As disciples of Jesus, we are called to sacrifice and trust in God. Paul spoke of the need to forgive, trusting in God's judgment (he used the example of burning coals...realizing God's judgment often involves mercy and forgiveness), rather than seeking vengeance for ourselves. We sacrifice our desire for vengeance and trust in God's righteous judgment.

Jesus sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity, trusting in God to raise him up on the third day. We too are called to sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel, trusting in God that our lives will be OK with the sacrifices we make.

While Peter, and Peter alone, was the rock upon which Jesus build his church, we can all be rocks for some, to guide them to Jesus and sustain them in their life in Christ. Jesus is telling us, "I am counting on you."

In our life in the Body of Christ, we have choices to make regarding our commitment to the community of the church and our commitments to other people and organizations. I've often heard people lament that people and organizations keep scheduling activities on Sundays. "Why do they schedule things on Sunday mornings?" People ask.

We're in a majority Christian city, in a majority Christian state, in a majority Christian world. If Christians didn't keep going to non-church activities on Sunday mornings, "they" would stop scheduling things on Sunday mornings. We have choices to make.

We should consider that we let down people who are depending on us in the Body of Christ when we choose not to show up.

We should also not sequester ourselves from the world in order always to be at church. Rather, when we choose to be elsewhere, we should do so intentionally, purposefully, as disciples of Jesus...not simply skipping out on our Christian community, but being part of other communities as ambassadors of Jesus, as rocks upon whom Jesus is counting.

When Jesus met the Canaanite woman, he called her a dog, responding with the nationalism with which he was likely raised. When he then saw her not as a Canaanite, but as a woman of faith with a sick daughter, he turned from his dislike of her and healed her daughter.

Children are coming into our country, fleeing violence, drugs, poverty, etc. They are tired, hungry, and scared. Many are speaking of them as if they were stray dogs, basically saying, "stop feeding them and they'll stop coming around." That is not who we are as the Body of Christ. We greet children with open arms, offering them food and shelter. Our country will determine what to do in the long term. We, as the Body of Christ can treat them as beloved children, offering the loving arms of Jesus.

In the great, modern retelling of Jesus walking on water and Peter trying to and then sinking, The Empire Strikes Back shows Luke Skywalker training to become a Jedi training under Master Yoda. When Luke's ship sinks in Yoda's swamp, Luke doesn't believe it when Yoda returns the ship safely to dry ground. "That," Yoda says, "is why you fail."

Believing in Jesus, there is very little the church cannot do in ministry to the world. St. Mark's went on Medical Mission Trips to Honduras and started a medical clinic, MEHOP, right here in Bay City. Outsiders looking in would say, "y'all are too small a church for that - leave it to the big churches." Saint Mark's said, "we're not too small...we have Jesus with us." When need arose and Jesus called, St. Mark's got out of the boat and walked on water.

A major need in Bay City is in our schools, and that need is for children to have positive adult influences in their lives. One way we can do this is through mentoring. KIDS HOPE USA is a non-profit organization which partners churches with schools to provide mentoring for kids. St. Mark's in Rosenberg recently began working with them and I heard about it from their rector.

We too can partner with KIDS HOPE USA to provide mentoring here in Bay City. Some of us will serve as mentors. Some of us will serve as prayer partners, praying behind the scenes for the mentor / child team pair. One of us will be the director for the program at St. Mark's. Some of us will help raise money.

We used to have fajita dinners to raise money for our Honduras mission trips. One of our vestry members suggested last spring that we begin the dinners again in honor of Sam Maglito who was instrumental in the Honduras trips. How perfect to have the dinners in his honor and memory, raising money to help kids in schools (Sam was a football coach and school principal).

We can do this with Jesus' help. He's calling us out of the boat. Let's get out and walk on water once again.

God invites us into life with him, even if he knows we're going to reject that life. He doesn't mock or belittle us for rejecting, nor does he force us to accept the invitation. He invites us and lets us say yes or no. Even when we say no, the invitation is still there, or the memory of the invitation is there. When the thorns and rocks have been cleared out of the soil of our hearts, the invitation is there and given ever again for us to accept life lived in the very heart of God.

Jesus tells us to lay our burdens down upon him and to take up his yoke, his teaching and his way, which will then lighten our load further. Part of Jesus' yoke is the practice of daily prayer and service. The more we practice prayer and service, the more they help ease our burdens, giving us an even level with our spiritual life.

We've not faced persecution as Christians in America by governmental and religious authorities telling us we can't worship in our churches, will be killed for being Christian, or be exiled for being Christian. In Jesus' day, his disciples faced those possibilities. We do face people who don't agree with our beliefs and think we shouldn't hold them. In that case, we let them believe as they do and love them anyway. Others don't have to believe as we do. If we are rejected for our beliefs by people, we don't reject them in return. We love them.

We understand the mystery of the Trinity better than we think we do. If we get out of our heads and think with our hearts, then we understand. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a relationship of persons bound so closely together in love for each other that they are one. All of our relationships are like this: Person, Person, and God. The closer and more intimate the relationship, the more we are one with that person, while still being completely ourselves.

As the church, we believe in Jesus. We believe in the sense that we would look him in the eye and say, "I believe in you." We believe in who he is. We trust in him. We believe in his teachings and the way he has given. We believe in him and so we follow him in our waking hours every day. It's not always easy. That's part of why we gather with other Christians, to help each other and strengthen each other as we seek to follow Jesus.

Jesus "conquered the world", meaning he was unbroken by the world. He prayed for his disciples and not for the world. While God could have fixed all people in the world with a word, he instead became one with us and gave us the way of Jesus who prayed that we would be one with God and each other. When we hurt and break each other, we become no longer one. Jesus' way is the way that leads to one-ness with God and each other. Jesus seeks to lead us back to Eden where we were one with God and each other.