When the wind is against you

Rev. Bobby Musengwa

Transitional General Presbyter

I was on an airplane not long ago that hit horrific turbulence. At one point, it felt like we were really going to crash. I mean really crash. 

It took me straight back to 2016, flying home from the 222nd General Assembly in Portland, Oregon. That plane was full of Presbyterians. We were GA Commissioners and observers, still worn out from a week of debate and decisions. 

We were headed to Las Vegas, where I would connect to Tampa Bay. And that airplane hit turbulence so bad I started wondering if it would actually go down.

I remember thinking about the irony of it. A plane full of Presbyterians, heading to Las Vegas, and crashing right after the General Assembly. 

I wondered if folks who did not like what we had decided that week would call it proof. Proof that we had gotten it wrong. Proof that we were headed the wrong way, literally. Proof that God was not pleased. 

That plane landed safely. We were fine. But I have never forgotten what that fear felt like, thirty thousand feet up, with nothing under me but air. 

Have you been on a turbulent flight like that? 

Have you driven through a storm so bad you gripped the wheel and prayed? 

Some of our own Mission Presbytery folks have been through the floods. Some have lost their homes. Some of the homes and businesses lost had just been recently restored. A week earlier, we had gotten together at First Presbyterian Church in Kerrville to commemorate one year anniversary of last year’s flood. And then a week later this other flood hit, destroying and devastating homes, businesses, and people’s morale. 

Others folks around the country have weathered hurricanes or watched a tornado tear through their town. The litany of disasters are all around us. 

If you live in south central Texas, you know exactly what I am talking about. We know what it feels like to be caught inside a powerful natural force we cannot control.

That is exactly where the disciples are in Matthew 14. Jesus sent them ahead in the boat. He stayed back to pray. And by the middle of the night, the wind was against them.

Sound familiar? 

Fresh Off a Miracle, Still Afraid 

Here is what makes this story hit even harder. The disciples had just watched Jesus feed five thousand people, and more, with five loaves and two fish. 

Think about that. They had just seen it. Baskets of leftovers. A miracle so big it had to be witnessed to be believed. They were on top of the world. Everything seemed possible. 

And then, hours later, they are in a boat convinced they are about to die. 

We do this too. We witness God show up. We watch a congregation come back from the brink, or a struggling family find footing, or a prayer get answered in a way nobody saw coming. And then the next storm hits and we forget all of it. Fear has a short memory. 

The miracle you saw last month does not stop this month's storm from being scary. That is normal. That is human. That was the disciples too. 

The Ghost in the Storm 

Matthew tells us Jesus came walking toward them on the sea, early in the morning, and the disciples were terrified. They thought he was a ghost.

They were more scared of Jesus showing up than they were of the storm. 

Perhaps the earlier Matthean communities would have heard echoes of the Exodus story here. God walking on the sea. God speaking out of chaos and saying, in effect, "I AM." Jesus says to the disciples, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." That "it is I" is the same language God uses to Moses at the burning bush. This is not a nice story about a nature miracle. This is Matthew telling us who Jesus is. 

Prof. Beverly Gaventa, who has spent her career studying how Paul talks about God's power breaking into a broken world, would call this an apocalyptic moment. Not "apocalyptic" like the end of the world. 

Apocalyptic like a curtain being pulled back. For one second, the disciples see who is really in the boat with them. 

Ask yourself: when the wind is against you, do you look for a ghost, or do you look for God? 

Peter Gets Out of the Boat 

Peter does something almost nobody does. He asks to get out of the boat. 

"Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He walks. For a few steps, it works. Then he notices the wind, gets scared, and starts to sink. 

Those of us who read Scripture through the lens of hope even in hard circumstances, note that the Christian life is not about never being afraid. It is about what you do with the fear. Peter's faith did not fail because he got scared. His faith worked exactly the way faith is supposed to work: it made him cry out. 

"Lord, save me!" 

Three words. That is a full and complete prayer. 

You do not need a better prayer than Peter's. You just need to say it. 

What This Means for Mission Presbytery 

Some mainline congregations feel like they are sinking. Attendance numbers. Aging buildings. Fewer pastors in the pipeline. The wind is against a lot of us right now. 

This is a storm, and we need to tell the truth about the storm. Grieve what needs grieving. And then reach out our hand, because Jesus is already reaching for us. 

At that 222nd General Assembly, we adopted the Belhar Confession. For me, personally, as a Christian who grew up in South Africa, who had witnessed the incredible persecution by the Apartheid forces, seeing the GA Commissioners adopt the Belhar Confession was a cathartic moment. 

The Belhar Confession was written by Reformed Christians who refused to let the church stay silent while a whole nation drowned in injustice. 

It is in our Book of Confessions today for a reason. The confession names that unity, reconciliation, and justice are not optional extras.

They are the Gospel itself, worked out in real time, in a real storm. South African Christians did not wait for calm water to speak the truth. 

They spoke while the wind was still against them. That is our inheritance as Reformed people. That is what it means to belong to a confessing church. 

Three Ways to Respond 

1. Name the storm out loud. In your session or committee meeting, do not skip past the hard numbers. Say them plainly, the way you would tell a friend over coffee. Denial is not faith. It is avoidance. 

2. Get out of the boat on one thing. Pick one fear holding your congregation back. A hard conversation. A budget decision. A ministry you have been avoiding. Take one step, like Peter did. You do not need to walk the whole lake today. 

3. Reach for the hand that is already reaching for you. Jesus did not wait for Peter to swim back to the boat. He reached out immediately. Ask where God might already be reaching toward your congregation, your presbytery, your own tired soul, before you even ask. 

The Matthew 25 Connection 

The PCUSA's Matthew 25 invitation calls congregations to build vitality, dismantle structural racism, and eradicate systemic poverty. Notice that none of those three things happen in calm water. They happen in the wind. Matthew 25 is not a program for easy seasons. It is what faithful people do while the boat is still rocking.

Truly you are the Son of God, the disciples said, once the wind had ceased and Peter was back in the boat. 

They did not say it before the storm. They said it after they had been terrified, after Peter had sunk halfway, after Jesus had grabbed his hand. 

Faith is not the absence of sinking. Faith is the hand that catches you when you are sinking. 

Where is your congregation sinking this week? Name it. Then reach out. Jesus abides with you, always! 

Grace and peace, 

Rev. Bobby Musengwa 

Transitional General Presbyter 

Mission Presbytery