Epiphany 3A, January 26, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Merciful and generous God, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Today is the day that we hold our Annual Meeting at Emmanuel and celebrate 154 years in the City of Boston of subverting the dominant paradigm. Our subversive work has undoubtedly ebbed and flowed through the years, but as far as I can tell, it’s in the DNA of this place. (So we’re looking forward to more!) Our archives are replete with predictions that we would never survive (and we still might not), but look how far we’ve come! I will confess to you, that as your Rector, anticipating our Annual Meeting, I am especially drawn to Paul’s plea to the church in Corinth that the people all be in agreement and that there be no divisions or quarrelling among them – that they all be of the same mind and purpose. That sounds so appealing to me, but I’m sure Paul never got his wish, and I’m not even sure that lack of division or dissent is healthy. So please know that when we say that all are welcome, we include those with dissenting voices. I don’t like dissent or quarrelling, but I do like a healthy community, and I know that dissent is a necessary ingredient.

Our lesson from Isaiah this morning sounds like it is t’ing up the Gospel lesson. It sounds like Isaiah was anticipating Jesus. But Isaiah wasn’t anticipating Jesus any more than Isaiah was anticipating what George Frederic Handel might do with his beautiful poetry. Actually, it is exactly the other way around. Matthew was living and growing in the stories of Jesus, at least two generations after Jesus’ death. Matthew was retelling those stories toward the end of the first century of the common era and thinking, “these stories sound so much like the stories that Isaiah told eight hundred years ago!” Isaiah was most likely writing about Gideon, who, when the angel of the Lord visited him to say that “The Lord is with you,” replied, “but sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this [calamity] happened to us?” Then the Lord turned to Gideon and said, “Go in the might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” And Gideon replied, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you….”1 And so the story goes in the Book of Judges, that Gideon freed his people from the oppressive rule of the Midianites. For Matthew, Jesus had freed his people from the oppressive rule of the Romans. Of course the Romans were still in authority, but Jesus’ followers had been liberated from the fear of death. Once (or whenever) you stop fearing death, you can start living and loving so much more fully.

Our Gospel lesson for this third Sunday in Epiphany is the passage from Matthew’s Gospel about Jesus rounding up some fishermen and persuading them to follow him with the promise that he would make them fish for people! I used to think that if that sounded good to them, they must not have had a very successful fishing business. If they were ready to drop everything, maybe they didn’t have much to lose. Now I think, there was something so compelling about Jesus and his teaching, healing and feeding ministry that they just had to go. George Herbert certainly thought that was it. And thank you, Jim Primosch, for your beautiful setting of his text. Who wouldn’t want to answer that call?

The idea that they left immediately often stirs up anxious conversation. It might help to know that the word can refer to a very short amount of time – as in “instantly,” or “right away.” Or it can mean, “the very next event which is relevant to the total context.”2 It might be like looking back on a sequence of events and saying, “the next thing you know, they put down their fishing nets and left their boats and started traveling with Jesus.” It might have been a matter of minutes or a matter of days or months. Jesus and those first followers might have been total strangers to each other and they might have known each other for a while – we don’t know. What they heard was evidently some kind of wake up call.

It reminds me of an old friend of mine, David, who made a living making picture frames for museums. He had an avocation as a musician – he came from a musical family. His family owned a guitar store and he helped in the family business when he wasn’t making frames or playing music. One Friday night he was at a big name rock concert. He knew the sound technician, so he was hanging around the sound board. His friend said, “too bad you can’t drop everything and come on the road with us because the guitar tech just quit. Dave went home, packed a bag, came back, and got on the tour bus. The following Monday, from about 2000 miles away, he called his boss at the frame shop and said, “Remember last Friday? That was my last day.” His parents who had been left behind at the music store were thrilled for him.

The part that gets less talking time in the Bible study circles I travel in is that part about fishing for people. It’s a part of the Christian job description. I know that saying that will make some of you think, “oh, well I’m not really a Christian, I just come here for (well, you can fill in the blank).” Believe me, I’m glad you’re here regardless of who or what you’re fishing for! I have a strong sense that Jesus is fishing for you.
Here’s the thing about fishing. How many people in this congregation have ever enjoyed fishing? How many know someone who enjoys fishing? When you go fishing, do you go to the water’s edge, find a tree or a post and put a welcome sign up? You know, a sign that says, “Welcome all fish!” “All fish are truly welcome here!” No? I bet you use bait. How many of you use bait? And do you get a bucket full of bait and throw the bait out in the water? No? Why not? I’m sure the fish would love it.

I think sometimes churches fish for people that way. We say that we want to grow – we want more people to join us. So we put up signs – posters – flags even, and we run ads if we really have our act together and we have money to spend. We say things like “all are welcome” and “Emmanuel Church welcomes you!” “Welcome wherever you are on your spiritual journey!” Parishes that have nice clergy and compelling programs spread a lot of good bait all around. Every week, a few new fish swim through our doors. If they’re lucky and we’re lucky, they swim through our doors with enough time to hear a cantata – and they get hooked! Or they swim through our doors and like something else that they see or hear or feel. But you know, most years, just enough swim through the doors and stay around to make up for the ones who swim away.

What would it look like around here if we all were fishing for people by doing more than putting welcoming signs up and throwing buckets of bait into the water? What if we increased our evangelizing? You know, talking with people. (Another word for evangelizing is networking!) I know – it’s uncomfortable to think about. It seems so un-Episcopalian. And besides, why do we really need to grow? Aren’t things nice the way they are? Yes! (I mean, if people don’t leave.) But, the thing is, people do leave. They tire or retire, sometimes they die, some move away. You know the saying, if you’re not growing, you’re shrinking. But there’s another reason to grow. It’s a Gospel reason.

The reason to grow is that we have something here that people need. We are, for the most part, a community where the beauty of holiness shines very brightly in the darkness. We are living examples of the liberating messages and practices of equality, of caring for those who are suffering, an example of a more just society under God’s rule of love rather than the rule of imperial might. We are a living example of what the whole Bible teaches – that peace of God comes through justice and mercy and kindness rather than through economic or political or military power.

We are a living example of generosity and compassion. Sure, we miss the mark now and then (and so did Jesus’ earliest followers) but we are right on target a lot of the time. We are brave and we are loving. And there are a LOT of people who are hungry and thirsty for community that is generous and compassionate, brave and loving. There are a LOT of people who don’t have a community like this in their lives, and would benefit from experiencing the beauty of this kind of holiness.

There are a LOT of people who need to experience what St. Paul described in his letter to the Romans when he wrote: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [in other words, Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not the worst sins listed in Scripture]…For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

People need to experience that. And we have it in this community. And what does it take for someone to become a part of this community? All it takes is showing up. What do you or anyone else have to do to be a part of Emmanuel? Hopefully, you’ve heard enough preaching from me to know that it’s not believing that’s required. Or maybe you saw it on the sign out front. It’s beloving. When you belove at Emmanuel, you belong. As I love to say, it’s not about believing; it’s about beloving and belonging. This is news that people out there need. They’re hungry and thirsty for it. And it’s not okay for you to just keep it for yourselves. You don’t need to be shy about telling people where you experience belonging and beloving. What does it take to feel even better about belonging or beloving? It takes giving – giving until you reach a level that feels good to you.

I want to challenge Emmanuel to grow. That’s right. Grow. It’s about growing relationships. I challenge you to get out there and start telling people – people you know and people you don’t know yet – about this amazing community in the Back Bay. And if you’re already doing this, then I challenge you to step it up. Tell more people – tell them again and again. Risk being annoying (stop if someone asks you to stop). Answer the call. Make the call. Invite them to follow you to experience what amazing things happen out there when you practice beloving and belonging in here.