This Lent (February 14-March 30) our worship and Church School curriculum follows A Sanctified Art’s Wandering Heart series, reflecting on the sometimes mercurial discipleship of Peter and the words of a favorite hymn, “Come, O Fount of Every Blessing.”
On Sunday, we’ll be continuing our Lenten journey with Peter (still named Simon at this point in the narrative), back out onto his boat in the middle of a stormy sea of Galilee.
In those days, before aquariums and marine biology and underwater cameras, the ocean’s depths were a foreboding mystery that still very much inhabited the cultural zeitgeist as the realm of scary demons and spiritual chaos, far from today’s Baby Shark and Finding Nemo. It’s easy to imagine, then, why even these experienced fishermen were terrified when they saw a figure atop the water headed towards them (spoiler alert: it’s Jesus). What follows next is an interaction between Peter and Jesus where we witness Peter rapidly cycle from fear to confidence, back to fear, over to hope, and finally landing at devotion. No one can accuse Peter of not living “in the now”- in fact, sometimes I think that’s the only place Peter lives! I have deep affection for Peter- I think something in my ADHD brain and soul finds companionship in his impulsivity, eagerness, hyperfocus, distractibility, and earnest desire to get it right and get in tune with God, even when he lands on a discordant note.
Maybe what this story reminds us is how, as our curriculum points out, too often “we grapple with what has made us sink without realizing that Jesus focuses on how much he loves us.”
Join us for worship on Sunday in the Sanctuary and on YouTube to sing, pray, sink, and swim together in God’s grace.
In faith,
Amy
Image credit: “Lift Off” by Nicolette Peñaranda, Inspired by Matthew 14:22-23.
Acrylic, ink, paper collage, and mixed media on canvas. © a sanctified art | sanctifiedart.org
