Sunday, February 9, 2025 - 10am Worship

Audio of Pastor Darren's message on 2/9/25: "Setting Course: Leave Everything and Follow."

Transcript

Setting Course: Leave Everything and Follow
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Worshiping together, we have been working on our theme. Setting course for a better life. And we've spent some weeks talking about what that better life is. You know, trying to just define that for ourselves. So that we have some sense of what we are trying to offer. For a couple of weeks now, I'm gonna focus on setting course.

Alright, how do we, how do we start moving in that direction? And actually, we've got a passage here where, to a certain degree, it's the beginning of Peter's setting course. So, part of what we'll be talking about is what does it mean for him, but also, what does it mean for us? So, you've got Jesus. Meaning Peter, the fisherman.

He is teaching, lots of people are gathering. So many in fact that he feels like he needs to get a little bit of distance. He asks Peter the fisherman to, uh, take him out on the boat, so that he can, uh, have, you know, just a little bit of distance. He doesn't have to worry so much about, uh, people getting too close.

More people can hear. And yes, it does turn out to be that. Peter, that Peter that we know of, that all the stories that surround him, the most loyal, uh, uh, disciple, despite his actions around the Easter, uh, but also the rock, uh, it is that Peter indeed. And what we know is that something miraculous happens.

Jesus tells him, after the teaching, to go fish in a different place. So Peter lets him know, he says, you know, Jesus, we, we've been, we've been fishing already here. We haven't caught anything. And now you're asking us to, to switch over. Now, to me, I think it's worth kind of jumping out of the story for a second to just ask ourselves about fishing.

Because, you know, you think about fishing today, it really is more of a, of a hobby, right? It's a relaxation thing. There aren't that many people who are fishing commercially, right? So, uh, um, when you're talking about, uh, Fishing. I know, for me, I think of my fishing trip I go on every summer up to Bishop.

I'm not a fisherman. I like to hike, but the rest of my buddies, they're all fishermen, so I'm in amongst all those people and all those smells. Right? And, and what I recognized right away was, we don't need the fish that they're gonna catch. You know, most of the time they do pretty good, but we don't need that fish.

Right? I, I know. That my buddy Jeremy's always gonna show up with a bunch of steaks and a bunch of carne asada, and if nobody catch nothing We're gonna be eaten well because that's just the way this group works if they're gonna be talking about fishing or fishing success It's about the competitiveness.

You know how many did you get how many did you get that kind of thing so for Peter? This is probably not true Right, for Peter, he is working, this is his income, this is his livelihood. He fishes at night, as he says. They fish at night so that then that morning they can take the fish that they've caught, and they can take it over and deliver it in to get sold, so he can make some money for his livelihood, hopefully catch a little sleep later that day, and then the next night kind of do the same thing.

A day's catch would be quite critical. Right? A skunk day, as the fishermen will call it, would threaten the livelihood. I wonder if, you know, we again could step out of the story for a second just to think about that. The anxiety of that. The vulnerability of that. I mean, have you ever been that person in that predicament?

Not knowing the answers to questions about life that you feel like you need to know to be able to make sure you have all you need to provide for yourself, for those who are counting on you. Have you been that person in that predicament? I mean, for Peter it was about job. It was about providing. Maybe you were in that vulnerable place for the same reasons.

Sometimes that vulnerability comes with sickness, with illness. That's often a time we feel kind of helpless, looking for answers that we don't necessarily have, yet having lots of questions. Sometimes that vulnerability, that anxiety that Peter may be feeling, it might come today in some sort of like a broken relationship of some kind.

A heavy emotional weight on your heart that just doesn't seem to heal. I can't figure out how to invite some healing. To me it's, it's possible that this is the place that Peter's at as Jesus comes to him with life's concerns kind of right at his uh, at his doorstep. We all right? Do we get the, we got the cough drop?

Alright, don't worry, don't worry about it. So, it's possible this is where Peter is. You know, he's full of concerns, he's full of anxiety. Right? I could see if it were me in this situation, where I'm feeling the weight of the world on me, and Jesus shows up, and yeah, we're gonna let him preach. He speaks well, we like what he's saying, but then he's going to tell me how to fish?

And where to fish? I don't, I, you know, I might be a little less, uh, gracious than Peter. But luckily, Peter is that gracious person. And he says, alright. And agrees, agrees with him. And then we know the story. There's a miraculous catch of fish that happens. So much that the boat is tipping over and, you know, they have to bring another boat out.

A miraculous catch of fish. Now most of us, we're going to be celebrating, we're going to be high fiving, we're going to be so excited, you know, running around. What does Peter do? But he drops in confession. Maybe we should be surprised by this. You know, he could be high fiving, he could be hugging folks, but instead he drops to confession.

But I don't know, when we've been that person, that person in that position, in that vulnerable spot, with those anxieties, wondering about what lay ahead in the world, when solutions, or healing, or redemption finally come, that gratefulness, it can be overwhelming. It can be humbling. I mean, maybe we shouldn't be all that surprised that he drops to his knees in confession.

Maybe it does make sense. And then the story ends with Jesus inviting Peter to join him in his ministry. On this journey that he's going to be taking. He becomes the first of the disciples along with James and John. And they're told now they're gonna go be fishers of people. They're gonna catch people. A little bit of a weird metaphor maybe in today's language, but we get what they're talking about.

They're going to go invite people in to this body of God, at least this awareness that we are the body of God. And maybe this shouldn't surprise us either, this leaving everything to follow. We are people of faith. We are many of us here every single week. We, many of us have some role in the church that has us here.

Many of us have some role outside the church where we're serving God. Maybe we shouldn't be too surprised that Peter leaves everything to do that. We should understand that we also have given up things. But maybe what will catch us is this idea of leaving everything. Everything. That's something, right?

To leave everything? I mean, we've wrestled with the question of of how much? You know, a lot, as people of faith we're always trying to figure out where that line is. Especially around stewardship time, right? How much do I really need to, you know, leave or to give? Is a tithe 1 percent net or gross? Right?

Have you asked your pastor that one before? Is it before or after the taxes? You know what I'm just, right? And we pastors are, you know, you know the answer. There is an answer. Right? Is it net or gross? The answer is yes. Is it before or after taxes? Yes. Right, Pastor Lanny? That's the answer, it always is. No, it's a bit of a, it's a faith journey of understanding a little bit of where that line is.

We sometimes wrestle with it with our time, too, and understandably, you know, we want to run ourselves aground, even doing good things. We need to take care of ourselves. We need to make sure we don't leave everything behind, like our health, our well being. So this isn't a new conversation. In fact, finding that most effective space can be a little bit of a challenge.

Maybe what's most significant about this passage goes back to how Peter initially reacts. He doesn't seem to be too bothered by leaving. And he just saw something miraculous, so maybe that fits. But look at his immediate reaction. What does he say but, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. That's a heavy phrase to have come out of his mouth in that moment of, of exultation and celebration and excitement.

Today, he would have done his touchdown dance, right? He'd done some sort of crazy this or that. Had some celebration. He maybe got on his phone and texted the family to let them know how much fish was coming, right? I mean, that's what he does today. And yet, he doesn't do any of that. He immediately goes to this place of confession.

He doesn't seem to be worried about the materials that he's going to be leaving, all the stuff he uses to do his fishing, to do his livelihood. In fact, maybe he's less worried about his fishing business, and he's more worried about something else. That kind of confession comes out of his mouth in that moment of exultation.

It makes me think he might be worried that he's going to have to leave something else behind. Something about his character, something about his life that he has been clinging to. Why else would he say the words, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Maybe he's kind of eager to leave. Maybe he's eager to get away from some of the things that he's gotten himself into.

Some of the life patterns that are happening. Some of the relationships that have soured. Maybe he's eager to leave because he knows he needs some sort of restart from the life that he had been living. Some of the realities he was living in. We don't know. And I don't think that God is in the guilt business.

So, I don't think this is what Jesus was hoping to have happen, that Peter would immediately start weighing on himself and bury himself in guilt over who he has been. I just don't think that has been an effective use of anybody's time. But I do believe that God is in the potential business. And God is seeing tons of potential.

In Peter, in James, and John. In all of us. The potential for love. Potential for compassion. Potential to be able to work for justice in this world around us. I'm thinking that God is hoping we're taking this gift of life seriously. That we're working as best we're able to. What, young people now, be better?

God's hoping we're doing our best to be better, to work on ourselves, to be the gift to the world that God intended for us to be. I wonder if the more significant question that we should be, uh, engaging in here is what would we have to give up to do that, to follow Jesus? What would we have to give up to be a follower of Jesus?

Not just what we do, but who we are.

What each of us needs to do in order to follow. I think we know that that can be a challenge to understand. A question we all need to answer. We know that blessing comes when we follow God. When we are in support of love in this world. Support of God's justice. In this world, this brings peace to our surroundings.

It brings peace to our hearts. And yet, we don't always choose to follow. Do we? There's often more attractive options as we navigate our lives. There's often a less treacherous pathway to take. As we go about trying to make this world better. So this question that we're being invited to ask of ourselves, what would we need to let go of?

What would we need to leave behind? I'm sure that question is unique to every single person in this world. In this world and in this room. Maybe it's a Lenten conversation. That you're being invited into a conversation with God about some aspect of your life, some aspect of your spirit of your heart that you might work on for those six weeks that we travel to get ourselves to Easter.

Maybe that's the invitation for each of you individually. But I got another question. As we are looking to set course to a certain extent here at the United Methodist Church of Westlake Village, and it's our motto, it's our vision statement, we're setting course, and in some ways we are kind of resurrecting a little bit.

Most of us who have been here for the whole journey, we know COVID was rough here. And there were a couple of other things that were really hard on this church, so in some ways we are setting course, getting a new, um, trajectory, a new way of doing things. I wonder, as we do that, is there anything that we, as a church, need to drop in order to follow?

I don't want to ask that question because I have anything in particular in mind. So don't feel like I'm pointing fingers. I just, I feel like questions are good. And relationships, conversations with God are good. So it's not with any rough intention I ask that. We actually have a lot of different people here with a very, very deep commitment to this church.

And a commitment to their faith. And yet at the same time, we are human beings. Often inclined to an easier pathway. Sometimes a pathway is taking something that is most comfortable at the expense of what is most meaningful. A typical human challenge. And often we will choose that more comfortable option, not with any bad intention, it's just us being us.

But I think God might be asking us to, to ask ourselves this question. Is there something we need to let go of in order that we might do what God wants us to do, in order that we might be who God wants us to be? Would God be able to bring us more into, fully into God's light in this world? Might God give us more opportunity, or might we enable our own opportunity to share that love more?

To me, I like this passage because it tells us that God comes to us with an invitation to fish another way. And it begs the question, are we ready to fish in that new way? What will we need to confess about ourselves and things where we have fallen short of God's hope for us, of the fullness God wants for us?

What will we need to drop and leave behind in order to truly follow the pathway of Jesus? is walking for us and walking with us. Those might be some good questions for a Lenten journey. Amen? Amen.