“Fishing Together”  (Mark 1:14-20)
Intro:  In our New Testament lesson today we hear of Jesus by the lakeshore calling the first disciples.  Simon, Andrew, James and John will become Jesus’ closest friends and disciples.  Their ministry is about to begin.  Let us listen for God’s calling word to us.  //

(Hang pole over pulpit….wait) Someone once said about fishing:  “There’s a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like a fool.”  I must admit I’ve never been much of a fisherman.  I feel some guilt about that. There are great movies like “A River Runs Through It” where fishing, faith and life all seem to go together in some incredible way and yet for all my efforts, fish don’t fear me.  I’ve sat on the ice staring down a hole; I’ve cast off a dock or two.  Never much to show – when I want fish -I’m told Huntsbury Seafood is the best? .  (Put pole away)

However, I love fish stories and I can’t resist sharing one.  (If you know how this story ends, I’ll ask you to share it.)  Once upon a time Young Eddie came several minutes late to Sunday school, and the teacher asked him why he was late.  Eddie said, “I wanted to go fishing, but my dad wouldn’t let me, so we argued, and that’s why I’m late.” The teacher said, “Good for your father!  Eddie, did he explain to you WHY you needed to come to church instead of going fishing on Sunday morning?”  “Yes ma’am,” replied the boy.  (Anyone know it?)  —“He said there weren’t enough worms for both of us.”

Eddie’s father would fish alone.  As some fishermen describe it, there is a real appeal in the solitary nature of fishing.  One pole, one person, one fish. 

Today’s Gospel text is about fishing and so much more.  Jesus begins his ministry along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where he calls out to the fishermen: “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people!”  For most of my life whenever I heard this account of Jesus calling Simon and Andrew, James and John, I thought of worms and hooks and bamboo poles and waiting in quiet solitude.  If I thought about it too literally, “Fishing for people” had a certain strange sound to it, and I have shied away from the image.   Who knows what the first disciples thought Jesus was asking of them?

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, fishing with hooks is a negative image used by Israel’s prophets, to talk about trapping and destroying.  (Don’t get “hooked” by something.)  Yet Jesus calls the disciples to a ministry of preaching and healing.  Theirs is not a word of judgment for the world; rather it is of the fulfillment of ancient hope.  Jesus is speaking of another kind of fishing.  From the biblical perspective, hooks destroy, but nets save.  (Put up long net with help)  Fishing with a hook is a one-person job; nets take many hands.  Fishing together is a different kind of fishing.   Those who would follow Jesus are to fish together, using nets. 

The invitation by Jesus to the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee is not to abandon fishing altogether, or to start fishing alone, but to use the Good News as they would a fishing net, to draw people together, into discipleship.   They will help to create a community of individuals whose lives are committed to Christ and to living the love of God in concrete fashion, but not in a private way.  What Jesus is proposing here is a different kind of fishing entirely.  When you fish with a net, you get what you get, whatever’s out there, and sometimes a whole lot of it.  Jesus says follow me and “I will make you fishers of people.”  As we see in Jesus’ ministry all kinds of people found a place along side him. 

The use and interpretation of this text points to a clash of ecclesiologies found among Christians today. Ecclesiology has to do with the doctrine of the church, how we think about this collection of people called the “body of Christ.”  Ecclesiology is a fancy word for what we are demonstrating every time we gather for worship, when we go out to serve in the community, when we sit down to work in committees or enjoy the fellowship of others in the church, or when we invite people to join us.  Whenever we live out what it means to us to “be” the body of Christ. 

Some today would say the primary role of the church is to ensure the salvation of individuals.  Go catch ‘em one at a time for Jesus.  Others of us would argue that the church is fundamentally about forming communities of believers wanting to worship and serve God.

The Presbyterian Church has historically chosen the latter: saying that the church, is primarily charged with building up the body of Christ, in order to worship and serve God together, and in so doing, find hope and salvation.  As John Calvin put it five hundred years ago church members “are gathered into the society of God on the principle that whatever benefits God confers upon them, they should in turn share with one another.”  Our faith may be personal, but it is not a private matter.  We seek the common good in our life together.  It is in community that we discover how to be the people of God. 

In another biblical fish story, Jonah is sent into the city.  Nineveh was a vast urban center of ancient times.  Jonah was sent by God to go to the city and call it to repentance.  The story of Jonah is not merely a big fish tale.  It is the account of God’s desire to redeem the city.   After riding around inside the big one he wished had gotten away, Jonah arrives in Nineveh, delivers the call to repentance, and to his surprise the people hear, they change their ways, and to his dismay, God spares them.  God’s primary interest in the story is not in the one man Jonah, but in the redemption of the city itself.  In fact, at the end of the story, it is Jonah’s fate that seems the most uncertain.  Nineveh is on a new path and Jonah has a long walk home.  He feels alone.

In many parts of America there is a growing sense that we are losing our sense of community.  And we are hearing about strange enclaves that are supposed to be desirable places called “gated communities”. Feelings of isolation are on the increase.  People can feel separated by race, economics, religious beliefs or anything else that people use to draw lines. 

If the church is committed to the kind of “new fishing” Jesus calls his disciples to undertake, then we must be about the business of creating community among strangers, extending care and concern for our community as mission statement says.  St Martins is an inclusive Christian Congregation, sharing in the love of Christ, building one another up in joyful faith, reaching out in love to people around and beyond us and encouraging care for God’s creation.

How to do it?  We express concern for homelessness by getting involved with Waltham cottage.  We are concerned with feeding the hungry, so we collect food week.  We care about conditions around the world and we support the efforts of the Christian World Service and Your Sisters Mission..  That is some of how it looks today.   And here is one more idea

Someone once defined community as “people who sing together regularly.”  I think of that definition often in worship.  Where else today do we get together each week with people of differing ages, races, educational backgrounds, and sing?  We sing in worship to express our shared desire to praise God.  When we sing, the bonds that hold us together are strengthened.   Singing in a congregation is like fishing with a net.  Everybody can join in—monotones, and trained voices, young and old alike.  As we sing together in the rest of worship, think about what a wonderfully diverse community we are, then think of how we can add more voices.  

God is stirring us up once again, not that we might repeat some golden past, but to reinvent our future, as each succeeding generation must do.  And it begins with an invitation to come and follow the One who lives and dies and lives again, that we might have life abundant, in community with one another and with the risen Christ.  Amen

“So, Then”    (Ephesians 4:25-5:2)

You may know the story about the old Native American who was sharing wisdom with his grandson. The story goes, one evening the Cherokee man told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My child, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One wolf is Evil. It is anger, hostility, arrogance, resentment, inferiority, sorrow, regret, self-pity, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other wolf is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson listened closely and thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”  (do you know it?)  The grandfather simply replied, “The one you feed.”

This morning we hear the words “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.”  As we consider the power and the place of anger, it is good to be reminded of part of the Palm Sunday story, when Jesus has just ridden a donkey into Jerusalem. Making his way to the Temple, he is for a moment, furious, and he drives out the buyers and the sellers. He knocks over the tables of the moneychangers, and throws around the seats of those selling doves. He quotes the scriptures, of how God’s house is a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. Then he settles down to cure the blind and the lame.

We need to talk about anger, because anger can be a holy trait, when we see that things are not just, and not right, and rather than look the other way it can motivate real change, it is a trait that God gives us.

Technically speaking, anger is an emotion. It comes to all of us. Anger is sparked by conflict. Something unwanted happens. We get angry because we care about something or someone, or because we want something to go our way.

There is righteous anger, as with Jesus who cares deeply about the things of God, and discovers that the business in God’s house is not as God intends it to be. And there is deadly anger, with the power to consume us and harm others. The line between “righteous” and “deadly” anger is a dotted line, we need the spot difference in ourselves and others.

The writer of Ephesians gives three pieces of advice. First, “Be angry but do not sin.” Anger comes naturally, as we live in a world that we do not run. Sin is the behavior that destroys, and it is at the door when we let anger determine our motives – for example, when we strike back in revenge, or escalate a situation. When anger comes, let it wash over come and go like every emotion. We can’t pretend that anger doesn’t hit us from time to time, but it doesn’t need to let it have power over us. 

Second, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Comedian Phyllis Diller once gave this advice to couples, “don’t go to bed mad, stay up and fight.”   Give it a time limit. Don’t keep carrying it. Don’t let it build over time or accumulate. Start each morning new. This is particularly true for those of us who live with other people who wake up beside us.  Hit the reset button first thing in the morning. The advice in the rest of the paragraph applies: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” It’s hard work, but regular practice makes better people of us.

Third, “Do not make room for the devil.” That’s good advice generally, and especially for anger. Whatever anger you feel is yours alone. It doesn’t need to be swallowed, but it doesn’t need to be shared either. There’s something increasingly destructive about taking the anger we feel and stirring it up. Our hurts and grudges are real, but we do not need to feed them. And if we talk out of anger with somebody else, in order to gain their sympathy or drag them in, pretty soon we may find ourselves dragged under. This is the warning for all of us.

I think we do have a tendency to avoid conflict in our workplaces and our personal lives to a great extent in an effort to preserve a sense of peace.  At times, we go away mad rather than risk saying what we feel.  I am not advocating that we need to go out and look for things to disagree on, but there is something lost, when complete and constant harmony in our relationships is the utmost goal. 

It can, and often does, take more effort to avoid conflict than it does to face a divisive issue squarely, name the pain, say what is wrong, decide what comes next and move on.   Many times through a good process of voicing differing ideas, or fighting fair, creative ideas with new and unexpected results come forth.  Falsehoods can be discovered and discarded.  By discussing, debating, letting our passions show about issues, we can be changed ourselves and we can give others a sense of what is significant and central to us. 

What is important enough in our own lives, or our community lives, that we are willing to speak our truth about it and seek truth in community?  For many today as we talk about hot button we find ourselves facing others with strongly held beliefs that differ from our own.  What do we do then?  And there are issues closer to home as well, how to spend the household money, how to raise the children.  These are just some of the things which we feel strongly about.   

The church at Ephesus was not in the midst of complete harmony, they were in the middle of a civil war within the church.  Some issue, or issues had begun pulling apart the threads that held them together, and they were lining up behind “their” leader  and their issues as they each felt they were standing in the corner of truth and righteousness.

As admirable and important as each of these viewpoints might have been, the underlying assumption of each had a debilitating effect on the life of the church.  It meant that the unity they shared in Christ was being dissolved in favor of human loyalties.  What was holding them together, their common life in Christ, was evaporating before their very eyes. 

We need each other’s perspectives and experiences to fill in the gaps of our own understanding.  I will never see the world an African priest does.  I don’t see things through the eyes of an Evangelical Southern Baptist, but as people of faith, bring their ideas to light, share their experience and perspectives then the greeter good is served.  We see the fantastic variety of ways God’s presence is felt in the world. 

Paul’s style would usually be described as blunt rather than nice.  Paul’s call for unity, may be heard as a threat to diversity of viewpoints and opinions, but that is because we confuse unity with uniformity.  Later in this letter Paul will defend the different judgments that Christians may have on the same issue, and call for care in practice of all so that unity of the church and the faith of its members are not damaged.  In a similar way Paul discusses the gifts of the spirit and their place in worship.  We have a variety of gifts but they each come from the one Lord.  Unity in faith does not mean unity in thought and practice. 

It has been an exciting time in American politics, the other day Kamala Harris offered a terrific observation when she said  “If you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for”

By speaking out for what we believe, we come to realize what we truly hold dear, what is important to us.  There are many issues, climate change, income inequality, homelessness; which need ongoing effort and thought full dialogue.  And people can become passionate about them.  That is fine, but Paul letter warns us, not to let our feelings about one issue, or one person allow us to miss the greater mark, striving to make God’s love real to all.  When we put all our energy into one issue, we can lose the greater good; the greatest good -which is our lives in Christ. 

He hopes that by speaking out a change and refocus will happen.  It is an expression of his care and commitment to keep the focus on Christ.  Disagreements, fights can be good when they clarify what is really important; the church was missing what meant the most.  Remaining committed to one another through the unified body of Christ will take continuing effort, each generation will need to struggle with the call to keep the focus on Christ.  It means saying what we believe and listening to others.  Not listening to the loudest voice but listening for the voice of the Spirit.  Let us do so with Love and conviction.  Amen.

“Signs and Wonders”  (John 6:24-35)

I wonder if this experience is a common one?  (it is, at least in my house.)  It’s about 9 o’clock in the evening. The news has ended long ago, dinner is finished.  But still, I sometimes will get up from whatever I am doing and wander into the kitchen.  Then I will open the refrigerator, look inside, and stand there for a few moments.

My wife, Monica will look up from her book and she’ll say, “Are you hungry for something?” I don’t know. “Didn’t you eat enough at supper?” I did. (at least, the scale tells me so.) “What do you want? she’ll ask.  I’m not sure; maybe it’s in here.  Was I looking for a late-night snack?  Some of Sue’s delicious jam on piece of bread? A late-night ice cream cone? Or would a glass of Milo do the trick?   It’s difficult to say. I think I’m hungry, but it isn’t always for food.

“Well, if you don’t know what you want, don’t stand there with the refrigerator door open.” OK, fair enough. But still, I stand there for another minute or two.  Do you ever do that?  It is a good question, what was I looking for?

Turning to our story, I can understand why some people went “looking” for Jesus. The day before, he fed them an astonishing  hillside picnic. The menu was simple – barley bread and fresh fish – but it was more than people expected, more food than they had ever seen in one place, more abundance than anybody believed possible that day.  It truly was a God driven miracle, and it started with a little boy willing to unveil his lunchbox and offering to share. Nobody actually knows how everybody got fed, but there was no question about there being leftovers-baskets of leftovers!  And, there was no question that without Jesus that miraculous meal would not have happened.   Jesus was at the center of it all.  

I’d like to take a moment to remember what Jesus did on the hillside because I think it helps answer what people all over may be looking for the day after and to this day.  Remember when he asked, “what have you got to feed all these people”?  and the little boy offers his lunch.

Notice what Jesus does. He took it, blessed it, broke it, gave it.  These are the same verbs from the table at the Last Supper: took, blessed, broke, gave. They define his mission to the world and they still define his mission to the world – through us.

He took the bread. (five little loaves) It is not enough. It’s never enough. Yet it is the community collection, the resources that came together, the gathered offering meant to benefit everybody else. Suddenly – what one person possessed is no longer private, no longer hoarded, no longer kept while others do without. Jesus took it, because it was they offered.

He blessed it. That is, he sanctified what they offered as an offering to God. Jesus probably used the Good Jewish Prayer lifted before every big meal: . “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” It is God who is blessed, blessed and affirmed, as the Source of all our food. We say Grace, we offer gratitude to God at our tables, for food does not originate from us.

Then he broke it. Broke it and offered to God, it cannot stay the way it was. It cannot remain untouched or unchanged.  Like every gift from God, the bread is to be utilized.  The bread is broken to acknowledge that we are broken. We are broken by the world’s pain, the world’s starvation. And we are broken open to do something about it.

Then Jesus gave it away.   Giving is generosity. Generosity is grace in action. It is offered freely, without restriction. What Jesus receives from us is processed through him. What he blesses and breaks is given away.  There are things we have that can be given away with love and trust that they will go further than we can imagine.  We open our hand and give because Jesus gives, because it is the very nature of God to give.

If there is any miracle in this Bible story this morning, it is not that Jesus once did a magic trick in a land faraway. No, the miracle is that God keeps giving. The generosity is all around us, waiting for us to participate. In Jesus Christ, God takes, blesses, breaks, and gives. In the end, there is – and there always shall be – plenty for everyone.

It’s true: there really is enough for everybody. What we must work on is the distribution plan. That’s why Jesus keeps saying to us, “You give them something to eat.” He could have agreed with the twelve and sent everybody back to their towns and scramble for the next meal, but he didn’t do that. He could have could have snapped his fingers and created free food forever for everybody, but he didn’t do that, either. No, instead he gave a glimpse of how God is at work in the world, when bread is collected, blessed, broken, and shared, and all of us take part and there is little distinction between giving and receiving. It is all a part of system of grace.

So on the hillside they had a taste, they caught a glimpse, and the next day they go looking for Jesus.  So we may ask, are they looking for “something to eat” or are they looking for something else? Yes to both! They don’t exactly know what they want, but they are looking for it, looking for something, looking for him. And in this light, they are like just about everybody else in the Gospel of John.

Jesus looked at the hopeful crowds and said, “You chase after me because you ate a lot of bread.” He sees through the surface layer of their seeking. Yesterday’s bread soon goes stale and moldy. The Real Bread, the bread from heaven, is the bread that stays fresh every day.  

The trick, of course, is seeing such heavenly generosity, or at least trusting it if we don’t see it right now. That may be the most elusive pursuit of faith, but once again, it is the essence of what faith is all about. We trust God enough to pursue God. Jesus says, “The work of God is for us to believe.” If I might attempt to translate, that means it is God who desires that we have a life of depth and well-being. It is God who takes responsibility for the miracle to create belief and trust in our hearts. As we chase after God, it is God who ultimately finds us.    

May we remember that. Trust that. If doubts plague us or if other shiny objects distract us, my suggestion is that we pay attention to our own deep spiritual hunger. Listen to the deepest yearnings of your heart.  Look for the Real Bread. Seek after what is life-giving, not merely for you, but for others. Spiritual hunger is a spiritual gift, because it can propel us more deeply into the God who is the Source and Destination of our lives. Be a good steward of your deepest longing.   Today as we gather around the feast table of Christ,  may we find what we are looking for.  Here at the table is a sign of God’s miraculous grace that will find us and feed us.  may it cause us to wonder once more.  Amen.