Dear friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

To live a life worth living means taking risks and chances. Peter’s short walk across the water one stormy night has inspired a whole host of jokes involving golfers or hunters, priests or pastors walking on water (or at least knowing where the stones are).  But the core message of this morning’s gospel is this. Men and women of who out of faith dare to take extraordinary steps in the storms of life, need not fear.

The story of the religious life in New Jersey is filled with stormy nights and courageous risk takers. The land was originally settled in the 1610’s as part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, as well as the Swedish colony of New Sweden. After Peter Stuyvesants’s surrender of the New Amsterdam in 1664, King Charles II granted his brother, James, the Duke of York, the land once claimed by the Dutch. The Duke never visited his colony and exercised little direct control of it.  Later that year, he gave a portion of his new possession, roughly the territory between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to his close friend John Berkeley of Stratton, and George Carteret in recognition of their loyalty to the Crown during the English Civil War.  Thus Carteret and Berkeley became the two proprietary owners of the colony, which was renamed New Jersey after Carteret’s homeland, the Channel Island of Jersey. Carteret’s nephew Philip Carteret was appointed as the first governor.

Although both Berkeley and Carteret were Anglican, they allowed the Swedish Lutheran and Dutch Reformed Church settlers to remain in the area.  That is the scene depicted on this morning’s bulletin cover. And since they wanted to attract even more colonists, they passed the Concession and Agreement Act of 1665 which granted religious freedom to all inhabitants of New Jersey.  There would be no state church or mandatory church tax. In return for the land, however, all new settlers were supposed to pay annual fees known as quit rents.

Regrettably, many of the settlers refused to pay their rents claiming that their land had been given to them by the governor of New York Colony. Berkeley was eventually forced to sell his portion of New Jersey, so from 1674 to 1702, the Province of New Jersey was divided into East Jersey and West Jersey, each with its own governor and constitution. Finally, in 1702, when West Jersey went bankrupt, Queen Anne made the two sections into a royal colony. Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of the royal colony. However, he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land.  Apparently, times haven’t changed in New Jersey. The colony was administered by the Governor of New York until 1738.

In spite of the constant political turmoil, and the ceaseless fighting over borders, settlers saw New Jersey as a place of religious freedom and opportunity. Historically, the colony began as a diverse settlement with the Swedish Lutherans and Dutch Reformed, but this only increased with large numbers of Quakers, Anglicans, Puritans, Baptists, and Presbyterians settling there.

Perhaps the most remarkable story of all New Jersey religious history is the 1714 founding of its first Lutheran congregation. It was an unlikely beginning. A former African slave,  Aree van Guinea who was born in Dutch Guiana, Africa, was captured by slave traders who sold him in the market in New York City.  After he and his wife, who were members of a Lutheran congregation in New York, gained their freedom in 1705, they settled in the Raritan River Valley in the New Jersey colony. On August 1st, 1714, he invited the Dutch community to his home to establish Zion Lutheran Church of Old Southwick.  A third of the worshipers were freed Blacks, a third were German refuges from the Rhenish Palatinate that had been occupied by France, and a third were native Americans, Swedes, Dutch English and other Europeans. The pastor Justus Falckner who preached and celebrated communion was the first Protestant clergyman ever ordained in America and he was German.  In that first service in New Jersey, three children were baptized, one Dutch, the first German child, and one daughter of a former African slave.  The congregation was intended to serve the Dutch speaking Lutherans in New Jersey, but  God had greater plans. And now for over 300 years, Lutherans have worshiped at Zion in Old Southwick, New Jersey, perhaps the only white congregation ever founded in the home of an African slave.

The story of Zion Lutheran Church, and its founder Aree van Guinea reminds us, that there are occasions in life, when Jesus invites all of us to step out and walk on water. To live a life worth living means taking risks and chances. We are all going to face our moments in the storm when we are unsure of where we are going, where we’ve been and whether life will ever be calm and steady again. In these harsh, frightening moments, Jesus says, “Come.” He may not be in the boat seated next to you, but let me assure you, he is out there – where the wind is raging and the waves are pounding.  Jesus, you see, isn’t simply found in places of safety and security, amidst the green pastures and beside the still waters.  Jesus is also to be found in the horrible blast of  terrible storms.

But to live a life worth living means taking risks and chances.  That’s what Simon Peter did when he stepped out onto the churning waters. It’s what Aree van Guinea did in the wilderness of New Jersey and what the Rhenish refugees did when they fled the French occupation of their homeland and began a new life here, and so has the story unfolded for two and have half centuries of immigrants arriving on the shores of America  They took that first step out of the boat, and then another. For Peter, things were going great.  Unfortunately, St. Matthew writes “then, Peter noticed the strong wind.” He took his eyes off Jesus and saw the next big wave headed for him. And it dawned on him: “I can’t do this! What was I thinking?”  Peter panicked and began to sink, calling out, ‘Lord save me!’  And at once Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying, “You of little-faith!” Peter failed. Spectacularly! His confidence could not keep him afloat.  His own will power  could not keep him afloat. Not even his knowledge of the rocks could keep him above water.  He needed God’s strength to do the unthinkable.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, you can be assured that at some point in your life he will call you to step out.  He will invite you to step out of your comfort zone, and to walk on water. And you need not be afraid. That’s the way he works. And sooner or later you’re going to fail.  To live a life worth living means taking risks and chances. But it’s not really failure as long as Jesus is near.  For he is going to catch you and lift you up. No, real failure is when we’re too afraid to try.

My friends, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”  No matter how dark life seems, and no matter how alone you feel, Jesus will never abandon his own. He will come to you amid the storms of life. And at the moment you need him most, he will be with you. To live a life worth living means taking risks and chances. But for that to happen, you have to take a first step.  Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.