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February 25, 2007
Anne Jensen - Feb 25, 2007
Lent 1C Luke 4:1-13 Last Sunday at Trinity Menlo Park
Well, my friends, we have come to a time of saying goodbye, and at the same time, a new beginning for you as you move into the next era of life at Trinity. If there is a theme for today, and I strongly believe there is, it is this. Choose God, as Jesus chose God in the Gospel.
The first Sunday of Lent is an odd day for leave taking. We move from the images of light in Epiphany into a more reflective time, a solemn time, a time of honest assessment, a time of preparation. But it’s not necessarily a sad time. The best Lent I ever had was the one where I came to know the loving presence of Jesus in a personal way, and to know that Jesus embodies all the authority of God. Lent was positively joyous. It was like falling in love with all the accompanying energy.
I suspect that this Lent will be different from other years—more joyous as you welcome a new rector. Yes, there is still the emphasis on recognizing where in our lives we have not kept faith, but at the same time, there is the persistent message of God’s overwhelming love. You have been through a year of self-study and reconciliation. You have sought out and courted a new rector, and he has said “Yes, I will come.” You don’t really know each other, and yet we believe this process is filled with the Holy Spirit. We have put our trust in God.
"After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted." Jesus had been filled, brimful to overflowing, with the Spirit at his baptism. But the Spirit is not finished with him by any means. This same Spirit leads him into the wilderness. Actually, the Greek word translated in the text as "lead" might better be translated as "hurled, threw, impelled, directed." It's not a blithe spiritual expedition here. It is the very Spirit of God throwing Jesus into the physical wilderness and, even more so, hurling him into the wilderness of his own soul, his own call, his own identity.
The point is this. Jesus chooses God. And as Jesus chooses God, he also chooses his own call, his own mission, his own pathway of service and compassion.
Truth is, Jesus could have been terribly distracted by the things offered to him. He could have been distracted because he was hungry after fasting for 40 days. And who would not want dignity, respect, empowerment, safety and security (which are really what the other temptations offer)? But, no, he doesn't get stuck, distracted, paralyzed by these tantalizing offers. Rather, he rests in the Spirit of God that led and threw him into this place and experience to begin with. And, still, brimful to overflowing with that Spirit, he chooses God; and he chooses to move ahead in his call and mission.
He returns to his hometown but with clarity about his mission and purpose. Jesus attends the synagogue there, opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reads these words, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. He has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim release for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the Lord's favor." Then Jesus rolls up the scroll and says to the assembled worshippers, "Today, today, in your very hearing this text has come true."
There it is: Jesus comes out of the wilderness, out of his temptations, filled and armed with the Spirit. He proceeds to embrace his mission and be embraced by it. And that mission is clear in its purpose and focus: good news proclaimed, restoration and release, reconciliation and renewal. Jesus embraces and is embraced by his mission. He breathes it. He lives it through preaching, teaching, healing and welcoming the outcast and poor. He shows it finally in his willingness to offer himself on the cross as an action of love poured out for all.
In his experience in the wilderness, Jesus does not become distracted by the things that the tempter tries to offer him. No, he keeps his eyes on the prize. He rests in the Spirit of God and refuses the power, security, and satiation that could keep him temporarily satisfied while deterring him from his real purpose in life. Jesus chooses God. Jesus chooses his mission and call.
The same choice confronts individual people of faith and the whole Christian Church itself. Will we choose God? Will we embrace our call and be embraced by it? Will we hear and listen to God's Spirit at work in us?
God's Spirit is at work in our lives, sustaining, guiding, directing, inspiring and strengthening us. Will we choose God? Will we choose our own call and mission to live in the love of God? Will we choose or own call and mission to live in the love of God? We are called, we have a mission, a purpose because God loves us, is present with us, and guides us in our lives. Will we choose God?
This is the story in which Jesus reveals who he is, not by seizing power, but by turning it down. God’s Beloved will not practice magic. He will not ask for special protection or seek political power. As much as it may surprise everyone, maybe even including him, he will remain human, accepting all the usual risks.
Through Jesus, God has fully identified with the human condition.
“What temptations face us?” Remember that Jesus was famished, so the devil tempted him with food. Just a word about “the devil”: we may conjure up images of red figures with pointed ears, but the devil is a literary device used to personify the power of evil. We don’t need to look very far to see that powers of evil exist. For the sake of narrative, Luke personifies evil to create a conversation that reveals the tension between human desire and trusting in God to provide what we need.
So what temptations might you as a congregation face? Two temptations come to mind. The first is buying into the idea that once the new rector, Fr. Mike, is here, everything that you, individually or collectively, want to happen here will start happening. The relationship between the rector and the congregation is more like a partnership. Programs will develop as you and he develop the vision God has given you. It will require that more of you give more of your time to the work of the church. It’s a matter of making the development of this faith community a priority in your life and the life of your family. You are a gifted group of people…you can do amazing things! In my annual report, which maybe a few people read, I wrote that if you want to make a difference in the world, start by making a difference at Trinity. It’s like the environmental slogan, “Think globally, act locally.” You have wonderful lay leadership and how we need more of you to support them.
The second danger/temptation is related to it. That is the idea of making Trinity Parish a successful enterprise, that is, a project of your own making. This gets tricky, because of course you want to grow. Let me use an analogy that my preaching professor used. If I spend a lot of time and effort trying to write an excellent sermon because I want everyone to think I’m a fine preacher and because I want to get noticed by important people, then I am working on my own agenda and I’m trying to meet my own ego needs. By contrast, if I work hard on a sermon because I find the gospel compelling, and I believe that it can change people’s lives, and I want them to know the power of God’s love and mercy, then I am working out of faith.
As Trinity Parish works to extend Christian hospitality and to live the gospel, you must be grounded in your own spiritual growth. By all means, use the gifts and talents you bring from your business and professional lives, but most importantly be people of faith, first and foremost. Help Trinity become a school for disciples, a center for formation of faithful families, a center for spiritual nurture for the newly arrived and the life-long Christian. Because when we meet Jesus and know that he loves us individually and together and that he is our savior, we become people of joy, with incredible energy to do the work of the gospel. Help people live out their ministries of love and compassion, wherever they are—in their families, their volunteer activities, in the community and at work.
Recent research shows that healthy congregations are able to make three affirmations about their life:
* Our congregation is spiritually vital and alive.
* Our congregation helps members deepen their relationships with God.
* We have a clear sense of mission and purpose.
[Congregations that show forth God’s saving love, that connect people with God’s love, and that are communities of transformation are vital and alive. Congregations that possess clarity about their mission have chosen their mission and are mission-focused thrive and grow. They are not distracted or tempted to look elsewhere. They know their identity and purpose, and they live into it.
God’s Holy Spirit is with us. God’s own Spirit leads, directs, guides, strengthens and renews us as individual believers and as communities of faith. Sometimes God’s Spirit hurls us into the places where we did not expect to go, but always, always, that same Spirit is with us.
So, here we are, back to joy, even though it is the beginning of Lent. Lent is indeed a journey to Joy!
And now it is time to say how much joy this ministry has brought me. As I have said to many of you, “It has been a good run,” but that doesn’t quite get to the depth I feel. I am grateful that I found a place here. I wasn’t sure about this interim position when I first heard about it, but once I met the people from the search committee, the vestry and the staff, I was hooked. You gave me new life after a cross-country move. In my head I knew that God could use me wherever I was, but you made it real. My daughter-in-law said I was a new person after I started here. You have enriched my life, and I will always treasure my time with you.
I could not do this work alone. I am profoundly grateful to my colleagues in ministry: Fred, Bill, Frannie, Michael, Beth, Alex and Alecia. This really was a team, and I will miss them. I already missed Bill and he came back. Thank you to the altar guild, the choir, and the commissions. Thank you, Doug. And thank you to each on of you as you have shared a part of your life with me. It has been a great privilege.
Many of you have said kind words about my ministry here, and I appreciate them, but I want you to know that I was just a part of what happened here. You were open to the Holy Spirit, and you allowed that Spirit to do the healing that was needed. God is not finished with you—in fact, God is just getting started!
I will miss celebrating the Holy Eucharist with you. Last Sunday at the altar I was overcome with how precious this time is. I wanted to grab Fred’s hand and Carl’s hand…it doesn’t get any better than this. We have been together in meeting God in the bread and wine. I really do believe in the Communion of Saints—that there will be a time when we will once again all be gathered at God’s holy table, and this belief helps me move from one congregation to another.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
And may you have a holy and joyful Lent.
February 21, 2007
Fred Heard - Feb 18, 2007
Mountains are very important in the Bible. God made himself known to Moses on Mount Sinai. Elijah called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel (kahr’muhl). Jesus revealed his glory to his disciples on the mountain. In this case, no specific mountain name is mentioned because it is thought that the site is unimportant. The important part of this story is the fact that it happened.
This is interesting because today we often suggest that Christians set aside a special place in the home for God-encounters or meditations. I often tell people to pray quietly and then listen for God’s soft response. Mother Anne just concluded a series of weekly Epiphany Meditations. We believe and encourage the quiet and the calm.
Several weeks ago, I asked a group of senior citizens to think about what God wanted them to do today. The follow-up came this last Wednesday when I asked them where God is and where they encounter God? Our own Allan Greenland said that God is everywhere. Someone else said God is inside us and another lady suggested that we put it all together.
Folks who enter recovery often seek out special places where they may be in conversation with their Higher Power. They often choose God as their Higher Power and many times 12-steppers go to a monastery or some other remote place for meditation. I sense, in most people’s minds, that a place with noise is not perhaps the most satisfactory place for meditation. Many of us are encountering the labyrinth as a special “top of the mountain.”
The view from the top of a mountain is often spectacular and it would be more so if Jesus took you to the top himself. Jesus wanted to pray. Do you think he wanted company? Well perhaps—but more importantly, he wanted them to glimpse God…and also to experience his glory. How would he let them know he was more than a great leader? He was like God—He was God—He is God. Now that is really special—on a mountain top or anyplace else.
Jesus took Peter and John and James to pray. While he prayed, his facial appearance changed. His clothes became dazzling white. “Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah—the great men from Israel’s history. They weren’t the only visitors. A cloud descended on the disciples, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
Turning back to the beginning, those who awaited Jesus before his birth expected a King—a royal king like David…a king clothed in purple. They expected a king that would raise armies to drive the Romans out of their land. This mountain top visit with Jesus was not what they expected. The events of the mountain top demonstrated in no uncertain terms that Jesus was more than a “usual king.” There would be questions all along about his greatness. They would not fully understand how different Jesus was until the crucifixion and resurrection and still there would be doubts. On this day on the mountain a seed was planted.
Have you ever experienced a transfiguration? Is their a religious event in your life that so transformed you that it shook you to your core? Have you ever come face to face with God and completely turned your life around? I have seen such events while I have been a priest at Trinity. Recently in one of my sermons, I referred to the man who was dying a few months ago and professed to be an agnostic. Only reluctantly, he accepted a blessing and then the tears rolled down his face. On his death bed he was face to face with God and he went to be with God at 5:00 am the next morning. I have looked into the faces of parishioners at Trinity who are dying and watched as a perfect peace came over their faces. I watched as a very advanced Alzheimer’s patient sat on the edge of his bed as I gave him communion—just days from the end—and he recited the communion service word for word. He saw the face of God.
As Christians, we often say that God will always take you to his bosom and that it is never too late. I have had people say, would he really take a despotic madman? Well yes if there was a true conversion. Many of us who grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s remember Eldridge Cleaver. As a young man, Cleaver was involved in various kinds of crime. In 1957 at age 22, he was convicted of assault with intent to commit murder. He admitted to raping a number of women. He advocated violence as a way of redressing racial injustice. In 1968 he was involved in a shootout with Oakland police. He jumped bail and lived for a number of years in Algeria and Paris. Then Cleaver had one of those dramatic conversion experiences that we hear about. He had a vision. This is how he reported his vision in his book, Soul on Fire. He said: “I saw all my former heroes paraded before my eyes...Fidel Castro, Mao Tse-tung, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, passing in review--each one appearing for a moment of time, and then dropping out of sight, like fallen heroes. Finally, at the end of the procession, in dazzling, shimmering light, the image of Jesus Christ appeared.
Cleaver became a Christian--turned on to Jesus as fervently as he had been turned on earlier to violence. His life was never the same again. In one moment, he was a man of violence. In the next moment, he was a man of peace. Eldridge Cleaver had a dramatic vision of Christ. It was not expected, it was dramatic and life changing and so like the experience of those three disciples who were with Jesus on the mountain during the transfiguration.
Most of us will not experience the drama that I have mentioned this morning because many of us grew up in the church and knew of Christ from the beginning or we came to our faith slowly and deliberately over a period of time. Perhaps our mother’s knee was our mountain top but perhaps it was a bar where nothing seemed to work. Perhaps our mountain top was a broken marriage or a traumatic death in our family. The transfiguration of Jesus might be something foreign to us or difficult to understand—but if we search within our own lives and soles perhaps we will be comfortable with what that lady said at the nursing home—that God is within us and in our minds and all around us and we should “just put it all together.”
Jesus took his disciples to the mountain to pray. They went there to place themselves in the presence of God. They went to the mountain to talk to God. Even more however, they went there to listen to God. Prayer is a conversation with a loving God that helps to align us with God's will. The times when we invite God to guide us--and sit quietly listening and talking with God are our most important prayer times.
In the famous painting of Christ painted by Holman Hunt more than a century ago, Christ is knocking at a closed door. There is no handle on the door. We must open the door to Jesus. The handle is on the inside. When we ask, “Where is God?” Did we remember to open the door?
When we pray and when God presents Himself to us let us experience that as our transfiguration. Mother Theresa said: Love to pray.
Feel often during the day the need for prayer, and take trouble to pray.
Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive Him and keep Him as your own. AMEN
February 11, 2007
Anne Jensen - Epiphany 6 - 2007
Epiphany 6C Jeremiah 17, Psalm 1, Luke 6 (Beatitudes) 2007
First of all, it is really hard to talk about the beatitudes.
We tend to read these passages as instructions for the kinds of choices we are supposed to make it we are going to keep working on our personal righteousness, on our spiritual growth, or even our collective righteousness. I invite you to see them as DESCRIPTIVE rather than PRESCRIPTIVE. These passages describe the state in which people who have had a living experience with the Holy One actually live. They live in confidence, trusting in God, accepting the reality of “what is”, and finding that God is in it. It’s about finding who we really are in God.
The problem, Richard Rohr says, “is that contemporary Westerners have a very fragile sense of their identity, much less an identity that can rest in union and relationship with God. Objectively, of course, we are already in union with God,” he says, but we have a hard time believing it. We tend to find our identity in what we are not---I’m not like those people, whoever those people are. Or we find our identities in groups, who share a common experience, possession or even in a person. “She will make me happy, or he will take away my loneliness or this group will make me feel like I belong. These become substitutes for doing the hard work of growing up. It is much easier to belong to a group than it is to know that you belong to God.”
People who live lives centered in God don’t feel the need to build themselves up or be as defensive as they might have been earlier in life. We talk about getting centered or re-centered after having gone off on some tangent or lost our way. They experience a kind of freedom to be their own person in Christ. They are always free to obey, but they are also free to disobey the expectation of church and state. Think of St. Paul, Joan of Arc or Archbishop Tutu.
By contrast, probably the most obvious indication of non-centered people is that they are very difficult to live with. Every one of their ego-boundaries must be defended, negotiated, or worshiped: their reputation, their needs, their nation, their security, their religion, even their ball team. They convince themselves that these boundaries are all they have to worry about because they are the sum-total of their identity. You can tell if you have placed a lot of your eggs in these flimsy baskets if you are hurt or offended frequently. You can hardly hurt saints because they are living at the center.
One of the ways I express this truth is that once you know that God knows your name, that is, that you’ve had some experience of God that is just for you, a sense of your true place in God’s creation, it really doesn’t matter so much what other people think and say about you. You have found your true identity in your relationship with God. As Christians we often find this relationship to God through an experience of Jesus.
So how do we get to this place, this way of being? Well, the first thing to say is that you cannot think yourself to it. Rather it grasps you, and it grasps you in the midst of your life, your ordinary life. Richard says that there are two ways we get to this point: persistent prayer and suffering. The more efficient way is suffering. The reality is that you can’t get to be an adult without some experience of suffering, so we all the raw material.
Probably most of us here have some moment when we experienced the greatness of God and or own smallness, or maybe it was an experience of forgiveness, or maybe it’s the pleasure of experiencing as fully as we can, our place in creation, and it’s a sense of being most fully who we are. Or god may call your name. It’s not based on any sense of merit. It is a gift. All we need is one such experience. What transpires is the formation of a person who is authentically the person God calls us to be. After that you are much less interested in defending the ego, and you see and live with a sense of connectedness to all human beings, to all creation.
How do you keep this connection going? We need two things: we need to develop practices that sustain this connection, and we need community. I don’t know how many times someone has begins a conversation with me by saying, “I know this sounds crazy, but one day…” and the person starts telling me about a profound experience of God’s presence. The church community is where we can share these experiences and no one is going to think we’re crazy. In fact, it’s in the faith community where such conversation can be shared and affirmed. And we are enriched in our own faith by hearing the stories of others.
We do some of that around here, and we could do more if we are willing to make ourselves vulnerable, and when we do perceive the vulnerability of others, we receive them gently. I have seen this here; I’ve seen the vestry do just this kind of sharing. I have also heard from the new rector search committee members that they have learned to share on this level.
You as a congregation actually have lived this out. Much as I appreciate the kind words many of you have offered about my ministry here, the spiritual growth and improved health of Trinity is the work of the Holy Spirit. It could happen because you were honest about the disruption and hurt that characterized the spirit of the congregation. You didn’t pretend that things were just great; you were honest about your pain. You didn’t pretend that things were just great; you were honest about your pain. You left room for God to move within you and to heal the wounds. You have been who you authentically are. You have changed from being anxious to eagerly looking forward. You have been blessed, you are blessed and you shall be blessed as you continue to find your center in Christ.
Living in a blessed state is not a rationalization for laziness or complacency. Nor is it resignation; we’ve all known people who have given up and coasted into retirement. No, this is a question of we live our lives: do we trust and delight in God like a tree planted by a stream of water, or do we trust in our own efforts? Can we be at peace where we are or are we always looking ahead to the next place? This is also not to say that our congregation is not called to grow and share the gospel with the surrounding world, but there is a difference between growing and sharing out of Christ-like grace and peace, and growing out of frantic compulsiveness. Jeremiah 17, Psalm 1 and Jesus in Luke 6 all agree that there are two ways: blessing or woe, well-watered trust or shriveled fear.
What Jesus in inviting us to experience is the rich honesty of vulnerability, the deep soil of our own human need. And what Jesus promises is the nourishment of mercy and healing that God gives to us when we are rooted in the holy.
Our scripture goes on to give us a second message. Not only are we called to recognize our own need and dependence upon god. We are called to recognize the need and vulnerability of others—and then to offer them through our lives, the rich soil of compassion and justice.
Here I want to inject a word about the woes: woe to those who are rich, who are full, who laugh and who are praised. The reason Jesus speaks of woe is that people are usually attached to their wealth, sense of satisfaction and enjoy praise—it builds their ego. However, if you are centered in Christ, then you are free to let these attributes go—they don’t define you—they don’t create your identity –your identity is not rooted in God. Then your wealth, your food and your reputation become resources to be used to care for others.
The Kingdom of God has already begun; this is God’s agenda. The reality described by the Beatitudes will happen, and is happening even now.
Blessedness is a joy that comes from being open to God, being fully alive and in harmony with god’s ways—both in good times and in bad.
Happy are those who delight in the Lord
They are like trees planted by streams of water,
Which yield their fruit in its season…
February 04, 2007
Anne Jensen - February 04, 2007
Epiphany 5C Luke 5:1-11
Jesus is standing on the edge of the lake of Gennesaret—this is another name for the body of water known as the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Tiberius. The crowd was pushing in to hear him better and he probably feared being driven into the water, so he looks for a way to build in a little distance.
Aha! He sees a couple of fishing boats—the fishermen are off washing their nets. Jesus gets in Simon’s boat, apparently Simon agrees to this. They go out a little distance and Jesus teaches from there. Everything seems normal up to that point. But when Jesus is through teaching he turns to Simon and says, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Now Simon is tired, and he’s had a lousy night—he hasn’t caught a thing, not one fish! Now think of a commercial fisherman around here and you probably think Simon would tell this teacher off and tell him to quit wasting his time. However, Simon Peter is respectful, if doubtful, and does what Jesus says. Simon caught so many fish he had to get his partners to come out and help him. They filled both boats so full they started to sink. Here’s the crucial point: Simon doesn’t stay focused on the catch of fish. Everyone else is focused on the fish. Simon Peter falls at Jesus’ knees saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This is a huge change for Peter. Jesus has said nothing to elicit this kind of response from Peter.
This is the Epiphany moment: an epiphany is an “aha” moment of new understanding, a revelation. It’s like a light bulb goes off—new light offers new understanding. Peter calls Jesus Lord; now anyone who was a master over another could be Lord, a title of respect, but Simon Peter is speaking in another dimension altogether. In this incredible moment he realizes the spiritual truth of his own smallness in the presence of the Holy. It is the truth clutching at his heart—he can barely stand it. Only one who has experienced intimacy with God could convey what Jesus offers Simon Peter. “Do not be afraid,” words of compassion and understanding. Jesus is opening a whole new world to Simon. It’s still up to Simon whether to enter this new world.
The magnificence of God’s generosity towards us human beings is incredible! —Jesus is offering new life to Peter, and Jesus offers new life to us. Jesus could have said to Simon, “You’re absolutely right; you are a sinner, and the only appropriate place for you is to stay right where you are, on your knees, suffering in the awareness of your sinful life, but he does nothing of the kind.
Do you remember the movie Chocolat ? When I saw it, I thought it was a profoundly religious film. If you haven’t seen it, you might want to rent it. One of my parishioners, scoffingly referred to it as redemption by Godiva, and actually he wasn’t far off. Chocolat is a fable. Some external force has brought Vianne and her daughter to a French village in 1959. Life there is very conventional, one would even say rigid. Vianne opens a chocolate shop at the beginning of Lent. The town’s most prominent and powerful citizen promises her that she will be out of business by Easter, such is the insult to the sensibilities of the town that they should all be tempted by chocolate when everyone knows you can’t eat chocolate during Lent.
Chocolate is the metaphor for God’s love, and Vianne gives it away liberally. We have close-ups of cocoa beans being crushed, chocolate being chopped and then melted and stirred into a luscious mixture that makes your mouth water and your heart race! And there’s so much of it! There are truffles, ten different kinds of candy, cookies, cakes, tartes, bonbons, shells, kisses, and, of course, hot chocolate with whipped cream.
Now what does this have to do with being called to be a catcher of people? Vianne has a shadowy past, yet she is a catcher of people. She, like Jesus, invites people. She is more generous than anyone the village people have ever known. She welcomes the timid, the outcasts, the very old and the very young. She does not judge. She gives them chocolate and opens them to a world of hope and possibilities. She herself is one who catches people. She tries to find just the right chocolate for each individual, just the right kind to make each person’s life better, fuller, richer. Chocolate is the symbol of gracious love.
Vianne’s generosity is in stark contrast to self-righteousness found in some of the church members, who are acting a lot like Pharisees. They too are offered chocolate, but refuse.
Going back to today’s gospel, when Jesus asks Peter to row out to deep water and lower the nets, he is inviting Peter to experience the abundance that is available to those who accept the invitation to follow him. Jesus is not worried about Peter’s sense of unworthiness. He says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” “Do not be afraid…” Never mind your inadequacy; I will give you what you need to do the job I have for you.” We hear echoes from our story of Isaiah, who says, “Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips…” And then the seraph purifies his lips that they may speak God’s word.
What is God calling us to? Is God calling us to extend Christ’s love and generosity in a way that invites the outsider in, much as Vianne invites the timid and the hurting people of the village into her chocolate shop? There IS a call. Life never stays the same. Is God calling us to rethink and reshape our energies right where we are? God is always greater and more creative than we can imagine, and God calls us to flow and change and grow as partners in the work of creation and reconciliation. There is a call! We can be catchers of people in the same sense that Vianne is in the fable. We can offer God’s love and welcome in a way that meets others where they are. Here is a call!
There is rich imagery in the story of Peter’s call. The sea, in scripture, is a symbol of God’s deep and vast mystery—an ocean of grace where abundance abounds. And Peter? He is the symbol of all of us –all the disciples through the ages who are struggling to respond to Jesus.
–Peter “catches” God’s superabundant grace
--Peter is “caught” by the power and promise of God
--Peter is sent out “to catch people” -- to embrace us and save us within the vast and safe net of God’s care.
The actual Greek word means “catch alive continuously.” These fishermen were not using a hook and line, but rather the nets were thrown wide and they scooped up every kind of fish in the sea. God throws the nets wide. To be “caught alive” is to be rescued, not captured –it is to be strengthened, not weakened – it is to be drawn into the abundant grace of God’s kingdom. All of this calling and all of this catching begins with God’s initiative – God catching us and claiming us and calling us. But it ends with our response – our response of trust and risk and hope. It ends with our surrender to the holy, our willingness to change, our courage to say, “Here am I, Lord…send me.” Amen
Recent Sermons
- Anne Jensen - Feb 25, 2007
- Fred Heard - Feb 18, 2007
- Anne Jensen - Epiphany 6 - 2007
- Anne Jensen - February 04, 2007
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