January 11, 2004 - Rev. Dee Cooper,
"If You Want To Live In L.A., You Have To Drive On The Freeway"

The text of scripture that I'm reading from this morning is one that holds a context, that's important to understand. For you see Jesus has just had a crowd of several thousand people who've gathered to hear his words, to be within touch of him, to see who this man is that they've heard so much about. And like any good host or hostess, he's turned to the cupboard and realized that all he has is Cheese Whiz and crackers. And so he performs this miracle with loaves and fishes, and he feeds these people, both in their physical beings but also in their souls. At that point the people start to leave, and this is where we pick up in the text:

"Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. But by this time the boat battered by the waves was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, 'It's a ghost,' and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, 'Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid. Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you,
command me to come to you on the water.' And Jesus said, 'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him,
saying to him, 'You of little faith. Why did you doubt?' When they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshiped him saying, 'Truly, you are the Son of God.'"

May God bless us in the reading of his word.

What a joy it is to be with you this day. Paul often talks about how he longs for those that he's had an opportunity to get to know, that he's worshiped with, that he's grown with. In his letters he talks about "how I've longed to be with you." And ever since November and knowing that this call has come to fruition, that has been my feeling. It has been one of longing, one of desire, of spending time with you in the midst of celebrating and worshiping our God.

Now our story today-the narrative-is familiar to you. I understand you've studied a lot of water-walking. You've talked about getting out of the boat. You've reflected on that. You've had many sermons about that. This book itself that John Ortberg has written has touched Steve's life in many ways. In the same manner, it has touched my life in a radical way, and that's a story I'll share later with you at a different time. But I think if the way be clear this afternoon, it would behoove us to send John a letter of thank you for bringing us both to this church.

So we're talking about Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water. Now to do this he had to face a storm, a violent storm that was going on before him. How many of you have seen "The Perfect Storm?" Wow . . . George Clooney, Sebastian Junger's book. I was in Gloucester, Massachusetts, when the perfect storm actually hit. So I spent some time in New England, and I learned a lot about these storms. The weathercasters didn't quite get it right. In fact, the movie portrays the storm as something they knew was coming for quite a while, but indeed it wasn't. They were preparing us for Hurricane Bob. Now Hurricane Bob was suppose to have all the whistles and bells of a full-fledged hurricane. And so we did what New Englanders do in the fact that we prepared to "hunker down." This is a verb that I learned while living in New England, is to hunker down. It means you go and you buy supplies, you put tape on windows to prevent them from breaking, you find a center room in which there is heat-maybe a fireplace or an electric stove-because you're probably going to lose power. And in that time, you hunker down, you weather out the storm. You ride it to its fullness, and then when it is safe, you come back out.

So the perfect storm as we knew it-Bob came through, Hurricane Bob was blowing through, and as it came through, all it did was kind of go "wfoof.." It was nothing. It had died before it had reached the shores. All of us were saying, "Yeah, okay." There's another storm coming. We know the last one was a big hype that wasn't anything like what we were expecting.

So when the second storm blew through, all of a sudden the fervor among the people became very high and heightened, because we realized that it was bigger than they were predicting. And as a true New Englander, I went out to see the waves. I went out to West Beach with some friends. West Beach is very similar to some of your beaches here, in the fact that you have a parking lot and you have a concession stand that's on the parking lot, then there's a retaining wall of about 8 feet. Now the water itself is a good forty yards away at high tide, so it's kind of a hike to get out to the water. But as we approached West Beach that day, as we turned the corner and saw the parking lot, we saw waves not just crashing against the retaining wall, but they were coming up and over the concession stand into the parking lot. It was one of those powerful moments that you think, "WOW! If this is an eighth, if this is an inch of God's power, I'm overwhelmed."

This is what the men of the Andrea Gail faced, for the stories of a 100-foot wave were indeed accurate in measure. They faced this enormous, enormous storm. But indeed, I don't want to presume that that is what the disciples faced. They didn't have 100 foot waves, but the body of water which they were on was notorious for creating this type of movement, this type of sudden storm. I was going to get the choir to start swaying at this point, but don't get sick, though. We don't have any Benadryl. So the storm starts to swell, and so these disciples, these fishermen, are in a boat. Now this is not like the Andrea Gayle which has an anchor on it to keep it stabilized It's not a fishing yacht. It's not even a schooner. What they're on is a boat about the size, just a little bit bigger than a Hobie-Cat that has sides to it. And they're in the middle of this storm. And what happens is that Jesus comes out to them, and he reaches out his hand to Peter and says, "Come. Get out of the boat. Come and walk to me."

You can imagine what risk Peter is faced with. Good grief! Jesus, are you crazy!? There's a storm here. But he's faced with the risk, several risks. What if I don't do it right? What if I fail? That fear of failure. What if I get out and I start to sink. I'm going to be embarrassed. My friends are watching. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe this is me just kind of hallucinating and me not knowing is this really Jesus before me? Or maybe if I step out into that water, I'm going to drown, which was very likely. There was another piece that Peter faced in that the disciples around him-this is something that they never did before. Nobody in the history had ever gotten out of a boat in the middle of a storm. You stayed in the boat, and you hunkered down. So why would Peter, why would he take that step? Why would he crawl over the edge of the side of the boat and get into the water? Why would he not stay in and hunker down and weather the storm like the rest of the disciples?

Last September I was called by the APC here and in discerning the process of coming, there were several risks that I was looking at, several things that I was asking myself, what should I do? And one of those was driving on the L.A. freeways. Driving on the freeways-I've heard stories about the L.A. freeways, so I was a little hesitant but excited in knowing indeed that this was a risk that I had to take. And Sue Mallory graciously, I'm not sure how smart, handed me her keys, and I remember Greg Bodell standing with me and Greg got me a Thomas Guide, and he pointed out all the turns to take. I wanted to drive to Downey, where a friend of mine was recently ordained. And so Greg looked at me with very caring eyes, and said, "I feel like I'm feeding you to the wolves." But I made it there and I made it back and God was gracious. But that was a risk, to drive on that freeway

Another risk that ties into that closely is that I'm directionally challenged. It must be pastors-there's something about us. It's hard to tell north, south, east and west. In fact to share just a brief story, at the church that I'm serving now at Grace, we had a celebration on the Fourth of July following September 11. It was a powerful service as God touched each of our lives to recall this great tragedy. And at the end, at the time of benediction, I stood before the congregation and said that the whole world looks to the northeast [gesturing]. And I heard this snicker behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see Martin Burch, who's an assistant with me, and he was shaking his head, and I realized I needed to move this way [gesturing the other way]. I'm directionally challenged.

But there are other risks involved. There's the risk of what if you don't like me. What if I don't meet your expectations? I told the APNC that I'm not a Malibu Barbie. You got me as I am and this is who I am. There's something about reaching out to new people, to a new church, opening up again and walking those steps. It's a thing that pastors and pastors' wives have to go through, and it's a challenge, because you make those deep, deep connections with people, and you find yourself at a time when you have to say goodbye.

An elder was very supportive in this process as we sat together. She said, "What's keeping you from going?" And I said, "I'll have to say goodbye." And she said, "Oh, Dee, don't you know that you'll make those kinds of connections wherever you go. It's sad to say goodbye, but there'll always be that closeness."

So why would I do this? Why would I take this risk? There's another risk. There's the risk that I'm very human. I'm very human and I'm going to make mistakes. And you know the reality is because of relationships, I'm probably going to hurt some of you. Not intentionally. I may say the wrong thing. I may be distracted and not connect with what's happening with you at that moment in your life. But that's part of being human. And so there's a risk there in us growing and learning together. There's a risk. So why would I do this? Why would I take all that I have, why would I leave a place that's very comfortable, why not hunker down and just ride out the wave, why get on that freeway and come to L.A.?

You're faced with risk this day, too. You really are. It's not just me up here preaching. You're faced with some risks. For you see I'm a person who believes in gift-based, team-based ministries. I'm passionate about it. I'm excited to discover what parts and how God has gifted you and how you're passionate about using those gifts to serve God, and in what ways are your nourishing and being growth to your soul in that process. I'm going to challenge you, and you know what-you'll challenge me, too. And like I said earlier, I'll make mistakes. There will be those times, but there's a risk to you to come back during those times and say, "Ouch. You hurt me. You didn't see me. You misunderstood me." To take those relational risks in reaching out.

And lastly there's another risk and it involves for you to reach out to one more pastor, one more time. The flip side of pastoral life is the fact that you have reached out and touched so many people from Charles, and Lynn and Christine, and now Bill. There have been many in your lives, many you have touched and connected with and have carried with. And so why would you reach out again? Why would you take that risk to reach out one more time to know another pastor?

John Ortberg shares in his books reflections from Peter that I would like to share with you, and I think it sheds some light on this. This is what is going on in Peter's mind, according to John:

"I can't believe it. Nobody thought I would actually get out of the boat. I didn't even think I would do it myself. When I let go of the side, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I was afraid to die. Yet now I find myself actually doing what Jesus is
doing. I don't know how it's working. I'm not walking any differently. Yet, some thing, some one is holding me up. I think I'm beginning to understand now. It's true. He really is the one. I don't see how things can ever be the same after this. I don't see how I could ever settle for life in the boat again."

So I ask you again-why would we take this risk? And I want to close by sharing with you a story. Tony Campolo, who is a famous preacher, an evangelist, shares a story about a deacon in his congregation, a deacon that he could not find a place for this deacon to serve. He looked many places, he tried him in different slots, and he just never really found the place that felt like home. And so Tony, kind of out of desperation, knew they needed a driver to take the youth to the nursing home. And he said, "Will you please just do this?" And the deacon said, "Okay."

So the deacon drove the youth to the nursing home, and the deacon stood in the back and kind of against the wall during the time of the program and was aware of the time and what was going on, and this gentlemen wheeled his wheelchair right up next to him, and he slid his hand right inside the deacon's hand. He didn't say anything but just held his hand for the whole duration of the program. After it was over, he let go, and he just wheeled away silently. The deacon was taken back and didn't know quite what to do with that, but he was intrigued, and so the next month he took the youth, and the same thing happened. The man rolled up next to him, slid his hand inside his and held it. And after the program was done, he let go.

This continued on for many months and the deacon got to where he was anticipating. He was looking forward to this man-didn't know his name-but he was just anticipating that moment. He came the next time to the nursing home, and he waited in the back, and he looked for this gentleman, and he couldn't find him. And he went and found some health care providers, and he said, "Where's the gentleman, I don't know his name, but he usually comes up and sits next to me?" And they said, "You need to go find him. You see, he's in his room and he's dying." So the deacon went off looking for this man in his room. And as he started into his room, a woman came out of the room and bumped into the deacon and said, "Oh, I'm so glad you're here. He's been waiting for you." And the deacon was very surprised and said, "But I don't ever know his name." And she said, "He's been dying for quite a while now, but he's been holding on and he keeps saying, 'I just want to hold the hand of Jesus one more time.'"

The deacon went on inside and held the man's hand as he died in this life and was born into eternity. But that deacon took a risk. He took a risk that all of us are called to take. A risk that steps out of our comfort zone, that accepts the fact that we will have change. We will be challenged, not only to get out of the boat but to drive on the freeway and to be in relationship with one another.

And why do we do this? We do this to experience the glory of our God. We do this to share with our world that desperately needs us, the love and grace of our Savior. Amen.

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