Bible Text:

Let me take you back to a little over 40 years ago in April of 1964. I was about to graduate from Drew Theological School. Our first child was just a few weeks old. And I was waiting for a call from a District Superintendent on my first appointment in the Western Pennsylvania Conference. 

One day the phone rang. There was a booming voice on the other end. It was the voice of the Kane District Superintendent. My heart went to my throat. “Bauknight,” he said, “how would you like an appointment on the Kane District?” I thought to myself, the Kane District has nothing on it but deer, bear, and squirrels.  

He continued, “Bauknight, do you like to fish?” 

“Well, frankly, no sir, I don’t fish.” 

“Well, I have a great possible appointment for you here,” he said. “It’s a four-point charge here in the Allegheny National Forest.” 

I cautiously replied, “Well, sir, thank you. Can I think it over?” (I realize now the audacity of asking to think over my very first appointment as a young minister in the conference.”

I sank heavily into a chair. I didn’t spend three years studying Barth, Brunner, Bonhoeffer and Bultmann in order to go fishing. I spent those years trying to cast a vision for ministry and a vision for my life. 

I still don’t fish. Someone said, “If we really knew what was important in this life, there would be a shortage of fishing poles.” That may be so. But I don’t fish very often. I do periodically recast a vision for ministry, however. 

I think that’s what is happening in this story from Scripture today. It’s a story about recasting a vision for ministry. 

There are two very similar fishing stories in the New Testament narrative. One takes place very early in Jesus’ ministry. One takes place after the Resurrection. I like John’s version the best. But it’s very possible that the story happened more than once. Fishing was the preferred vocation for many of the disciples. It was not a matter of recreation for them. They weren’t just playing with boats. It was not a hobby. Fishing was a way of making a living. It was tough, and it was exhausting. Fishermen spent long hours at their job during the night and then had to do constant maintenance on their equipment during the day. 

One particular night they had caught nothing. They had fished all night. To catch nothing could be devastating to their livelihood. It might mean no income for the week. It might mean no food on the family table. Jesus comes on the scene. He calls out to the disciples, "Set out into deeper water.” The disciples probably thought to themselves, “That’s the wrong place to go and it’s the wrong time of day.” However, they obeyed. The result was they caught a huge haul of fish. It must have been almost like winning the lottery. They hit the jackpot. Their nets were full! 

Then Jesus says to them, “Okay, now leave it all and come with me.” As the fishermen’s economic security flip-flops in the boat, Jesus says, “Leave the fish and follow me, and I will teach you how to catch people.” 

Here is another tale of the sea. It’s probably partly history, and partly parable. That is to say, it is an incident which really took place, but it’s also a message to the church. Both Luke and John are writing for the church. Their message focuses on several things. 

GO DEEPER IN YOUR OWN LIFE 

First, the message is that we are to go deeper into our own lives. Jesus says, “Put out into deeper water.” The implication is that surface level faith—or shallow water faith—won’t work today. 

I grew up in the heyday of church attendance in America. Faith was a given, for the most part. Life was not always easy, but faith came fairly easily. I was surrounded by good people, and the culture helped out. The stores were closed on Sunday. Public prayer in public places was normative. And my own faith came fairly easily and fairly naturally. Fishing in shallow water was relatively successful. 

I don’t think the same thing is true today. We must push out into deeper water. The world is too much with us. The culture has become secular in ways not known before. And I’m not sure it’s ever going back. Those days are gone. 

John Henry Newman wrote—almost 200 years ago—“God is still here. God still whispers to us. God makes signs to us. But God’s voice is too low, and the world’s din is so loud… The world is so restless that it is difficult to determine when God addresses us and what God says.” Is that not a word for the 21^st century? 

Listening to God is not easy. You have to go deeper. That’s why we are moving beyond simply having programs here at Christ Church. It’s great to have good programs. We do have them, and we will. But we need a lot more. We especially need small groups of people who are going deeper: some in Covenant Discipleship Groups, some in CBS classes, some in Disciple Bible Study, some in “Christian Believer” classes. 

You’ve got to have deeper resources for a living faith today. I need those deeper resources to lead you today. Remember Jesus: “Push out into deeper water.” 

There is no substitute for deep-water fishing. Rodney Dangerfield once said he went to see his doctor to see the results of some X-rays. The doctor told him that surgery might be required, and that the surgery could be painful for a while. Dangerfield replied, “Couldn’t you just touch up the X-rays?” 

We can’t touch up the X-rays and make it better today. Being a believer, being a Christian, being a disciple, requires some deep-water fishing. 

I will possibly teach a new Marcus Borg book in the coming year. I do so not because Marcus Borg is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I do it because our faith formation needs to push out into deeper water. The title of the book is interesting—The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith.

Barbara Brown Taylor, one of the finest women preachers in the country today, says of this book, “Marcus Borg offers questioning Christians a way to keep the faith without shutting down the search for truth.” 

Or Thomas Moore, the author of Care of the Soul, writes, “Unless we stretch ourselves today, Christianity is in for some lean days.” 

Our faith formation needs to push out into deeper water. And I think Christ Church needs to give leadership in this regard. 

GO DEEPER IN REACHING OTHERS 

Plus, there’s another message in this story. We have to go deeper in reaching others. If we are to go fishing for souls, we have to go deeper as well. 

Everything I read today says there is a deep spiritual yearning all around us. Not everyone has it, but many do. That yearning is not always realized in the heart, but it’s almost always there. That’s why St. Augustine said in the 4^th century AD, “The human heart is restless until it finds its rest in God.” Reaching people for God today requires some deep-water fishing. 

In the 1950s and ‘60s people seemed ready to join churches. Those were the days of rapid church growth. Those were the days of almost exponential growth here at Christ Church. 

Such growth is mostly not present today. We live in a more stubborn and resistant culture. The noise and din of the culture is loud—for us and for others. If it is hard for you and me, who know how vital faith can be, imagine how hard it is for those who do not know but long to know. 

Somewhere I saw one of those wonderful Peanuts cartoons by Charles Schultz. Charlie Brown has a roadside stand with a sign on it. It says simply, “Swift kick in the pants: 25 cents.” Two or three frames later, nobody had stopped by to give him 25 cents. In the last frame he looks at Lucy and says, “I don’t understand it. Everybody needs what I’m offering.” 

We need to do some deep fishing in a time of fierce competition for your time and in a time where much of life is consumed with trivial pursuits. It’s not necessarily anyone’s fault. It is simply true. So today we have to push out into deeper water. 

In a few weeks another season of Igniting Ministries will open up on cable television. There will be another push using 30-second clips to focus on the ministry of the United Methodist Church. One more time we will say our hearts, our minds, and our doors are open. The ads are geared to grab the attention of the viewer. This has become a fairly new way to reach the spiritually hungry and the unchurched. 

After about 2 years of doing this, those who have offered these television segments have made a discovery. A large number of non-churched people in the United States report that they would attend a United Methodist Church if invited. Note the qualification. They are open to attending if invited. 

In your worship guide today is a door hanger. It’s pretty much self-explanatory. Now you could go out and just hang it on someone’s door. But I am asking you to go deeper. I am asking you to push out into deeper water. 

I am asking you to put this door hanger on your refrigerator or bulletin board at home—someplace where you can see it regularly. I am asking you to touch it daily, and to pray over it daily, if very briefly. Ask yourself the question before God, “Who needs to get this door hanger in my acquaintance or in my neighborhood?” I am asking you to meditate upon this door hanger for at least 2 or 3 weeks. Try to discern what God might be saying. Then—right before or right after Labor Day, when the Igniting Ministries television broadcasts begin—place that hanger on someone’s door and add a prayer. 

Don’t forget to pray. There is a story of a 10-year-old boy and his father who went to a fishing cabin for the weekend. The cabin was located just above the lake. The father and son baited the hooks, dropped the lines into the water, and went up to the cabin to unpack. About an hour later they went back down to where the fishing was to take place. They found a fish on every line. “I knew there would be fish on the line,” the boy called out. “How did you know that?” asked the father. “Because I prayed,” said the boy. 

The pair put bait on the hooks again, dropped the lines into the water and went back up to the cabin to fix some dinner. Right after dinner they came down again. Once again there were fish on every line. “I knew there would be fish on the line,” said the boy. “How did you know that?” said the father. “Because I prayed,” said the boy. 

The father dropped the lines in the water a third time. They walked back up to the cabin to have some dessert. After dessert they went back down to check the results. This time there were no fish on the line. “I knew there wouldn’t be any fish,” said the boy. “How did you know?” said the father. “Because I didn’t pray.”  

“And why didn’t you pray this time?” asked the father. 

“Because you forgot to bait the hooks,” said the boy. 

Bait the hooks, and don’t forget to pray! If you need one or two more of these door hangers, we have them. Put your name on them if you’re willing to do so. I will do it as well. Or here’s the real challenge: follow up the door hanging with a phone call of invitation to join you in worship at Christ Church. 

Some deep-water fishing is needed right now. It takes a little more energy, and a little more risk. Deep-water fishing takes a strong and vibrant faith. It takes a deep confidence in what God wants and what God is doing. 

Remember the story of the Roman Catholic sister who was on a road trip? She was in the garb of her particular order. On her way to assist ministry at a Native American reservation, she ran out of gas. Then she remembered that she had seen a gas station about a half-mile down the road. She got out of the car, locked it up and walked to the station. 

She told the station owner her problem. He said, “Sister, I would really like to help you, but I don’t have any gas cans. I gave the last gas can away about a week ago, and the person who took it didn’t return it. Let’s see what I can find.” Together they looked around out back behind the gas station. The only thing he could come up with was an old rusty bedpan. Since nothing else seemed to work, the filling station attendant put a little gasoline in the pan and handed it to the sister. She began to walk to the car.

She walked very carefully so as not to spill the gas. When she got to the car she opened the fuel tank and began to pour the gasoline into the tank. Just about that time a truck driver drove past. He took one look, and put on his brakes, stopped the rig and backed up. He rolled down the window and said, “Sister, I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but I think that’s the exercise of real faith!” What we’re doing in the next weeks is going to require some real faith. 

GOD PROMISES RESULTS 

The third part of the story tells us that God promises results. In John’s version of the story, the disciples caught 153 fish. Many people have tried to figure out the symbolic value of that number. Is it some kind of mysterious code—like “The DaVinci Code”? Is it the number of varieties of fish in the Sea of Galilee—so that the disciples would catch one of each kind of fish? Someone even discovered that if you add the digits from 1 to 17, it adds up to 153.

Does any of this mean anything? Is it a miracle story? Maybe not. Maybe Jesus saw a school of fish farther out in the deep water from the vantage point where he was standing. But maybe-—just maybe—this story means that when you work with Jesus you get results. You get results more than you might imagine. You get more results than you could possibly get on your own. 

I’d like to think this part of the story means we will get 153 first-time visitors this fall as a direct result of these door hangers bathed in prayer. I’m not talking about those people who will come to church this fall on their own. We will welcome them and rejoice with them as well. But I’m talking about those who come because of your discerning prayers and your specific action. 

So this tale of the sea is about two things. First, it’s about attending to the deeper spiritual issues in your own life, and second, it’s about a mighty effort to reach the spiritual yearning of others out there. 

Deep-water fishing is the church’s vocation for the foreseeable future.