Bars 45 to 49 of the sonata No. 8 K310 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (Cdang, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Elevate the Discourse | June 23, 2026
*I realize that it has been some time since I posted any of Richard’s writings and I apologize for that. Life has been busy and complicated. It was honestly a bit too much for me to read and digest even a fraction of the thousands of things he wrote that we have come across. The 6 month anniversary of his death is coming up and I want to keep sharing Richard’s thoughts with you all.
He really, really loved Mozart, as do I. We bonded early in our relationship over the music and the movie Amadeus. <3
-Mary
Oct. 24, 2013 (unedited & untitled)
I have a small confession to make. It’s more like a confessional statement. I’m obsessed with Mozart. And while you’re not getting a CD or DVD this week, he will be making an appearance.
So this is what I want to say about the Scripture lesson this morning – Jesus never asked or expected his disciples to walk on water. It was Peter who wanted to do it, and Peter wanted to do it because he was neurotic.
Jesus was not surprised when Peter failed. And Jesus was quick to save him.
Matthew tells us the story of Jesus walking on water because he wants us to know that Jesus could do it so that we could understand the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus could walk on water, but chose to go the way of the cross anyway.
If we had enough faith, Matthew suggests, we could walk on water, too. But Jesus doesn’t really expect or ask us to walk on water (remember, he is sacrificing himself for us), and he is willing to save us when we begin to sink…as we probably will.
We don’t need to walk on water. It is enough for us to learn how to swim. Actually it is enough to call out to Jesus when we are sinking in the storms of life.
I say this today because I am aware that life can be hard, and we have such unreasonable expectations of ourselves. We are so hard on ourselves. We have Peter’s neurosis. We think we ought to be able to walk on water. After all, we’ve inherited the legacy of the stiff upper lip, we’ve been through a great deal, there should be nothing that we can’t do.
This posthumous portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, somewhere between ages 16 and 22, was painted by Barbara Krafft at the request of Joseph Sonnleithner in 1819, long after Mozart died from three pictures provided by his s still-living sister Maria Anna ("Nannerl"). (Public Domain Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Mozart had Peter’s neurosis. Already at six years old he was a star, touring Europe playing as a prodigy – Munich, Paris, London, a three-year tour. He wrote his first opera at eight years of age. During his lifetime he wrote 43 symphonies, 46 concertos, 60 sonatas, and maybe a hundred or more other pieces.
Many of his pieces are religious. Some are earthy. A couple are mildly ribald.
The theologian Karl Barth, who listened to Mozart recordings every morning, said the reason Mozart’s music was so special is because it included all of life: “heaven and earth, nature and [humanity], comedy and tragedy…the Virgin Mary and the demons.” Mozart simply contains and includes all this within his music in perfect harmony, Barth said. This harmony is not a matter of “balance” or “indifference” – it is “a glorious upsetting of the balance, a turning in which the light rises and the shadows fall…in which the Yes rings louder than the ever-present No.” (p. 55).i[ii]
Mozart walked on water…until he turned 30 years old. Then things changed. He began to lose his popularity and his audience. His had difficulty composing new music. He became depressed. His income dried up. Historians have copies of letters he wrote – many of them – to former admirers begging for loans. He died at 35 years old.
Mozart was sinking. But in the last year of his life he began to compose again. He wrote his two greatest masterpieces – The Magic Flute and the Requiem the choir is singing today. His best work finally came not when he was famous and rich and walking on water but when he was sick and depressed and impoverished and calling out for Jesus to save him.Mozart didn’t actually complete the Requiem. It was completed by a friend who loved him after Mozart’s death.
His most precious music comes to us as a result of love as much as genius. Jesus doesn’t really expect us to walk on water. He does want us to let him save us.
Life is hard. Tests come back positive. Organizations downsize. Candidates lose. Partners fall out of love with us. Friends disappoint us. We wear out. Life is hard.
We think we ought to be able to walk on water, and maybe we can for a while – a step or two. But Jesus doesn’t really expect us to walk on water. He expects us to call on him when we are sinking, to let him reach out his hand and save us. He expects us to let him love us. He just wants us to let him love us.
Richard Bryant during college. (Photo Courtesy of Mary Bryant)
The Rev. Richard L. Bryant, a United Methodist clergyman in North Carolina, died Dec. 29, 2025. His widow Mary is publishing his work posthumously.