Deep waters

 

Luke 5: 1-11
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
February 6, 2022

Empty fishing nets of varying colors: gray, rust, slate blue, ecru with a view of the water behind

Last week Tish Harrison Warren, a priest in the conservative Anglican Church in North America, authored an opinion piece in the New York Times titled “Why Churches Should Drop Their Online Services”. She advocated for returning to in-person worship and leaving the digital world behind, citing the incarnation of Christ, the physical nature of worship, how we crave touch and the closeness of others. Like many who disparage social media, she believes that “online church diminishes worship and us as people”. Even though many who have never been able to attend church before the pandemic are now not just attending but participating in worship, Warren feels that what is needed is a robust home visit ministry to keep homebound and disabled folks connected to the church.



And yet even as her words were published online, within hours there came an encouraging and resounding “no” to them on social media. Not only because her treatment of the pandemic was less than scientific but because many faith communities are now broadening and questioning their ideas of what it means to be Church.



It's not only an ableist belief but it is also idolatry that connection, belonging, and community can only take place in person, that this is what it means to be embodied, what it means to be a body of people. The Church has long used the language of “we are the Body of Christ, whether gathered or scattered” and the reality of that language has been true since the very beginning of the Church, not to mention God’s people taken captive in exile. Did they cease to be God’s people when they were separated from their home and from each other? Are any of us who live alone less of a part of any body of people we claim, who claim us? As it is, we who are able-bodied need to be mindful that we are only temporarily able-bodied. For those for whom the Church has been a hurtful and unsafe place, online church provides a way for people to engage at their own pace, in their own way. We are working to have Church available to all of us, no matter where we are on life’s journey or what may happen next.

The Comfort Zone: Feel safe and in control
Fear Zone: Be affected by others' opinions, find excuses, lack of self-confidence
Learning Zone: Extend your comfort zone, acquire new skills, deal with challenges & problems
Growth Zone: Conquer objectives, set new goals, live dreams, find purpose

When Jesus asks Simon Peter to put out to deep water and put the nets down for a catch, when he and his partners left everything to follow Jesus, I think of this brave new Church we are trying to become. Online worship isn’t going anywhere, even when we can gather in person, and yet we cannot hold up one as more real or more valuable than the other. It is all Church, it is all the one Body. To paraphrase the apostle Paul, the church building cannot say to Zoom, I have no need of you, or vice versa. This church knows from its own experience, from purposefully not having a building for at least a decade, that Church is not just a building but the people. Now the people are less limited by distance or time or weather or ability. To borrow from Paul again, none of these nor anything else can separate us from the love of God or from each other’s love.



And yet this is deep, uncharted water we’re in. Does Church feel awkward to you sometimes? Is it uncomfortable, weird, clumsy at times? You’re in the right place. Is it difficult to feel connected sometimes? You’re in the right place. Do you still feel this big release of air from your lungs when you sign off Zoom? You’re in the right place. Is it hard to know where this is leading? You’re in the right place. Simon Peter and his friends were exhausted when Jesus came to them. Those well-used fishing nets were empty too. But at least it was familiar.

"With my intellect, I see cause for nothing but pessimism, and even despair.
But I can't settle for what my intellect tells me...There are still stars which move
in ordered and beautiful rhythm. There are still people in this world who keep promises...
That's enough to keep my heart optimistic, no matter how pessimistic my mind."
~ Madeleine L'Engle

I know that sometimes it feels like we are denied many of the ways we experience joy as Church. I feel it too. We haven’t sung Christmas carols in our worship space or held hands in a circle or sat around tables and eaten together for almost two years. Out of necessity we have had to find new ways, other ways of being connected. Church is more than just doing what we always do and broadcasting our content outward. Just as when we are in the building as when we are online we need to be intentional about our relationships and connecting with one another. Otherwise, as my wise colleague Chris Wilson puts it, we are merely occupying similar space. Chris writes, “…community is more than [worship] and community is present in both the physical and the digital spaces.”

Deep waters mean going deep with each other and what it means to be Church. Take for instance our new logo. Several people commented on Facebook that it would be improved if it had a dove. I know the symbolism of the dove as a sign of peace is meaningful to this church. And yet in the story of Noah’s ark it is the rainbow that is the symbol of peace—God’s bow hung in the sky, now a symbol of radical inclusion. The dove signifies that the purpose of the ark is coming to a conclusion, which is dry land.

White background with an ark drawn in black outline facing forward, with water drawn as wavy black lines beneath the ark. A rainbow with black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple stripes surrounds the ark. Beneath the design is the name of the church, New Ark United Church of Christ.

The purpose of this New Ark, its continuing mission of community and inclusion and valuing all, is not at an end, not yet. We haven’t come this far to only come this far. Comfort zones are not sacred spaces; they are a place to begin. Those rolling waters, the depth and the distance, call to us, not only for ourselves but for those who need community, who want to live into the Way of Jesus wherever they are, just as they are, with us, just as we are. Imagine that. Really. Imagine who needs community like this. What do you love about this church that would bless someone you know, no matter where they are?



Their fishing nets were empty
When they first saw the Lord
All night they had been fishing
In the waters by the shore
The Lord said, “Go to deep waters
Cast your nets once more”
And because they obeyed
They would never be the same

Go out to deep waters
Deep waters
Where only faith will let you go
Go out to deep waters
Deep waters
Blessings of faith will overflow
Blessings of faith will overflow

Go.

– "Deep Waters" by Pepper Choplin

Benediction – Samir Selmanovic, It’s Really All About God


“Jesus offered a single incentive to follow him…to summarize his selling point: ‘Follow me, and you might be happy—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might be empowered—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might have more friends—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might have the answers—or you might not.

Follow me, and you might be better off—or you might not.

If you follow me, you may be worse off in every way you use to measure life. Follow me nevertheless.

Because I have an offer that is worth giving up everything you have:

you will learn to love well.’”