Evidently last Sunday a snakebird or an Anhinga, or my favorite name, water turkey was doing it’s thing behind me during the sermon at our outdoor worship last week. The Anhinga is a really interesting bird. They have webbed feet like a duck but water doesn’t just roll off of their backs like it does for a duck. The Anhinga doesn’t have a special oil on it’s feathers to keep them dry like other waterfowl. So snake birds don’t float up on top of the water, they sort of sink down into it with just their long neck and head sticking up out of the water. Along with the birds dark coloration and long pointed bills make them look like snakes out on the water. So as the birds swim or dive their feathers get saturated and they have to get out on the water and spread their wings into the sun to warm their bodies and dry their feathers. That’s what the bird was doing behind me. My wife, Pam, and I took a drive through the everglades the other day and got to see quite a few snake birds along with some alligators, fish and other species of birds. At a particular comfort station on the Tamiami trail there is a small boardwalk where you can go and watch, way up close, all of this wildlife. As I was walking and looking I discovered one of those park signs that was all about the Anhinga. While what I had learned by word of mouth was interesting, what I learned from the sign about these birds skyrocketed my interest in them. A friend that knew a lot about snakes told me that you didn’t have to be as afraid of a snake that is crawling and straight, at least the biting, striking varieties. When you need to worry is when they put a good sized bend in their body near their heads. When they have that coil they can straighten out rapidly, thus launching themselves at you or prey to bite. The anhinga or snakebird does that sort of thing with its neck under water. It puts a bend in its neck then darts its head at the broad side of a fish and spears it with the top half of its very sharp beak. It then surfaces and uses the bottom half of its beak and some shaking and twitching to move the fish out to the tip of its beak where it gently flips the fish up and head first into its open mouth where the bird then shakes it down its long throat. Humans have developed some nuances in the sport of fishing that mimic the snakebird, from spearfishing, to bowfishing to flounder gigging where you walk in calm water towing a light behind you that shines on the bottom so that you can see the outline of flounder that you then gig with a spear of sorts. These are very active and engaged forms of fishing where you are not sitting and waiting on the other end of a pole or dipping a net hoping that fish get in its way. Actually, truth be told, for those that fish, it’s not just an idle sit and wait. It matters what you put on your hook in what season, at what depth you fish, the temperature, the weather, the light, the location, where the cover is in the water, where the drop offs are, how the water is flowing, the color of lure, the type of line and on and on. Fishing has its own niche of knowledge. Check out this Striper fishing advice from a pro. On hot days, big landlocked stripers retreat to deep river holes and the cool channels of slack-water reservoirs. These fish are lethargic but can be tempted by fishing cut bait—or what is called striper sushi—on the bottom. Rig a stout baitcasting outfit with 20- to 40-pound mono. Thread a 1- to 3-ounce egg sinker onto the line, then tie a big barrel swivel to the tag end. Attach a 3-foot mono leader (same test as main line) to the opposite end of the swivel with a 6/0 to 9/0 circle or octopus bait hook at the business end. You’ll need fresh-caught baitfish. Use a cast net to snare gizzard shad, or catch skipjack or blueback herring with a small spoon. Cut the bait into chunks or fillets, thread a couple of sushi pieces onto the hook, cast, and then chill for a spell with a cool beverage. It shouldn’t be long until a cow striper loads on. Did you catch all of that? Did that all make sense? For most people, probably not. That’s because of the unique jargon and knowledge base of those that seriously fish. If you think about it, I think you will discover that your own vocations or hobbies have their own language. The words mouth, ears, foot, toe, gate, and languid mean something totally different to someone that works on pipe organs than they do to the average person. Jesus said, “ Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” But you know what we tend to forget? He said it to fishermen. Jesus didn’t ask them to follow and be evangelists. He met, in this case, those men that were fishermen and affirmed their vocations and offered them an opportunity to use their gifts to share the good news. It’s interesting that so often we feel some sort of obligation to stay within the bounds of our church jargon that so many in the world do not understand. I think we can unwittingly create an environment of exclusion or at least a feeling of embarrassment at not understanding what’s going on in our worship or fellowship interactions which opens the door to avoidance. We tend to stick to this jargon when Jesus did not. Jesus sought to reach out and meet people where they were and in terms that they could understand and which honored and respected them. So there’s some good news for us as we are called to share God’s word. It’s not about a seminary education or a mastery of theological constructs, religious history, bible verse memorization, what all the things on the altar are called, which order acolytes light the candle in or how to pronounce the names and places in the Bible. It’s about opening our hearts and seeking to truly connect with our fellow children of God, each in our own way, employing our own unique gifts. We are not expected to fish like anhingas, anhingas are. To recall the words of the hymn “There is a Balm in Gilead” If you can’t preach like Peter or if you can’t pray like Paul, you can tell of the love of Jesus and say he died for all. Every person is created in the image of God, full of dignity, with unique talents and gifts to use for the glory of God in their work. Many Christians fail to discover their vocation because they don’t fully understand what it means to be made in the image of God. Knowing the basis for our dignity and worth helps us understand we have gifts and talents to employ in sharing Christ and his love for the world. Every person is created in the image of God, full of dignity, with unique talents and gifts to use for the glory of God in their work. We make the old mistake of buying into the old myth of a tiered system that elevated clergy and proposed that they or I should say we were somehow extraordinary. Martin Luther did his best to rid the church of that thinking, but vestiges of it still cling in the corners. “How can I? I’m just an ordinary person?” Yes you are. We all are. Just like those fishermen, called to share God’s love, being inspired by their vocation. It’s something important, something we are all called to do. “In all our religious and ethical life,” said Swedish theologian Einar Billing, “we are given to an incredible overestimation of the extraordinary at the expense of the ordinary” His point is that vocation locates the Christian life precisely in the realm of the ordinary–your marriage, your children, your work, your community–as opposed to the extraordinary works and extraordinary experiences that most theologies look for. And, according to most people today, if something is ‘ordinary,’ it is ‘boring.’ Never mind that the way you treat your spouse, your children, your customers, and your neighbors is more challenging and more morally significant and more spiritually telling than the occasional spectacular good work or religious experience that gets all of the attention.” When I entered seminary I mistakenly thought I had to fish like an anhinga, that I had to be something that, in reality, I was not. I am a child of God, wonderfully made in God’s image with all my weird little quirks, faults and personal jargon. The freeing thing was when I learned that God had given me my own gifts and did not expect me to try to be something or someone else to share the gospel and each and every person has been given their own gifts and ministry. So In light of this truth, how can we affirm the dignity of the people around us? Out there or at home, in our neighborhoods or workplaces? We do it by loving your neighbor and “letting your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven, be it on the boat fishing, the farm plowing, the truck delivering, the classroom teaching, the hospital, healing, the home parenting, or in a relationship, loving and nurturing. All the places, all the vocations, all the time. Amen
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