Last week I told you about a really awesome librarian that I respected from my elementary school days and how living out her vocation had a positive impact on the kingdom of God. This week I want to tell you about my great uncle Perry. Perry loved to fish and eat fish. Actually he would eat pretty much anything that came out of water, and my aunt Nettie could cook pretty much anything that came out of the water, you know the general fish and then snapping turtles or as we called them cooters, but of course he owed them one because he almost lost lost a finger to one. I loved that story as a kid oh, and last but not least he would eat carp. I’ve always heard about THE one great recipe for carp. You cook it on a green oak board with a quarter cup of lemon juice in 4 cloves of garlic and some Italian spices. You cook it at 375. When the fish reaches 165 degrees you take it out, throw it away and eat the board. So, not a respected “eating fish”. I was a pretty little guy and I always admired him deeply. He never got mad that I couldn’t stay untangled from the trees and thickets when we were fishing. He seemed proud when I could catch anything. There was a story for everything and he was the fisherman of fishermen. Like I said, the man ate carp. Despite what everyone else thought, despite general fishing knowledge and what everyone else did, carp were keepers in his book and he didn’t have oak splinters in his mouth. So let’s fast forward. Now I love fishing. I love to eat fish, even raw fish, but unfortunately I am not the fisherman my uncle Perry was. Few people are. But as I grew up, Friday nights, at our house, we would order out fish and I would eat Fish and drink milk, much to my mom’s horror, as she heard while growing up that eating milk and fish together led to something horrible. She was also nervous about my tradition of getting up on Saturday morning and eating cold leftover fish for breakfast. I soon found that after the resurrection, fish for breakfast was the meal Jesus chose to share with his disciples on the beach. So eventually Saturday Saturday morning fish became something a little different for me. It became sort of a devotional time and a time for imagination. I thought about getting to eat with Jesus and how it was that he chose to serve my favorite thing. Something very simple but in common. As I grew older I loved standing and staring out at the water while fishing also became a time of reflection, devotion and simply imagining hanging out with Jesus because he hung out with fishermen. During all of these moments, eating, fishing, and reflecting, my uncle Perry and his philosophy and example were never far away. If I knew someone that would or could cook carp, I probably would give it a try for him and I often wonder what he would think of my love for sushi and sashimi and if he would be willing to give that a try. So Uncle Perry was a pretty strong influence and mentor for me in the aquatic world, so I grew up with a give it a chance attitude and philosophy. Let’s fast-forward a little more. I’m the adult and young people are asking me questions about fishing and life in general and watching me like I watched and learned from Uncle Perry. You know the lessons we learn in one area carry over to broader life lessons or contexts through a thing called generalization. It turns out that the seemingly simple lessons I learned and was exposed to, have had a huge impact and are informing the gospel message I am sharing today. My uncle Perry did not even get close to seeing the seeds he planted in me bear fruit. Therein is some great news for us. We often question ourselves and struggle to see how we serve God. We think, “I Don’t Preach, I don’t lead Bible study, I can’t serve it at a food bank because it happens while I’m at work. We get tunnel vision and narrow the boundaries down so tightly as to what counts as serving God. I mentioned last week that Luther pointed out that we can all serve God in his kingdom in our own vocation. My uncle Perry’s fishing and the time he spent with me was service in his Christian vocation. So back to the fast forward. I remember one evening on a fishing pier at the beach where a guy showed me some cool techniques for cleaning fish and I was really enjoying learning and doing it. We had hoped to have a fish fry for our pretty large family, but we really hadn’t caught enough fish. But while I was learning the new skills and night was falling I watched down the pier as people were pulling out sand sharks and throwing them on the pier to die. People called them trash fish and a menace. They steal your bait and keep you from catching the good fish. Good fish? Expendable fish? Unwanted fish? Useless fish? Troublesome fish? Discarded, thrown on the pier to die. Problem number one, it’s inhumane, but we would have had a serious problem if we went down the pier and threw back the fish that didn’t belong to us. So many of them. That’s when I remembered someone telling me something, and by the way, I have no idea if it’s actually true or not other than my experience, but I remembered someone saying that the sharks like these were used as scallops. I could sense the example that my uncle Perry, along with my dad, had always lived out in front of me, that there were no bad fish and we shouldn’t be inhumane and wasteful. So my nephews went down the pier and courteously asked if they could have the thrown-away sharks. I did the humane thing and then I made fish medallions. We took the day’s catch, the high dollar fish, the general all-purpose fish and the throw-away rejects back to where we were staying and fried them up. There was a reluctance in the family, but guess what everyone’s favorite fish ended up being… You guessed it, the rejects, the trash fish. Years later, actually just the other day, we were discussing the scripture and sermon ideas and this story came back to me, thanks to that thing the psychologists call generalization. That seed planted long ago also has to do with fishing for people. It’s very interesting that Jesus called fishermen. In the Old Testament, people viewed life and their existence in three layers. Up which was heaven or the heavens, here on dry land and down into the seas. The seas were where there was chaos, and that level was not thought of favorably. Actually it was an area of evil. That was also the area of the Gentiles, or the others, the outsiders and here Jesus is hanging out with the people that know more than anyone about pulling stuff out of the deep. The fishermen. People that knew about letting down their nets into the chaos into the outside and pulling onto the boat. They had given up for the day, but Jesus asked for one more time, and they end up having to call for help to pull in the catch. God’s creative genius, that puts a whole new spin on trash fish doesn’t it. Really? lepers, sinners, tax collectors, the poor, the oppressed, me, you, all of God’s children, going out into the deep the chaos, the dark, the valley of the shadow of death. In the midst of supposed failure and a miserable day fishing, Jesus says to try just one more time. Go out. One more time. One more time. One more time. For the ones everyone has turned their backs on. One more time. They are priced fish. So cast the nets one more time. Don’t give up. One more time. Cast on the other side of the boat. Just one more time. Accepted, wanted, but more than that, prized. That’s how Jesus cast his nets and asked that we do the same. So the gospel today is proclaimed in honor of my great-uncle that cast a lot of lines and helped to plant a seed of truth, like all the fishermen/evangelists that hung out with Jesus. Seeds like the ones you plant day by day and the lines you cast in your vocation that help build the kingdom of God. We are called to follow so let’s lower the nets that everyone may not only experience welcome, but know they are not cast away but are wanted, valued and prized just as all of God’s Children.
Most holy God, the earth is filled with your glory, and before you angels and saints stand in awe. Enlarge our vision to see your power at work in the world, and by your grace make us heralds of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Jesus’ teaching of God’s word has begun to draw great crowds. For Simon, James, and John, Jesus’ teaching inspires hospitality, then obedience, and then risk. After Jesus’ creative power is revealed, fear and amazement leads these three fishermen to leave everything behind to become apostles. Luke 5 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
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