Gone Fishing, Part 3

 But we can’t forget Simon Peter – one of my favorite disciples.  Hear these words from John 21:15-19.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”  A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”  He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.  Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”  (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Earlier in worship today, we read from John, chapter 18.  I wanted us to pause and remember what Peter had experienced as Jesus was being tried, convicted, and tortured.  At the Passover supper, Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed.  And, as we heard today, that is exactly what happened. 

Peter is a leader of the disciples.  Does he lead? No. He takes them back to unsuccessful fishing. Why is that?

Earlier in the passage we are reading, when Peter realizes Jesus is on the shore, he puts on his clothes and jumps into the water to swim to shore.  Now I know that at this time in history, fishermen often worked only in a loin cloth, and to go to the teacher undressed would have not shown proper respect, but I can’t help but be reminded of Adam and Eve, in the Genesis story. After they eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they know that they have sinned. They hear God looking for them, and they hide, because they are ashamed of their sinfulness and of their nakedness. I think Peter, who dresses before diving into the water, feels the same way.

Sometimes the scarcity we focus on isn’t what we do not have – it is who we are. Sometimes we focus only on our sin, our fears, our shame. This is where Simon Peter was that morning. He knew he had betrayed the teacher and friend he loved, and this betrayal is all he can see. Jesus pulls Simon Peter aside after breakfast, and changes his viewpoint and his life, once again. 

Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me?  Three times. Three betrayals, three questions, until, finally, Peter can move forward, and feed Jesus’ sheep. Jesus is connecting the love Simon Peter feels toward him into action – love “my sheep” as you love me. 

Several years ago, Jeff Taylor, the president of the Foundation, and I met with a potential donor named Linda.  She died last month, but she left a legacy for her church and for those her church reaches who suffer from mental illness. Following our meeting with her, Linda created a Mental Wellness trust at the Foundation.  She shared (and she asked that the information I’m sharing with you be shared at her funeral) that her family fostered negativity, and that she suffered from mental illness and abuse throughout her life.  She eventually joined a United Methodist church in her community.  They took her in, loved her, and taught her that she is loved by God, and is a beloved child.  She wrote in the preamble to her trust, “I do know that God loves me, and I have been nourished and sustained by God’s grace.  My prayer is that my gift can provide hope to suffering folks who feel at the end of their rope.  May the Lord bless others through me…Just as the Lord loves me, God will love all of my brothers and sisters who whom this trust can provide light and hope.”

Because of the church, Linda experienced abundant love. She gave each month, generously, to the trust she built, and what she has created what will be a beacon of light and hope for others. She gave every month, even though she always lived in the fear of not having enough.  Her love was bigger than her fear, and so she followed Christ.

This chapter in John, often thought of as an epilogue to the gospel, reminds us to turn our eyes to Jesus, instead of to what we do not have – instead of only seeing our fear. The gospel story is not a story of what happened – but a story of what can happen when we follow the Christ. Thomas Troeger writes, “The epilogue affirms, through its story of the risen Christ on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius, what the prologue (of John) affirms as the story of Christ’s early ministry begins: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” The epilogue awakens memories of the darkness – the darkness of our hunger, the darkness of our failure to recognize Christ, the darkness of our denial, but at the same time it reminds us that none of this darkness has overcome the light.  For the risen Christ still calls, still feeds, still empowers even doubters and deniers for the ministry.”

Where do you, either as a person or as a church, focus so much on scarcity that you cannot see Christ? Cannot follow? Cannot feed the Lord’s sheep?

And what are you going to do about it? It’s time to stop fishing so that you can fish for people.

Gone Fishing, Part 2

 Hear these words from John 21: 5-14

Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”  He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.  That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the sea.  But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.  Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”  So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many, the net was not torn.  Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.  Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish.  This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Think about the beginning of this passage – disciples are in the boat, having caught nothing – and Jesus tells them to cast the net to the other side of the boat.  Does that story remind you of anything?

In  Luke, chapter 5, Jesus tells Simon to cast his nets in deep water. Simon protests – he has caught nothing all night, and he is a fisherman – he knows how to fish – but he does what Jesus asks.  You know the rest of the story – they caught an abundance of fish, straining the nets and even the ability of the boats to float.  This is the call story for Simon, James, and John. Jesus tells them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”  They follow Jesus and becomes fishers of people.

Maybe this is why Jesus is standing on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius on this morning a week or so after the resurrection.  In Luke, it is called the Lake of Gennesaret – we also know it as the Sea of Galilee. They are literally fishing in the same place where they started, and they have the same problem. They are unable to catch fish – again. Maybe this is why Jesus has shown himself – as it says in verse 1 – to them again. When they see all the fish they have caught, when they see him, when they hear him, then they actually recognize him, and they know who is standing on the shore. With them, once again.  They are reminded of their call, and they finally respond to it again, and move toward Jesus so that they can follow him.

And on the shore, they have a meal. Does that meal remind you of anything from scripture? Every gospel has a story of the feeding of the 5000, including John. Our story today, found at the end of John, and the Feeding of the 5000 stories are all about abundance. There is bread and fish, so we have the same menu – but much more importantly than that, we, and the disciples, are taught that with Jesus comes abundance. With Jesus comes more gifts than we can imagine. With Jesus, we no longer focus on the scarcity – on what we do not have - but when Jesus is around, we see something entirely different.

And because this is a eucharistic meal – a meal to remind them that Jesus is always with them – he asks them to go get some of the fish they caught. He already has some fish cooking on the fire, but he wants them to contribute.  Simon Peter jumps back into the boat and hauls the net ashore. Interestingly, to me, the net is different from the one in Luke.  In Luke, during the original call story, the nets were beginning to break.  In the story we are reading today, the net has a HUGE number of fish in it, but the net is not torn. It is whole, and it is completely capable of holding this abundance.

There is a message in this part of the story for us, the Church.  When we see Jesus, when we are reminded of our call, we are able to BE the church. When we stop focusing on what we no longer have – what we might have lost – what we used to be, and instead, focus on Jesus, we will see the abundant gifts we have been given, and we will be able to fulfil our mission. We don’t need to worry – our nets are strong enough and large enough to hold everyone.

One church that I am familiar with lost half of its members and its pastor – all of a sudden. Imagine that. Half of the church’s leaders, half of their children, half of their workers, half of their donors – gone in a day. I think that church could have been forgiven for closing up shop and hanging up a sign that said, “Gone fishing.”  But that is not what they did. They have decided to keep working – to keep following Christ – and to reach out to the community in love. I know their story because they applied for a Foundation Grant to help fund a backpack ministry to a nearby school. They lost half their backpack volunteers, half their church-provided backpack funding, plus they lost the funding provided by the school system for their program.  Did they stop feeding children on the weekends? No. They are following Christ and moving forward as a church.

This is who we can be when we see the world with Christ’s eyes for abundance.

Gone Fishing, Part 1

The following post is the first part of a sermon I preached at the beginning of May.  Some of it may sound familiar because I used it as the basis of a devotional I posted a few days ago.  

Our main gospel reading this morning is from the Gospel of John – chapter 21, verses 1-19.  This is the last chapter of John.  Mary Magdalene has already been to the tomb, Jesus has spoken to her, telling her that he will be ascending to God. She has gone to the disciples and to announce that “she has seen the Lord.”

On the evening of the same day, the Disciples were locked in a house, afraid of what might happen, when Jesus appeared to them.  A week later, Jesus appeared again to the Disciples, this time including Thomas.

THEN we get to this last chapter of John.  It’s a long passage, so I prepared the sermon a little differently than I usually do. Instead of reading the entire passage at once, we’ll look at it in three parts – reading a portion and talking about it. 

Hear these words from John 21: 1-4

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he showed himself in this way.  Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,  Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.  Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Can you imagine this scene? Seven of the disciples are gathered together on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.  Peter, probably at a loss of what to do, says, “I’m going fishing.”  He going back to what he was before he met Jesus – a fisherman. The other six who were with him join him on the boat. And they are completely unsuccessful. They catch nothing.

Can you imagine how they felt? Their teacher and their friend had died. Yes, they had seen him resurrected, but apparently that realization hasn’t yet taken hold of them.  They are grieving; they don’t know what to do without Jesus. Some of the commentaries I read suggested that the disciples had abandoned Jesus – that they were aimless and without purpose. All they can see is his absence.

Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever been so tired and scared that all you can see is what you no longer have? Have you experienced the paralysis that comes with that feeling?

Churches sometimes find themselves in that time of loss. I’ve been part of planning sessions in a church where the conversation always turns to what used to be. “I remember when we had to put chairs in the aisles for all of the people who came to worship.” Or “It used to be that the pastor would visit every new person in town when they arrived – he got the list from the gas company when they visited to turn on the heat in the new neighbors’ house.”  What’s frustrating about those conversations is that we don’t talk about the present – the now – we just fondly remember what used to be, and what we no longer have. We view the world with eyes of scarcity. And we can’t catch any fish at all.

One church, when faced with the worries about General Conference and disaffiliation, decided that they longer wanted to reach out to the community. They stayed in their church; the only ministry they undertook was with each other, within their walls.  It was another way to only see with eyes of scarcity.

And – to emphasize the point - what happened when the disciples went fishing? Nothing. They caught not a single fish. Even beyond that, as Jesus, standing on the shore, began to speak with them, they didn’t even recognize him.

Sometimes we are so focused on what we do not have, that we are blind to what gifts and abundance we do have. 

Call to Worship (John 21)

Call to Worship (read responsively)

Leader:  O Lord, our God, sometimes we cast our nets in familiar waters, and we find only scarcity.

People:  Open our eyes to the abundance you have given to us.

Leader:  O Lord, our God, sometimes we feel ashamed, guilty, and alone.

People:  Remind us that you have showered forgiveness upon us, richly and generously.

Leader:  O Lord, our God, sometimes we are blind to your presence among us.

People:  Open our eyes, remind us of your love, inhabit our worship as we come together in the faith you have given to us.

Winning the Lottery

I'm reading a book called Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy, and a Spiritual Call to Service by Kerry Alys Robinson. 

She relates a story about her sister-in-law, who passes a billboard each day.  The billboard indicates the current value of the lottery if you were to win it.  The two of them have a discussion about what the sister-in-law would do with the winnings if they were hers.

This prompts Robinson to write, "'Winning the lottery' implies a random, undeserved gift of good fortune awarded by chance.  hasn't each of us already won?"

Think of the ways you have already won the lottery. Your family, your faith, your work, your talents, your character. As I thought of this, my list of "lottery winnings" seems endless. That doesn't mean my life is perfect - there are always worries and the mistakes I make - but I have more undeserved gifts than I "can throw a stick at." My life is blessed. I am grateful.

Think about this for a bit. Instead of thinking about what you feel like you are missing or the problems in your life, spend some time remembering all the ways you have received undeserved gifts - both large and small.  Spend some time in gratitude.

Daredevil Duck, Part 5

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

Think back to the story of the Daredevil Duck.  What motivated him to step out – even in fear?  The idea of helping someone else.  And doing that changed him into a real Daredevil – his fear was overcome.

Douglas John Hall, as he was writing about the miracle of Jesus walking on the water, says, “What is truly awe-inspiring is not that someone could walk on the surface of water without sinking, but that his presence among, ordinary, insecure, and timid persons could calm their anxieties and cause them to walk where they feared to walk before -  in the end, all the way to their own Golgothas.”

Think back to that church meeting one more time.  How would the outcome be different if we remembered three things:

1. That Jesus asks us, every day – How will you feed my people?  This is our purpose as a church.  This is our call as disciples.
2. That we have everything we need.  We have each other and we have God in our lives.  Our lives and our churches are full of abundant blessings, if we would only see them.
3. That we do not need to be afraid.  Jesus is the I AM, and in him a new miracle happens every day – we step out of the boat and leave our fear behind.

How would we be changed if we remembered our call as disciples, if we saw the abundance around us and stopped being afraid? How would we be changed if we would just climb out on the branch, like Daredevil Duck did, and help someone else?  How would the world be changed if we stepped out of the boat and walked on the water?

My prayer for you comes from Ephesians: I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Daredevil Duck, Part 4

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

In the story of the feeding of the 5000, after everyone was fed, Jesus sends the disciples out to gather the leftovers – 12 baskets full.  Jesus says to his disciples, and he says to us, “You have a call to feed God’s children.  You have each other. You have me. You have everything you need.  See the evidence? 12 baskets of leftovers.  You will not run out.  You do not need to be afraid.”

In the John passage, the people saw even more signs in what happened – who wouldn’t? – and Jesus realized that they were going to come and take him to make him a king, so he stepped away and withdrew to the mountain by himself.  The disciples went down to the sea and got on a boat, and started across the sea.  Darkness fell, and storm rose up.  They were afraid, and Jesus wasn’t with them – but they looked out across the sea, and they saw him walking on the water toward them.  At this point, they were terrified, but Jesus said, “It is I – do not be afraid.”

That was more than just Jesus telling them who was walking on the water.  This was more than him saying, “No worries – it’s me!”  What he said was an I AM statement.  Jesus was using the name of God.  Jesus was telling them that God was with them.  Do not be afraid.  

Part of what Jeff and I do at the Foundation is to meet with donors and help to match their call to give with the best way to make the gift.  One day a few years ago, we met with a woman who had been abused as a child and as a young person and has continued to suffer from mental illness.  I think she lives her life in fear.  She joined a United Methodist church in West Virginia – and there she has found acceptance.  Family.  After she retired, she met with her pastor to talk about what she wanted to do – create a way that she can help people who have had experiences similar to hers.  Her pastor arranged for Jeff and I to meet with her.  She decided to create an endowment to benefit her church.  The income is to be used to fund ministry from the church to help those who are experiencing mental illness.  Each month, she sends what I consider a large gift from her retirement income to the Foundation to add to the endowment.  She lives in fear, but she knows the love of the church and the love of God, so she can’t help but see the abundance of what she has and to be generous.  She might be the bravest woman I know, even in the midst of fear.

Completed in next post

Daredevil Duck, Part 3

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

So you know what happens next.   Andrew, another disciple, brings a boy from the crowd to Jesus.  The boy has brought 5 barley loaves and two fish.  Maybe it’s his family’s lunch, - one reference I read said that it was “traveling food of the poor” - but whatever it is, he offers it to Jesus.  Interesting that Andrew doesn’t bring the boy and his lunch to Jesus because he thinks it will make a difference – he says in verse 9 “But what are they among so many people.”

What does Jesus do?  The order of his actions is important for us to see.  Jesus prepares the crowd to eat by telling the disciples to have the people sit down on the field in front of him, and then he takes the bread and gives thanks for it.  He gives thanks for a measly five loaves of bread.  It’s not nearly enough to feed more than 5000 people, but that isn’t what Jesus sees.  Jesus sees abundance, and he is grateful for it.  And he gives thanks for it.  And then – and then he feeds them all.

Think back to the church meeting we talked about a few minutes ago.  Why do you think we see scarcity instead of abundance?  I think we are like Daredevil Duck.  We are afraid.  We see how little we think we have, and we are afraid we will run out – that we ourselves will not have enough.  We see with eyes of scarcity because of fear.

Do you remember March of last year?  It was right when the pandemic was picking up steam.  The stock market reacted to the unpredictability – and to the fear the pandemic created - with large drops in value.  Whenever the S&P 500 index drops 7% from the previous day’s close, a “circuit breaker” is triggered – trading stops for 15 minutes to try to create a little calm in the system.  In March, the 7% circuit breaker was triggered four times.  Even one stop is pretty unusual – the breaker hadn’t tripped since 1998.  Four times is a lot.

At the same time, the leadership of the Foundation met together to talk about what was happening.  Remember, the Foundation’s assets are in the market.  We are invested for the long term, but even so, volatility like that is startling.  March happens to be the month when the Foundation’s Grant committee meets to award grant funds to churches and other ministries in our annual conference.  Most of our distributions are made at the direction of donors or depositors, but Foundation grants are made out of our operating account – we tithe our income to ministry.    Would the Foundation let go of 10s of thousands of dollars of operating income in the form of grants while the value of our funds were declining?  

The answer was yes.  

Not only that, but we made additional reserve funds available to the Bishop and cabinet for them to award to churches that needed help in the pandemic.

We are called to feed people.  We are called to be generous.  And the mission of the Foundation includes distributing funds to change the world. And we did.  We continue to do so.  Because that is who we are.  That is who WE are, together.  

Continued in next post

Daredevil Duck, Part 2

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

As John 6 begins, Jesus is being followed by a large crowd of people.  They had seen how Jesus was healing the sick – they had seen these signs of God’s presence. So they followed Jesus.  He went up on a mountain and sat down with his disciples, and then they look around, and there are more than 5000 people gathered in front of them.  Gathered there in faith, motivated by what they had seen him do.

Jesus asks Philip, one of the disciples, a very important question – one that we need to hear, too.  “Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?”  

Why is that an important question?  Why does he even ask it?  These people had followed him, without his invitation, and gathered around while Jesus and those he travels with are sitting on the side of a mountain.  Why is it the disciples’ job to figure out how to feed all of these people?  

Why? Because it is.  Because Jesus says so.  Because this is why we are a church – to spread the good news of God.  When people are hungry, Jesus calls us to feed them – whether the bread they are searching for is made of flour and yeast, or the good news of life in Christ.  Jesus asks the question of Philip and of us because feeding God’s people is our job.  Job #1.

And what was Philips’s answer?  It’s in verse 7: "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”  It’s interesting to me – and a little ironic – that all of the 5000 people are gathered because they have seen what Jesus can do, but Philip doesn’t see that at all.  All he sees is how many hungry people there are and how few resources he believes the disciples have.  It is a perfect example of seeing ministry through the eyes of scarcity.  

Have you ever experienced that? I know I have.  Perhaps you, like me, have been in church committee meetings, discussing a ministry issue, when scarcity rears its head.  The problem is discussed, and it seems to always circle back to statements like: We don’t have enough resources to do what needs to be done.  We don’t have enough money, enough interested people, enough time.  Sometimes it seems like all we have are eyes that see scarcity – and eyes that only see scarcity don’t see Jesus in the room at all.  

Continued in next post

Daredevil Duck, Part 1

The following few posts are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  The Nancy mentioned at the beginning is the pastor of the church.

Nancy told me that she was sharing a series of sermons with you related to story books.  So I want to start today by telling you the story of the Daredevil Duck.  Charlie Alder wrote the book – it’s wonderfully illustrated – I recommend it.

Anyway, the story is about Daredevil Duck – the bravest duck in the whole world – except that he wasn’t.  He WANTS to be brave, but sometimes he’s not. His fears are many – he’s afraid of the dark, of things that are too fluttery, too wet, or too high.  

Amazingly enough (for me, especially since he is afraid of things that are too wet) one day he was floating on a lake, dreaming about being brave, when a chatty mole, named Chatty Mole, said, “Hello!”  Daredevil Duck was so startled that he fell off of his float, got out of the lake, and ran to his tricycle – he peddled away as fast as he could, hoping to get away from the mole.  But he got lost, and ended up right where he started.  Right next to Chatty Mole, who said, “Hello” again.  The Chatty Mole’s balloon was stuck in a tree, and he could not get it down, so he asked the duck to help.   The mole had to do some convincing, but finally Daredevil Duck agreed to try to help.

The Daredevil climbed the tree, inched out on a branch, and jumped! As he jumped, he caught the balloon string, and floated through the air.  He had rescued the balloon, and he returned it to the mole. Chatty Mole’s gratitude and happiness – and his belief that Daredevil Duck actually WAS brave, changed the duck.  The idea of helping someone else motivated the Daredevil, and then the act of helping transformed him.  He began to believe he was brave.  And his life was changed from that point on.

The story reminds me of the scripture that we heard today from John.  In the John passage, we hear two miracle stories – stories that we might not always hear together.  The first one – the feeding story – is so important for us to hear that it is in all four gospels.  It is, in fact, the only miracle that appears in all four gospels.  The second story of the pair describes Jesus walking on water.  

In our story, Daredevil Duck was afraid – of almost everything.  As we talk about these two stories in John today, I hope you will listen for that theme – how often are we afraid? And how are we called to respond to our fear?

Continued in next post

Perspectives: Enough?

So, this might be a weird picture to show on the blog. I don't normally take pictures in the bathroom, but sometimes one just has to be captured. This is a shelf in the restroom in the shop where I have my hair cut. I was so stunned by the amount of toilet paper stored on this shelf that I to take a picture. 

Are they afraid of running out? 

Do we do that? Are we so afraid of running out of something, that we hoard? When is enough, enough?

I think the foundation of generosity is two things:

1. Gratitude - knowing how much we have received from others and from God and expressing gratitude for it.
2. Letting go of fear - finally realizing that there is a point when it is enough, and we can