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February 7, 2010 Sermon

There is More! (Isaiah 6: 8-10; Luke 5: 1-11)

Rev. Sally Harris

In the midst of our ordinary lives may we see the possibilities ahead of us and have the courage to go deeper. Amen

It may be hard to believe that there is more to worship than meets the eye… but Isaiah says there is… It maybe hard to believe sometimes that the challenges of our workplace can be transformed but that is what happened to Peter.

Imagine sitting in worship and suddenly you see God high and lifted up and the hem of God’s robe filling up the sanctuary. This is not a parallel universe for it is the year that King Uzziah died or the year of the Olympics or it was the year of the earthquaking in Haiti or…. It was a time of political, military and economic uncertainty as the world faces a challenging future. Perhaps only Isaiah among the worshippers that day experienced an opening into some realm in which everything was infinite and filled with possibility but his mystical experience was not merely for his own spiritual enlightenment but for something more.

Legend has it that before the voyages of Columbus and other Western adventurers, European mapmakers inscribed the words ne plus ultra, “there is no more, “ at the far edges of their maps. After the voyages of Columbus and other European adventurers, these same mapmakers revised both their maps and their visions of reality. Although they had little knowledge of the wonders and dangers that lay beyond the far horizon, these mapmakers knew enough to inscribe the words plus ultra, “there is more,” at the Western perimeters of their maps.

Thousands of years before these European travelers set foot on North America, Asian adventurers looked eastward, wondering if new lands lay beyond their horizon. They too expanded their vision of reality as they crossed the Bering Strait and traversed the North American wilderness, crying in amazement, “There is more!” as they pondered the adventures that lay ahead for them and their children.

The creed of all adventurers, of all pilgrims, whether their journeys take place above the earth’s atmosphere or on the Camino road; in a laboratory or on the coast of Mexico; examining photographs from the Hubble telescope or on a safari in the grasslands of Africa; exploring patterns of connectedness in the world of quantum physics or discovering the villages of France or Asia or walking the labyrinth… the belief at work is always the affirmation “There is more!” What was mysterious becomes known, dreams become realities, and impossibilities become ordinary occurrences in our everyday lives.

It was an ordinary day when the challenges of Peter’s workplace were transformed. The scene is set: Jesus is teaching in the shallow waters; a boat as his pulpit. When he is done preaching he turns to the fisherman and says: “Go deeper” “Huh”, Peter says. “What do you mean go deeper? I am a professional. I have been working this lake a long time and today there is no fish.”

We all live with patterns – patterns formed by the routines of our lives, patterns formed by pressures and demands of our workplace and our world. These patterns form out of how we live. They form out of how we react to the duties of everyday living. They often are not consciously examined but are just our routine. They are often helpful, for we can take care of the routine without a great deal of thought or planning. They become our comfort zones. They are not wrong or bad just the way we do things. Fishing was probably such a pattern for Peter, James and John. They had grown up around it. It was the way they made a living; and, thus, it became the way they lived. And then along came Jesus and challenged the disciples-to-be with a call to break the routine, to not do “business as usual” but to go deeper. Go out into the deep water, out into the fast currents, out into those rough waters – that’s where the fish are. That is where your livelihood is. That is where I want you to be creative. There is more.” The power of Jesus' call to the disciples broke the patterns by which they lived. They were being challenged to sail further from the familiar shore, to cast a greater vision, to find new challenges. And these experienced fishermen took the risk and found a boatload of fish and a lifetime of challenges. Way past their comfort zone in water, success and life Peter got very afraid. “Something funny is going on here – something more personal that this big pile of fish”. And Jesus said “Do not be afraid. Your life work is just beginning to emerge. There is more!!

Think of your own life span – be it 25 years or 95 years – What ‘impossibilities’ have you experienced in the course of your life adventures; your spiritual adventures? What impossibilities has Trinity experienced in our life together?

• What new frontiers now beckon you professionally, relationally and spiritually?
• What new frontiers beckon Trinity in our life together; in our ministry and mission?
• Where do you imagine God’s holy adventure guiding you, where do you imagine the Spirit guiding Trinity in the days ahead?

If we can dare imagine new spiritual horizons we certainly find good company in the Bible’s own “choose your own adventure” stories of “There is more!” For Isaiah his whole understanding of worship was changed. He recognized his humanity, was humbled by the holy and was willing to give his entire life to what he had experience. “Here I am; send me!” Isaiah shouted as he revised his spiritual map for the rest of his life.

To Peter and friends, worn-out and discouraged from an unsuccessful night’s fishing, Jesus asked the impossible when he challenged them to “launch out into the deep.” They knew there was no more fish to be caught that day. But Jesus’ deeper vision encompassed both the sea and their lives. There is more! And Peter and his friends clearly had to revise their spiritual maps as they hauled an overwhelming catch into their boat. You see fish weren’t the only catch of the day; Peter and his companions were hooked. Captivated. Called. And that’s what miracles and visions and impossible dreams are meant to do: they meet us at our point of need, but they do not leave us there. They call us to move from being recipients to being participants in what the Holy is up to… They call us to become partners with God in making all things new – for the life of the community and for the healing of the world. There is more!

Do you believe? (resource: Bruce Epperly)

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