January 22, 2012:
Gone Fishing
Massena Grace and First (Pulpit Exchange)
Call: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Text: Mark 1: 14-20
Read: Psalm 62 (787)
Gone Fishing
I may have - as I suggested earlier - the poorest singing voice in the UNY annual conference.
I may have - as the elementary chorus director stated several years ago when rejecting my participation in that body -
Only one note - a low G - in my entire singing voice
[and here I need to observe
that every time I think I get a note right during worship,
I check the hymnal and discover that it was indeed a low G.]
I could even be the most musically challenged person to stand behind the pulpit in the history of Methodism.
But I am a Methodist. I am a lifelong Methodist
And it is virtually impossible for anyone - regardless of talent - to have spent as many years in Methodist churches as I have
Without acquiring an appreciation
For congregational hymns and their importance to worship
And without developing an ability
To recognize hymns that help bring the scriptures to life.
In fact, I would venture to suggest that
My VMD (vocal music disability)
May well have made me more conscious of the words in hymns
Than many more musically gifted pastors.
In fact in the five years I was serving Grace,
Ellen, on several occasions, had to remind her skeptical singers
"Jim chooses hymns on the words more than on the music."
And while I don't mean to imply that I don't pay attention to the music,
I do focus on the words.
In some services, I have even concluded
that one of our hymns was a better sermon
than the one I was about to preach.
[Of course, I preached those sermons anyway - thus giving the congregation a chance to reach the same conclusion.]
It is that focus on the words that led me to
the third verse
of our opening hymn
"Lord, You Have Come To The Lakeshore."
This verse struck me and spoke to me
Even though I couldn't make it rhyme
And I like my hymns to rhyme.
Even though I had to add a few words
To meaningfully read the verse aloud
For when I read aloud I like it to be meaningful
That third verse, located on the second page and outside the staff
Is, along with the hymn's three other verses,
A verse in which we - as we sing it - are speaking to Christ.
"You need my hands
You need them to be full of caring
So that through my labors others may receive rest
And so too, they may receive your constant love,
a love that keeps on loving.
In other words,
when we sing that verse We are acknowledging
That Christ, who came to the Lakeshore
Needs us to be his hands and to do his work.
When we sing that verse We are recognizing
That we must be full of caring
and that we must be full of his constant love
And that if we are Others will be at peace
Thus Jesus calls us
Over the tumult of our life's wild restless sea
This is a constant call; this is a persistent call, for
Day by day his sweet voice soundeth
"Christian, follow me."
That constant and persistent call is what today's scriptures are all about.
That is why God called Jonah
A second time,
even though Jonah had dramatically said "No!" the first time
[saying "No" by chartering a boat to flee from God
A plan that was thwarted by a great storm and a big fish]
[Jonah 3: 1-3a]
And that too, is why Christ began his ministry
By calling disciples
So that they could be trained
To call more followers
after his death, resurrection, and ascension.
Mark tells us that story. Mark 1: 14-20
Christ called Peter and Andrew
They didn't flee like Jonah
They put a "Gone Fishing" sign on their boat
And they went to fish with and for the one who called them.
Christ called James and John
They didn't flee like Jonah either
They left their father, explaining that they too, were going fishing
And they went to fish with and for the one who called them.
Christ calls each of us to be witnesses and to make disciples
Do we, despite the fact that the approach didn't work particularly well for Jonah,
try to charter a boat and flee from the call?
[That boat may well be named the ""I'm too busy to help you God"]
Or Do we drop our nets, put a "Gone Fishing" sign on our boats,
And go fish with and for him?
These are valid questions.
These are questions we do have to ask ourselves.
These are questions that we do have to answer for ourselves.
But even if we or others elect the Jonah boat chartering approach
We - and they - must
Recognize that our God is caring and loving
We - and they - must
Remember that our God is a God of Second Chances
And of third, fourth, and fifth chances as well.
Jonah may have tried to flee
But eventually, "after some further persuasion,"
He went and he delivered the message to those in Nineveh
And although Jonah was not happy about it
His answering the call - reluctant and forced as it was -
Saved God's gentile children in that city
I believe that God's delight that Jonah finally went
Far exceeded God's anger at Jonah's initial refusal to go.
Why do I think that?
Because I have read Christ's parables
I have read the one about the two brothers
One of whom said he would do what he was told to do
But didn't
The other brother said he wouldn't do what he was told to do
But then he actually did it - and received praise for it
God gave him a second chance
I have read about the shepherd going after a solitary lamb
and about the prodigal son who returned home to his father's joy
even though he had wasted his inheritance
The lamb which had wandered away got a second chance
The son who had both wandered and wasted got one too
How can we read any of these
or the story of the call to Saul on the Road to Damascus
without seeing, without learning, without understanding
that God not only gives, but loves to give, second chances.
Even to those who - like Jonah - resist or reject the initial call
And as we ask and answer the questions we also have to recognize that
None of us, no matter how quickly we responded,
Is ever a perfect servant.
Think of Peter denying knowing Christ?
Think of James and John arguing about who was the greatest
These guys were great servants of Christ
But they were not perfect servants
But the scriptures are not the only place for us to look
For examples of reluctant, protesting responses to God's call
Or For examples of imperfect servants
I suggest that we look in the pews
I suggest that we look behind the pulpits
I suggest that we look in the mirror.
Why are we so afraid to answer the call to serve?
It's not that we don't know it is God calling us
Jonah knew it was God telling him to go to Nineveh
But he fled anyway
Peter knew that the man arrested in the garden was the Christ
But he denied knowing him anyway
Now, if I were to tell you to go to Nineveh
You'd have every right - maybe even responsibility -
To question the wisdom and fairness of the instruction
But it was God - not Jim Barnes - who told Jonah
And because he knew the mission was dangerous
He fled anyway
If I were the one arrested
You'd have every right - almost certainly the responsibility -
To weigh the risk of admitting that you knew me
But it was Jesus - not Jim Barnes - who was arrested
And Peter who in this morning's scripture had immediately dropped his nets when Jesus called him
Was afraid
And denied him anyway.
The truth is that we are afraid
Because Christian discipleship always has a cost.
For Jonah it was physical danger and the risk of humiliation
He decided the cost was too much - until persuaded
For the foursome who dropped their nets in our scripture, it was
Leaving their livelihood And leaving their families
They agreed to pay it at the time of they were called
But later their response was not always consistent
For most of us the cost is usually
An expenditure of time, energy, and money
A lesser cost than in this morning's scriptures,
but a cost nonetheless.
However, the cost of not accepting the call to serve is much greater
For in taking that approach
We deprive Christ of our hands and of our labors
And we deprive others of the love and peace
They would have had - if we had answered the call.
With these scriptures in our minds, the question you and I need to ask ourselves, this week and in the weeks ahead is:
"When we look back on our lives
Will we see a "Gone Fishing" sign
Or will we simply see a crazy quilt
Of indulgent and nonsacrificial behavior
And a life of a person Who was unwilling to pay the cost.
I'm hoping for a "gone fishing" sign
But my hope is based not on my gifts or actions
(I have proved over and over again that I am not a perfect servant.)
But rather, my hope is based on the fact that
our God is a God of love and of second chances.