Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
- I am one of the lucky ones, I know that
- I own my own boat, and I have a business
- I am grateful for all that God has given me
- I go to synagogue, and I do what I can
- But last night, that was something altogether unexpected
and amazing happened - We were out all-night fishing and not a single fish was caught
- It was tiring and frustrating
- And quite honestly, I wanted to just clean my nets, get a bite to eat and go to sleep
- Hoping and praying that the next night will be better
- When we got in, I noticed that this man Jesus, was teaching about God
- I heard about him, and I was wondering, was this the guy we were all waiting and praying for?
- Was this the Messiah that would save us from Roman Rule?
- I really did not know much about this rabbi at all
- And onto our boats he comes to teach the people
- And then he tells us to go out a bit further and let our nets down
- Now let me say, this is the last thing any of us wanted to do
- But we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and then pushed out into deep water
- Now this is going to sound unbelievable, and it truly is
- But before we knew it our nets were loaded with fish
- We were afraid the nets would break
- So, another boat came out and helped us with the massive number of fish I have ever seen!
- I do not know if Jesus is the Messiah, but this is so unbelievable I need to know more
- Jesus invited us to go with him and there was no decision
- This man was of God, must be
- So, we left everything and followed him
- The Gospel reading for today is both a call story and a miracle story
- The life altering power of God’s word- spoken, heard, and heeded- is dynamically evident in this story of call
- When the nets are full to bursting
- And Simon Peter is just overwhelmed by the miracle, and he tells Jesus to go away from him because he is a sinful man
- And Jesus tells him not to be afraid and from now on Simon Peter will be catching people
- They brought their boats to shore and left everything and followed Jesus
- So, we have both a call story and a miracle story
- And I don’t think it is an accident that the miracle has to do with feeding people
- I see a sacramental connection here with the Lord’s Supper
- That everyone is called to the table and welcomed, and it is in eating the bread and drinking the wine that we are fortified and strengthened to live out our calls in the world
- I am reminded of a book that I read several years ago by Sara Miles
- The book is entitled “Take This Bread”
- And it is Sara’s story of her transformation in the Lord’s Supper
- Sara was not raised in the church, in fact she was basically an atheist
- And she spent a good deal of time in her early twenties in South America
- As a reporter writing about the different conflicts the various countries
- By her own admission she is a far left liberal and her writing reflected her political views
- After many years abroad she relocates to San Francisco
- And one day she happens to an Episcopal Church and takes Holy Communion and is absolutely brought to tears
- Listen to her words, “I still can’t explain my first communion. It made no sense. I was in tears and physically unbalanced: I felt as if I had just stepped off a curb or been knocked over, painlessly, from behind. The disconnect between what I thought was happening- I was eating a piece of bread; what I heard someone else say was happening- the piece of bread was the ‘body’ of ‘Christ’, a patently untrue or at best metaphorical statement; and what I knew was happening- God, named ‘Christ’ or ‘Jesus’, was real, and in my mouth- utterly short-circuited my ability to do anything but cry.”
- And so, starts her journey in the church to get to know God and to determine what it was that God was calling her to do
- Listen to her describe her conversion experience, “Conversion was turning out to be quite far from the greeting card moment promised by televangelists, when Jesus steps into your life, personally saves you, and becomes your lucky charm forever. Instead, it was socially and politically awkward, as well as profoundly confusing. I wasn’t struck with any sudden conviction that I now understood the ‘truth’. If anything, I was just crabbier, lonelier and more destabilized. All that grounded me were those pieces of bread.”
- How many of you can resonate with her story?
- For most of us God doesn’t come all neat and packaged
- We don’t instantly get it, and life suddenly becomes all wonderful
- Life is still messy
- I answered the call to become a pastor, but my husband still died
- Aren’t good things supposed to happen when you follow God’s call?
- And yet Sara keeps going back for the bread
- She doesn’t find any easy answers, yet she keeps searching
- What she discovers is that what God is calling her to do is to feed people
- And so, she sets up a food pantry at the church and every Friday afternoon lots of people come to gather food that will feed them and their families for the week
- The pantry grows and soon they are serving over 250 people per week
- Over time she helps start food pantries all over San Francisco
- All because she happened to walk into a church one Sunday morning and took communion
- In the bread, she found her true calling from God
- In the amazing catch of fish Simon Peter and James and John found their true calling
- Our gospel today is both a call to discipleship and a miracle story
- And take note that Simon Peter and James and John do not ask for more fish
- Seeing the miracle, they are not looking for more fish,
- They are accepting a call to discipleship
- While we do not know what they were thinking
- There was obviously something so compelling about Jesus and this miracle that they wanted to be a part of what Jesus was doing
- And my friends, we too have an opportunity to be a part of what Jesus is doing in our world.
- The question for us is how do we respond to what is God calling us to do?
- Do we see our glass half empty and want more before we commit?
- Do we want more proof, more economic cushion, do we put ourselves first?
- Or do we see the glass half full?
- If Jesus can make all these fish appear, if Jesus can turn water into wine, if Jesus can raise Lazareth
- What could Jesus do with us?
- At a time when humanitarian aid is being targeted to deep cuts
- What are we called to do?
- There is no one answer, we all have different gifts and abilities
- However, we are all called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for those who are ill, ensure the dignity and humanity of every person
- Every child of God
- My prayer for each of us as we move through this week is to prayerfully consider what we are called to do and say currently?
- How can we respond to God’s generosity to us and share our abundance with our brothers and sisters across this community, our country and the world.
- Thanks be to God
- Amen