I love the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. I was first introduced to this fine piece of cinematography when I was a teenager. For 14 year old boy, nothing is funnier than slip-stick comedy and silly, gross humor. I even saw the film in theatres when it was re-released in 2002 with 20 seconds of extra footage. Those twenty seconds were totally worth the $7 I paid for a ticket! If you have not seen this film, the theme is that of the traditional search for the Holy Grail. The Knights of the Round Table must seek out this most holy cup, the cup used by Jesus as the Last Supper. They must search until they find it, because this is what God wants. God wants those who search diligently until they find.

            It strikes me that we sometimes see our relationship with God as such a search. We tend to think of God as the champion of hide and seek. We see God as one who waits for us to make the journey or to go on a pilgrimage so that we can find God. Further, we believe we can control when God shows up in our lives and our hearts. People ask questions like, “Have you found Jesus?” or “When did you let God into your life?” Most days, I realize that if it were up to me to find God and accept Jesus, I would fail miserably.

            That’s why today’s gospel text is such good news for you and me. Here, we encounter a Jesus who doesn’t sit around, waiting for people to come to him, but instead a Messiah who comes into the midst of the people. We encounter a Christ who meets people in their daily lives, among their normal occupations. The text starts out by telling us that Jesus is by the lake of Gennesaret. Crowds are pressing in on him, so he gets into Simon’s boat. They go out from the shore and Jesus teaches the crowd. While we do not know what he teaches them, we do get the story of a wonderful encounter with Simon.

            Simon has been fishing – doing his job – all night, with no luck. When Jesus tells him to let down his nets, Simon’s response is less than enthusiastic. Think for a second about your job. If you have been working all day, with absolutely no success, and someone says, “Try once more”; most of us would probably say, “No way! I’m tired! I’m worn out! I’ll try again tomorrow”.

            I know when I am suffering from preacher’s block and just can’t seem to write a sermon, no matter how much I have tried, I wouldn’t want someone to tell me to try again. On the same note, I do wish Jesus would walk into my study at those times, tell me to reach my hand into my desk drawer, and there I would find a ton of already written sermons.

            In any case, Simon listens to Jesus, and the catch of fish is amazing! In fact, there are so many fish that the nets begin breaking and help is needed. Upon seeing this, Simon falls down and confesses his sin, much in the same way that we heard Isaiah confess his sin in our first reading (Isaiah 6:1-13).  Jesus then offers words of comfort: “Do not be afraid”. He calls Simon, James, and John from their vocation as fishermen to the work of catching people. Their response, after an encounter with living Lord, is to leave their boats and nets, and follow.

            The same happens for us today. God comes to us in the midst of our daily life and in the midst of our daily work. God meets us. God finds us in the waters of baptism and claims us. God shows up in our lives and calls us to the work of following Christ, of being employees who share the good news. God makes us into those who serve others and who seek to advance the kingdom of God. Our encounter with the living God changes us, just as it changed Simon. We recognize our own sinfulness and confess to God that we, too, are poor sinners. It’s why we include confession at both services on Sunday. This is a time where we name those things that hold us back and have power over us. Then, we hear, in the words of forgiveness, that we need not be afraid, for God is calling us to work.

            Unlike Simon, James, and John, our actual vocation may not change. Instead, we begin to ask ourselves questions as we carry out our daily work. How can I love and serve God and love and serve neighbor in my daily work? How, through my actions, can I show the people I work with and encounter that I follow Christ?

            Perhaps the answer to these questions would come in the form of treating others equally and striving to help the people we serve succeed. Maybe it will look like standing up to injustices in the workplace, like the lack of equal pay between men and women. Perhaps it will mean letting our employers know if we think something unethical is happening where we work. Indeed, there are many ways, in the places where we are employed, that we can show we follow Christ.

            What happens, though,  after the work day ends or we retire? Well, we continue to respond to God’s call. We continue to do God’s work, like feeding the hungry; passing on faith to children; and giving freely of our resources so ministry continues. We continue to ask ourselves questions “Where is God leading me as an individual or the whole congregation of Trinity next? To what new ministries is God calling us? How can we continue the work of fishing for people?”

            For this is what God calls us to do: fish for people through our words and deeds. God calls us to spread the good news; to point to Christ in our midst; to share, without fear, our stories of how the living God meets and changes us; and to proclaim that forgiveness and redemption is possible for all the world.

            All the while, God shows up in our daily lives. In the presence of our work and our play;  our busyness and our rest; God is there. God is meeting us, just as God meets us in the communion meal, the waters of font and the Holy Words of Scripture. When God meets us, God changes us into those who fish for people.

            As we go, as we fish, we share good news. It is God who finds us. It is God who empowers us and strengthens us in word and sacrament. It is God who leads us. It is God whom we follow. Let us follow. Let us fish. Let us cast the lines of the good news of God’s abundant love. And oh! What a mighty catch God will reel in!

Amen.

© 2010 Rev. Todd A. Cutter. Please do not reproduce or distribute without permission.