| People Called Fishermen and Fisherwomen? |
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I would like to tell you a story about a group of people who called themselves fishermen. They lived in an area where there were many fish--waters all around them. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes and rivers just filled with fish. And the fish were hungry. Easy to catch. Week after week, month after month, year after year, these people who called themselves fishermen held meetings and talked about how much the like to fish, the abundance of fish, and they passed along all the latest innovations in fishing. Year after year, they carefully defined what fishing was all about, defended fishing as a noble occupation, and declared that fishing is always the primary task of fishermen. They constantly searched for new and better methods of fishing, and for new and better definitions of fishing. In their long history they build all sorts of buildings dedicated to the art of fishing and selected some of their best fishermen to staff it. They appealed to everyone to become fishermen. There was only one thing they did not do. They didn't fish. Ever. But they never actually went to the river or the sea, got a fishing rod stepped in the water and wait in the cold, in the dark, in the heat for fish to catch never. After all, were they not following the Master, who said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men and women"? Imagine how hurt they were when one day someone suggested that those who don't catch fish were not really fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. But they understood the criticism. After all, can people who never catch any fish really claim to be fishermen? Are you following if you're not fishing? The answer is no. the primary purpose of the Church which is to follow Jesus which literally means to drop everything we are doing and just do what Jesus tell us and that is very difficult in my opinion it is the greatest stumbling block to a discipleship of Jesus a following of Him an opening to Him we think that we are in control the culture always tells us so! Every movie, advertisement, political speeches all of pop culture is predicated on this principle you can be whatever you want to be if only you take control of your life when under the pressures of living we seem to become undone people invite us to take control of ourselves the sad thing is that we know in the depth of our hearts that is not really true we may want to believe that but we know that life is uneven by design, full of surprises filled with processes over which we have no much control this is specially clear in health, aging and love but also true in many other areas there is another kind of determinism the one that comes of social and cultural mores of which no one can escape being Cuban an all I remember friend Karl Marx who published here in a German newspaper in Yorkville named Die Revolution, in 1852 not too far from today’s Gracie Mansion The 18th Brumaire” he said Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past Numero Uno- We need to ask for God's transformation of our hearts so he will free us from the illusion of autonomy and teach us to live lives that depend on Him solely Our self-proclaimed autonomy then becomes one of the many mirages which are thrown at us to entertain us while the market forces manages with finesse to get into our pockets, our underpants and finally into our hearts and imagination is not that we hope to become better consumers but following, dazed with information overload, the latest trick of the market although hoping for the stars we may end up our lives asking ourselves what this what I worked and lived? Was it worth it? Following Jesus requires an openness to His Spirit a willingness to surrender to Him all that we were, all that we are, all that we hope for It is Jesus the one that at the end of life here will answer at the door of the life there your life was not waste you were always intrinsically beautiful like the Lilly of the valley you were always intrinsically free like the birds of the air regrettably you have worried for no reason Mazo’s story if our ultimate meaning depends on this dialogue we are free then to be who we are without fear and those who have tried to manipulate us preying on our fear of aging, our fear of losing our health, and finally our fear of death will be out of work so in order to follow Jesus we need to trust Him really to be so open to Him that will make radical decisions at the prompting of his Spirit like Peter and Andrews, James and John and then we will go from talking about fishing to actually fishing with both feet in the water and results or lack of them will make absolutely no difference we will engage the world in the name of Jesus of Nazareth free from the slavery of the values that determine what the world thinks is worth it, what is good, what is successful we will work on a different scale, one that is from the world stand point totally upside-down and we will engage this reversed scale of values because we are open to Jesus and we know that he is in charge often churches begin to worry about evangelism because their membership is dwindling what they meant is that they want to shore up the institution because they have an emotional investment in it and the institution embodies our own desire for permanence the question we need to ask ourselves is why are we here? If we are here to follow Jesus we will be sufficiently motivated to go out and share his love with others no matter the outcome, since we will never know the totality of our impact in the world the question we need to aks ourselves at Redeemer is why is this church here? What is God's purpose, if any, for it here, now year of our Lord 2008 in New York City? That is question that I want to ask myself and you but even more importantly, this is a question we need to ask of God in prayer, individually and as community The creation of a Hispanic work some 20 years ago was a partial answer to that question Hispanics provide a great deal of human resources to this parish simply because of their zeal and number But there is a English-speaking community here We as a Church can not grow and mature, not just in numbers but more importantly in faith if we are not able to do it together This 20 years of pilgrimage together I believe is in part God's answer but we need to redefine our mission in this neighborhood and God only answers knee-mail lets ask God for a transformation of our hearts Numero Uno- We need to ask for God's transformation of our hearts so he will free us from the illusion of autonomy and teach us to live lives that depend on Him solely Numero Dos- We need to apply ourselves to learn more from God's ways Aurelio story at Seminary You have heard me saying that Christianity different to Judaism and Islam is not a book religion but a revealed religion one embodied in a person Jesus He came to end all for speculation about the nature of God because he is what God is all about God has said in Jesus incarnation if you want to know me see my Son simultaneously one of us and one of you look at him and learn from his life not from his book since he has none written learn from his life and in order to do that we need to become Bible literate not Bible obsess, but Bible literate conversant on the life of Jesus and conversant in why he was the way he was We need to rediscover the Bible we need to ask God to open its storage room brimming with stories to us and to see how The people and God has marched alongside for centuries Numero Dos- We need to apply ourselves to learn more from God's ways Numero Tres: We need to take responsibility for own Baptismal promises When Jesus came to the lakeshore he call you up not just me you also have a vocation to follow we are all holy people we are all priestly people interceding for the world sharing God's word in the world serving God's world In Christianity you do not hire a another fisherman to do your job neither you go to the supermarket and buy fish caught by others you have to do your own thing personally and in community when people think that the church is a convenient club to work out his own feelings of solitude or inadequacy if things do not go your way the somebody is not serving your needs obviusly is the Rector responsible for that but if you honestly feel that this is your church that you are church then whatever is not working is as much your responsibility as everybody else and then instead of just complaining you will also come up with solutions at the font of our baptism we promise or our godparents did that we will serve Christ for ever as part of the church His body He has called you to vocation of service he has call you by your name not just the seminary educated but everybody is part of this priestly people interceding, serving, challenging and above loving God's world Numero Uno- We need to ask for God's transformation of our hearts Numero Dos- We need to apply ourselves to learn more from God's ways Numero Tres: We need to take responsibility for own Baptismal promises We have chosen to be wounded and whole, healers and healed. Afraid of nothing, except falling away from God's friendship. We have chosen to become all that God have given to us to be, to move toward fullness regardless of our smallness and scanty resources and power. I think here is the blue print of our a new path and a new vision of service, worship and prayer of this community Let's talk about it
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