Belonging and Purpose

John 21: 1-17, 20-22

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.

Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”

He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.

But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!”

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I had a wonderful, refreshing, renewing time of vacation last week, and since I am a sermon geek, I did sit down when I got back, and listened to  the Rev. Dr. Loren Scribner’s Word to you in his sermon last Sunday. For those of you who are not aware, our church website is up and running again, and the audio recordings of the weekly sermons are there. I heard that some of you had difficulty hearing him, and so I would recommend the audio recording to you, because it came through loud and clear. The message of his sermon last Sunday was that we need community, and we are called to be in community and in relationship with one another, with all God’s people, as the body of Christ in the world. All the world needs to belong, and we are the vessels by which we create relationship with each other, by which all the world can come into unity and belonging with one another.

In this week’s gospel message, we will consider how purpose is also an essential part of our lives as disciples, as followers of Christ.

In our story this morning from the last chapter of the gospel according to John, seven disciples come together and decide to go fishing. In the midst of the loss and confusion they feel after Christ’s crucifixion, and after these glimpses of him in random sightings, they feel the need for purpose. And so they turn back to what is, for them, an old familiar routine and ritual. They go fishing. And, as anyone who fishes will tell you, often that routine involves long stretches when you catch, well, nothing at all. And that was the case for them that night. All night long, they cast their nets, and the nets came up empty. But still, it felt to them like a purposeful way to spend this purposeless time, and so they continued.

Just as the sun is coming up, they see a stranger at the shore. The narrator tells us it is Jesus, but we also hear that they don’t know it is him. This “helpful” stranger says, “got any fish?” We can perhaps imagine their tone of voice as they provide the inevitable answer. Then he offers advice – (“thanks a lot”, they probably are thinking). But, since nothing else has worked, they try what he suggests. And what happens is a huge catch on the first time they let down their nets on the opposite side of the boat. We don’t know if they had only fished one side all night or not. We don’t know why they didn’t think of this themselves, or if they did. What we do know is that the catch was so big – 153 fish, we are told! - that they would normally expect their nets to fail – but they hold. And in their astonishment, one of them catches a glimpse in the stranger of their teacher, their Lord and Savior.

And so Johns’ gospel comes full circle. Jesus’ first earthly miracle, when Jesus attends a wedding at Cana with his disciples, produces an abundance of the best wine of the night, from an ordinary drawing of water into jugs.

And Jesus’ last earthly miracle, as he fixes breakfast for his disciples at the shore, produces an abundance of fish, the best catch of the night, from an ordinary lowering of the nets.

In each miracle, there is abundance – a good meal, good food and drink, and plenty of it. 

But food is not the only nourishment being provided as they break bread and eat fish together.

Though his conversation with Peter, we also experience how Jesus forgives and how Peter accepts.

Jesus goes beyond simply caring for Peter by feeding him along with the other disciples.

Jesus does not judge or condemn Peter – he simply forgives him, without Peter even asking for forgiveness. Jesus forgives him and they move on.

And the forgiveness Peter receives is a package deal – it includes the call to discipleship – feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. Care for my flock. Love one another.

I have made you fishers of people, just as I called you from the beginning. As you followed me then, so I call you to follow me now, doing what I call you to do.

We are given the opportunity in every encounter with God’s children – especially with those who we are tempted to judge or to condemn – to forgive as Jesus forgives us, to accept without condition as Jesus accepts us, to set aside our own comforts in order to belong with those in need, to even suffer the loss of our own creature comforts in order to be in relationship with all God’s people. Let us listen together to this song, Twenty-First Time, by Monk and Neagle, which expresses the change of heart that comes from being part of the body of Christ in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NoOy77aG7U

Professor Reggie Jackson, from McCormick Seminary, posted a reminder this weekend that “seventy one years ago, on April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was taken in the morning from his prison at the Flossenburg concentration camp and hanged to death. As a brilliant, wealthy, Aryan man, he was killed by the forces that were attempting to construct a society specifically for him, for his benefit, power and comfort. But rather than be at home in what was billed as the “ideal community”, he suffered like the outcasts, choosing to suffer the consequences for non-cooperation with evil.”

The forgiveness of Jesus is freely offered, as it was to Peter, and to us all. However, a life of discipleship is not free; it is costly, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer made clear in his book The Cost of Discipleship, a book that some of you studied together last year, and that we discussed throughout Lent last year. Grace is indeed free, but it is definitely not cheap. It came at a great cost to Christ, and it asks of us that our entire lives be turned over to Christ. And the way we do that is by giving over our lives to feeding his sheep, tending his lambs. It demands of us transformation. It expects from us the hard work of reconciliation.

And it is possible only because of the saving power of Christ’s resurrection, only because of the abundant grace of God.

The Rev. Jill Duffield, teaching elder and editor of Presbyterian Outlook, reminds us that, like Peter,

“We are more than the worst thing we have ever done.

We are greater than the sum of our mistakes.

Forgiveness is real. Reconciliation is possible. Transformation happens.

This radical transformation is God’s doing, not ours.

We can claim this for ourselves and we can allow it to change the way we see all God’s beloved children.”

Every week in worship, after the sermon, we move into the final two portions of the service – Responding to the Word, and Going out into the World. As the signs over our exit doors remind us, we leave this place and enter the mission field.

This morning we continue our worship by singing our way into Agape Hall, by actively living out our Prayers of the People, through working together to prepare food for 60 guests of the Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter – also known as MCREST. These guests are staying this week at St. Thomas Community Presbyterian Church in Shelby Township, and our congregation is cooking and serving dinner and eating with them there later today.  There are tables set up in Agape Hall for each of us to participate in three different active forms of prayer – praying by fixing food, praying by writing notes and coloring pictures for each of the guests we will serve, and praying for those on our prayer lists, in our hearts and minds, and in need throughout our county.  When you get to Agape Hall, find and sit down at a starting place at any one of the tables set up there, and wait for further instructions. After we have spent time at our first spot, we will get up and move to other tables, so that each of us gets to spend time in food preparation as a form of prayer, and also in various forms of prayer at the other prayer station tables.

After that, we will offer our gifts to God, sing a hymn together, receive the charge and blessing, and continue in fellowship and mission as we go out into the world, transformed, to practice forgiveness, reconciliation, and resurrection – to follow Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, “Follow Me.” We have been given our purpose – so let’s go!

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Where's Jesus?

Luke 24:1-32  

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.”

Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 




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The women come to the tomb early in the morning, bringing the spices they have prepared. Sabbath is over, and they have come to prepare Jesus’ body.

But they do not find his body.

Instead, they find the tomb open, and men dressed in dazzling white garments sitting inside. Angels, they figure, and they bow down.

The angels say, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He’s not here, where death is what you seek. He is risen. He’s alive.”

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Two disciples walk along the road heading from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They are trying their best to cope with Jesus’ death, processing what they saw and experienced, wondering what it all means and what will become of them now that their rabbi is dead and gone, the one in whom they had placed such hope.

They encounter a stranger. At least they think he is a stranger. But after walking with him, telling him what has happened, hearing from him how he understands it, then inviting him in for dinner, they discover that Jesus is not dead, as they understand him to be. He is alive. He is with them. And then, just as their eyes are opened and they catch a brief but certain glimpse of him, recognized in the breaking of the bread, he vanishes from their sight.

And as their hearts go from being broken with all the hopes they had for him, to burning as they perceive him, they find the living Christ rather than the late, great Jesus, the one they expect.

In our lives of faith, we mostly wait for Christ to come again, to renew the world for all time.

But Jesus Christ is Risen today! Jesus is Alive!

Where is Jesus? It depends on where we look for him, as it turns out.

Seeking him in the grave, expecting him to be someone who once was here, but is no longer, we may be surprised.

Because Jesus reveals himself to us, not in tales of long ago, but in here-and-now moments brought to us courtesy of the Holy Spirit, whom he promised before his death.

We encounter Christ in an unexpected kindness – given or received.

We encounter Christ in a life giving word or sign of comfort that we experience in the midst of suffering, or despair, or even death.

We encounter Christ in a moment of clarity brought by way of a new meaning found in scripture, in a poem, at a baptism, through a Facebook posting, during a footwashing, through the symbols of faith on a stole made by a student ready to confirm their faith, in a hymn or song or in so many other ways.

We encounter Christ in people willing to stand up against injustice in a hostile world, even when they face resistance, risk, or ridicule.

Where is Jesus?

When we turn our radar from death to life, we tune into the here-and-now workings of the Risen Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It’s like those “Where’s Waldo” pictures, or more recently, the “find the panda” pictures that went viral on the internet around Christmastime.

Once you tune into what you’re looking for, you find it more quickly and more often. And so it is with Jesus Christ.

It’s hard to see life when we are expecting death.

It’s hard to focus in on God with us when we are expecting a world designed to work against us.

It’s hard to see grace when we are expecting punishment.

But in the midst of all this death – Christ is alive!

Where’s Jesus?

Why do you seek the living among the dead?

Christ is alive, out in the world, redeeming the world, bringing new life where death is expected.

In a few minutes Troy Hansen will be baptized, and Calli Bowman-Tomlinson and Jason Boatwright with confirm their baptismal promises.

In and through our baptism we go from death to new life.

Each one of these young people have already faced trials and challenges in their lives beyond their years. And each one of them comes today to put their trust in life beyond death, in Christ's redemption, in the empty tomb.

The risen, alive Christ calls us to stop looking for him among the things that dwell in the shadow of death, but to seek him among the living, and to participate in bringing to the world, the Life that Truly is Life.

Where is Jesus?

Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is Risen.

Global Positioning System

Matthew 7: 13-29

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.

For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?

In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus you will know them by their fruits.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’

Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching,

for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

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Wade, my fiancé, and I are enjoying the ongoing process

         of getting to know more and more about one another.

One thing we have discovered is that

         we approach travel a bit differently from each other.

Wade either knows the best way to get from point A to point B,

         or he looks on a map before he leaves,

         and decides which way he will go.

I, on the other hand, being a gadget geek,

         have come to rely on my favorite “map app”

         on my smart phone.

Now, this is not to say that I don’t value the common map.

Long before I learned to drive,

         I was my dad’s map reader and navigator,

         and I loved figuring out the best way to get

         from here to there.

But these days, I confess that I rely on GPS –

         my global positioning system –

         almost completely –

to the point where I even set my destination to “NLPC”

         when I roll out of the driveway

         to head to church every morning.

There are two advantages to this, in my view –

         first, if there happens to be a traffic jam or accident

         along my usual route,

         the GPS will tell me where to go to avoid it

         and arrive the quickest

         of all possible options at that given moment.

And second, even if I am taking the usual route,

         it reminds me how many miles until the next turn

         or exit onto the next freeway,

         so I don’t find myself daydreaming

         and getting caught in the left lane

         when I need to be merging on the right.

The downside of GPS, as I see it,

         is that it tells you where to go, just one step at a time,

         one turn at a time.

Drive 8.0 miles on Mound Road.

         Turn right onto 18-1/2 Mile Road.

         Drive 1 mile to Van Dyke.

         Take the second exit off the roundabout.

         Drive 0.8 miles to Riverland Dr. Turn right. And so on.

If you want to see the whole picture,

         you have to go through several background steps.

It’s not impossible,

         but it’s not all that easy to see the whole map,

         or the full set of directions, from start to finish. 

You have to develop a sense of trust that, turn by turn,

         it’s taking you the best way you can go.

And of course, if you have ever used a GPS,

         whether it’s dedicated to your car

         or it’s an app on your smartphone,

         you will have experienced the strange reaction

         when you do not follow its instructions.

As soon as you make a wrong turn,

         or go past the spot where it’s telling you

         to enter the freeway or turn onto the next street,

         it will make a funny noise of some sort,

and then tell you, usually in a voice that is a combination

         of patience and annoyance, “recalculating”.

And of course this means that it now must figure out

         another way for you to get where you are going.

Some of the more current map apps

         are constantly checking the traffic on the various routes,

         and if your current route is getting slowed up by traffic,

         or an accident, it will reroute you enroute,

to ensure you are able to get where you’re going

         by the quickest route possible.

It’s quite remarkable, actually,

         and it does require that you place a level of trust

         that the app knows what it’s doing better than you do.

Some of us are better able to do that than others,

         and for all of us, it takes practice.

Sometimes the alternate route may take you through an area

         you have never been in before.

Sometimes you may not recognize your surroundings

         for a good portion of the trip.

It can sometimes be unsettling to keep on going – to trust.

In today’s reading,

         the last portion of the Sermon on the Mount,

         which we have been reading throughout Lent,

Jesus is placing a choice in front of us,

         a decision about the road we choose to take.

He describes the choice in a number of ways.

·      Enter through the narrow gate and take the hard road that leads to life, not the wide gate and easy road that leads to destruction.

·      Hear my words and act on them, and it will be like your house is built on rock. Hear my words and do not act on them, and it will be like building your house on sand.

·      Don’t just call me Lord, don’t just listen to my words, but act on them - do the will of God.

I have been thinking this week about whether

         this is one big choice we make –

the one-time, monumental decision to follow Christ,

         to enter through the narrow gate –

or if it is an infinite number of individual, daily choices –

         every day, every moment, every opportunity

         that is placed in front of us –

a choice to love God, to love our neighbors, to love our enemies, to serve and to give as freely as we have been served,

         as freely as God has given to us.

And as I’ve thought about this,

         I have realized that the choice Christ places before us

         is much like the experience of planning a road trip,

         where the first step is making the initial decision

         of where we are going.

And once we decide that, we generally set the path,

         decide in advance the mode of travel,

         whether car, or bus, or plane, or bicycle, or even by foot.

We map out the main roads, where to turn,

         what towns to go through, the speed of travel, and so on. And then we stick to it until we arrive at your final destination. At least, that’s what we hope.

But life as a disciple of Christ is actually a lot more

         like trusting that GPS. 

Because once you sign on, Jesus is going to lead you,

         one step at a time, wherever God wants you to be.

So a life in Christ is not about being assured

         a safe and easy journey to wherever you choose to go.

In fact, it’s far from it.

What it is more like, is turning over the steering wheel,

         as well as the route.

It’s trusting that, step by step,

         Jesus will lead you, not where life is easy,

         and not where everyone else seems to be going,

         but rather where God intends to use you.

It’s handing over the timing and the pathway

         to your final destination.

It’s trusting that God knows where you need to be,

         and that it will be revealed to you, step by step,

         but not all at once.

That you may stay in one place for a very long time.

And that when it is revealed, you have the choice to follow it,

         or to continue on in the way you think is best,

         to follow the crowd.

And here again is the paradox of a life in faith.

Because this feels to us more like the hard road,

         more like the house built on sand.

It doesn’t feel like a road that will lead to life,

          like a trustworthy structure or a reliable way to go

         on our journey.

But Jesus tells us that the wide road, the easy path,

         the one taken by many, is the road to destruction,

         and that the hard road,

         the one that feels wrong at so many turns, so many bends,

         is the road that leads to life.

Jesus tell us that going along with the crowd,

         turning from sharing all that we have from God,

         turning from loving one another

         to rejecting or shunning or hating one another,

         that’s the easier way,

         but it leads to destruction, for us and for the world.

Jesus tells us that it’s not just hearing his word

         as we have heard today,

         but it’s doing God’s will,

         that provides the strong foundation.

Jesus is our GPS, our global positioning system.

Jesus shows us the way, day by day, and step by step.

Jesus does not put the whole journey in front of us.

As disciples, God seeks to use us to do God’s will,

         in big ways and small, every day,

         and so we cannot know what the day’s challenges

         or joys will bring.

Like the GPS, we only see our path one turn at a time.

Like the GPS, God is continually recalculating,

         either to get us back on the path God wants for us,

         every time we take a wrong turn,

         or else to place us where someone needs us,

         needs our love and caring,

         based on the wrong turns they might have just made.

The word “repent” means to turn,

         and God shows us where to turn, how to repent,

         how to turn back, every time we stray.

And God sends people to us to lovingly help us when we do,

         and sends us to lovingly help others when they do.

Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

The way that Jesus is the Way is the Way of the cross.

It is the way of trust, of surrender,

         of letting go of the steering wheel,

         of making each turn, each day,

         toward the self-giving love of Christ,

         living our lives as followers of Christ, not just hearers. Knowing that the Way of Christ is not the safe way,

         it is not the easy way, it is not the way that is life-saving,

         but is life giving.

As individuals, and as a congregation,

         let us turn away from false prophets

         and false senses of security,

let us show by our fruits who it is we follow,

         let us trust that Jesus will position us,

not where we want to go,

         but where God calls us,

in order to do God’s will every step of the way,

         until we reach our final destination.

And all along the way, to God alone be the glory! Amen.