Hi everyone, the topic of church’s this week was about Jesus walking on the water and fear. I listen to about five sermons a week as standard and on this topic of fear which is quite a big topic I want to recap what some ministers said about fear which was quite helpful.
I listen to two sermons if they are different in my own church and one in person which is an Anglican church and I attend as a non denominational Christian. I also listen to the Catholic church sermon in my Catholic primary school Church I was baptised. I too like listening St Margaret’s sermons online as well which is Anglo-Catholic and they have separate videos for the sermons only. A commenter rated them as intelligent sermons and I would tend to agree. I sometimes will to listen to the sermon in a church my sister attends which is a Elim Pentecostal church. I also sometimes will attend a Catholic church which does not appear online and note the parts of the sermon that inspire me. I will do this for posts that only would benefit from it. I enjoy listening to sermons.
I have also started listening to the Church of England sermons online. I will include short extracts of their work on fear below.
My thoughts on fear?
Jesus said that we should have fear and should believe (Mark 5:36). The Bible also says that fear should not have a dominion over us in (Romans 6:14) The Bible also speaks about the Spirit of fear which we should not have (Timothy 1:7).
As humans we can all struggle with fear ourselves and myself I have to in my life. I was a fearless child in some respects but was sensory sensitive. Fear came through for me through experiencing an eating disorder in my life-mostly anorexia nervosa. It happened to me due to multiple reasons and one was others peoples sin by verbally, poor choices or physically abusing me and there was other sin in the world at birth and my own personality which can be quite driven. I have long since forgiven anyone who could have played a part in the eating disorder.
Some people see an eating disorder as being a wound that they have to carry and some see it as their own afflictions. Some people do recover and have had the faith to help them. I see it at something I manage which is much better today and the future is with God on that but I have made such progress with Christ. Having this since my childhood, it is the way I address it and take every day as it comes.
Christ has helped me with fear with our own frailty and my autism I can be sensory sensitive to things I visually but that can like a thorn in my side and has its advantages to like Paul found with his condition where God shines light into it.
I have old work when I was a Christian in my 20s and at times a pair of scales used to make me insult myself. I have outgrown that as well today thanks be to God. I am 53 today. I am still quite a fearless person and fear losing close relatives-but I give my hand to God and walk with the faith and don’t worry too much, so I take my own advice.
This was at a Catholic church which doesn’t appear online-
Today's gospel reminds us that faith in the Lord and his word does not open a road where everything is easy and peaceful. Faith does not protect us from every storm of life.
Rather, faith give us the certainty that Jesus’ presence gives us courage to pass through the storm of life. Faith gives us the stability of hand that catches us, helps us face our difficulties and show us the way even to the darkness. Faith is not an escape from life's world. It is the source of strength on our journey and it keeps meaning to that.
There are many nights in which we may lose our direction. There are pains that that suddenly destroy us. Worries that scar us, fears that make us want to give up. On the contrary, God tells us that he's with us righteously in moments of trouble and storm of life. When we strongly feel doubt and fear, when we feel that we have done wrong, and when everything around us seems dark, we should not be ashamed to cry out like people.
.................
This is from my childhood baptism Catholic church-
When we go through the troubles and worries of our own lives, when our the ships of our lives push us out into waters that can sometimes seem dangerous, where we seem not to have any hope. It is the call to the Lord that reminds us of our faith. It is a call to the Lord to remind us to trust. It is a call to the Lord to remind us to understand God's plan. And sometimes we find that difficult.
And yet as members of the family of God, we're called to trust. We're called to love. We're called to understand. Matthew's gospel tells us today that Jesus looking at Peter told him, "Come. It is I. Come." And even as Peter goes towards him, he doubts as we do. We ask the Lord, but still we doubt. We ask the Lord, but still we fear. We ask the Lord, but still we don't always trust as he would want us to trust.
He puts out his hand and takes Peter. He puts out his hands and saves Peter. He puts out his hand and he saves you and he saves me. And for that we are thankful. And if you read the scriptures, you'll see it over and over in the Gospels that Jesus goes up the mountain because it is on the mountain that you meet God. But Jesus also helped his disciples as he helps you and I today to realise that we cannot always stay on the mountain.
We cannot always have that transfiguration experience that we need to come down into the real world and put into practice what we've learned from him, from his word, from his life, from the gospels. Come, put your hand in mine. I am with you always, he tells us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHOYTCRKH9I
.............
From an Anglo Catholic church-
In the storm, the storm of life which comes and goes in your life and mine. Whoever we are, whatever we get up to, we do not see. We do not always know where Jesus is. He has to come to us because his name is love. We walk. We sail in the boat with the disciples in lives of doubt.
The fear that grips the disciples in the boat because fear, fear of rejection, fear of giving ourselves, fear of being wrong, fear of risks can control a human life, leaving no room for the liberation which a life of faith can bring to every human heart.
God is hidden in our difficulties. If we can find God there, we shall never lose him. And we must be patient with our failures. There's always another opportunity to find God unless we go ashore and stay there opting for a no risk life.
To meet the wind and waves and storms of life is not a defeat. It is life itself. Whatever happens we can interpret as God telling us he's still here with us.
What about Peter? Peter is you and Peter is me. Peter is invited to come to Jesus across the water. And Peter steps out onto the water and you and I will do the same. And the storm just increases and we shall start to sink too.
Lord, save me, says Peter. And that will happen time and again in our lives. It's not just once because when we continue life's journey, the waves will start up again. And this is the story of everyone's spiritual journey. St. John of the Cross tells us that God is most at work within us when we feel his absence acutely. The wind ceases when Jesus boards our boat. This is how we are saved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSB51bcSHhs
...
From a Anglican church-
Fear can be powerful. It reminds us of our vulnerability. It can seem to have a life of its own as it threatens to snatch away our equilibrium, what we hold dear, who we are, even life itself. Sometimes we fight our fears or where we think the fear comes from and sometimes we flee. Often there is a bit of both, fight and flight. Freeze is also a very common response to fear, especially in the context of trauma.
Sometimes we hold on through what we think is the worst of the storm and then we can get overwhelmed by the next wave or even by the help we're offered by God or by other people. Being honest about our fears with God and with one another can also be very powerful.
It can take away the power of the fear. We're acknowledging we're vulnerable and we're asking for help. It can stop us from the pattern of hurting others, which can happen if we haven't realized that we're acting out of fear or out of embarrassment, that we might be fearful of our fear.
Help often comes in unexpected and sometimes unwelcome forms which challenge us nd usually change us and often help us to grow in faith.
What do we fear? How does fear affect us? Which storms do we long for Jesus to come? What do we fear? How does fear affect us? Which storms do we long for Jesus to calm?
I wonder what would happen if we sat down together and made a list of all of our fears. We might find common fears experiences about how Jesus turns up or sends someone to help or help arrives in some form we least imagine and possibly find quite difficult at least to start with.
If we can bear to face our fears to ask God and one another where the hope is. Acknowledging all this and the needs that all of us have to encounter one another and Jesus a new and more deeply. We can engage more deeply with Jesus by praying and reflecting to see where Jesus is.
What do we fear? How does fear affect us? Which storms do we long for Jesus to calm?
...............
- From the Church of England-
The disciples struggle against the wind, believing themselves to be alone. Yet, Christ comes across the waters towards them. The disciples do not merely witness a man walking upon the water.
They discover that the one who comes towards them is Lord over chaos and fear. Through the faithful work of countless people, God's grace was revealed in ordinary things, bringing hope from the rubble and new life where none seemed possible.
We do not deny that the storms, the waves will come, but we do bear witness to the one who comes towards us, who is with us in the midst of them.
So amid whatever storms may surround us, we make our own the confession of Peter and the disciples, "Truly, you are the Son of God." Amen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJdr432i1Lw&t=1906s
...
I have posted a thread titled walking on water a memory which is related to the the topic of this thread.
https://www.racheltestimony.com/2026/04/walking-on-water-memory.html
