19th Sunday in Ordinary Time: August 8/9, 2026

Part of my daily routine used to be rushing home to watch the evening news.  I preferred watching Lester Holt on NBC.  I don’t do this anymore, not because Lester Holt has been replaced by Tom Llamas, but I just got worn down by all the negativity.

It seems as if nothing is right in our world or in our country or in our lives anymore, all is chaos, and I just refuse to believe that and allow that negativity to take root in my heart or control my life.

Now I’m not naive, there is a lot that is wrong in our world,  but there is also a lot that is right, but you hardly ever hear the good news,  it’s always bad news.  And that constant feed of bad news results in widespread fear and anxiety and a lack of hope, tranquility and inner peace.

The Hebrew word for peace is SHALOM.  The root understanding of this word is that God is the source of peace.  SHALOM  is NOT freedom from the storms and negativity the world can throw at us, but a peace that can still be had amid the storms and negativity,no matter what, because we know that God is with us,and God loves us no matter what.  

And as we heard St. Paul so profoundly proclaim last week:  nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord:  not anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or peril, or the sword. . .  This sense of peace, then, is not dependent on exterior circumstances or forces, it’s not just the lack of war or distress,  but it’s something interior that takes root in our hearts and minds and souls.

On the first Easter evening, Jesus breathed on the apostles and said:  “Peace be with you, my peace I give you.”  Now think of the chaos and the pain, the hurt, the betrayal, the loss of hope the disciples had experienced because of the crucifixion, it’s like those two on the road to Emmaus who were so down and out, they just left town because they had given up hope. But Jesus on that night  brought the peace of the resurrection into the world and into the lives of the disciples.  That’s Shalom, it’s a peace the world cannot EVER offer us, only a peace that the Lord can give us.

In our Gospel reading, the disciples are in a boat on a stormy sea, read if you will, being tossed around by all life has thrown at them.  Jesus is not with them at the moment, and things continue to get pretty rough. The scene recalls the creation story in Genesis when God’s spirit was hovering over the waters of chaos.  But God transforms that chaos into the peace and calm of his love, and then brings forth an abundance of living creatures into the sea.   As Jesus, the ultimate sign of God’s love, approaches the boat walking on water, the sea once again calms and Peter, with his eyes fixed on Jesus, is able to walk out of the boat onto the sea. But when he momentarily loses focus on Jesus, he is engulfed by the waves and is swallowed by the turmoil all around him.  

Two lessons to learn:  all things are possible with God, even walking on water, so if we want to do the impossible, we have to get out of the boat, we need to take a chance, get out of our comfort zones, be open to distractions because we never know who we might meet, or when we’re going to learn something, or when our life is going to be unexpectedly and miraculously changed by God, as Zeke reminded us last week.

And then to be successful at doing the impossible, we have to stay focussed on Jesus.  We can’t get distracted and let our eyes, our attention, or our lives be pulled from staying focussed on Jesus.

There is a lesson to be learned both from Elijah in our first reading and Jesus in the Gospel. Elijah is searching for God, and so he climbs Mt. Horeb in an attempt to find God. He is first caught up in the turmoil of a great fire, a great earthquake, and a mighty wind, read if you will, all that bad news the world could throw at him.  Only when he is able to find quiet,  is he able to find God in the tiny whisper of the morning calm.  It is in quiet and peace that he finds deep within himself,  that he discovers God.

And Jesus?  After all the hustle and bustle and hoopla of feeding the crowd of 5,000, like a true introvert, he needs to get away by himself to re-charge, so goes up a mountain by himself to pray.

Lesson to be learned, don’t intentionally fill your life with the chaos that can come from the evening news, or the other ways it can take over your life.  Don’t get worn down by all the negativity, OR the activity of the crowd. But intentionally seek out the quiet and peace you can find deep within you,  so that you, too, can discover God and enjoy the peace, the Shalom, that only God can give.

And with that renewed spirit, take a chance,  get out of the boat, let the precious Lord take your hand and together, accomplish impossible things.