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Over Lent we've been talking about water, and how important it is in the Bible, in our faith, and in life in general -- important for drinking, for cleaning, for baptism, for life
itself.

"The Moment For Daring Faith" - Luke 5: 1-11- March 21, 2010 - Cicero United
Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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Over Lent we've been talking about water, and how important it is in the Bible, in our faith, and in life in general -- important for drinking, for cleaning, for baptism, for life
itself. Finally, this week, we get to talk about the most important aspect - the thing water
is most essential for; and that, of course, is fishing. This morning's New Testament
lesson is one of the world's greatest fish stories It is a story that I identify with greatly,
not just because I like to fish, but mainly because any time I catch a fish, it's pretty much
a miracle. And as all of you who study the Bible know, over time you gather particular
verses that apply to your life, and you cherish those verses most of all. This Bible story
has one of those verses for me that just seem to come true again and again. It's verse 5:

Master, (I) have fished all night long but have caught nothing. That's my story, too.

As we know, this scripture is not really a story about fishing. It's a story about life
with Christ, and about the mission of the church in particular. I think it describes
something that we are living through right now, and it contains a great challenge for us,
just as it did for those fishermen in Jesus' day. It's a challenge of faith, and it sounds
something like this: Will we as followers of Christ have faith to launch out into deeper
water? But more than that, this is a story of unbelievably good news. It's a story that
makes the audacious claim that if we are ready to launch out in faith, God is ready to fill
our nets. There are some powerful moments in this story where that happens. I want to
lift up at least three such moments.

Moment Number One is described in the first verse of the chapter: "Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, (which we more commonly know as the Sea of Galilee) ... the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God ... " Right here, at this first moment, we of the church might feel a little lost. Because the truth is, as a whole, the church in America is not experiencing much of the crowds pressing in to hear the word of God. Quite the opposite, we are told, the crowds are pressing out. Church attendance has dropped significantly over the last few decades. Atheism and agnosticism are on the rise. Society is becoming more and more secular, and faith is taking a back seat to sports and leisure and the pursuit of the Almighty Buck (and I don't mean the one with antlers, but that might apply as well.) People no longer desire faith, we're told.

I don't believe it. I believe the desire in people for an authentic spiritual word is just as strong as ever. What we've done is to mistake what people don't want for a lack of
desire for God. Here's some of what people don't want: they don't want to go
someplace where they will be judged before they'll be loved; they don't want to go
someplace where people are enacting rituals that no one can explain; they don't want to
go someplace that follows a legalistic interpretation of scriptures; they don't want to go
someplace that doesn't connect to their lives, or speak their language, or play their music;
they don't want to go someplace where they are preached at with deep theological
thoughts, instead of engaged with a message that touches what they're living through.

All of those things that people don't want make us think that they don't want the word of God anymore. Don't believe it. People are spiritually hungry. And just like 2000
years ago, when Jesus speaks the pure, wonderful message of God's love, the crowds
press in. When we in the church manage to get some of our human obstacles out of the
way, and Jesus can be heard, powerful things happen in peoples' lives.

That brings us to a second critical Moment in this scripture, Luke 5: 2-3: "(Jesus) saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were
washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked
him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from
the boat." Here's what I think that might be saying: the main task of the followers of
Christ, or the Church, if you will, is to provide Jesus with a place to teach. The crowd is
hungry and pressing in; Jesus has the hope that they need. But he has no boat. He has no
place to sit and address the crowd, unless he can turn to someone here and say, "1 need
you to give me the place and the time and the opportunity to teach - the word of hope and
peace and God's love to people who desperately need to hear it."

That is how I conceive the purpose of this building. Why do we need this property? This facility? I bet many a Trustee has asked that very question over the years. This is the boat we provide so Jesus can bring the word of God to the crowd. When someone drives up Route 81 and sees the steeple of this church, they can say, "Oh ... Jesus teaches there." When Jack or I lift up your offering in our worship services, it's a way of saying, "Here's the boat, Lord. Let your word be heard." And, to be more timely for our church, when we purchase the Conference facility it's a way of saying, "Here's the boat, Lord. Teach your children. Reach your youth. Inspire your musicians."

That's one material way of seeing the boat. But I think the boat is also the
opportunities in our relationships that we provide for Jesus to speak. One woman said
this to me once, when she was explaining why she spent so much time out in the
neighborhood connecting with the young people. "I just keep building the bridge to each
young person. And 1 believe that sooner or later, at just the right time, Jesus walks over
that bridge." And that is our job, I think. To keep giving Jesus the boat to teach from-
the bridge to cross over into another person's soul.

But then there's a third Moment - and here's where it really starts to get fun. It's
Luke 5, verse 4: "When (Jesus) had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Put out into the
deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Now, Luke doesn't tell us exactly what
Simon was thinking at that point, but I've got it on good authority that Simon was
thinking, "No! It's one thing to borrow my boat, but now you're going to tell me, a
professional fisherman, where the fish are. They're not there. I've just cleaned my nets.
I'm done for the day. No way." The words Luke recorded were the more polite version
of that: "Simon answered, 'Master, we have worked all night and have caught nothing.'"

And then there is a period at the end of that sentence; and every once in a while in the
Bible there is a punctuation mark that carries a whole life on its back. That little space
between, "Master, we have worked all night and have caught nothing," and the very next words: "Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets," was the turning point in Simon's life.
That little period was the difference between doubt and faith. It was the difference
between being careful and reasonable, and taking the leap of faith. It was the difference
between spending your life just getting by, throwing your nets out again and again and
again, and doing something extraordinary that could change the world. That brief
moment was Simon's moment for daring faith. If he missed it, with Jesus standing right
there in front of him, it might be a long time before it came back.

I think faith is a daily walk that we reinforce by disciplines - prayer, Bible reading, worship, and so on, that we repeat over and over again. But I also think that there are some turning points - just a few of them in our lives - where Jesus says, "Go out into the deeper water. Take a bigger step of faith." Maybe it's a career moment; maybe it's a family moment; maybe it's a church moment; maybe it's a 'Speak up for God' moment.
Whatever it looks like, it's a turning point. It's the type of thing White House Chief of
Staff Raul Emanuel referred to when he said, "Don't let a good crisis go to waste." How
you respond at that moment is going to shape your life from now on.

And the first reaction to the outrageous request - 'take the boat out deeper' - is to
reason, or even argue, with it. We've been fishing all night. I don't know if I can handle
that job. I don't know if I can make that move. If I choose this, I won't be able to do
that. I'm too old to do that now; or, I'm too young, or too timid, or too busy, or
whatever. There's always a good reason to say No to the daring moment of faith.

But we're here today because people said Yes - people like Abraham and Moses and
David, and Mary and Simon Peter and Paul and Martin Luther and John Wesley and
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the first Methodists here in Cicero and the people who first
envisioned this great sanctuary. Every one of them, and millions of others, said Yes
when God presented them with a daring moment of faith that could change their destinies
and make them part of something far greater than they had ever dared dream before.

It's important to note Simon's words: "Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

The whole thing turns on who that 'you' is. Can you imagine if Simon's brother Andrew
had said, 'Let's throw the nets in again.' I can picture Simon saying, with great sibling
affection, "Go jump in the lake." And that would have probably been his response to
most anybody. But now, it is Jesus. Now it is the One who has touched his heart with a
new hope, a new dream - if You say so, my Lord and my God, I will let down the nets.

I said that this is where it starts to get fun - and that's true; that doesn't mean that it
starts to get easy. Because when you step forward in faith, you find grace wanting to
overflow, and it gets messy. The next thing you know, the nets are so full they're starting
to break, and the boats are about to sink with all the blessing. And you have to do some
things to catch up with God. Whoa! This new job is great, but I better learn this new
skill fast! Or, Wow, this new relationship is a blessing, but I better re-arrange my
schedule to give it time. Or, Whew, this growing church is wonderful, but we better buy/
find some more space. God's grace, when we jump on its wave and ride with it, is more
abundant and beautiful than we can ever imagine. But it's also overwhelming. We know that in this church. We prayed for God's word to be powerful in this place - for God's Spirit to move - and the next thing we knew the nets were full, and the boat wasn't big
enough. And we've been trying to catch up with God's dream for this church ever since.

So it's so important that we follow Simon's reactions a few Moments further.

Because here he is, eyes a-poppin' as he looks at this amazing, unexplainable take of fish
- and the first thing he does is fall on his knees. That's a pretty good place to fall at a
moment like that. "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" I can't deal with all
this; it's way over my head. It terrifies me. That's when Jesus steps forward and says,
"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." And then the conclusion of
this powerful story of faith and trust is this: "When they had brought their boats to shore,
they left everything and followed him."

It's 2010, and people are still spiritually hungry. And Jesus has the words of life - but he needs us to give him places to teach and to touch lives and to heal. He also needs
something more. He needs us to go out to deeper waters, and, in daring moments of
faith, to let down our nets. When we do, hang on! Because grace will overflow, and
we'll scramble to keep up with God's great dream. But if we begin on our knees, and
listen for the one who would take away our fear and uncertainty, great things will happen,
and we will have only one choice really - to follow him wherever he leads.

That's my prayer for this church. And it's my prayer for every one of us, when we
come to those turning points - and many of you are there right now. Don't let a good
crisis go to waste. Make this a daring moment of faith. Spend good time on your knees.
And trust the one who would take away every fear you're feeling right now, and multiply
grace beyond your dreams. It may be hard to see from where you are at the moment. But
millions of people can look back and realize - oh yeah. That moment when I felt so lost
and unsure of how I was going to get by - God was doing something amazing there. In
the end, there are no better words to say than those that have echoed down to us through
the centuries: "If You say so (my Lord and my God), then I will let down the nets.'

Fishing, anyone?