Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
August 21, 2022
Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Our hymn this week, “Jesus, You Have Come to the Lakeshore” seems to be a hymn that evokes strong memories in us. We sang it not too long ago at Ida’s funeral, and it was chosen for that occasion because of the memory that Dave has of the two of them traveling together in Cuba and hearing it sung, in its original Spanish, in a cathedral there.
For me, I carry a powerful memory of singing this song in worship on a patio overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
It is a song where the rocking, lilting melody evokes the waves under a boat carrying us away to other seas.
It is a song full of images that speak to our heart – Jesus, while smiling, speaking our name with love; Jesus, on the lakeshore, asking us to leave our nets and our boats behind to follow.
When we did our hymn survey last spring, this one was the number 2 most chosen hymn, second only to “Here I Am, Lord,” with these two hymns far ahead of the third and fourth place hymns. I find it interesting that the two most beloved hymns around our pastoral charge are both hymns about being called by God!
This week, unlike some of the other weeks this summer, it was pretty easy to match a bible story to the hymn we chose. And so we heard a story about Jesus, at the shore of the Sea of Galilee (which is really a large freshwater lake rather than a salty sea) – Jesus is at the lakeshore teaching the crowd, and in order to make himself heard, he asks one of the fishermen who is there mending his nets after a long night of fishing – a long night of unsuccessful fishing, I might add – so Jesus asks a fisherman there by the lakeshore to let him climb on board his boat, and to take him a little ways out so that he can use the sloping shore as a sort of natural amphitheatre allowing the crowds to hear his words more easily.
I want to pause for a moment, because I wonder how Simon Peter, the fisherman, was feeling in this moment. He has been working hard all night, but hasn’t managed to catch anything. There are likely going to be hungry bellies in his family tonight, and then there’s always the threat of eviction hanging over him and his family if he can’t pay the rent. I wonder if, at this point in time, tired and smelly and grumpy, Peter wouldn’t rather just go home and go to bed.
Or maybe Peter has heard of this Jesus – heard of the powerful words he has been speaking – and welcomes the opportunity to have a front row seat to hear what Jesus has to say today.
Or maybe. Maybe Jesus has spoken Peter’s name with a smile on his face and love in his eyes, and Peter can’t do anything other than offer to help.
But whatever the circumstances, Peter agrees to help, they push away from shore, and Jesus teaches the crowds from his place in the boat.
We don’t have a record of what Jesus said that day, but when he had finished teaching, he turned to Peter and told him to lower his nets down one more time. Again, I wonder what Peter was thinking in this moment. “OK Jesus – I’m a fisherman and you’re the carpenter’s son. I think that I know more than you do about the right time to fish, and right now ain’t it! But what the heck. Those were some powerful words you were speaking just a moment ago, so I’ll humour you this time.”
And Peter lowers his nets, and brought up so many fish – more than he would need to feed his family and more than he would need to pay the rent – he brought up so many fish that his nets began to tear, and even when he called over a second boat to help, the two boats began to take on water and started to sink.
And by the end of the story, Jesus has called Simon Peter and his business partners James and John, to leave their boats and their nets behind to seek a new life of discipleship. They have been called to fish other oceans and to seek other seas, far from their boats and nets and families and homes.
I marvel at the courage that it took for them to do this. Jesus made no promises to them – “follow me and my God will make you rich and prosperous.” Jesus didn’t tell them where they were going to stay or what they were going to do. I wonder what it was that they heard in his words, or what it was that they saw in his face, that made them leave their families and their homes and their livelihoods behind?
This is a singular call story. Peter and James and John are in one place at the beginning of the story, and by the end of the story they have left everything behind in order to follow.
But I think that all of us, in our lives, don’t experience a singular call. I think that God is always calling us to new circumstances and new experiences. The call to where you are right now wouldn’t have been the right call 15 years ago, and who knows where God is going to call you 15 years from now! Our life of discipleship is one of continually listening for God’s call, and following to seek other seas.
The same is true for us collectively, as the church. We aren’t a static place where we do things this way because we’ve always done it this way. Together, we are always listening to where God is calling us to next. Whenever we are living God’s love in new ways, we are exploring those new seas. Looking back on the recent history, there was the call to become Two Rivers Pastoral Charge, to share the ministry of the church together with the other churches. There was the call to expand Youth and Young Family Ministry, recognizing that our children aren’t the future of the church but are part of the present church. There was the call to support a refugee family as they moved to New Brunswick. There was the call to become an Affirming Ministry, celebrating the blessedness and equality of all people.
And so today, I ponder where God is going to call us next. What new oceans and seas are we going to be called to explore next? Where are we going to be called to share God’s love next?
These new oceans that we are called to – they don’t necessarily require us to leave our homes and our families behind, the way that Peter, James, and John did. For whenever we are able to tell someone, “You are loved. God loves you. We love you. You are beautifully created in God’s image.” – then we are expanding the reach of God’s love and exploring new seas.
And so I ask again – what other seas are you being called to seek? And what new seas is our church being called to seek? Where is God calling us to next? Where and to whom does God want us to proclaim a message of love and caring?
For love really is the bottom line. We know that we are loved by God; and we are called to love the world. It’s as simple as that. Through our words and through our actions – even if we never leave our home – we are called to continually seek other seas. And may God equip us for the journey! Amen.
“Sunrise on the Sea of Galilee”
Photo Credit: steven van on flickr
CC BY 2.0
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