02/20/2022 Full Worship Service

Sermon Text for February 20, 2022 - "Fishing With Jesus: Fishing With Mercy and Forgiveness"

“Fishing With Jesus:

Fishing With Mercy and Forgiveness”

February 20, 2022

 

            Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

            How many of you have some sort of collection? Those of you who follow me on social media know that I have a growing collection of musical instruments. I also have a few other collections, including hats. What are some of your favorite things to collect?

            Whether or not we may realize it, all of us share the same common collection: we collect memories.

Each one of us carry around a lifetime’s worth of memories, both good and bad memories, and these memories affect us in different ways. The question is, what do we do with those memories? Even further, what do we do with the bad memories we’re continuing to carry around? How are we letting the bad memories, the negativity, we’re still carrying around affect us? How are we letting our bad memories determine how we act and think, especially how we act towards others, and think about others and ourselves? The key, as we hear about in both today’s First Reading from Genesis, as well as today’s Gospel Reading, is forgiveness. Now, forgiveness does not always mean what we think it means. So today we’re going to talk about what forgiveness is, and why it is not only important, but something God wants for us.

1.                  Forgiveness is necessary, rather than optional. Forgiveness is why we are here as Christians in the first place. We are here because God chose to remove the sin which had separated us from Him by sending His Son to die as a sacrifice on the cross. He satisfied the consequence which was necessary for sin by dying in our place, and then rising again to show that everything had been fulfilled. Because of Jesus, and only because of Jesus, all our sins are forgiven. Nothing we do can earn this forgiveness: Jesus has already accomplished everything necessary for us to be forgiven. Therefore, we can believe, with absolute confidence, that since God has already caused everything to be forgiven, it can be easier for us to let go of any guilt we carry because of things we have done, or hurts that have been done to us. Furthermore, not only is forgiveness something that is good for us to be able to heal and move forward, but it is also commanded. We are commanded to forgive ourselves, and forgive other people. God always knows what is best for us, and what is best for others. He wants us to be happy and content in life. He doesn’t want us to be constantly focusing on how we have been hurt, or how we’ve hurt ourselves, because all we’re doing is hurting ourselves. Which is not at all what God wants for us: Jesus came to die to suffer our pain on the cross, and heal it by His death and resurrection. Because He is risen, and is victorious over death, that means He is also victorious over our pain. Which means that any pain we inflict on ourselves is not of God, but only what we do to ourselves. Even though we may want to keep score, and either keep dwelling on hurts that have been done to us, or think about ways we can hurt other people back, God has already let everything go. Since He has let everything about us and others go, we ought to as well.

All that being said:

2.                  Forgiveness does not mean excusing or forgetting, but is instead an absence of vengeance. Very often forgiveness is confused with forgetting; this is a common misconception. The memory still remains, and what has been done cannot be undone or simply swept aside. But, forgiveness, in fact, does not mean that the memory of the hurt that has been caused has been forgotten, but instead that the hurt caused by the memory no longer affects us. It means that the hurt caused by what has been done to us no longer affects how we behave or what we think, or what motivates us to act in a certain way, but instead it means that we have learned from the hurt, and move forward, rather than react in anger or vengeance. Forgiveness also demonstrates a desire to work at restoring the relationship that has been damaged, but also recognizing that this takes time and can be a process that goes for as long as is necessary. Sometimes it may not happen: the relationship may be permanently damaged and may never be restored. But it means that we can be released from having to be attached to the damaged relationship in any way, and instead move on and having it no longer affect who we are. It also means that, rather than excusing the behavior of the other person who hurt us, that we instead work to no longer let their behavior affect us. It further means releasing the person who hurt us from the obligation of having to apologize: instead of us waiting for an apology in order to heal, we simply release ourselves from having to wait, and the other person from having to apologize, and instead we allow ourselves to move forward and be healed. This is also why Jesus commands us, in Luke 6:27, to love our enemies, and pray for our persecutors: to be able to be released from waiting for our enemies and persecutors to change, but instead moving forward from letting them affect us negatively. Loving our enemies does not mean letting our enemies and persecutors walk all over us: that is a common misconception. It also does not mean that what our enemies and persecutors say about us is right: we ought not to let what our enemies think about us affect how we think about ourselves, but instead we can be confident in who we really are and feel good about who we are. Instead, what it means is not trying to pay back the hurts we have been forced to suffer in the same way, by seeking revenge, but instead showing mercy.

Mercy, like forgiveness, is yet another word that gets tossed around a lot, with almost little or no explanation of what it actually means. And its meaning in this case is very simple: giving someone something they don’t deserve. While we may want to revenge ourselves against someone for what they’ve done to us, we are to show mercy instead – as Joseph did to his brothers in today’s First Reading. We are to treat those who hate us with kindness, those who wrong us with caring, and those who hurt us with compassion. That is how God treats us: He has given us exactly what we would not expect, and has instead forgiven our sins, the wrongs we have done, and has already forgiven the wrongs others have done to us. While there may be consequences for the wrongs we do to ourselves or other people, God does not cause us to endure those consequences forever. He is gracious, and so He brings an end to what we have to go through in order to learn and understand what we have done to ourselves or other people, or what has been done to us, and be able to forgive.

This is also why, in Luke 6:37, Jesus commands us not to judge: the judgments and criticisms we level against other people, especially those based on rumor, gossip, or suspicion, frequently turn out to be false. Far too many promising relationships, and far too many healthy relationships, have been damaged by mistrust caused by misunderstanding. As Christians, we ought to be thinking about how we would feel if such things were done to us, and consider that what we treat others is ultimately how we end up being treated by others. Therefore, if we desire mercy and compassion to be shown to us, then we ought to show mercy and compassion to others. This means protecting the reputations of all people, making sure that relationships are preserved and restored as possible if damaged, and that any perceived misunderstandings are addressed and forgiven.

In today’s world, it is also good for us to follow God’s leading in seeking alternatives to vengeance. Much of what we hear, especially on the news, is basically about vengeance, which is often expressed as a desire to right wrongs, but is actually nothing more than a desire for revenge. Even apart from what is going on in society, one of our basic desires is to give people what they deserve. If we believe someone has hurt us, we want to punish them for what they’ve one, and give them what we think they deserve for what they’ve done to us. If all we focus on is how to punish someone for what we think they’ve done to us, then that causes us to act that way towards everyone: we eventually get to the point where we act in mistrust, suspicion, or anger towards everyone because we focus on our hurts so much. We have had enough mistrust, suspicion, and anger: it is now time to move forward to the next step of growth and maturity God wants for us.

3.                  Forgiveness is both a sign of and leads to spiritual growth and maturity. Holding on to bad memories, past hurts, or past grudges is what causes us to stay stuck in one particular place, especially one particular point in life. The more we relive the same hurt which was done to us over and over, the more we stay stuck in one particular stage in life, and are unable to move forward to the next stage of growth and maturity. However, being able to forgive means that we are able to grow and move forward past wherever in life the hurt that was done to us was caused. Forgiveness is also a sign that we understand: we understand either the hurt that was done to us, or the hurt that we did to another person, and we are able to move forward from having it affect our thoughts and behaviors. When we are able to forgive, that is a sign that God is working in us. When we are able to move past the hurts and wrongs we have suffered, and are able to move forward, it is a sign that we are growing and maturing, and that God is causing us to grow and mature. Forgiveness is therefore literally letting go and letting God – letting go of the hurts, bitterness, and resentments which have been holding us back and keeping us from growing, and letting God replace those hurts, bitterness, and resentments with peace, contentment, confidence, and love and concern for others.

Also, a more responsible, and more effective, witness to our Christian faith is being able to forgive and seek relationships. Unfortunately, we have been seduced by a desire to identify with a cause, idea, or faction – which, again, comes out of a desire for revenge, to give other people what we think they deserve because we think they have done wrong, or they have wronged us somehow. All these have done have been to cause divisions and suspicions. Our ultimate aim and goal ought not to be suspicion and division, but instead forgiveness, peace, and unity. And peace and unity can be best pursued by starting with forgiveness. Therefore, it is time for us to move beyond focusing on causes or what makes us different from other people, even other Christians, and instead focus on and emphasize what we have in common with each other. And what we all have in common with each other is a desire for peace, and, most of all, to know that we can heal. We all need to know that we can be forgiven. We all need to know that we can move forward from past hurts. We all need to know that there is something more than being stuck in once place because of something we have one, or something that has been done to us. The key is forgiveness: knowing and believing that we have been forgiven by God, and being able to forgive because we are forgiven. So let us move forward from the hurts and bad memories we have collected, let God heal them, and let us be able to forgive – forgive ourselves, forgive others, and forgive the past, so we can move forward into God’s future for us.

            Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Sermon Text for February 13, 2022 - "Fishing With Jesus: Fishing by Being a Blessing"

 

Fishing With Jesus: Fishing by Being a Blessing

February 13, 2022 

            Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

            Today, we will possibly witness history being made, as the possibility of the Bengals winning their very first Super Bowl ever is well within reach!

In fact, the way commentators, pundits, and regular news reporting seem to be talking, the Bengals are definitely favored to win, and not just the way people in Ohio are talking. If reports are to be believed, a good majority of people in many places want the Bengals to win. Bengals fans can also be found in many unexpected places. For example, I have a good longtime friend who is a lifetime Bengals fan and who currently lives in New York, who was able to travel all the way from there to Los Angeles to be at the game. I’ve even seen people posting on Facebook in the past few days about people rooting for the Bengals where they live in the world – the UK, for example, seems to have a large number of people, probably the majority there, rooting for the Bengals to win. But, let’s ask: why do so many people want the Bengals to win? Obviously a lot of people here want the Bengals to win because they’re the local team, but why are the Bengals suddenly getting support from many different places? It’s because they’re the underdog team. The team hardly anyone expected to make it this far, but they have. And so, because they’ve also never won a Super Bowl up to this point, they’ve gained a lot more support than they ever have before. People want them to succeed because they’ve come this far, after having been in a losing underdog position for so long. It is – and I mean this with all sincerity – a real blessing for the Bengals, that so many people are rooting for the Bengals, and wanting them to win.

However, if you think about it, the fact that so many people are rooting for the Bengals actually runs counter to how we normally think. Usually, when we have to choose one person, team, or the other, to support, we go for the person or team we think will have the better chance of winning. We tend to choose who think are going to be winners, instead of losers. We don’t always root for the underdog – we try to support who we think are going to come out on top. We want to identify with success, and we think that identifying with people who we think are successful will help us feel successful as well. We don’t like losers – and we have our own ideas of what a winner and a loser is. More often than not, people who don’t fit our personal ideas of what someone who can dominate, who can run other people, who have the kind of personality to be able to attract other people, who is in a position of power or advantage, who don’t have any of these kind of characteristics, are people we consider losers. The idea of competition has unfortunately pervaded every part of our lives: numbers, figures, results, wins, successes have become what dominate our ways of thinking about others, and what drive us in how we live our own personal lives. We even assume, whether or not we realize it, that a lack of success means not only personal failure, but failure to be blessed by God.

And yet, God’s idea of success is very different from ours. He does not look at personal achievement or ambition as being any kind of a mark of success. He also does not look at the ability to dominate others in competition as being any kind of a mark of success. He certainly does not look at self-promotion or group promotion as being any kind of a mark of success. In fact, we can say that the more we seek self-promotion, domination, achievement, or ambition, the farther away we move from God’s purpose for us. He identifies as much with people we consider to be losers as much as with people we consider to be winners – He looks at everyone equally. As we saw in last week’s Gospel reading, Jesus did not choose people who were considered to be winners in society to be His followers – in fact, He chose people who were considered the underdogs, losers, people who were considered to be unsuccessful. They were also considered unsuccessful because they were in a position of being spiritually unclean, outcast from the community, constantly breaking the religious laws by being in contact with unclean sea creatures. But the people we consider to be already successful and qualified, or who were considered to be successful and qualified by the standards of the day, are not the people Jesus automatically chose, or chooses, to follow Him. He chose His first disciples regardless of whether or not everyone else considered them successful – He chose them precisely to show that His calling, His message, is not one of success – it is one of following Jesus, becoming more like Him, to transform lives through His power and love. He also chooses us, unworthy as we might be considered to be, to follow Him. He calls whomever He chooses to follow Him, and ignores any qualifications we may want to put on others. Jesus Himself, by the standards with which we usually measure success, was unsuccessful. He did not have the kind of dominant, forceful personality we have come to expect from religious leaders – He was meek, humble, and focused not on promoting Himself or His own successes to make Himself more important than others, but instead on helping people, meeting them where they were at, for the purpose of showing them His Father’s love, and bringing people to a relationship with His Father. He was considered unsuccessful by religious standards, because He failed to follow the traditional laws, and regularly associated with those considered sinners, outcasts, and lawbreakers. He could also be considered unsuccessful in another way: He was captured and put to death by His enemies. Instead of fighting back, He allowed Himself to be killed – what we would consider to be a loser. But by doing so, He did something necessary: He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, and for the sins of all people, dying on a cross. Then, even though it seemed like He lost, He actually ended up winning, even defeating His enemies – by rising again from the dead, and now living victorious, never to die again.

In today’s Gospel reading, usually known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus further emphasizes . The word “blessed” means someone who is considered righteous – someone who is favored by God in a special way, even someone who is considered a winner in His eyes. We may consider being poor to be the mark of a loser, because we associate having things with success, but God considers it the mark of a winner. We may consider being hungry, or lacking anything, to be the mark of a loser, because we associate hunger with laziness or irresponsibility, but God considers it the mark of a winner. We may consider mourning or being sad to be the mark of a loser, because we think we are supposed to be tough and plow on through every sad situation, but God considers it the mark of a winner. We may consider being humble, even meek, to be the mark of a loser, because we think some sort of controlling or dominating personality means being a winner, but God considers it the mark of a winner. The reason God considers all of these to be marks of winners is because these are the people who are in the best position to be helped by Him: people who are helpless, who are considered weak, who are poor, who are unsuccessful, are the ones He blesses by providing for them in special ways.

The people we look down on, the people we ignore, the people we consider to be the underdogs, losers, or unsuccessful, are precisely the people Jesus is sending us to be blessings to. After all, we ourselves might be in the position of being helpless and considered unsuccessful, and many of us probably already have been there at some point or other. We have all been underdogs at some point or other. When we think about the times we have been in such positions, what we can keep in mind is we did not get through them by our own effort or hard work – God blessed us by being with us bringing us through them by His own power. Being a Christian does not always mean being successful, but it does mean that when we are struggling, when we are losing in life, God is bringing us through whatever it is we’re going through to victory. We could say that God roots for us when we are underdogs, as much as many people are rooting for the Bengals. But God not only hopes for us to win in those situations, He helps us win. He blesses us by helping us win. The Prophet Jeremiah encourages us, in today’s First Reading, to trust God when the situation is hopeless – He will never let us down. He will never leave us to struggle on our own. He will bring us to victory.

It also means that just as we have been blessed in this way, by God helping us through these times of being unsuccessful and struggling, God wants us to be blessings to all who are struggling – we are the instruments He uses to help others. Even though our instinct is to pull away from people who are struggling or losing, we are instead to be drawn towards them, because Jesus is drawn towards them. We are to identify with those we consider to be losers, because we all have been losers at some time or other. We are to provide for those who are poor with whatever they need financially or materially. We are to provide for those who are hungry by giving them food and access to everything else they need We are to comfort those who mourn by not letting them alone in their sadness, listening to them, and letting them express their sadness. We are to befriend those who have no friends. We are to reach out to those everyone else wants to ignore. We are even to associate with those we would normally not want to associate with. Just as God is there for us, we are to be there for everyone – even those we consider underdogs, and even if it means humbling ourselves and our idea of what success and successful people are. Being a Christian does not always mean being successful, but it does mean being blessed by God and being a blessing to others.

Sometimes following where Jesus leads means going against what everyone else is thinking or doing, and facing ridicule, even persecution for it. Many of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, where being a Christian is either discouraged or even illegal, are discriminated against in education, jobs, housing, or other opportunities. Being a Christian is looked on as being weak, because it is against what the rest of society and the culture assumes to be the mark of a winner or successful. Being a Christian means being a loser, being far from successful. Even here, being a Christian, choosing to follow what God wants, instead of what other people want, may mean being considered a loser and a failure. But being a Christian means for our brothers and sisters who are persecuted, as it does for us, means looking forward to something even greater, to the ultimate victory, which St. Paul talks about in today’s Second Reading: the victory Jesus has won by rising from the dead, everyone who believes in Him being able to live forever in eternal life. Until we reach that day, we will all continue to struggle – we will all be the underdog at some point or other. So until we reach the day of ultimate victory, we are to be there for each other, and for others. Just as many people are being a blessing and rooting for the Bengals today as the underdog team, we are to blessed to help those who are considered underdogs – being blessings to everyone, as we have been blessed. In being so, we follow Jesus, we are like Jesus, and we bring people to Jesus – by blessing others as we have been blessed.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

02/13/2022 Full Worship Service

Weekly Word Podcast - Full Worship Service for February 13, 2022

 

Weekly Word Podcast - Full Worship Service for February 6, 2022

 

Sermon Text for February 6, 2022 - "Fishing With Jesus: The Call to Fish"

 

“Fishing With Jesus: The Call to Fish”

February 6, 2022 

            Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

            Thank God we survived the past couple of days! Even though there’s still snow and ice around, and it’s still going to be cold for most of today, we still made it through the winter storm. Actually, it hasn’t been all bad: I happen to know a number of families were able to go out sledding and have some fun, so winter can be fun. And, now that I’ve been here a few years, I’ve finally learned to appreciate the good parts of winter. However, as we’ve also been reminded over the last couple of days, winter can be dangerous: police departments in most of our state were warning people not to drive anywhere unless absolutely necessary because of the road conditions. The danger in driving in the snow and ice comes in two ways: either sliding off the road, or around the road, or getting stuck in the snow. Either way, winter is a challenge because it can cause you to go off track. Sliding or getting stuck can cause you to get knocked off course, and keep you from going where you need to go. Even having to stay indoors because of the weather can cause you to get knocked off course, and keep you from going where you need to go.

            We could say that the past couple of years have been like living in one long winter storm with freezing weather afterwards. We’ve been knocked off track by the pandemic. We’ve been knocked off course and kept from going where we need to go. It was around this time two years ago that the news of the coronavirus first started to emerge: no one could really say exactly what it was, only that it was dangerous and spreading rapidly. We began to slide all over the road trying to figure out what direction to go with the new threat, which caused us to lose control. After a while, we got stuck. It became like having to stay inside during a winter storm: the situation became so dangerous that we all had to stay home. Because it was dangerous and spreading rapidly, churches began to close. We were even forced to close for a couple of months. Then, as there was more clarity as to what the coronavirus was and how to adapt to it, as businesses and society began to adapt to the pandemic, many churches, like ours, began to try to find ways to open up again and adapt to the new conditions. But in the process, we, and many other churches, began to suffer. Attendance dropped, finances, dropped, activities dropped. Now we’ve become comfortable with how we’ve adapted to the pandemic; in a way, it’s like we’ve been in a vehicle stuck in the snow. But the problem with getting stuck in the snow and trying to move is twofold: one, you either try to move, and end up spinning your wheels, and burning out your engine; two, you either give up entirely and refuse to even try to move. Once you get to either point, you focus on how bad your situation is, and you start to lose hope. You become passive, rather than actively trying to get yourself out, because you have no other ideas. Then, you need someone to come and pull you out. But that involves trusting the person who comes to pull you out, trusting that they will keep you, and your vehicle safe as they do so. Keep that in mind for about a minute or so from now.

All of these have been challenges we’ve had to face the past couple of years. In the process, we’ve become inwardly focused, especially as we’ve become more focused on survival, which has caused us to become more inwardly focused. In the process, we’ve also been afraid of change: the pandemic has caused a lot of fear because it’s disrupted what we were used to before. We’ve been kept from going where we need to go. We’ve gotten off track from what our true mission is.

 

And yet, today we are reminded, Jesus reminds us Himself, about what we are really all about: we have a mission. We are a people, a church, with a purpose, with a mission. Literally, we’re on a mission from God. Our mission is all about Jesus: living for Jesus, telling about Jesus, acting like Jesus. And Jesus is all about people. Jesus is all about looking for people, caring for people, bringing people to Him. And that’s what we’re about as well, that’s also our mission: looking for people, caring for people, bringing people to Jesus. That is our real mission: it’s all about Jesus, and Jesus is all about people. That’s why, in today’s Gospel reading, He says clearly, “From now on you will catch men.” Our primary concern, everything we do, everything we focus on, everything we plan, every goal we work towards, especially from this point on, ought to be about how we believe Jesus is calling us to look for and care for people. Our mission is to be outwardly focused: focused on Jesus, focused on people. For the next few weeks, the theme of our sermon series will be talking more about what this looks like, as we talk about how Jesus calls us to fish for people where we are, right here, right now.

The reality is, people need Jesus. People may say they need all kinds of other things, but ultimately, people need Jesus. Jesus died on the cross and rose again to be able to satisfy the greatest need people have: to have their sins be forgiven, to have their lives be changed, and be given the promise of eternal life after death. However, not only is Jesus is the only way to be guaranteed eternal life, Jesus is the only way to find true satisfaction, the answers to life’s questions, healing, and everything else that is needed. In order to lives to be changed, restored, and healed, people need Jesus.

Like the Prophet Isaiah, whom we hear about in today’s First Reading, we are also asked, in Isaiah 6:8, “Who will go for us?” Today, God is asking us – is asking you personally – the same thing: “Who will go for us?” God wants you to answer. And how is God sending you? Where is He sending you? Right now is actually a good time to ask: is there someone you can think of at this moment, in your neighborhood, in your school, at your workplace, maybe even a friend or family member, who needs to know and experience Jesus in a special way? How can you help them be loved, supported, and encouraged by Jesus? Perhaps this morning, God is speaking to you in a special way, and asking, are you ready to go where I send you? Are you ready for the mission I have for you? And, in response, like Isaiah, we are to say, “Here I am, send me!” Wherever it is you need me to go, I’m ready to go. Whoever it is you’re wanting to send me to, show me who they are, and send me to them. We are to be asking, and especially asking Jesus to show us, what do the people outside of our church, those next door to us, and in our communities, really need? How can we bring Jesus, and who He is, to people outside of our church? Not even thinking first about how can we bring people into church, but how can we bring Jesus outside of our church building out to people? Perhaps this might mean doing things, or going in directions, which we might not have thought of to be able to find people who need Jesus, and who need us. As St. Paul encourages us to think about in today’s Second Reading, we are to communicate Jesus in ways people understand – not simply by telling with words, but showing with meaningful actions.

Notice also, in Luke 5:4, that Jesus encourages the fishermen to go into deeper water to be able to catch the fish. This was actually considered risky, because deeper waters meant greater danger – danger to the boats, danger of falling in and drowning, and danger of not knowing what else might be in the water. The fishermen had probably been stuck in a rut by fishing in familiar waters, by trying to stick with familiar patterns. But these patterns clearly weren’t working: they had gotten stuck. So they needed Jesus to pull them out of that rut. But that is exactly how they are able to catch even more fish: by going into unfamiliar waters. It is even time to go looking for people in places we never would have thought of before: just as Jesus sent the fishermen into other, deeper waters, He sends us into places and situations we never would have thought of, but where we are needed to find and rescue people. The other reason He allows the fishermen to haul in such a massive catch is because He is allowing them to be able to have their families be provided for: their parents and other family members they leave behind to follow Jesus will be able to sell the fish and live comfortably. Jesus cares about people in every possible way, and He always makes sure everyone is provided for in the best way possible. And, what He is ultimately doing is allowing the fishermen He calls to follow Him to be able to do so: to leave everything else behind, their jobs, their families, everything that is familiar to them, and come follow Him. By giving them the massive haul of fish, He is showing that He can be trusted and is dependable: they can trust Him to care for them and their families, so they can depend on Him. This makes them able, and eager, to drop everything and follow Him right at that moment. Are we able to do the same? Are we able to trust Jesus, leave behind what is familiar, and follow where He sends us?

            Today Jesus also encourages us, “Don’t be afraid.” Of course, following Jesus, and following where He’s going to lead us, makes us afraid. We have already been living in fear and anxiety for the past couple of years, as we have had to struggle because of the pandemic – to the point where we’ve gotten used to it, even comfortable with being afraid and anxious, stuck in a rut. But now we can trust Jesus again as we follow Him. He has never once given us any reason not to trust Him. It is time to leave behind what is familiar, what we have become accustomed to, and come follow Jesus. It is time no longer to be sliding all over the road, being afraid because we think we have lost control, and instead let Jesus take control and steer us again. It is time to let Jesus pull us out of the rut we’ve been stuck in for the past couple of years, so we can follow Him. It is time to start moving again, and let Jesus move us again, because we have a mission. It is time to start focusing outward again, focusing on Jesus, and focusing on people. It is time to get back on track, and follow Jesus. It is time to get back to our real mission, and follow Jesus. We can trust Jesus, because just as He caused a massive fishing haul for the disciples to be able to provide for their families to be able to leave their old life behind and follow Him, He is providing us with everything we need to be able to follow Him in the true mission He has for us. In just a few minutes, we will be receiving Communion, which is one of the most important ways Jesus provides for us to be able to follow Him: by feeding us with His true body and blood, with His very power, to motivate us to believe in Him, follow Him, move forward, and look outward. Communion also reminds us that even as Jesus feeds us, our mission is to feed other people. Does this mean that we are perfect, that we are going to do everything exactly right, and we will never struggle again? No. But even though we are not perfect, and we will still continue to struggle, Jesus still calls us, makes us ready, and gives us everything we need to carry out His mission, to go look for people, care for people, and bring people to Him. It is time for us to stand up and reclaim our true purpose. It is time to get back to what we are really all about, what our real mission is: we follow Jesus, and Jesus is all about people.  

            Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.