Lord Save Me! I Am Perishing!: A Sermon for 5 Pentecost

“Lord save us! We are perishing!” These terrified words of the disciples bear much meaning for us today. Indeed, one glance at the headline news can make us feel like our nation and our world are perishing. The effects of the covid-19 pandemic on individuals, communities, and institutions continues to be colossal. Human beings are perishing. Economies are perishing. Churches and schools are perishing. 

The covid-19 pandemic seems to have come upon us relatively quickly – similar to the storm that came upon the disciples and Jesus in the boat that day. 

There is another storm that we are in the midst of as well - a storm that has been upon us for quite some time in our nation. The storm of racial injustice actually might be less like a storm and more like a weather condition that simply just is – like humidity in the deep south. But in the midst of an oppressively humid system, a storm will erupt, and somebody will perish - Amaud Arbery; Breonna Taylor; George Floyd. And along with those individuals, our trust in the systems that are meant to protect our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness begin to perish. 

And through it all, our nation feels more divided than it ever has been in my lifetime. As we attempt to navigate the simultaneous storms of a global pandemic and heightened racial tensions, one might hope that our nation would bind herself together for a common cause, similar to the way we did during the time of World Wars I and II. Personal sacrifices could be made for the common good. 

Instead, politics has become driven by special, self-serving interests, and is now characterized by a growing lack of decency, decorum, and collegiality among our elected officials. For many, hope in “a city set upon a hill” … “the land of the free” is perishing on the stormy seas that rage around us. If there ever was a time for us to cry out for the Lord’s help, it is now. “Lord save us! We are perishing!”

Indeed, I have come to believe now more than ever that the only way that we as a nation and we as a global community will come closer to mirroring that kingdom of heaven that Jesus proclaimed is for the Church to inaugurate something akin to the “Great Awakening.” Can you believe it? An Episcopal priest calling for a Great Awakening?! But I truly believe that the best way for us Christians to “wake up” to the sources, symptoms, and solutions of our perishing is to awaken the Jesus that is sleeping within us as individuals and us as a church. 

I’d love to take credit for making the connection between Jesus sleeping in the boat and Jesus sleeping within us. But I got that from one of the Early Church Fathers - Peter Chrysologus. He was the Bishop of Ravenna, Italy in the 5th century and interpreted this miracle in Matthew’s gospel in a way that I find to be incredibly helpful. 

Chrysologus read this gospel narrative allegorically. To him, the boat represents the universal Church – the Body of Christ. Those in the boat represent the individual members of the Body of Christ who have been called to follow Christ. The sea upon which they were sailing represents the ages of time – with Christ and Christ’s body moving through the ages. And the storm represents the many obstacles, hurdles, persecutions, and difficulties that the Church and her members face. And the sleeping Jesus in the boat represents Jesus asleep within each of his followers. But Jesus is sleeping not because he has quit on us or grown disinterested. He is asleep because we have allowed him to fall asleep. We have lulled our inner Jesus to sleep through our own lack of engagement with him and what it means to truly be his disciple. 

The first Great Awakening happened in England and in the English colonies in America in the 1730’s and 1740’s. It was an evangelical revival movement led by preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. Upon coming to the English colonies in America, Edwards was deeply disappointed in the lukewarm Christianity that he encountered in the churches he served. So, inspired by the evangelical revival that was happening back in England, Edwards launched the movement here. This movement spread like wildfire and was very successful in awakening the Jesus that had fallen asleep in so many Christians in the English colonies. The movement emphasized a renewed individual piety and religious devotion. And while existing churches were renewed and new churches were planted, and the religious life of the English colonies was profoundly changed, the movement wasn’t without its faults. The movement was deeply influenced by the individualistic spirit that characterized the English colonies. In the Great Awakening, there was an unbalanced emphasis on an individual’s personal salvation – focusing primarily on going to heaven when you die. As such, there was an unhealthy lack of emphasis on the missional call of being a part of the larger, wider Body of Christ called to bring about God’s kingdom here and now. 

I think many if not most Episcopalians today err on the side the communal accountability over and against individual accountability. We tend to focus on calling out the powers and principalities, talking about corporate and systemic sin, and calling for systemic solutions to the storms that inhibit our flourishing. One might say that is our gift to Christendom. That is our push-back on the oftentimes shallow, individualistic Christianity that has some of its roots in the “Great Awakening.” 

But the danger of focusing only on systemic sin is that we neglect to examine our own personal sin. We neglect to reflect on the part we ourselves play in the brokenness of the wider community. We lose our sense of personal accountability. And when we focus only on how Jesus can redeem the broken systems of our age, or calm the storms of our society, we rob ourselves of truly experiencing the grace, love, and mercy that God offers to us as individuals as he calms the storms within us. We miss out on the deeply personal, intimate relationship that God offers us in Jesus Christ. A person who hasn’t experienced the power of personal redemption will do little good in participating in God’s redemption of the powers and principalities of the world. We simply need both.

There was a second Great Awakening, which began in 1795 and lasted through the 1820’s, and then a third Great Awakening in the 1830’s through the 1850’s.  The heroes of the Second Great Awakening were Francis Asbury and Charles Finney, and it was characterized primarily by the Circuit Riders taking the gospel westward to the frontier, Methodist Camp Meetings, and evangelical preaching. It is interesting to note that in the Third Great Awakening, the emphasis shifted from charismatic revivals and preaching to a heavier focus on personal prayer. In the First Great Awakening, one might say that – in response to the highly rational Enlightenment Movement, the Spirit moved from people’s heads to their hearts. And towards the end of the Second and into the Third Great Awakening, the Spirit moved from the emotions of the heart inward and downward - into the deepest caverns of human beings. Folks began to recognize that Jesus could be awakened within us through the power of deep prayer just like he could through the power of inspirational preaching. Our souls could be ignited through deep prayer just as our hearts could be by hearing an inspirational sermon. The Jesus within us could be awakened in more ways than one.

But whether it was through fiery, evangelical preaching or deep prayer, the Jesus who had been asleep within our nation was awakened, just as he was with Saul on the road to Damascus. Before Saul could be used by Jesus to calm the storms of paganism and persecution, Jesus first had to calm the storms that blazed within Saul himself. Jesus had to save Saul from perishing before he could use Saul to save the world around him from perishing. 

So, in the midst of our despair for our nation and our world today, as important it is for us to say, “Lord save us! We are perishing!” I think it is equally if not more important for each of us to drop to our knees and say, “Lord, save me! I am perishing!” Last week, Emily mentioned in her sermon the airline oxygen mask model of caring for others. We first need to be able to breathe before we can help others breathe. And if there was ever a time for working on our own personal relationship with Jesus, it is now. Due to the pandemic, we are spending more and more time alone at home. These days, we are more likely to pray alone than with our church community. Let us use this situation as an opportunity to awaken our faith – to awaken our relationship with Jesus, who, through the sacrament of baptism, resides within each and every one of us. But just because he lives within us doesn’t mean he is awake. We must call to him – “Lord, save me. I am perishing!”