Nineteenth Sunday Year A

The Collect for the Nineteenth Sunday of Year A reads as follows:

 

Almighty ever-living God,

whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,

we dare to call God our Father,

bring, we pray, perfection in our hearts

the spirit of adoption as Your sons and daughters

that we may merit into the inheritance

which You have promised.

 

 

In making this prayer tangible for the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

 

 

1. How would you describe your father (either living or deceased)  to someone who had never met him?

2. What qualities  of my father reflect/ed God as Father?

3. What does it mean to me to call God as my Father?

4. What does it mean to me to be a son or daughter of God?

5. How will being a son or daughter of God make a difference in my life this coming week?

6.  What changes in my attitudes/behaviours will I make this week to merit my inheritance?

 

 

Matthew's Gospel Chapter 14:22-33 is the story of Christ commanding Peter to come to him across the water.   I love this gospel because of the encounter Peter has with Jesus.  Peter has enthusiasm and faith and yet  fear and doubt.  He is willing and enthusiastic to follow Christ's command to walk on the water and whilst he has faith, he is successful at what he thought was impossible. Of course, as soon as he took his eye from Jesus  and allowed doubt and  the fear of the wind to grip him, he faulted. However he cried out with a prayer from the heart ''Lord save me'.

 

Peter's enthusiasm and faith in Jesus is there to remind us that we too must possess these qualities. We must be prepared to give our all in faith and trust Jesus with the outcome.  Without that initial step of Peter from the boat, he would not have experienced his walking on water- something no doubt he thought impossible. Remember he was a fishermen so knowledge of the water was like the back of his hand to him. He trusted Jesus in his heart initially to do what he asked. Do we do the same?

 

Then of course there is Peter's doubt and fear which sets in.  Why does it set in? Precisely because he took his eye and focus from Jesus and allowed self doubt and fear to rule his thoughts.  He looked down rather than kept his gaze on Jesus.   I don't know about you, but I can sure relate to this side of Peter's personality.

 

So how is this story from the gospel relevant to us?  Let's be practical for a moment.  Perhaps you have a new business,  craft or hobby or language you would like to learn or have started. Maybe you started it, like Peter, with enthusiasm and joy and you made some progress in learning or starting the new business.  You started or want to start with enthusiasm because you know with God's help you can learn this new skill.   However then you met up with the knockers in life- perhaps yourself as the inner critic or perhaps others who made unhelpful comments. These added up in your mind and the doubt and fear crept in or it might have hit like a force of wind.

Either way, you no longer saw the goal of learning the new skill with the help of Jesus as the goal, but the doubt and fear grip you instead.  Do you cry out in faith and in fear ''Lord save me''. Do we hear the voice of Jesus say '' Courage it is I''.

 

God gives us both the enthusiasm and faith and the doubt and fear  in our personalities but we can choose to live with one or the other.  Which one will you choose?

 

 Let us stay focused as we keep our eye on Jesus this week.