Loading...I have a confession to make to you.
This past Monday, in Knoxville, on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I got up and marched in a parade to celebrate the work and legacy of Dr. King. A few days before that, I attended a lunch that also marked the King holiday. At the lunch, an integrated crowd of politicians, educators, businesspeople and clergy shared a meal together and listened to an inspiring speaker who reflected on the meaning of Dr. King’s ministry and mission.
And then I went home. And nothing changed.
Before that, for six years, in Lexington, Kentucky, on each Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I attended an early morning breakfast with an integrated crowd of politicians, educators, businesspeople and clergy, where we also shared a meal, before listening to an inspiring speaker and then we marched together.
And then I went home. And nothing changed.
Before that, for fourteen years, in Asheville, North Carolina, on each Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I attended an early morning breakfast with an integrated crowd of politicians, educators, businesspeople and clergy, where we also shared a meal, before listening to an inspiring speaker and then we marched together.
And then I went home. And nothing changed.
Have you ever seen the film, Groundhog Day? In that film, if you have seen it, you may recall that the actor Bill Murray plays a weatherman who ends up stuck, reliving the same day, Groundhog Day, February 2nd, for what is probably many, many years. Without giving out any spoiler alerts, he has to learn a lesson about himself, to change, before the next day can ever appear.
My confession to you is that I think we can get stuck, I know I can get stuck, and we can confuse what we think our work is and miss the actual work that God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us to do.
In St Mark’s Gospel, Jesus comes upon Simon and Andrew. He comes upon them while they are at work, fishing…for fish. He does not ask them if this is a good time to talk. He does not ask them when the next break time will be. Instead, he announces when the next break time will be. It will be now.
Follow me. In other words, stop fishing for fish and follow me, start moving, and learn what your real job is to be.
Not only is Jesus abrupt in his call to them, but Simon and Andrew are abrupt in their response. They do not stay stuck. They move immediately. It is an urgent call and an urgent response.
It could have been otherwise. It could have been a New Testament Groundhog Day. It could have been the story of two fishermen, who fish for fish every day, while a preacher comes by and invites them to follow. Instead of moving, they ignore him. Or maybe they tell him they already have a job, to fish for fish. Maybe Jesus returns every day, to try again. Or maybe he kicks the dust off his sandals and keeps moving without them.
The story of the Good News is not a story about getting stuck. It is a story of being called, immediately, and dropping nets and learning that you have another job. Jesus tells them their new job is to follow and find others, in order to belong to them and grow together in the Way of Jesus.
Jesus calls Simon and Andrew to follow in an odd and awkward time. John the Baptist has been arrested and is sitting in jail. John, the one who came before Jesus, to prepare the way, is sitting in jail and is stuck. He is stuck because the powers that be have decided to put him there.
So, the forerunner is no longer running but is instead sitting. This could be a real low point for the Good News. This could be the time when the Good News has to pause, to take a time out, to regroup.
Jesus, however, goes another way. He discerns that this is the time to go, to move, to get this Good News ministry started. If you wait, maybe you give the powers that be the impression that they can control the Good News. You can jail the forerunner. But you can’t jail the Spirit that brings Good News to the world.
John is in jail. But the message that John proclaimed, in the person of Jesus, is free and on the move. And he finds Simon and Andrew and James and John. He finds fishermen, who believe their job is to fish for fish and he gives them another job. Follow me and learn how to fish for people. In fishing for people, you don’t try to catch them with a net, to control them against their own will. In fishing for people, you tell them they have another job and that they are not alone but belong to the family of God.
The writer Deborah Smith Douglas has said that “God calls us to the circle of Community because that is where God is.” Unlike fish, who I believe swim together, in a school, so often people, especially in this time, tend to swim alone, by themselves, possibly believing the lie that they are alone. When we fish for people, we call them to join us and to be joined by the God who calls us all to community.
A few weeks ago, I came by St. Paul’s, to visit with Hendree and to spend time with him. I was here on a day shortly after the old church kitchen here had been torn out.
Now, I had been here to St. Pauls’ even before that day, too, and I had seen the kitchen prior to being torn out. It looked like a nice church kitchen. Like a lot of nice church kitchens, it probably had, for some years, done what church kitchens tend to do.
Church kitchens, at least many of the church kitchens I had known, tend to feed people, church people, who are already full. You might not be hungry, but come on, have a little pie. “Come on, Hendree, have a little pie.” You might not be thirsty, but come on, have a fourth cup of coffee before you go. Like Simon and Andrew, who though their job was to catch fish in a net, the St. Paul’s kitchen probably spent many years catching people with one more piece of pie and one more cup of coffee.
That is until you all let the kitchen here at St. Paul’s follow Jesus when he called. You all have been feeding people here on Wednesdays who are actually hungry. You have been offering drink to people who are actually thirsty. The kitchen here is not stuck. It is answering a call. The kitchen is following Jesus and is learning how to fish for people.
How do you fish for people? You feed them.
How do you fish for people? You feed them and you tell them the Good News—that they belong to God, and, somehow, through the mystery of God, we all belong to each other.
This morning, we are also blessed to have a chance to receive three people into St. Paul’s and the larger church life of this diocese. In St. Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus calling brothers two by two. But this morning, we see Jesus calling three brothers to St. Paul’s. Not kin by blood, but kin by Spirit.
What do they have in common? They have this parish of St. Paul’s in common. They have found you and have found a community that is not stuck, that is continuing to follow Jesus. And these brothers want to join you in the journey.
When they join you, I recall that I have heard an old preacher once say that the church won’t become bigger but it will become new. So, today, you and I have an opportunity to be witnesses to God making all of us new.
And like Jesus who begins to call followers even as John sits in jail, Jack and Trey and Joern are joining us in a time when many people are anxious about The Episcopal Church. Do we have a future? Will anyone respond to God’s call to follow with us? Should not Jesus wait for John to be free before taking on disciples? Should not Jack and Trey and Joern wait for us to come up with a new strategic plan for evangelism before signing on to our weary band?
Jesus, however, is not willing for the Good News to get stuck. Now is the time for fishermen to follow. Now is a perfect time to tear up the St. Paul’s kitchen, to offer bread in the wilderness. Now is the time for us to welcome these three brothers into the community of God.
In closing, let me quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”
This is not a time to be stuck. This is not a time to repeat the same day over again and again. This is the time to follow.
