‘You are out of the storm!’

By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | Faith will get you through the storms of life, Father Maurice Nutt told the congregation at Holy Redeemer Church in Liberty City. And those storms are necessary for you to learn what God can do.

The Redemptorist priest was preaching Feb. 12 at the first night of a three-night, pre-Lent revival themed “God is Able.” The annual event is part of the archdiocesan celebration of Black History Month. The theme of the night was “Lessons from the Storm.”

“I need you to help me preach,” Father Nutt said. “Please turn to your neighbor and say, ‘Neighbor, oh, neighbor, I want you to know. I’ve been through some storms. I’ve had some troubles. I’ve had some setbacks. But I want you to know that when the storms of life are raging, my Jesus stands by me and through my storms I’ve learned a lesson, so listen, neighbor, as we learn lessons from the storm.’

“Please give your neighbor a high-five right now,” he added.

Father Nutt was ordained in June 1989 at his home parish of St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Later, he was named the first African-American pastor of the church. He is a member of the Redemptorist parish mission preaching team and serves on the faculty of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has received numerous awards and citations for his leadership and civic efforts.

The revivalist said that people spend most of their time trying to avoid storms as he discussed the scripture passage where Jesus walks on the water in the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were far off shore when a storm arose.

“Nobody likes storms,” Father Nutt said. “But I believe there are some storms God intentionally creates. If there were no storms in your life, we wouldn’t know God and what he’s capable of. Can I get an Amen!”

The Lord intended his disciples to end up in the grip of a storm because, in the midst of it, God showed them things about himself that they would never have learned had they not experienced it. And this particular text happened after Jesus had just fed 5,000 people.

“He blessed five loaves of bread and two fish and was able to create enough food to feed all the people and even had leftovers. Little becomes much when you put it in the master’s hands. Jesus told them that he wanted the crowd to follow him, not because he made a miracle from the bread and fish, but because he is the bread of life.”

Jesus had to separate his disciples from the crowds that were caught up in a messianic fervor, said Father Nutt. He pulled them aside and made them get into a boat and sail out into the sea while he went up to a mountain to pray.

“I believe Jesus sent them out there because he wanted the disciples to be accustomed to being without his physical presence,” the priest said. “You see, the storm came suddenly without a warning. But isn’t that how storms come? You don’t get a text message, you don’t get a smart phone alert. There’s no meteorologist predicting the storms in your life. Stay with me, church.”

As Jesus walked on the water toward the disciples, they thought they had seen a ghost. That’s because they looked at Jesus through the lens of fear and not faith.

“Jesus tells them not to be afraid,” said Father Nutt. “He tells them, ‘I am!’ Then Peter tells Jesus, ‘If it’s you, command me to do what you are doing.’ Jesus told Peter, ‘Come!’”

Father Nutt drew laughter from the congregation when he said, “Oh, I have to do the Peter walk for y’all.”

He continued: “Peter started to walk on the water for a while. You’ve heard preachers say that the reason that Peter sank was that the wind and the waves frightened him or that he took his eyes off Jesus.

“Now, I hope you don’t mind if I give you a 2017 remix on the scripture,” he said. “Those people left in the boat were church people, like you. You see, they stayed in the boat because church folks get real comfortable where they are. Guess what? I came here six years ago and I can see the same people sitting in the same place six years later. We get comfortable where we are. We get so caught up, we think church is a social club.”

Going on with the story, he said: “The disciples told Peter, ‘Who do you think you are? How in the world do you think you can walk on water? You’re a fool! Get back in the boat!’

“I don’t believe it was the wind and the waves that caused Peter to sink. I believe it was the negativity of those who can’t walk by faith,” said Father Nutt. “I hope that you will step out and do what God is calling you to do.”

“I want you to know, I want you to know, guess what, guess what, guess what, I’ve learned some lessons through the storm,” he concluded. “I’ve learned that I can make it through the storm. He’ll help you, you, and you, if you will just call on him in the midst of your storm.”

“Tonight, we saw the disciples viewing water as something that was dangerous, but now we are going to see water as a blessing,” said Patrick Range, Jr., revival director, as he instructed the congregation to come forward after the talk.

As they did so, two young people blessed those coming forward with holy water. Each congregant then turned to the person behind and said, “You are out of your storm!”

The second revival night took place at St. Helen Church, Fort Lauderdale, with the sermon entitled “Living in the In Between.” The third night took place at St. Philip Neri Church in Miami Gardens, with the theme “I’m Covered.”

“Tonight, we have members from throughout the Archdiocese of Miami,” said Katrenia Reeves-Jackman, director of the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholics. "I hope you will walk away carrying the message delivered tonight. Incidentally, when I tell my friends we're having a revival, they say, but I thought you were Catholic.”