Church of the Redeemer | Iglesia del Redentor - People Called Fishermen and Fisherwomen?

People Called Fishermen and Fisherwomen?

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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