As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional, unceded lands
of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People. 
We continue to commit ourselves
to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building
with our First Nations neighbours.     

 

Call to Worship:

I wait for the Lord;
in his word is my hope. 

Psalm 130.4

O, Come.   Let Us Worship.

Gathering

Almighty God,
to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hidden.
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the
inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

Collect for Today

Almighty God,
You sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your Church.
Open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in love, joy, and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.  Amen.

The Proclamation of the Gospel:

Matthew  14:22-33 

Sermon:  The Ven.  Brian Evans

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of
our hearts be ever acceptable to you, O Lord.  Amen.

“Walking on Prairie Soil” 

 Three weeks ago, I realized at coffee, I may have left some of you hanging with some of a mystery in a word I used in my sermon.

I referenced that when we would have a poor crop, our neighbour would tease, saying: “It looks like we may be eating “ties” this winter.”

The quote came from the prospect of having no grain to ship, so we could boil the railway ties to eat, as there would be no grain to ship.

I know it makes no common sense, while at the same time, it served as an expression not to expect too much (over the winter).

Now, I (we) return from a trip across two thirds of the prairies, literally travelling across Alberta and within 40 miles of Manitoba.

We saw good crops and we saw poor crops.

At the same time, we witnessed intense faith from those we visited, in nearly every region.

It is always interesting to listen to stories, and expressions of moments in real life.

One of the criticisms of religion one will hear expressed is, "well that lesson was a long time ago and life is different now."

As I live my life, and I read scripture more often, I find myself thinking, "I could rewrite each of our lessons from today and, with a few changes, make them sound like as if the writers in each of our four passages were here right now, today."

Indeed, today, with each of the 4 passages of Scripture, one could do that; and one would see how faith continues to be worked out in our lives.

We have three basic lessons from life today: fear, and dealing with fear, how fear brings about doubt, but then a reminder that God is with us.

When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, immediately fear overtook them.

They knew that they had done wrong. They were afraid God would be searching for them, and God would want to discipline them.

One of our reactions to fear, then, is to hide.

And that’s exactly what did Adam and Eve attempted to do, hide in the garden; but God does discover them and find them.

So, fear is basic to our human experience.

In the "Peanuts" cartoon strip, Charlie goes to Lucy for 5¢ worth of psychiatric help. After a number of attempts to diagnose Charlie’s illness, she finally strikes a “homerun.” She says to him, "Charlie, I think your problem is that you fear everything". And, Charlie says, “Right!”

We all have those moments when we find ourselves with one fear or another.

Back to the railway ties.

I would suggest listening to the table conversations younger children would be thinking about: what they would have to eat, and the response was, "we may have to eat ties this winter."

Possibly, the most surprising fear for many then, is the fear of God.

At the same time, the message in the Bible is "Fear not."

What if God is not with us? What if God is not on my side?

When the people of Israel came to the edge of the Red Sea with the (Philistines) Egyptians in hot pursuit, we can only imagine their fear.

Then, as if they had enough to worry about, fear certainly overcame them.

But then, soon they realized that God was with them.   

How we respond to our fears makes all the difference.

In the Gospel today we have this illustration from Jesus and Peter.

Earlier in the day Peter witnessed Jesus taking a few loaves of bread and some fish to feed the multitudes.

Now he finds himself in a boat with his friends.  A storm begins to overtake the boat. Fear overtakes them. On the horizon, they see this figure walking towards them. They suggest: it might be a ghost.

Immediately, Jesus speaks to them and says, “Take heart, it is I.  Be not afraid.”

Then, THEN, Peter says, “if it is you, command me to walk on the water and come to you.”

Peter gets out of the boat full of confidence, and then as the winds arise, fear overtakes him, and he begins to sink.

It is at this moment, Jesus reaches out and saves him.

Our life can be like that.

In the story of the railway ties, the little children quickly had their fears diminished when they realized: their table was laden with food, along with the assurance from their parents, they would all be OK.

But in the midst of that, there is still that bit of doubt: that which comes often from FEAR.

The gift the parents have for their farm children: their fears were soon taken away, and they were assisted in dealing with their doubts.

It is said that one of the leading research individuals at General Motors would call all the assistants to a meeting, and he would have a table placed outside of the meeting room with a sign that said, “Leave your slide rules here.”

Kind of like leaving all our cell phones on the back table of the church. You can imagine, how exciting that would be and how accepting.

The reason the leading research scientist at General Motors wanted his assistants to do this was because he knew that the first thing they would do was get out their slide rule and say, “You can’t do this. It’s impossible. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He wanted them to have an open mind, and to think about the possibilities.

Jesus wants us to have an open mind. Jesus wants us to look at the possibilities of the Gospel—of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  

For a moment then, let us return to the boat in the Sea of Galilee.

Imagine what Peter’s friends were saying, “Peter. You can’t do it! You know you can’t walk on water! Don’t even think about it! Besides, how can you really trust that figure off in the midst of a fog in the distance! Maybe it is just a ghost!”

But Peter thinks otherwise. Peter believes otherwise. Peter believes it is the voice of Jesus.

For Peter it is faith.

Peter has enough faith to believe it would not be a ghost, that it would be Jesus who would reach out and save him.

Two weeks ago today, I had the privilege of baptizing 4 infants in a very historic church in Saskatchewan. We all know what the trend is in rural Canada.

We call it depopulation.

With the increase of the sizes of the family-farms, the population in rural Canada continues to decrease.

Laverna, Saskatchewan is a small hamlet with about 10 resident people, two of which are permanent residents.

A few months ago, I received a request to baptize these young children. Their grandmother is my 1st cousin. These children were the 5th generation of their paternal grandfather to be baptized in this 101-year-old church.

What I find encouraging is that the request was not generated by the grandparents. The request was generated by their parents.

For myself, it is a statement of faith handed down to these parents.  

So, in the midst of all the storms of life at this moment, which, by the way, are no less or more extreme than when Jesus said to Peter, “if you believe you will come to me.”

For years to come, these 4 young children we be told about that day: of when they were baptized in that Christian church, and marked as Christ’s own forever.

God is with them. God is with us. 

Regardless of what happens in life, God will be with us.

If the stock market falls tomorrow, God will still be with us.

As we often say,  "God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow."        

Years ago, as the Berlin Wall came down, the travel laws were relaxed. The controls on the Christian Church relaxed.

The Canadian Bible Society invited Orthodox clergy to come to Canada to share how the Christian faith was maintained under such extremes; and to, literally and physically, take the Scriptures back to their countries.

We had the good fortune to entertain one of these individuals in our church and our home.            

His story, and the story of many others, gave us encouragement for the maintenance of our faith, in our time and place.              

To conclude: as we travelled across the three western provinces of Canada this summer, we could come away with fear, and doubt, when we look at some parts of the landscape.

While at the same time, we know by our own, many experiences in those same two weeks, that God is with us.

While we walked on the soil of the prairies once again, God reached out to us, and carried us on our journey. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Let Us Pray

Confident that God receives
our joys, and concerns,
let us offer our prayers for the church,
those in need, and all of creation. 

God of grace and faith,
your faithfulness is never-ending, and your righteousness
becomes ours, through Christ Jesus.
Send the church to proclaim the gospel both near and far, 
in church buildings and on our street corners,
in person, and through digital means.  

Hear us, O God:
For your mercy is great.

God of sky and sea,
the plants, animals, mountains, and plains proclaim your glory.
Prosper the work of ecologists as they teach us
new ways to care for the environments.
Bring relief to areas recovering from natural disasters. 

Hear us, O God:
For your mercy is great. 

God of peace and justice,
you call us to live as your beloved community
throughout the world.
Instill in local, regional, national,
and global political and civic leaders,
a desire to work for the well-being of all people.   

Hear us, O God:
For your mercy is great. 

God of care and compassion,
you bring assurance when we are afraid.
Bring calm to any who are anxious or fearful.
Bless the work of therapists, nurses,
and other health care providers.
Comfort all who grieve, and soothe any who are sick.  

In our parish we continue to pray for:
Roy & Gail; Daryl & Sue; Roy; Jay;  Sheila;
Yasmine; Roberta; David; Maureen; and those on our hearts.   

Hear us, O God:
For your mercy is great. 

God of wonder,
you accompany us in both joys and sorrows.
We pray for children and teachers preparing for a new school year.
Make your presence known in our work and play,
in lively conversation and in quiet rest. 

Hear us, O God:
For your mercy is great.

God of new life,
you send people to renew both church and society.
We give you thanks for their lives of faithful service
as examples of following your call. 

Hear us, O God:
For your mercy is great. 

Rest eternal grant to Liza, O Lord.
And let light perpetual shine upon her.  
May her soul, and the souls of all departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

Into your hands, O God,
we commend all for whom we pray,
in the name of the one who reconciled
all creation to himself:
Jesus Christ, our Saviour.  Amen. 

We are also mindful of the devastation
on the island of Maui in Hawaii,
and particularly of the community of Lahaina,
and of the homes and lives that were lost,
and the businesses that were destroyed;
the loss also of their history,
and the historic part of that community.
We offer these  prayers up to God.    

As our Saviour taught us:
Our Father,
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us fom evil.  
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
forever and ever.  Amen.

Prayer after Communion
Eternal God,
We pray that you will continue to grant
the Church to be a place of unity and peace; 
that, as we taste the Spirit in this time of worship,
that the fruit of that Spirit will guide us, and direct us,
each and every day.  Amen. 

The Blessing: 

The peace of God,
which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and
love of God, and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you, and remain with you, always.  Amen.