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GA06014
Gench invites commissioners to walk on troubling waters By John Sniffen
BIRMINGHAM, June 15 — Commissioners to the 217th General Assembly were told Thursday morning that like Peter attempting to walk on water in Matthew 14, they should not fear tackling seemingly impossible tasks during the coming week.
While leading Bible study during a June 15 pre-Assembly event, Frances Taylor Gench, a member of the Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, said despite the fear and anxiety that accompany "trying to walk on water," taking risks can bring people closer to Jesus.
"You can take that risk here and now, throughout this week in Birmingham, and then as you return to all the places that Presbyterians gather in Jesus' name. Take heart, do not be afraid! Step out of the boat and join us out on the water that we may draw closer to Jesus together. He's a life-saver — he’ll be on hand when we need him with his word of judgment and his saving grace."
Gench, a professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, said the task force studied Matthew 14 when its 20 members first met four years ago.
"It's a story about a tormented, conflicted church caught in the throes of a very difficult storm — fearful that the forces that blow through its life threaten to undo it — and doubtful about the presence and power of the Lord," Gench said. "We Presbyterians are not the first disciples to find ourselves caught in a bad weather pattern. And its important to bear that in mind, for sometimes we are tempted to think that our storms, our conflicts, are more bitter, more intractable than any the church has faced before — but it's not true!"
"Our own denominational history bears witness to the fact that we are fairly fractious people who have been fighting for a very long time. And neither were the earliest Christian churches models of irenic decorum, for Matthew was apparently well acquainted with conflict."
She said Jesus made the disciples get into that boat and sail out into that sea. "They didn’t get into the boat because they were necessarily a like-minded group of people who decided on their own accord to pursue a common endeavor together. It was by his command that they found themselves together and on a mission."
"Four years ago, Jesus made 20 of us get into a boat and sail out amidst the storms that buffet our church," Gench said. "To be honest, we weren’t altogether sure we really wanted to take this cruise. … Twenty Presbyterians as different as we could possibly be. Twenty Presbyterians who would never have dreamed of hanging out together for four years."
"To be honest, the fear and anxiety it all evoked never completely went away. But you know what did happen? Jesus came among us, appearing in the midst of the storm. And he said to us: ‘Take heart, I am; do not be afraid!’ He came among us proclaiming his Lordship over all the created world, all creation and all that comes to pass."
"And when he came, what we discovered about our fellow travelers, much to our surprise, was that every one of us really did love him — and that every one of us was striving as best we could to be his faithful disciples. And so, like Peter, we decided to take some risks — to try to draw closer to him through new ways of discerning and learning together."
Just as Peter stepped out of the boat and took a few faltering steps upon the water, "so it was for our Task Force as we risked finding ways to live more faithfully with our disagreements — new ways of learning and discerning together."
And like Peter, the task force members "didn’t always walk on the water successfully. Our own steps were faltering, for sometimes the noise and power of the storm would distract us and scare us, and in those moments, whenever we took our eyes off Jesus, we too would begin to sink beneath the waves. But just when we were about to go under, we would inevitably find his saving hand upon us — and also face his reprimand, his challenge: 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?' He never said, 'You of little of faith, why did you attempt to walk on the water?' Instead he said, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt that you could?' Both his grace and his judgment accompanied us, as they did Peter, every step of the way.
"We won't kid you about this: it's not easy — it's hard to do. It's a risk that takes time and energy and commitment — disciplines of patience and forbearance. But you know, a little faith is really all it takes, for Jesus promised that if you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain!"
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