We’re back to a full schedule with Sunday School (9:45) and Worship service (11 am) followed by Fellowship on Sundays, Food Pantry 5-7 on Tuesdays (firing up the grill for Prayze Dogs this week!), and Bible Study on Wednesdays 6-7:30 (studying Exodus). We’re also looking to get some book clubs going; talk to Pastor Steve if you’re interested. And collect your pennies (or big bills!) because for the next three weeks we’re collecting a mission offering. All proceeds will go to the Heifer Project to help fund economic development around the world. Just drop your offering in the little church-shaped box in the back of the sanctuary, and on Mother’s Day we’ll announce what we raised. See below for this week’s sermon, recorded live (and including a special word from George at the end).
18 April 2021 Sunday Message: “When Eating is More Than a Meal”
Call to Worship Reading: Psalm 24:1-3 and Isaiah 61:4
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
And,
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
Message Reading: John 21:1-14
21 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Message: “When Eating is More Than a Meal”
In all of the various arsenals that the Lord has to battle the forces of darkness, to get our attention, nourish us, and to reclaim us as one of His own, one item reoccurs throughout scripture. That would be the common meal, that and the contended battle of our stomachs. Producing both positive and negative outcomes for people in God’s family through the ages.
At first glance, talking about eating and food doesn’t seem to fit with the higher things in life like redemption, renewal, transformation, and salvation. I mean let’s face it, ever have lunch with someone who you wished you had not set directly in front and across the table from? Talk about dinner and a show!
Yes, the business of eating can be down right disgusting, and yet there are other times when having a meal is such a beautiful, uplifting, heartwarming event that we look fondly back at the meal or those meals in our thoughts with deep fondness. Sometimes just the smell of a certain food either cooking or just lofting in the air is enough to take us back to another time. In short dinning together can repel us or bring us closer together as people by building new remembrances as family.
Which is why I believe churches have so many pot lucks, fellowship times, and dinner socials, in order to spawn new memories of good times that we share together. It makes it easier to remember the good of each other when we may be experiencing challenges together down the road.
In other words; She is completely wrong about the new church annex, but she makes a great fried chicken. Or he is completely up in the night about the new classroom, but serves the best biscuits and gravy around. I can’t believe he mocked my new Tennis Shoes, when are we going to Golden Corral?
God has used food for shepherding people towards His purposes by effecting outcomes. Food has actually guided the course of history. Just look at Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25:
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
In time, Jacob became the next Patriarch who would provide the twelve tribes of Israel, and Esau would not. Esau’s legacy would be to father opposing nations like the Edomites, and Amalekites. For better or worse, a meal has been transformative to people throughout scripture.
And before I go farther, I want to apologize to anyone that has become completely distracted by either the topic or my description of what’s on the table for discussion today. Because today’s message is really more than just about food and eating stuff. But thank heavens we now have our Fellowship time with a snack right after service up and running again. So hang on! And for those watching in the YouTube world, nuke some popcorn; Dinner and a Show!
Today’s message is more than just eating, it’s about you, me, and our being transformed and rejuvenated in the lives we share together. A reoccurring hope that weaves itself in and out of the Old and New Testaments, binding you and I together with the glue of the Holy Spirit. That before there is a meal of any kind, before there are thoughts of our being in conflict or in agreement, there is the recognition that we live in God’s domain.
I am reminded of that acknowledgement of fact spoken about in today’s Call to Worship reading from Psalm 24:1-3 and Isaiah 61:4:
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
And,
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
Meaning, that you and I belong to a God so great, He gives us the opportunities of free will. When we chose to invite the Lord into our lives and then reflect that decision for the rest of our lives by letting God transform us into new people.
We begin to ascend that mountain of the Lord. Not on our own, but with and in the Lord one step at a time. Some days, two steps forward and one back, and some days worse than that. Reflecting the reality that is a real life and not a storybook fantasy. Where you and I feel the growing pains of living, and the ecstasy a faithwalk provides us together.
Not alone, never alone but with our Lord and each other in His Holy family, the people you are sitting next to right now. And as you look around and think to yourself; “hey I know that guy, there is nothing real holy about him”. All I can say is, Amen sister. Now, just any of you, look in a mirror, “cuz there aint nothing particularly holy about you either”. That is why we are here. Not because we are better than the rest of the planet. We discovered we needed God and other people, to be real people. To be God’s people!
So, we are here to get well together. And it takes a lifetime of trial and error and a lot of grace and a lot of mutual forgiving and asking for forgiveness from each other. As we together ask God’s forgiveness and strength for future growth in Him, together!
That’s the reality, the effect, and the fruit of real relationships, that often reflect the highs and lows of our own attitudes and behaviors. The good, the bad, and the ugly in life. (Just think about your own thoughts and actions in the last week for example. All of them.)
As we start to acknowledge these challenges in ourselves, we begin to understand the battles being fought in other people and we learn to empathize and feel our neighbor’s hard-felt, hard-earned pain. It’s enough to wear you out and exhaust your inner reserves of strength.
Could it be that this is why food and eating together is used so much throughout scripture? That by eating together we begin to get a better sense of just how fragile and in need we are in this world. Understanding that God provides us nourishment spiritually, and physically when we eat communally as a family of loved ones in sync with our Lord. And the bond between us strengthens!
I am reminded of how the Lord uses a meal to both teach and build on that common bond with the breakfast described in today’s message reading from John 2. The Lord has already appeared before and now some of the Disciples are up in Galilee. Our group we read about has gone through a lot together in their experiences with Christ. You get the sense that they have a common bond. Starting this time at verse 3:
3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
**Side note; I can only imagine Peter’s attitude at this point. I get the feeling that he has been frustrated because he may feel like he and the guys are in limbo and he is not one to just sit around doing nothing. His answer, go fishing. His friends go with Peter, and the fishing is not so hot. I do not know any bad words in Hebrew or Aramaic, so I can’t tell you what Peter is mumbling under his breath, but I bet it’s emblematic in nature! Jesus then continues;
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
** And everything changes;
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
If I were going to compare this meal with another meal that we refer to all of the time, “The Last Supper” we would see some similarities. If we were to review the Passover Meal (The Last Supper) in Matthew 26:26-29;
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
In both settings, the Lord is teaching all of us, He is team building the disciples every time there is a new adventure and a new experience, and people are being nurtured spiritually, physically, and socially as much or as little they are able or willing to be matured by the Lord.
This posses a question that I have for you today; Which meal is communion? The one depicted in Matthew 26:26 the Passover meal with bread and wine, or the bread and fish breakfast? I guess it depends on how you approach Communion, the Eucharist, or Sacrament.
Our tradition for Communion is based on the meal depicted in: Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:17-20, and 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, as key in explaining the “Last Supper” as the model for our scared communal meal. Where we reverently come to the table of the Lord and do some serious sole searching about how it goes in our Faithwalk with and in the Lord.
Communion rejuvenates the Body of Christ, you and me, in our common Faithwalk towards a life everlasting in and with our Lord God in eternity.
So, what was the fish and bread breakfast up on the Galilee all about. Was that not a sort of communion as well? Well, my thought, and again, you have the heavy burden of reading, studying, praying; alone and with others you trust, and then thinking for yourselves. My thought is that in our Faithwalk, we have a couple of kinds of Communions that we partake in at church.
Today, we will have two communions here in our Church. The first will be the Last Supper also called; Communion, the Eucharist, or Sacrament, depending on the Church you attend. Then after Church Service, we will have a Fellowship in the Gym or Fellowship Hall and have a different kind of communal meal.
The Last Supper: is a reverent and Holy moment, a highpoint in our Church Service where we come to reflect and offer all our being over to the Lord as we ask for His rejuvenation of our lives. This is the pinnacle of our expression where we realize our loving God with all of our heart sole and mind. Our expression is not a closed one but an open Communion. We share this with all believers who have a relationship in and with the Lord. Hoping that we are an entry point into the Lord and not a roadblock.
The Fellowship meal: in our Church on any given Sunday is more fellowship than meal, but can be used to both ends as when we are having a church pot-luck, or a Christmas Dinner. This is intended to serve as an entry point into our social and faith-life and to help build on those memories that tie and weave us together as a family in God. This is the beginning of our sharing with others that hopefully leads to more shared opportunities with others.
Hopefully our experiences with both Communion and Fellowship grow us and serve as examples for other meals with other people who don’t know the Lord but are searching for something better in life.
Both meals help us to express a key teaching of the Lord and the Old Testament’s expression of; Loving God with all our heart, sole, and might, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Both are important and key in our practicing our faith in a world that often tries to drain us of our faith, hope, and love. What makes us who we are, Christians for the working day.
My hope and prayer for you this week as we explore who we are in this thing called life and as you realize your beautiful lives more fully, is that you have an opportunity to reflect on all the ways God uses to reach out to you. What a marvel to behold.
Proving, that as there are many ways to fall away from the Lord and His family, there are even more ways that He uses to find you, and shepherd you home to green pastures and still waters.
Amen!
Benediction: based on 23 Psalm and Numbers 6:24-26.