.  It did not take very long before the white merchants were pressuring political leaders to end segregation in stores. In just a few months Good Trouble changed how Black people were treated in stores in Nashville. It was a victory for justice.

 

The Nashville Workshops helped the student participants face and push pass their fears and to maintain nonviolent discipline when they were attacked.  Not if they were attacked, when they were attacked.

 

In nonviolent training sessions James Lawson would have them role play how to act.  People would play counter demonstrators cursing at the participants or blowing cigarette smoke at their faces. They were preparing to engage in Good Trouble.

 

Those in the Nashville Workshops didn’t just change Nashville. They became the core leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) that grew out of the Sit-In Movement.

 

In 1961 the Freedom Rides organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) rode buses on the interstates which were by Federal mandate now legally integrated.  They were met by horrific violence. People were beaten, one bus was fire bombed. CORE was ready to call off the rest of the planned Freedom Ride.

The leaders in SNCC, including John Lewis felt strongly that the Freedom Ride must continue. They consulted with James Lawson. In the face of oppression, violence and injustice, Good Trouble does not back down. Good Trouble moves forward nonviolently and in faith.

 

The SNCC leaders became the Freedom Riders for the final leg of the journey. They were met with such violence that several of the Freedom Riders were nearly killed.

 

Again and again during the early 1960’s the people in SNCC engaged in Good Trouble to disrupt and resist segregation and to demand the right to vote.  We look at civil rights leaders like John Lewis and SNCC now as heroes, but let us not forget that at the time public opinion was not on their side.  They were too troubling.

 

Their Good Trouble challenged and exposed the violence of Jim Crow segregation and laws such as the Voting Rights Act were passed.

 

Jesus engaged in Good Trouble.  And for three years he led a nonviolence training program we might call the “Galilee Workshops.”  Jesus was training and preparing the disciples to engage in Good Trouble, in nonviolent mission, in advancing the Kingdom of God. What we in our time might call “the Beloved Community.”

 

Throughout this three – year nonviolence training program the disciples seem to get it wrong over and over again.  That is why you train, role play, and prepare. It takes time.

 

One of the major things that the Nashville Workshops did was help the participants face their fears.  First the fears of what would happen at a Sit-in protest. But later to be able to get on a bus for a Freedom Ride knowing that it was very likely a mob would be waiting when you got off the bus.

 

Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing the cross was waiting for him there.  Good Trouble requires overcoming fear.

 

This is the lesson of our Gospel story.

 

We are Peter.

We begin. (Maybe full of confidence. Maybe not fully thinking things through.)

We take a few steps forward.

We meet resistance. (The wind in the story.)

We doubt.

We falter.

We sink.

Jesus is there to lift us up.

 

Jesus walks on water. This Galilee Workshop role play helps the disciples face their fears.  Prepares them to engage in Good Trouble, facing fear and doing it anyway.

 

Jesus is crucified on the cross, and the disciples huddle in fear.  The Risen Jesus comes to the disciples, blesses them with Holy Spirit with his breath, and empowers them for the Good Trouble of Gospel mission.