Saturday, August 8, 2026: Join us tomorrow at 3:45 to celebrate our  Emmaus Liturgy for August 9, 2026: 

Jesus Walks on Water; Trusting Christ Amidst Life’s Storms

Join us Tomorrow, Sunday August 9, 2026 in person or on Zoom. All are Welcome!

Join us in person at Christ Church United Methodist 1717 Yulupa Avenue

Santa Rosa, 95405. We meet in cozy Classroom 8.

Or Join our celebration via ZOOM with this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=87491761170

Passcode 1234

Or open Zoom and use this meeting ID and Passcode

Meeting ID: 519 315 8573

Passcode: 1234

Jesus Walks on Water; Trusting Christ Amidst Life’s Storms

Welcome: (Welcome to our liturgy today as we aim to encounter God in the midst of fear and doubt, learning to recognize the quiet, sustaining presence of the Divine when life’s storms rage.

We hope to have the courage to trust Christ during life’s difficult times rather than relying on false securities. God isn't just found in comfortable, familiar routines, but also comes to us "walking on the water" in our moments of crisis, fear, and struggle.

“Stepping out of the "boat" requires vulnerability and trust. It challenges us to stop clinging to societal or personal securities and instead to rely entirely on the unconditionally loving, sustaining presence of the Divine. It is an invitation to maintain an open heart and mind, even when faced with the unknown. Instead of cowering in fear or sinking beneath waves of anxiety, we are called to fully welcome Christ into our whole being.

Opening Song: Rumi: The Poem That Sees None but the One [2:44] 

2 minute silent meditation

Opening Prayer: (Dan)) In the present situation of the world we can feel attuned with today’s gospel. We are on a boat in a rough sea, a metaphor for personal, communal, and planetary storms. Yet we may be met inside these turbulences by the incomprehensible, by a Presence that is beyond our forces and control, challenging us on a journey of transforming faith. Perhaps we are invited to contemplate and to welcome this storming and creative Mystery. 

Keep in mind that Jesus says: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

First Reading: 1Kings 19:9a, 11-13a (Peter)The Lord Appears to Elijah

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Responsorial Psalm: Mary Ellen: O Beloved, how gracious You are to your people. You restore their souls time and time again.You forgive their distractions, when they wander far from You; You give them new life.

R: All O Beloved, how gracious You are to your people.

Restore us again, O Spirit of Truth; burn us with the refining Fire of Love! We cannot live separated from You; cast out the demons of fear, doubt and illusion. Revive us again, we pray; may your people rejoice in You.

R: All O Beloved, how gracious You are to your people.

Listen, O people, in the silent Chapel of your heart: and the beloved will speak of peace to you, to the hidden saints,to all who turn their hearts to Love. Surely new life is at hand for those who reverence Love; O, that harmony might dwell among the nations.

R: All O Beloved, how gracious You are to your people.

Second Reading: (Victoria) Behind the Thunder by Mark Nepo

I keep looking for one more teacher,

only to find that fish learn from water, and birds learn from sky.

If you want to learn about the sea,  it helps to be at sea.

If you want to learn about compassion, it helps to be in love.

If you want to learn about healing, it helps to know of suffering.

The strong live in the storm without worshiping the storm.

Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33 (Cathy) Jesus Walks on the Water

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Dialogue Homily: (Dan) From the experience of Elijah on the mountain and of Peter on the sea, we learn that the divine comings often astound and undermine our expectations, behaviors, and assuring routes. The divine passages are never innocuous or guaranteed—we would like it so!—but they instead provoke upheavals in our emotions, consciousness, and actions. 

A radical overturn happens on the mountain: Elijah is repeatedly deprived of a mighty, revengeful, and judgmental Godhead. His intolerant, religious compulsion to impose his own God on others collapses. He is reconfigured to an unprecedented experience of the Hidden Heart of the World as a sound of sheer silence. The all-embracing Abyss wraps itself in silence, blows as a gentle breeze without a “why.” 

Silence is not a conclusion but a transformative opening of the future. It becomes a summoning voice: “Elijah, what are you doing here? Go return on your way.” And a new mandate and responsibility follows. Peter also is surprised. Jesus is not a reassuring presence on the boat. 

Yet very often that is what we want a God who reflects our culture, our biases, our economic, religious, political, and military systems. Yet the human-divine comes from afar, from outside the frontier, from the future of love, unexpected and beyond recognition, [as it happened to the apostles of Emmaus, to Mary Magdalene, or to Paul on his way to Damascus. 

We will not take certainty from this Ghost, we might take heart: “Come on, Peter, come out on the challenging waters of this unfinished Universe!” We learn from Peter that we are never born to life without passing through a crucible of suffering and love, a baptism of trial and doubt, a contamination with negativity and ambiguity, contradiction and paradox. 

As Richard Rohr invites us, at a certain point of our journey of faith we move from a splitting knowledge to a contemplative wisdom: we are called to embrace life and death, divine and human, center and margins, infinite and finite, human and non-human, beginnings and endings. 

• What are you doing here and how does your faith help?

• Is there anything you need to return to in order for you to stay on your path?

• Tell about a time when Divine presence helped you through a difficult time or helped you to assist someone else?

What do we bring to the table this evening? (Mary Ellen)

Offertory Mary: Preparation of ourselves 

Spirit of the Divine, we thank You for Your love which gives our journey meaning and direction. You urge us down roads we do not feel strong enough to travel. You support us with fellow travelers who bolster us when we despair, who refresh and renew us when we think our last step is just that.

We give thanks for our greatest gift, Jesus. His words light our path. He opens our eyes. He welcomes us to reflect on his life and words and his sermon from the Mount for which we give thanks.

Eucharistic Prayer: Our Prayer of Thanksgiving

It is truly right to thank You, O Spirit of the Divine. You move among us as breath, as natural and rhythmic as our own. We find you in the ten thousand things of creation. You nurture in us wise and understanding hearts. We know that your wisdom, which sees all things and is at work in all things, can be touched everywhere. 

Spirit of Light and Love, You are within us and light our way. We thank You for your presence and action in our world. We thank You for turning our hearts to peace in the midst of conflict. We thank You for opening our hearts to our enemies and joining our hands in friendship with those from whom we are estranged. 

Your Spirit has the power to evoke understanding if we would only listen: puts an end to strife if we would act; quenches hatred with compassion if we break open our hearts; and conquers vengeance with forgiveness. lt is in the holiness of this gathering and the gathering of our holiness, that we join our praise of you with that of all creation:

All: Let us bless this bread that gives itself to us, with its tremendous weight, its infinite grace. Let us bless this cup poured out for us with a love that makes us anew. 

Let us gather around these gifts that are simply given and deeply blessed" And then let us be bearing the bread, carrying the cup, and sharing our table with a Hungering world.

All: For, it is 'Through Him, With Him, ln Him, ln the Unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours Forever and Ever.

We Remember by Marty Haugen w/lyrics on YouTube

https://youtu.be/7rbpaByg-Gg?is=ESIwF_UjQzkimcV2

Dan: And now let us pray our common prayer:

ALL: Our Creator, the source of all peace, We pause in the rhythm of our daily lives to honor You, Help us to build our faith not on mountain peaks, But in the quiet corners of our homes and hearts.

Guide our steps on solid ground. Give us the wisdom to navigate the ordinary days. When the storms of doubt rise around us, Remind us that You are present in the boat.

Grant us the courage to serve those around us, To share our daily bread with the hungry. Forgive us when we stumble and lose our focus, Just as we forgive those who falter against us.

Deliver us from fear and the need for grand signs, And anchor us in Your steadfast love. Amen.

Dan: May the peace of Christ lift us out of that boat. Let us offer each other happy trails. 

Mary Ellen and Nancy: Invitation to Eucharist

(Pass the bread and the cups.)

Communion Song: We walk by faith and not by sight https://share.google/8ncTpr7ruV5nNQc3R

Enid: August birthday blessings

Closing Prayer: All

Acknowledging that the gaze of God shines in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, and in everybody; that we find strength in our weakness; that we find faith in the crises of the world; that we find God in the One who broke His body for an excessive passion, raising our faith in the trustworthiness of love.

And the people of this beloved Emmaus community say: Amen.

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