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Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766

Sunday, April 25, 2004
Sermon: Peter and The Beloved John
Scripture: John 21: 1-19
Reverend Larry Gerber
It was a swan dive, straight into the sea.

Swan dive is perhaps not the best description. "Duck dive" is closer to the truth, since the divers were rubber duckies. Twenty large containers of rubber duckies and other bath toys were riding a cargo ship from China to Seattle. When a violent storm struck the ship back in 1992, these 20 containers of toys were tossed into the ocean.

Feared to be lost were almost 29,000 rubber duckies, frogs, beavers and turtles.

But don't cry for these bathtub voyagers. They survived and embarked on an epic journey across three oceans and half the globe. So tough are these toys that they have stayed afloat for more than a decade, enduring the assault of wind and wave, and probably spending several winters frozen in an arctic ice floe.

Through it all, they have endured, although constant exposure to the elements has caused their bright yellow skin to become bleached, white as a bone.

Their 12-year odyssey has finally brought them to the East Coast, causing beachcombers to be on the lookout for squeaky-toys on the shoreline. Anyone who finds one of the refugees in North America earns a $100 savings bond from the toy company that originally ordered the playthings from a Chinese factory.

Last July, a faded plastic beaver was discovered after it washed up on an Alaskan island. But oceanographers who study the movement of flotsam and ice from the Pacific to the Atlantic are confident that the duckies have left that region and are now cruising down the East Coast, with a breakaway flotilla headed for Great Britain.

All of which reminds us for some reason of the apostle Peter, a man who — given what we know about his temperament — would not take kindly to being compared to a yellow rubber duck.

But hey. When his own skin was on the line, he did lie about whether he was a friend of Jesus, and he did so not once, not twice, but three times.

Here we are: days, maybe weeks later, we're at the Sea of Tiberias. Simon Peter and his fishing buddies are out on the lake trying to put their lives back together after witnessing the simultaneously awful and awesome events of Holy Week. They fish all night and catch nothing, an experience that leaves them feeling tired, funky and frustrated.
Then a stranger appears on the beach at dawn — that time of morning when shapes cannot take on color or features for lack of light. He calls out that they should "Cast the net to the right side of the boat" (John 21:6). As if that will make any difference.

But no one has any better ideas and as the sun rises, time for fishing will be over anyway. So they cast the net to the right, and the rest, as they say, is history. The net is so full of fish that they can't haul it in. The apostle John now shouts that the stranger is the Lord. Simon does a double take, and he, too, sees that it is Jesus.

His first instinct is to jump overboard then and there, but he has both the rare presence of mind to realize that he has been working through the night clad only in his boxer shorts, and a sense of modesty to care about it, and so he grabs an "outer garment" and lashes it about his waist and then does a duck dive into the sea and swims to shore — leaving John and the others to get the fish in the boat and the boat to shore.

Within minutes, all of the disciples are on the shore with Jesus, and he directs them to give him some of the fish they had just caught. Peter leaps back in the boat and grabs the net of fish and hauls it to shore himself. A hundred and fifty-three fish in that net.

Meanwhile, a charcoal fire is lit, and the smoke is wafting through the cool morning air, and the fish — which to this day is known as St. Peter's Fish, not much more than an oversized croppie or bluegill — is frying over the fire. Together they eat the fish and the bread.
Several years ago now, Jane and I had the opportunity to stand on that very shore in the early morning. We sensed the spirit of this story. We could feel the presence of the Christ that day. We say small fishing boats in the distance. We felt the water lapping at our feet on the shore, and we could imagine a charcoal fire burning. Yes, the presence of the Lord was felt that day, as Jane read this very scripture, on the very same shoreline. Later that day, we also had the opportunity to eat some St. Peter's Fish.

When the disciples finish eating, Jesus turns and says to Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" Peter says to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." And Jesus says to him, "Feed my lambs."

Without missing a beat, Jesus asks again if Peter loves him, and after Peter says that he does love him, Jesus says, "Tend my sheep."

Then again, as though the question had not been asked, Jesus inquires about Peter's love. Peter is hurt by this persistent questioning, and he blurts out, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

Jesus commands him, once again, "Feed my sheep" (vv. 15-17).

Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. What is Jesus driving home in this dialogue with Simon Peter? On one level, he is giving Peter the opportunity to cancel out the three cowardly denials he made during Holy Week. Although Peter had insisted three times that he was not a disciple of Jesus, now he affirms three times that he loves his Lord. Three denials, three affirmations. The slate is now wiped clean, and you could say that as a disciple, this duck has turned from cowardly yellow, to loyal true-blue, not bleached white.

But there is something more significant going on here, and it has to do with the work of tending Christ's sheep. Jesus is laying out a sort of job description for disciple wannabes, people who will be involved in the day-to-day work of caring for the people of God.

It's not quite enough to merely perform a duck-dive into the waters of discipleship after having a mystical experience or a spiritual high at summer camp, Promise Keepers, General Synod, Emmaus Walk, or even a sunrise service on Easter Sunday.

If you love Jesus, you've got to get dressed, wade ashore, roll up your sleeves, and dig into the work of discipleship if you want to tend and feed the flock of God.

Unfortunately, there are too many of us who are floating aimlessly on the sea of life like those 29,000 Chinese rubber bath toys now drifting through the Bering Strait and bobbing past Iceland and aimlessly making their way down the East Coast of the United States.

They move only in the direction that the current takes them — like too many Christians today move only as the cultural winds and current dictate. Paul touches on this theme when he says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

The will of God, Jesus says, is that Peter and those who would love Jesus like Peter said he did, must feed the lambs, tend the sheep and feed the sheep. The repetition Jesus invokes here is reminiscent of the old business aphorism about location, location, location.

What does a disciple do? Feed, tend, feed.

Feed, tend, feed. That's our mission statement. Feed, tend, feed the flock of God.

Can we take a look at everything we're doing in our churches and say that they fall within this ministry rubric that Jesus lays out on the shores of the Sea of Galilee?

Howard Snyder, a professor of mission history and theology at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, warns us that Christian community is not mere cordiality, courtesy or sociability. It's not a least-common-denominator fellowship along the lines of a neighborhood potluck.

Instead, true Christian community makes demands on its members, and expects a high level of commitment. Regular worship attendance is essential, as is hard-edged discussion of theology and Scripture. Churches should not pander to the feel-good demands of low-commitment members, writes Snyder in Christianity Today (October 2003). That's a fatal mistake.

It's much better to have high expectations, and to maintain a discipleship direction. Churches that find a way to do this are faster-growing, longer-lasting and more vital than congregations with a relaxed view of community life.

Feeding Christ's sheep also means looking outward, beyond the walls of our own Christian community. Feeding the vulnerable lambs that Jesus has entrusted to our care means putting time, energy and money into the concerns of the community around us. Whether the issues are family disintegration, illiteracy, alcoholism, domestic violence or gang activity, it is important for us to be an outward-looking congregation that engages the world with a servant mentality.

This may mean actually going against the current! It may result in some unpleasantness and misunderstanding from the world around us. Just as Jesus warned Peter that someone would "fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go" (v. 18), we may find ourselves facing some stomach-churning situations as we fulfill; our mission: feed, tend, feed.

We'll also find that, in an unexpected way, this outward focus has an internal advantage: It results in a more vital congregation. Jesus wasn't kidding when he said that those who lose their lives for his sake will actually save their lives, as they discover the new life that comes through service and sacrifice (Mark 8:35). A concern for the community not only benefits society, but makes the church itself more appealing. People are attracted to congregations that put faith into action and set out to make a difference in the world, feeding and nurturing all of God's children.

Where are we, as Sun Lakes United Methodist Church, today on our Christian journey? Floating like duckies wherever the current takes us, or steering ourselves in the direction of discipleship?

Perhaps it's time roll up our sleeves, hit the beach and feed some sheep.

Your Church Council has appointed a special task force team, called The Strategic Planning Committee, to do a study on the ministry of this church. Who are we, what is our mission (see back of bulletin), what is our vision to reach this mission, and what is our responsibility as God's disciples in witnessing to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth?

We need to ponder our course. Are like the rubber duckies that were inadvertantly tossed in the sea, and at the mercy of the wind and the waves, or are we deliberatley casting our nets at the demand of Jesus, and responding to the call to feed God's lambs and sheep of His pasture.
We worship the King, we have a love that will not let us go, and we love to tell the story. All if this considered, are we living witness of his story? Do we share the love that will not let us go? Are we set as a seal, as the choir voiced this morning?
What does it mean to be a witness for Christ? Are we a witness? Am I? Are you?

Let us pray.................

Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766