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I had an interesting conversation on Thursday with one of the owners of Java G’s. It’s kind of funny. I write most of my sermons sitting at a little table over there and Jim will often come over and we’ll have some great conversations about all kinds of stuff. But whenever he sees that I’m struggling with an idea or a sermon concept, he’ll sit down and give me some of his thoughts. I say its funny because Jim doesn’t go to church. Hasn’t been to church in who knows how many years. He was born and raised in an Italian Catholic family, but somewhere along the way, he became disillusioned with the church hasn’t been for a long time. Well anyway, on Thursday, I sat down to work through the scripture passages for the day, and looking especially at the gospel from John 21 and 1 Peter 3. Peter really talks about human community, living in harmony with each other, loving and respecting one another, and John tells the story of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples – a breakfast on the beach. So Jim could tell I was struggling with what to put together and he sat down to give me some inspiration. I explained to him my thoughts and then he said one thing, “Hardships.” I was like, “What does that have to do with living in community or holy meals?” He went on to say that as a coffee shop and restaurant owner, he sees the struggles of people everyday. Java G’s food isn’t super expensive, but its not cheap either and he sees how people will come in and not be able to order everything they’d like. He sees how people come in and will sit across from each other and be obviously not getting along. In upper middle class St. Charles, people, he says, are struggling to make it. It made me think of rising food and gas prices. Yeah, folks here are struggling, and we’re not alone. There have been lots of protests in Haiti recently because of the high cost of food. People there are literally starving because they can’t afford the rising costs of rice and beans on their meager income of less than $2 a day. Like Jim, being at Java G’s almost everyday myself, I see the struggles too. Talking with many of you, I hear it. Being human, I often feel it. Struggles. Hardships. There are a lot of people in our community who are struggling to make it, and while I think Jim’s point was that they are struggling financially, I think people are also struggling socially, emotionally, and spiritually. And I think all of things are all kind of tied up together. Even though we live in a pretty good place geographically, life is still tough and I know many of us are struggling where we are in all these areas of our life. Hardships are indeed a reality, so maybe Jim is onto something. In our gospel story today, I see some other folks experiencing hardships. The disciples are struggling mightily with their day jobs – fishing. They are out there on a boat fishing all night long and they just can’t seem to catch anything. Part of me wants to ask them, “Why are you still fishing?!?” Peter, you’ve just seen Jesus rise from the dead! Have you learned nothing? Why are you still fishing? Well, the reality is is that they aren’t fishing…they’re just drifting aimlessly with their nets hanging in the water and they’re having a hard time, struggling. A solitary boat just drifting aimlessly amidst a quiet sea. Any of you ever feel like that? I know that there are times in my life where I feel like I’m just drifting aimlessly, where I feel like I can’t do much right, where I’m not exactly sure what to do next. And then, as is often the case, something miraculous happens – Jesus shows up and all of the sudden things change. “Friends, haven’t you caught any fish?” “No.” He says, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” And when they did this, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number fish. When the disciples are experiencing difficulties, hardships, struggles – it is at that time that Jesus shows up. And then I just love Peter’s reaction. They recognize that its Jesus who has helped them and then Peter jumps overboard and starts swimming towards Jesus. Good ol’ Peter – holding nothing back. I think back to when I was kid – about 4 or 5 – and my mom would take us shopping. I was old enough to not be in the stroller or cart and so I’d just kind of be following along, wandering around. And, one time, before I knew it, I had just kind of wandered off and couldn’t find my mom anymore. As a small child, the panic doesn’t take long to sink in, and I don’t think I started crying immediately, but I remember it didn’t take long. I started running around calling out for my mom, tears rolling down my face. And after what felt like an eternity, but was in reality maybe 30 seconds, I saw my mom a couple of aisles over. And I ran to her with everything I had and grabbed hold of her leg. I was Peter jumping off the boat to swim to Jesus. Salvation at last! And for the rest of that shopping trip at least, I clung to her hand. When we get lost in our lives – socially, emotionally, spiritually, even financially – it may take us a little longer than 30 seconds to start panicking, but there are times in all of our lives where we suddenly discover that we have wandered away or found ourselves in a scary situation and we have no idea how we got there. Sometimes its not our fault and we had nothing to do with where we ended up. Sometimes it is our fault. Nevertheless, what we learn from the Bible is that when whenever we are struggling, Jesus gives us a marvelous gift – Christian community. In that store that day, my Christian community was simply my mom, but in reality, Christian community can take any number of shapes and forms – and all of it is a gift from God. In that gospel story – Christian community was found in the boat, helping each other drag in the nets full of fish. It was found around a campfire eating breakfast on the beach. In his memoir, Peter spends a lot of chapter 3 talking about the importance of Christian community – found in marriage between a wife and a husband, but more than that when he writes, “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, love as brothers and sisters, be compassionate and humble.” In our world today, Christian community is found here in worship, it is found in choir practice, in youth group, in Christian sports teams, as we gather with other churches, as you meet with other Christians out in the community, and especially as you sit down with your family for a meal together. One of the most powerful ways to experience the gift of Christian community is by being in a small group. Here at Hope we have our Christcare Small groups and part of the reason they work so well is because they encourage people to grow up in their faith together, sharing their hurts and struggles and being a much needed support whenever you find yourself drifting aimlessly. Just as a side note, if you have a great idea for a small group or would like to be in a small group or perhaps even facilitate a small group, we are currently taking applications for our next round of Christcare leaders and we’ll be starting our training in mid-May. And while I realize that not everyone has the time to join or lead a small group, there are all kinds of others ways to experience the gift of Christian community that Jesus gives us and calls us to. What is the most important thing to God? Relationships. As my friend Jim said, there are a lot of struggles and hardships out there right now, and one of the greatest gifts that God has ever given us to endure these hardships is the gift of relationships – the gift of each other. And in a brilliant move by Jesus, he centered our Christian community around a meal. Last week, we talked about how Peter says that our purpose in life is to grow up in our salvation, that we have already been saved and rescued by Jesus, but that our job is to learn how to live in that salvation that we have received. Well, the last time I checked, living things don’t grow up without some kind of food or nutrition. The sustenance that God gives us is found in Holy Communion. It is around the Lords Table where we are nourished with grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. It is here where we gather with our Christian brothers and sisters. It is here where we get to check-in with Jesus and he gives us the faith and the encouragement to keep living life and doing good deeds. It is at Holy Communion where Jesus comes to each one of us and says, “I am still with you, every step of the way.” This mealtime with Jesus is precious time. And as we take communion in a few minutes, take a look around at all the people who have gathered together to share this meal with you and with Jesus. These are the folks who can and will help you endure the hardships and struggles of your life. These other people are gifts from God to you. And you are a gift of God to them. Amen. LIFT 1. What are some special meals around your home & why are they important? 2. What is mealtime around your home like? 3. How has the Christian community been important to you in your life? Challenge: Share a sitdown meal with your family this week. Enjoy this time as a gift from God and you enjoy each other’s presence.
TAKE COMMUNION BY LITTLE CUPS AT EACH TABLE – ALL TOGETHER. because it is around the table of the Lord where we experience the physical food but also the spiritual feeding of God’s people. One of the things that has surprised me each of the times that I’ve been Haiti is that the children there are all just a little bit smaller than American children of the same age. And its because most of them aren’t receiving the same nutrition that our kids get and so their growth is stunted. In order to properly grow up physically healthy, you need good nutrition. The same is true socially, emotionally, and spiritually. And the food that Jesus gives us is Holy Communion – the body and blood of Jesus. This is the food that nourishes us, strengthens us, forgives us, and feeds us. On the Sea of Galilee after their little fishing trip, Jesus gathers them to a sitdown meal, and while it may not have been exactly what we consider Communion, Jesus was present, they shared bread, and they grew up a little more in their salvation. One of the central tenets of the earliest church was that they gathered around a meal. One of the most important parts of our worship is gathering around Holy Communion. And it is so powerful, not because we get the nutrition of a bite of bread and sip of wine, but because we are gathered together in community. As we lament the breakdown of our society, of the hardships that people face, one of the root causes is that there is a breakdown of mealtime. Families too busy to share a sitdown meal together as you wolf down MickeyD’s on the way to soccer practice. There are too many good TV shows on to miss one so you can sit down together. It takes too much time and energy to cook, sit down together, and then do the dishes and its just a lot easier to head out or catch something on the fly. Think about it…what would life be like without gathering around special meals. Thanksgiving would not be Thanksgiving without the turkey. If we’re struggling financially however, he doesn’t give a check in the mail like our government is trying to do with our tax rebates. If we’re struggling emotionally, he doesn’t necessarily give us a great psychologist or counselor or the latest anti-depressant. If we’re struggling spiritually, Jesus doesn’t give us the latest new agey Ekhart Tolle book to read. When we are struggling in our lives, Jesus gives us the gift of a meal. A simple meal of bread and wine. Well, how can that help? I know that when I’m struggling and panicking in life, the last thing that I’m going to be praying for is some bread and wine…well, maybe I would pray for the wine. J No, when life gets really tough, Jesus calls us to the simple meal of Holy Communion because it is so much more than just a simple meal. One of the things I always talk about in my First Communion Class is special meals. One of the longest night of my life happened during my freshmen year of college. My fraternity had been doing homecoming with one the other sororities on campus at Mizzou. It just so happens that my Lutheran fraternity was paired up with the Jewish sorority on campus – so, while it was a little weird at first, what we Lutheran boys soon discovered was that there are some pretty good looking young Jewish ladies at Mizzou. And so after Homecoming was over, I decided to ask one of the prettiest ones out on a date, and just so you know this was long before I even me Lynde. So this girl’s name was Amy and I didn’t think the fact that she was Jewish was any big deal. And obviously she didn’t have any problems dating this Christian guy either. So we decided that we’d do the typical date thing and have dinner together. Dinner dates are usually pretty good because you can kind of plan about how long they will last and there’s just something special about sharing a meal with someone you kind of like. So we chose this nice intimate little restaurant, and despite the fact they were clearly short-staffed we thought we’d try it. Well, we soon discovered that we had absolutely nothing in common and even less to talk about. and we had a pretty good Homecoming with them – working on the skit and parade float and blood drive and all the other crazy things that go on at Mizzou for Homecoming. Anyway, I took a particular liking to one young lady named Amy – now this was long before I even met Lynde. So Amy and I were in the skit together, and did lots of pomping together. If you don’t know what pomping is, just ask anyone who was in a fraternity or sorority and they’ll be glad to tell you. Anyways, we always had lots to talk about when we were working on Homecoming because there were always lots of little projects to work on together. So as soon as Homecoming was over with, I decided to ask Amy out on a date since we both finally had some free time. So we decided to go to a nice dinner and then afterwards, her sorority was doing a hayride with the Jewish fraternity on campus, so we decided that we were going to go to that as well. I was really excited about this date because it was one of my first real dates in college and this girl was absolutely beautiful. So I picked her up and we went out to a restaurant and then we soon discovered that outside the context of Homecoming, we had absolutely nothing in common and even less to talk about. Now, I’m a fairly social guy and can make conversation with a lot of different kinds of people, but sitting at that restaurant, I could not think of one thing to talk about….and she obviously couldn’t either. I was pretty much into sports and God and, since she was a girl she didn’t care about sports and with her being Jewish, I wasn’t sure how to handle to the whole God thing. It was absolutely painful, and to make matters worse, the food service took forever!
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