Thursday, April 18, 2013
I Don't Have A Name For This Sermon
Scripture: John 21:1-19" Acts 9:1-20
It's been a while since Easter now, hasn't it? Those of you who were here two weeks ago, do you remember the energy? And now it's back to normal...just like it went back to normal for the disciples. They're back in their old neighborhood, doing what they did when Jesus showed up, fishing. They don't recognize Jesus standing there on the beach, just like they hadn't known him when he had walked up to them on the same beach three years before. It is as if they are trying to roll back the clock, but Jesus does one thing after the other to remind them of their life together. This scene from John is eerily similar to the scene in Luke where Jesus first calls Peter and Andrew, James and John, to be his disciples. They have worked all night and caught nothing. Jesus tells them where to fish and their nets gather more fish than they can haul in. It is John who realizes this must be Jesus, "It is the Lord," he exclaims, at which point Peter jumps out of the boat, not walking on the water this time but coming ashore nonetheless.
When Peter gets there, what does he see but a charcoal fire burning. Has it been two weeks since he sat by that other charcoal fire in the courtyard of Pilate's headquarters while Jesus was being interrogated within? Was it only two weeks ago that he had told Jesus that he would die rather than abandon him, and then denied him three times before the rooster crowed..sitting by that charcoal fire?
Jesus invites them to eat. He had done that with everyone in the past. Everyone was welcome. And this time he had multiplied their catch rather than loaves and fishes, but the abundance of memory would be right there before Peter's eyes.
When Jesus broke the bread and gave it to them, how could they not remember the Last Supper? Their life together must have all come flooding back on Peter and the other disciples.
And then Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Three times. Why three times? Because Peter had denied Jesus three times next to that other charcoal fire? I think so. I think Jesus is showing Peter a way forward from his denial and abandonment. Be pastor to my people. Care for my sheep. Tend to my people. This is your way forward. Not running away, but carrying on.
Peter thought he would just go back to the way he had been, but the only way forward was...well...forward. Right into the place where he was most broken, the event he most regretted, and carrying that with him into the future. This was the life Jesus was calling him to. This was the life Jesus came to him the first time on this beach to call him to. This is the life Jesus came back to to call him to. It certainly wasn't what Peter had planned. It wasn't how Peter imagined being a disciple would be. He thought he would just follow. When Jesus died, Peter thought that was it, but now he had to lead and do.
And then there is Paul, still known as Saul in our lesson this morning. This Saul was a prodigy of faith. He was ardent, brilliant, way beyond his years in his love for Torah, the Temple, the traditions of his faith. He sat at the right hand of Gamaliel, the high priest. His tradition of Judaism stressed personal conduct, study of the Bible, and right worship in the Temple. And here was this little Jewish sect who were claiming that everything he thought was important wasn't. That it was all about following this hick from Galilee who they claimed had not only been the Messiah but had been raised from the dead. Not only that, this resurrected Jesus had given his followers this power called the Holy Spirit which was enabling them to do the miraculous things they claimed Jesus himself had done.
That's what had Paul so worked up. These people were going to ruin the faith, lead Jews astray. So he had to force them to stop, desist, get with the program he was with. The things he valued most in life, his faith, his God, his way of life, were being threatened by this dissident Jews. He had the authority of the authorities and he was going to use it, in Jerusalem and now in Damascus.
And Jesus shows up, knocks him to the ground, blinds him, essentially undoes everything Paul thought he had going for himself. He thought he would stand over others. He thought he could see. He thought he would tell others what to do with their lives, but Jesus is now going to show Paul what he is going to do with his life. He thought he was going to help his people clean up Judaism, but Jesus is going to send him to foreigners. He thought he had the power to do what he thought needed to be done, but now he is being given both a plan and the Holy Spirit to carry it out.
This is not how Paul imagined his life as a ultra religious guy was going to go. And for the rest of his life, he would remember how Jesus chose him because he had been an opponent, because he had persecuted the disciples, because he was perfect at Judaism. And redirected all of it.
The lesson for us this morning is a window into how God works in the world. God chooses unlikely people to be his instruments. He takes them in directions and has them do things they would never have done otherwise. He redirects energy, surprises, transforms, and humbles. He uses their failures as seeds of possibility.
We may hear that with indifference as we think it is so far outside of our life and faith experience. We have never had a Peter or Paul experience. If we had, and had had no choice the way they had not choice, well then we would be Peters and Pauls. We are familiar with stories of other people whose lives have dramatically reversed. My favorite is George Foreman, the former heavy weight boxing champion of the world. In his day, George was a fearsome, enormous, powerful, angry fighter who beat and was beaten by the best. Then he disappeared for a while, only to reappear as a smiling, bald, roly poly Christian preacher who also sold frying pans. He came back to box too in his 40s and even won, but he never looked like he wanted to kill anyone any more. And then, more recently, there is Ray Lewis, also a fearsome person who is a preacher. While I disagree with their theology, I can clearly see that God is using both George and Ray to connect with people.
But those stories still seem like Peter and Paul stories, beyond us and therefore entertaining but meaningless. I myself am much more fascinated by some of our Sunday School teachers, who will talk with me somewhat sheepishly, saying, "I'm not really religious and I don't really believe all of this stuff, but I am enjoying teaching. I am learning so much for the first time about faith. I love seeing the children get something new." Unexpected changes. People doing things they never thought they would. Using weakness and sense of insufficiency.
Or talking with one of our Haiti team members about what we are doing, and hearing this person say to me, "I'm not really religious, but this is really exciting what's happening. Being here is changing my life." And I think, you're not very religious but you're all the way down here in Haiti with me as part of a church group helping others? How much more religious do you think you can get? Unexpected. Unlikely. Yet it's happening right here. God is doing it right here.
There are people on our committees, what I call our ministry leadership teams, who are talking about their faith, where they see God in their lives, praying...all with a look of..."if you told me I would be doing this a year ago, I would have never believed it." It doesn't have to be a bolt from the blue and a voice from the sky. It doesn't have to happen all at once to be dramatic in retrospect.
There are business people meeting with me in small groups to pray, to grow in faith, to build relationships. When first invited, most looked at me in horror...like I might be asking them to run naked through their office. But now it is not just normal, it's something people tell me they look forward to, something that nurtures and sustains them. Who would have thought it?
The fact of the matter is, that I am here as your pastor is a good example. I was a professor of Vikings who got his Ph.D. from UCal Berkeley...hardly a breeding ground of New England Congregational ministers. I grew up sitting in the pews of a church just like this one where everyone was very private about their faith, yet here I am getting up here every Sunday and telling you stories about where I see God at work in my life, in our church, in your lives, in this community.
My friends, look around you. See what was happening at Service Sunday with all those people excited about building mission ministries. Feel the energy of people inviting neighbors and friends to visit here. Watch people coming up new ideas for ways to be a better community serving others. "Oh, that's not the Holy Spirit. That's just us." Really? If it's having the same end result as it does in the Bible, don't you think it might be the same thing? We're not a churchy church!" Really? Looks like a church. Sounds like a church. Acts like church. What exactly does a churchy church look like? The stories of Peter and Paul are being worked out right here in our church, where it is just as unlikely. Believe me, when you think of folks like us in a place like Dover doing what we do here together for God and the world in this day and age, it is every bit as unlikely as Peter being sent out to be Christ's shepherd or Paul being sent out to evangelize Asia Minor. Don't sell yourselves or God short.
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