God has a vision for how life should be. We can see it,.. if our hearts are open,.. in the beauty of creation. We can hear it,.. if our hearts are open,.. in the life of Jesus.
Part of that vision for how life should be is that we humans are given free will. God wants it to be our choice, our open hearts, our love and faith that lead us to live the life that God envisions.
Now the open heart part is what gets in the way sometimes. We have our own agendas and our own ideas-.. we have free will. So is there any hope for us at all, that we will ever get on the right track, or at least close to it? Is it possible that we can live the lives God envisions for all of creation?
Well, I think there’s hope. I find hope in the stories of those who have come before us. Like the one we heard today…
“But, Jesus, we already tried that- we fished all night and hardly got any. In fact, we have been up all night. We’re tired. We need some sleep. But OK Jesus, if you say so…..” Well, two huge boatloads of fish later, the fishermen were convinced. And what comes next? Boats are tied up at the dock,.. nets are put away. Those fishermen, who once caught only fish, choose to answer Jesus’ call. In doing that, they begin the greatest journey of their lives.
This story of hope is for us. It is for us because we are those fishermen. We are the disciples that Jesus is calling today.
This is theological Education Sunday which is how I, as a student at the School for Deacons, come to be preaching today. So the theme of being called, that comes through so beautifully in all of today’s readings, fits perfectly. For some of us, theological education is something we are drawn to pursue. Others of us may be thinking.. well this really doesn’t apply to me. I have no desire to buy a bunch of books and make a habit of driving to Berkeley. But today’s theme of call really does apply to each of us.
Think back to what Dean Brian Baker said in his sermon last Sunday. He said every one of us is a minister. And he did not make that up, by the way,- it is one of the foundations upon which our church rests. In fact, it is found in the prayer book catechism on page 855 under the question Who are the ministers of the church? The answer … Lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons- every one of us. God is calling each and every one of us to live our lives in God’s name. How that looks is as varied and amazingly beautiful as creation itself.
It is a timeless message, the call of God to God’s people. We see it throughout scripture and all through history in the lives of those who have come before us. God has a vision for creation, a vision to be carried out by God’s people.
It is timeless, and yet, it is also particularly important for us right here today. Because our world today is in great need.
Imagine a world in which each of us chooses to live out our special calling from God. Our new Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, speaks often of the vision of how this looks. To describe the vision she uses the Hebrew word Shalom, a word we may think of as meaning peace. And it does mean peace, but in a very large and universal way. It is the peace that comes of the wholeness and wellbeing which God intends for all of creation. It is the peace that comes of the wholeness and wellbeing that Jesus taught, through his words and actions.
In a world that is whole and well,… people have food,.. access to healthcare and medications,.. education, ..freedom from discrimination, ..a healthy environment and a world community that looks together at our future when planning development. It is a world of justice and a world of Shalom.
It sounds good, doesn’t it? And it sounds hard to achieve. In saying that, I hear an echo of the fishermen disciples from today’s Gospel…. “ We already fished all night Jesus, and hardly caught a single one.” But what did Jesus do when they said that? He called them- “Throw the nets in again, don’t give up.” It was, and is, a call to open our hearts, to trust and to step out in faith.
Now, God is famous for calling people to do things just beyond, or even way beyond, that which they feel they are capable.
Just look at Paul, in today’s reading. He describes himself as the least apostle. And in the Old Testament lesson there’s the prophet Isaiah, who in the beginning felt totally unworthy to serve the Lord. … So it was with the fishermen in today’s Gospel and so it is with us, here in the world today. We have doubts. We have agendas. We have issues.
But God is also famous for helping people learn that we should not try to limit God…. We see that in today’s stories too- stories of the most unlikely people and unlikely situations turning out really amazingly well. Through God’s grace we can live the life God has envisioned for all of creation from the very beginning, no matter what we see as obstacles- if we just open our hearts.
You may have heard about the Millennium Development Goals. They are a set of 8 goals developed by the United Nations in the year 2000. The goals are supported by many around the world, including the Episcopal Church. Resolutions of support have been passed both in the national church and locally- in our own diocese. Listen for a moment to what those goals are:
Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty.
Achieve universal primary education.
Promote gender equality and empower women.
Reduce child mortality.
Improve maternal health.
Combat HIV/Aids and other diseases.
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development
In these goals we see that vision again. The vision of Shalom that God has had for all of creation, from the very beginning. It is the vision that Jesus came to show us.
And though they are huge, these goals, they are achievable. There are ways that every person can help achieve them. It could be walking in the Crop Walk to raise money to help stop hunger, supporting Episcopal Relief and Development, inviting our surrounding community to come and watch the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, as our TREE group did, collecting 30,000 pennies, to go to a cause that addresses poverty, as our diocesan youth did, getting educated about what the issues are and spreading the word, or making a commitment to join in prayer with people all over the world, for people all over this world.
There are lots of possibilities when our hearts are open and we do not try to limit God.
And that brings us back, in a round about way, to where we started, with the wary disciples. What would have happened if they had ignored the call that Jesus gave them that morning? The call to try something… even though they had tried it before,… even though they couldn’t really see how it was going to work… What would have happened? … They would have missed the greatest journey of their lives.
Let us pray:
Lord, may our hearts always be open to hear your call. We pray this in the name of Jesus, who came to show us your vision for this world. Amen