Note of Thanks From Pastor David

Before we begin our worship service, I wanted to express my deepest thanks to a multitude of folks. First and foremost, thanks and all praise to Jesus for always being faithful. It is easy to lose sight of the wondrous works gone has done, continues to do, and will complete in the future. Might we dwell on the splendor and majesty of his enduring righteousness!

 

 

I want to specifically thank all of our staff members. Sharon Lounsberry, our Office Manager and Financial Administrator, has done a phenomenal job navigating PPP loans, payroll, communicating to all of our vendors, attending webinars, and keeping our elders informed of our financial standing. This is such a small list of what she has done during the pandemic. I am so grateful for her.

 

 

 

 

Debbie Barber, our Director of Children and Family Ministry, has been creating Sunday morning worship services that are age appropriate and engaging. There have been zoom meetings where our children can see some of their Sunday school teachers and one another. Materials are often mailed to students mid week. I am again and again blown away at the adaptability our staff have risen to. Thank you Debbie for loving our kiddos!

 

 

 

Jared Del Dosso, our Director of Youth Ministry, and Danny Chulack, our Discipleship Leader, have been holding weekly youth group meetings over Zoom. On Wednesday nights our youth gather to play silly games or watch a movie, all over video chat! Our students are provided a time on Sunday to dig deeper in their faith as well. Between text messages, hand written letters, and virtual hangouts, our youth are loved dearly. Thank you Jared and Danny!

 

 

 

Merideth Sullivan, our Director of Communications, has been making all of our Sunday morning content beautiful and meaningful. I supply her with the rough content and she always makes it relevant, smooth, and adds wonderful art and text to emphasize the main points. She is a true gift to this congregation and set us up to be able to manage many of the difficulties that this pandemic has presented. Thank you Merideth!

 

 

Thank you to the elders and deacons of Emmanuel as you have attended extra meetings, prayed with enthusiasm for this congregation, and continue to serve with vigor and hope. This church isn’t mine, nor does it belong to the elders/deacons. In fact it doesn’t belong to any of us. This is Christ’s church, and the leaders of it serve in ways that honor Jesus, bring glory to his kingdom, and invite us to participate in that goodness. I am so grateful to serve alongside these amazing folks.

 

To the congregation of Emmanuel, I am overwhelmed by your graciousness, your compassion, your thoughtfulness, and your generosity. I have received notes, phone calls, emails, and text messages. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for taking care of one another. Thank you for everything you do in secret, that goes unnoticed, and bubbles out from Christ’s very residence within you. It continues to be such a privilege and pleasure to serve this congregation. May God continue to sustain us, and might we praise him with our whole hearts this day and each day to come. Amen.

 

Worship for May 10, 2020

 

This will be our last week looking at the end of John’s gospel. It started with the disciples hiding in the upper room full of fear. Jesus visited them twice. He reassured them, gave them the Holy Spirit, and commissioned them. Last week we saw how the disciples struggled to bring in any fish after a long night, and then we saw them struggle to bring in the miraculous catch Jesus provided. Jesus invited them to the beach for breakfast revealing himself a third time.

 

Our scripture today is the second half of that beach conversation. Jesus speaks to the very depths of Peter. May he speak to our hearts as well.

 

Call to Worship

 

Scripture John 21:15-19 (NRSV)

 

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

 

Song – A Kind Invitation, by Tyson Motsenbocker

 

I hope you are able to listen to Tyson Motsenbocker’s spoken word song/poem, A Kind Invitation. I am going to reflect on Jesus’ invitation to Peter and how Tyson’s song captures one of the great paradox’s of Christianity. I’ll include the lyrics below, but the cadence and delivery of the song is better than reading the words alone!

 

 

Lyrics to A Kind Invitation

In a different time, in a different place
There was a small boy in a boat
Traveling down a river catching fish from the side
When he came upon two figures walking along the banks of the river
As he came close enough to make them out more clearly
He discovered that one was a tall man
And the other was a beautiful woman
“Hello”, said the man
“Hello”, said the woman
“Hello”, said the boy
“My name is Death”, said the man
“And this my friend, her name is Love”
“It is a pleasure to meet you”, said the boy
“Won’t you come and walk with us today?” asked Love
“For in this forest there are many
Beautiful and wonderful things we can show you”
“Ah”, said the boy, “It is a kind invitation
But I’m afraid that if I was to leave this boat and come walk with you
I would miss all of the fish that are yet to be caught in this river
And what greater joy is there to a
Boy than to pull the fish from a river?”
And he continued on his way

 

Many years later, when the boy had grown to a man
He was walking through the forest carrying his tools for work
He came upon Death and Love walking in the opposite direction
“Hello”, said the man
“Hello”, said Death
“Hello”, said Love
“Won’t you come and walk with us?” asked Love
“For it has been many years since we first met
And even on this road you walk every day of your life
There are many beautiful and wonderful things we can show you”
“Ah”, said the man, “It is a kind invitation
But I’m not as naïve as I was when we first met
I know now that if I was to walk with you
And turn to speak with Love, I will have left my back towards Death
And his dangers have become famous to me
If I was to turn and speak with
Death, I will have left my back to Love
And even the most beautiful flower in
The forest will look broken and decayed”
“Besides”, said the man, “I have much work to do”
And he continued on his way

 

Many years later, when the man had grown old
And his beard was long and white
And his face looked like a map of the mountains
Death came to visit him
“Hello”, said the man
“Hello”, said Death
“All of these years I have looked to find her alone”, said the man
“But whenever I came near, I found that you were there also”
“Ah”, said Death, sitting down beside the man
“That was your mistake
For wherever Love is, I am close behind
She displays my power and my poetry and even my beauty
When I am nearby, Love’s face shines brighter
The colors of the earth burn truer
And time itself speeds”
“I have always avoided her to be clear of you”, said the man
“And I too have made a mistake”, said Death, rising to his feet
“By never telling you that I always come alone in the end”

 

Meditation by Pastor David

 

At this point, you’re probably asking yourself, how in the world is David going to connect that song to the story of Jesus restoring Peter?!?!

 

We typically preach only the first half of this story.

 

We love the idea of Jesus redeeming Peter from his denials. You’ll recall Peter denied Jesus prior to his crucifixion after promising he would never behave that way. We see Jesus’ compassion, his love, and his invitation to Peter to be restored and begin the ministry of the early Church. It is a beautiful moment.

 

But the moment takes a sour turn at the end.

 

Jesus references the way in which Peter will be killed, martyred even. Debbie Barber, our Director of Children and Family Ministry, reached out to me this week and asked, “How do we teach this story to children?”

 

Her question resonated with me. I had to sit with it for some time.

 

This story captures the paradox of the Christian life.

 

We are called to give ourselves away, to care for the least of these, to take up our cross and die to self. But we are also told that this is the life abundant, that we will find rest for our souls, and joy will abound as we deny ourselves and find our identity in Christ.

 

Peter’s following of Jesus, and feeding sheep will ultimately cost him his life. Saying yes to Jesus doesn’t assure us of our comforts. In fact, is most certainly means we will give our comforts away for the sake of others.

 

We risk our lives by following a savior who walked straight to the cross.

 

Tyson Motsenbocker’s song alludes to this. The boy who was fishing isn’t ready to take a walk with Death and Love. He would rather catch a fish! As a man, he knows the risks of both Love and Death and avoids them in order to continue his work. And finally, as an aged man, he reveals the truth in his hesitation. He was always looking for Love alone. Yet every time he stumbled close to Love, he saw that Death was near to her. So he avoided the beauties, the complexities, and ultimately the journey that he could have been on had he accepted the previous kind invitations.

 

Being a Christian is like that. Sometimes I shy away from Christ because I know that it will cost me. I only want the good parts. I only want the easy parts. But Jesus’ invitation is costly.

 

Following him is full of adventure, hope, loss, transformation, pruning, releasing, love, and even death.

 

But Tyson Motsenbocker got one thing wrong. In the end, Death doesn’t come alone. Jesus’ resurrection means that Love is never far away. Love’s grip never loosens up, even as the veil from this world thins into the next. Love sustains us, redeems us, and consistently invites us to “follow me”.

 

When invited by Jesus into the full beauty that is life with him, will we say yes, or will we return to our ordinary lives?

 

Initially, Peter went back to fishing, which can be understood based on the circumstances and his dashed expectations. But he didn’t stay there.

 

Rev. Dr. Christa M. Compton serves a Lutheran congregation in New Jersey. Here is an excerpt from her on the passage and why going back isn’t as rewarding as taking Jesus up on his invitation:

 

That’s what we often do when we’re looking at an uncertain future. We get scared. We huddle up with people we trust. And we turn back to what we know.

 

But going backwards doesn’t get us anywhere. It certainly doesn’t get us closer to the future into which God is leading us.

 

When the way forward is unclear or overwhelming, what do we do other than going backward?

 

We have some hints in the exchange between Jesus and Peter, in which Jesus keeps asking Peter, “Do you love me?” Three times, in fact. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? “Yes, Lord, you know that I do.”

 

And then Jesus tells Peter, “Feed my sheep.” He doesn’t say, “Wait until everything is clear and certain before you do anything. Wait until you get to know the sheep and like them and decide that they’re worthy of your attention.” He doesn’t even say love the sheep in this moment. He tells Peter to feed the sheep.

 

And Jesus has already done just that. He has gathered his friends around a campfire and fed them breakfast.

 

Jesus seems to be saying, “No matter what uncertainty or fear you might feel, try doing something. Act as if you believe that wonderful things can happen when you step into that unknown. Act as if the kingdom of God is already fully here on earth. Act as if you believe resurrection is possible.”

 

Do something. Feed people. Take care of them in the way that God would take care of them. They still belong to God. Feed my sheep, Jesus says.

 

Imagine that ragtag, half-dressed group of fishermen on a beach at dawn, chomping on some fish and bread. These are the folks who will soon be sent out with the power to change the world with their message. They’re going to tell people the story of a God who loves us into life and whom death could not defeat.

Friends of Emmanuel, may we continue to say yes to Jesus’ kind invitation!

 

It will be full of adventure, discomfort, loss, and love, but I cannot think of anyone else worth living and dying for. Grace, Hope, Love, and Peace to each of you. Amen.

 

Questions for Refection

 

Richard Rohr once said, “Christians are usually sincere people until you get to any real issue of ego, control, power, money, pleasure and security.” What do you think he means? How has this been true in your own life?

 

Historical lore surrounding Peter suggests his life is ended by being crucified upside-down. Following Jesus leads to his death. We aren’t likely to be killed for practicing our faith. But Jesus still says it will cost us our lives. In your life, what has been the “cost” of following Jesus?

 

What have been the direct benefits of following Jesus? What promises from scripture have been tangible in your life because of your discipleship to Jesus?

 

What practical action can you take to feed Jesus’ sheep?

 

Benediction