Meeting Us Where We Are

Do you compare yourself to other Christians and come up short? I imagine that most of us do. This sermon might give you a fresh perspective on those comparisons!

I clearly remember the first paper that I had to write for a seminary class. I was working on my Masters of Divinity, the degree that eventually helped me to become a member of the ordained clergy; and the class was “Introduction to Theology.” It was taught by a very congenial professor who, nevertheless, had a mind like a laser. He could poke holes in sloppy thinking as easily as a cook can poke holes in a baked potato. I was dismayed when he told us that our first paper was to be a summary of our personal theology. In other words, he wanted to know what we already believed about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. That sounds easy enough, but he was going to grade that paper, and I didn’t want to say anything stupid! I agonized over what to say. Finally, I decided to simply write what I believed without trying to impress him. But to hedge my bets, I titled that paper “Everybody Has to Start Somewhere.” I hoped that it would remind my professor that I hadn’t been doing this kind of thinking for very long. It turned out that he liked the title very much! He even added a comment at the paper’s end to the effect that I was quite right, everybody does have to start somewhere; and his job wasn’t to criticize my starting point, but to meet me there and to help me to move ahead.

I am reminded of his comment every time that I read this passage from the gospel of John (21:15-22). It’s the story of Jesus three-fold question to Peter: “Do you love me?” When we read it, we remember Peter’s denials of Jesus on the eve of Good Friday, and we realize that Jesus has given Peter three opportunities to redeem himself from those denials. Every time that Jesus asks “Do you love me?” Peter replies, “Of course, I love you!” putting his denials in the past so that he can move into the future with a clear conscience. But something else is going on here, too; and we need to dig deeper into the text to find out what it is. Some of you already know that there are three Greek words that mean “love.” One is eros, the love that is expressed physically between two human beings. Another is phileo, the warm love that friends feel for one another. (You can hear phileo in the name of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.) The third is agape, the love that puts concern for someone else ahead of your own welfare. Which of these words for “love” does Jesus use in his questions to Peter; and which of these words does Peter use in his answers?

Jesus begins by asking Peter, “Do you agape love me?” In other words: Peter, are you going to put your own welfare aside in order to follow me fully? Peter answers, “Yes, Lord, I phileo love you.” In other words, Jesus, you’re my very best friend! Jesus has asked something of Peter that he was not ready to give just yet. Jesus wanted agape love, but Peter was only at the level of phileo love. So Jesus asks again: “Peter, do you agape love me?” and Peter repeats his response: “Yes, Lord, I phileo love you.” Now, Jesus might have done a couple of things. He might have kept pestering Peter to show agape love. Or he might have given up on him entirely. But Jesus didn’t do either one of those things. Instead, Jesus adjusts his question to match Peter’s ability to answer. So the third time that Jesus asks Peter about his love, he asks “Do you phileo love me?” Peter answers “Lord, you know everything! You know that I phileo love you!” Yes, Jesus did indeed know that, right then, all Peter could do was to phileo love him. The agape love would come later. Jesus met Peter where he was instead of insisting that he be farther along the road of faith. Like my professor in seminary, Jesus doesn’t criticize our starting point. Instead, he meets us where we are in our faith and helps us to move ahead!

That’s something we need to remember when we put ourselves down for not being good enough Christians. We compare ourselves to the giants of the Christian faith, and we conclude that we’re pretty weak stuff. We aren’t planning to go to India to minister to the last and the least like Mother Teresa. We aren’t willing to put our lives on the line for social justice like Martin Luther King. We can’t think deep thoughts like St. Paul. And because those kinds of Christian behaviors aren’t on our radar screen, we decide that Jesus must be pretty disappointed with us; and we give up. We’re like the woman who decided that she needed to be more physically fit after seeing pictures of willowy models in her copy of Vogue magazine. First, she entered a 5K race – and couldn’t finish it. Then, she went to the Y and tried lifting weights. She couldn’t lift even the smallest ones. Finally, she asked the swim team coach if she could work out with the swimmers. You can guess how that ended! The lifeguard had to fish her out of the pool. She had set herself up for failure because she tried to do too much too quickly! She would have done better if she had worked with a personal trainer. That trainer would have told her to start by walking briskly 15 minutes a day, to use cans of soup as weights, and to take a gentle aquatics class followed by swimming a few laps. We do the very same thing to ourselves when we decide that we aren’t very good Christians because we can’t measure up to the giants in our faith. When we do that, we set ourselves up for failure.

But we need to remember that Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King and St. Paul didn’t start out by being giants. They all started somewhere else. Mother Teresa was a teacher when she was a young woman. Martin Luther King was a local church pastor who suffered from depression. And St. Paul was a rabbi who persecuted Christians savagely because he believed that they were heretics. By the way, both St. Paul and Martin Luther King denied the reality of the resurrection at one time in their lives. Oh, yes, they came a long way! Jesus met them where they were and guided them one step at a time. Their spiritual muscles had to develop slowly – and so do ours!

So what would happen if Jesus met you today and asked whether you love him and what you are doing for him? What would you say? Don’t compare yourselves to Mother Teresa; focus on where you are now! Are you thinking about working one afternoon a month at the soup kitchen? That’s an important ministry! Do you speak up on behalf of the poor when someone comments that welfare mothers are lazy sponges? That’s social justice in action! Are you reading the Bible and trying to understand the faith and its history better than you do now? That’s how St. Paul started! Even if you’re only doing your best to be patient with your annoying neighbor, you’re following Jesus’ example of being a peacemaker. After all, everybody has to start somewhere! Do you agape love Jesus; or do you only phileo love him? It doesn’t matter what your answer is; Jesus is ready to meet you where you are and to help you move ahead in your faith journey. Why don’t you let him do just that?

Going Fishing

It's after Easter, and Christ is risen! That was good news for the disciples... but it also meant that Jesus wasn't with them in the flesh anymore. So what did they do? They went fishing! But they weren't fishing for fish; and that's the key to the deeper story that John is telling us. Interested? Read this sermon!

What do we do now that Jesus isn’t physically with us anymore? That’s the problem facing Peter and the other disciples as they consider how to get on with their lives (John 21:1-14). For the past three years, they have been with Jesus every single day. They have listened to him, watched him, and followed his example and his instructions. But now Jesus is resurrected. Although the disciples have experienced his risen presence twice already, Jesus isn’t physically present as he had been before. What are the disciples going to do with their lives now? In this story near the end of John’s gospel, Peter announces that he’s going fishing; and seven of the other disciples go with him. It sounds like a step backwards. We know from the other gospels that Peter was a fisherman by trade; and his decision to go fishing sounds like he’s going back to familiar territory. Is he just picking up where he left off before Jesus called him to be a disciple? That’s certainly a possibility; but I think that this story is telling us something else. What do we find if we consider the images that John uses in this story? It turns out to be about a lot more than just fishing!

First, let’s review some early Christian symbols and what they meant. One is the fish. Fish in the early church often symbolized people. Jesus said that his disciples would be “fishers of men,” and the fish symbol reflected that. The boat was a symbol of the church itself. Early Christian art is full of pictures of boats with their masts in the form of a cross. Many church sanctuaries even have ceilings that are curved upwards like the bottom of an overturned boat, continuing the symbolism to this day. (By the way, did you know that the main seating area of a church sanctuary is called the “nave.” The word “nave” comes from a Latin word meaning – you guessed it – “boat.”) Finally, the number seven, the number of disciples who decided to go fishing, is the symbol of fullness or completion. If we put all these symbols in this story together, what do we find? We find all the disciples (symbolized by the number seven) going out as the Christian church (symbolized by the boat) to make new disciples (symbolized by the fish). If we take John’s symbolism seriously, this isn’t a story about fishing at all; it’s a story about evangelism! It answers the question, “What do we do now that Jesus isn’t physically with us anymore?” The answer is that we go out and make new Christians! But Peter and his friends have a problem. They can’t catch any fish! In fact, they’ve worked all night and haven’t caught so much as a sand crab! Oh, they’ve pulled up an old tire and a boot that someone tossed into the lake once upon a time, but fish? Not a one! And they don’t even get a nibble until Jesus appears on the beach. He yells out to them, “Throw the net on the other side,” and when they do, they catch so many fish that they can’t haul them all into the boat! Why does John include this story in his gospel? It might be warning us of some of the pitfalls that we’ll run across in our quest to recruit new Christians, as well as alerting us to opportunities that we may not even know are there.

So let’s hit the “Rewind” button. Let’s go all the way back to the beginning of this story and take another look at it. It starts as Peter announces “I’m going fishing!” That’s a good start. No one ever made a disciple by sitting at home watching reruns of “The Big Bang Theory” on TV. Every evangelist has to take a first step to go out in mission. Too often in our day and age, we assume that “If we build it, they will come.” But that only works for sports stadiums. We build beautiful churches and make them as inviting as we can. We’re ready to tell our visitors all about Jesus! We have information packets about our church, nametags that say “Welcome!” and gourmet coffee in the coffee pot. But visitors rarely show up. We forget that, to make disciples, we have to go to them! Peter didn’t fall into that trap. He took that first step and “went fishing.” But despite their good intentions, the disciples ran into a problem. They couldn’t find any fish to catch! It wasn’t that they weren’t trying. They fished all night, after all. Now, they knew how to find fish! They had once been professional fishermen, and their livelihood had depended on that knowledge. But right now, all their expertise was useless. They were doing what they had always done, but they weren’t getting any results. Do we need to pay attention to that? If we keep doing what we’ve always done but we aren’t getting the results that we want, maybe we need to change what we’re doing! When Jesus showed up, that’s exactly what he told them to do. He told them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. He didn’t tell them to abandon their fishing spot and go farther out in the lake. He didn’t tell them to stop using their nets. And he certainly didn’t tell them to give up! But he did tell them to change the place where they were fishing. “Fish on this side, not on that side,” he said. Do we do that? Are we so focused on fishing on one side of the boat that we forget to fish anywhere else? Do we concentrate on the people in the McMansions on this side of the street and forget about the folks who live in the low-income housing on that side of the street? All too often, I’m afraid that we do. And what happened when they listened to Jesus and put their nets in on the other side? Why, they caught so many fish that everybody in the boat working together couldn’t haul the nets in! It’s a funny thing… when we are working on Jesus’ behalf, and we do what he tells us to do, we’re much more likely to get the result that we want! When we do things our way, our plans don’t always succeed. Maybe we should listen to what Jesus tells us more often.

But the story doesn’t end there. When Peter and the others get back to shore, Jesus has breakfast ready for them; and it is a real change from the last meal! The last meal that they had shared was a dinner eaten behind locked doors in the privacy of an upper room; and they gathered at night in the shadow of the knowledge that Jesus would soon die. But this meal is a breakfast on the beach: a public place where anyone might join in; and it is shared at dawn in the light of the knowledge that Jesus is risen! Even the food that Jesus served them is symbolic. The disciples shared bread and fish, the elements of Holy Communion in the early Christian church. Jesus knows that making disciples is hard work, so Jesus feeds us so that we have enough strength to carry on. But this isn’t a sad meal of remembrance. On the contrary, it’s a joyous meal of possibility and hope! And Jesus offers it to us, too, whenever we need it.

Can we read this little story as an instruction book on how to do evangelism? I think that we can. First, we have to decide to take a step outward. Evangelism doesn’t do itself; and we have to go out to do it. Then, we have to be open to what Jesus tells us. Even if we don’t know the territory, we’ll catch disciples if we fish where Jesus tells us to. Finally, we have to be strong enough to do the job; and we do that by sharing Holy Communion with Jesus on a regular basis. Decide to begin; listen to Jesus’ instructions; stay strong. It’s as easy – and as difficult – as that. Are we ready to catch some new disciples? Are we ready to step out in faith, to listen to what Jesus is telling us, and to stay strong for the job? If we are, then… let’s go fishing!

Can I Get a Witness?

What do we do with the doubts that we have about our faith? And what do we do about the doubts that OTHERS have about our faith? In particular, what do we do with doubts that Jesus is risen? If you choose to read my sermon, you may find an answer to that.

Poor Thomas! We all look down on him. We sneer at him for doubting the reality of the resurrection (John 20:19-29). We shake our heads at him and say to ourselves, “Wow! He sure didn’t have much faith!” In fact, his doubts have become part of his name. We call him “Doubting Thomas.” With the exception of Judas, no disciple is more criticized than Thomas. And I think that’s a little bit unfair! After all, Peter denied Jesus three times; and we remember Peter as being a pillar of the early church! But unlike Peter, the New Testament doesn’t tell us anything about Thomas after he met the risen Lord, so our last glimpse of him features his doubt. We hear him insist on seeing the risen Jesus for himself; and after he does just that, he exits stage left and is never heard from again.

But let’s think this though for a minute. Are doubts really all that bad? I’m convinced that doubts can be a very good thing. If we are honest about our doubts – if we name them and are willing to face them – we can work through them and end up with a faith that is truly our own: stronger, more thoughtful, and more authentic. If, when the disciples brought news of the resurrection to Thomas, he had said, “Sure, sure, Jesus is risen. I’ll believe that just because you say so,” his faith would have been second-hand at best. But because he named his doubts, Jesus acknowledged them and put them to rest once and for all. Doubts, in fact, are the things that spur us on to greater investigation and continuing achievements! If Columbus had not doubted that the world was flat, he would never have sailed west to go east. And if the Wright brothers had not doubted that “man was never made to fly,” we wouldn’t be able to fly all over the world today. Doubts are a good thing when they lead us to test the claims that people make. As the old saying goes, “Don’t believe everything you hear!” (That’s especially true in these days of political campaigns.) Is it really true that Bruce Springsteen has cancelled a concert in Greensboro, North Carolina in protest over a controversial new law that allows discrimination of gays and lesbians? Yes, it’s true. But how about claims of a newly-discovered planet that could crash into the earth and wipe out all life? Nope. That one is a figment of someone’s overactive imagination.

The statement “I doubt it!” is a healthy one; and it can be especially healthy when we can test what we doubt. Not sure about the claim that a Mississippi bill would allow church goers to kill other members of the congregation if they felt threatened? We can check Mississippi legal records, newspapers published in that state, or go to Snopes.com (a well-known fact-checking site for doubters). If we do, we’ll find that the bill actually provides for security personnel in churches, and allows for the armed defense of worshippers. Can church goers in Mississippi kill other folks whenever they want to? Of course not! But there are some claims that we just can’t check out – at least, not using our usual methods. What about our claim as Christians that Jesus is risen? We can’t check a newspaper report to find out about that one. We can’t look for the bones of Jesus in a Jerusalem tomb. We can’t even rely on the writings of the New Testament, because they were written at least 15 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. So if we doubt that Jesus is risen – as Thomas did – what do we do with that? It’s not as silly a question as you might think it is. I imagine that all of us here in this congregation believe that Jesus is risen; but there are lots of people who don’t. When we go to church on Easter Sunday, they don’t understand what all the fuss is about. One of my atheist friends is convinced that the resurrection never took place; and that Christians are only deluding themselves into believing that it did. And I can’t offer him any hard evidence to convince him otherwise. I can’t point to archaeology. I can’t point to historical records. I can’t even point to the Bible! He has a very reasonable objection to everything I say. What can I do about his doubts? What can any of us do to counter the argument that our Christian faith is built on a fantasy? The answer is that we can offer our experiences. We can be witnesses.

There is a tradition in many African-American churches for the preacher to ask for affirmation of his personal testimony. After sharing an experience, a preacher will often ask “Can I get a witness?” and the congregation will clap or shout “Amen!” as a way of agreeing with what the preacher is saying. It’s the congregation’s way of saying “You betcha, preacher! I’ve felt that way, too!” In our faith tradition, worshippers don’t usually shout “Amen!” during a sermon; and that’s OK. But sharing our experiences of the risen Christ is the only proof that we have to offer doubters that the resurrection is a reality. We don’t have Jesus here with us any longer. We can’t put our fingers in the nail holes or touch the wound in his side. We can’t look into his eyes and listen to him say, “Stop doubting and believe!” All we have is our witness – our own experience of the presence of Jesus in our lives.

Let me ask you this: have you ever felt God’s presence in a powerful way; and you are absolutely certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus is standing right next to you? I know that I have. (Can I get a witness to that?) Have you ever felt the love of Jesus through the love of another person who accepted you, helped you, and encouraged you? I know that I have. (Can I get a witness to that?) Have you ever been wrestling with a problem, and you suddenly experienced a flash of insight into the solution to that problem that must have come from the Holy Spirit because it sure didn’t come from your own head? I know that I have. (Can I get a witness to that?) We have all experienced those things, in large or small ways; and we don’t usually share them. But you see, sharing them might be the only way to start doubters on the road to faith! Otherwise, we don’t have much to offer them.

Now, if you’re still doubting the reality of the resurrection, that’s OK. Even preachers doubt it now and then. After we’ve had a difficult week; or while we are planning the funeral of a child; or when we hear news of yet another suicide bomber, we wonder if this story that we tell every week is so much hot air. But most preachers have experienced the living Christ in such a powerful way that we remember that experience and live with our doubts. If you’re still doubting, I pray that you, too, will experience Jesus in that kind of way. And if you have no doubts at all – hallelujah! You hold on to that faith, because if you haven’t needed it already, you will certainly need it one day. And I pray that you will become a witness to those doubters who are all around us. Christ is risen! Can I get a witness to that? Amen, indeed!