Rescue Me

Author: Pastor Dinah Shelly
February 28, 2024

Simon Peter makes things harder than they have to be. I do that, too. I often make things harder than they have to be. Peter decides to show courage. “I'm going to walk on water like God walks on water.”
Peter doesn't have to walk on water. I think that's his own half-baked idea.
Is it courageous enough to wait on God? To look for God in the storm? To witness how the wind and the waves are calmed?
I think it is. I think that's enough. Jesus also says to Peter, why did you doubt?
In Greek, it implies a double stance like going in two different directions at the same time. So, what's the distraction for Peter? The text isn't specific about what this double stance is. What's the distraction? How is it going two different ways at the same time?
Is Peter thinking of Jesus, but also distracted by his own ambition? Is he focused on faith, but also full of self-doubt? Is he curious and also afraid?
I get all those scenarios. I have been filled with doubt in all those ways. It's a double stance.
Peter cries out “Lord rescue me” and immediately, immediately there is Jesus's hand and there's a boat.
Immediately he is rescued, the wind settles down and I imagine that the darkness subsides and those who are in the boat worship.
The disciples worship in the boat. They don't wait to get to the other side of the sea, but they worship right there in the boat.
What does it mean to worship? I want to tell you that I believe that the primary characteristic of worship is remembering. Remembering who God is and what God does. That's why we gather together to worship, to remember who God is and what God has done.

Rescue Me
I’d rather not need rescue.
I’d prefer a five-step plan
and a quick-fix solution.
I’d prefer stubborn insistence
over honest vulnerability,
because rescue requires
asking for help.
Rescue names
the rising water.
Rescue sees
the tired, treading feet.
Rescue feels
the swell of the wind
and the rain at a slant.
But when the floor falls out
and the world is on fire
and my small hands
cannot fix the hurt welling in me,
the prayer that slips out
is rescue
rescue
rescue me.

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