Praying Together 13th August 2023

Collect for Trinity 10

Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 10: 5-15

Matthew 14: 22 – 33

The boat is in a storm, fighting a headwind, going nowhere. Once again, it is Peter’s heart that rules his head, and he is the one who dares to do what Jesus tells him – ‘Come’. Another story in which we see an example of Peter’s personality, and in his humanity recognise part of ourselves. He means well. He trusts. He gets out of the boat and starts walking on the water. But then he looks down, realises what he is doing in faith, but can’t sustain it when that appears to be something that the rules and regulations of the world say is impossible. Fortunately, for the good of the church and the ‘rock’ on which it is to be built, Jesus reaches out a hand and saves him.

All too often, we are in the same situation. We travel through the sea of life with the wind against us. Even though we know we ought to trust and obey, we choose to stay in the deceptive safety of the boat rather than take the risk. To step out would be asking too much of our faith, and deep down, however strong our desire to put our belief into practice, we cannot ignore the feeling that we might sink. But once in a while, once in a very Blue Moon, we might close our earthly eyes and leap over the side. When we do, there is nothing that Jesus asks us that we can’t achieve. Yes, perhaps our faith will fail us halfway through, and Jesus will have to reach out to us to rescue us – and He always will. Sometimes, though, just sometimes, we dismiss the rationality of this physical world, and accept the alternative reality of living in the Kingdom. And instead of walking, we fly.