How many here remember learning to ride a bicycle as a child? Do you remember the trainer wheels? Did you have them or not? I recall that my parents would not allow me to have them. I had to learn to ride without them. I was told that I really would not learn to ride if I grew to depend on them. So I learned without them, and sometimes falling down.
Rethinking this Gospel story, Jesus’ invitation to Peter to join him in walking on the water, reminds me of learning to ride a bicycle. Just as Peter starts to do it right – just as his faith is strong enough to do it, and he tries to walk on the water, he notices the strong waves, becomes frightened and begins to sink into the sea. So the young bicyclist, just beginning to ride on his or her own, suddenly looks down and realizes what is happening and begins to take a tumble. But the parent, perhaps running along side, reaches out and steadies the bicycle, just as Jesus reaches out and strengthens Peter’s faith and saves him. Peter steps out without a rock or reef to step back on to (no “trainer wheels”) but onto the deep itself. And just as the young bicyclist usually does learn to ride the bicycle with practice, Peter, at least metaphorically, learns to “walk on water” in a ministry in often very difficult situations.
To extend the metaphor, we may be Peter, willing to step out in faith, or we may be back in the boat, frightened of what is going on around us, perhaps just being sensible and trying to keep safe. That is not a bad thing. Yet there are also times to try to “walk on water”, so to speak.
I have long been fascinated by the proverb “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. It is one of those proverbs like “charity begins at home” that we may ascribe to the Bible but really isn’t there. It was first used by the English poet, Alexander Pope, in 1711 in his “Essay on Criticism” and has become a part of Anglo-American culture. The phrase is used to urge caution in dealing with complicated and difficult situations. I have said it many times to myself when faced with very difficult pastoral situations. To continue our Coronation Street theme of last week, many a Coronation Street plot revolves around a fool who rushes in where an angel would have feared to tread. Indeed, Peter’s friends in the boat may have regarded him as a fool for trying to join Jesus on the water. Even if the water is very rough, the boat is still safer.
As Christians, we are called to risk, to try to walk on water, so to speak, and perhaps we need to be careful about invoking the expression “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” too much. Indeed, in the 1947 film “The Bishop’s Wife”, the angel Dudley (Cary Grant) turns the expression around, “angels rush in where fools fear to tread”. But even Peter’s “rushing in” to walk with Jesus on the water did not come out of the blue. His decision was based on a developing trusting relationship with Jesus that would continue to develop after this traumatic but liberating experience.
Perhaps the proverb “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” is best understood as having two stages. At first, we heed the proverb and do not rush in. But as we study the situation and begin to understand it, as our faith grows, as we practise riding the bicycle, so to speak, we make a move and become involved. We do not permanently huddle frightened in the boat.
The Diocese of Niagara has a special grants program, WOW, “Walk on Water”, for new parish initiatives that seem impossible, like walking on water, but may be quite possible with strong faith and hard work. So far we have not applied for one of these grants; perhaps we are just a bit too huddled in our boat, worrying about the parish’s finances or numbers. But it is a good challenge to us: what would it be for us as a parish to “walk on water” – to venture into the community in a new and imaginative way? As one who lives in the neighborhood, I must say it is a difficult challenge, surrounded as we are by inaccessible high-rise apartment buildings and people of very different cultural backgrounds to whom we look very strange. But the possibility of a WOW grant is a good challenge to us: we would not be able to complain that we cannot afford it. With the news that Arabic has replaced Italian as Hamilton’s second language used in homes, perhaps we should offer Arabic lessons! That is just one idea. With the tragedy that has been unfolding in Virginia, perhaps we can envision a WOW grant that will help prevent the same thing from happening here.
We do not just witness as a parish but also as individual Christians. And in our day-to-day lives these are many opportunities to move beyond the discouraging “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” to trying to “walk on water” and trust our faith in new friendships and relationships, perhaps across religious, cultural or age barriers. That may just mean a friendly smile or word in the elevator, rather than a scowl. Building neighbourliness on a single floor of an apartment building is a challenge but it is worth the try. On a more personal level, perhaps it is time to share more of one’s personal life and needs with a friend, rather than keeping everything secret and secure. In the end, walking on water in faith is more liberating than being huddled in the boat afraid.
As Matthew’s parables in the last few weeks have illustrated, the result of this walking-on-water faith is abundance and quality: abundance of life, even abundance of numbers. (Like many of you, I was struck by the number and variety of mourners at Neil’s funeral on Friday; they were a witness to abundance coming out of Christian love and concern expressed in a community many of us would be uncomfortable with.) So, the invitation is, step out, walk on water a bit, do not be afraid, risk, for even if we fail, Jesus’ hand is there, ready to lift us up. God, give us the strength and courage to step out and risk. Thanks be to God!
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