I guest preached this month! A Fish Tale: Luke 5:1-11

 

Friends,

As I am currently based in Cairo, Egypt with my main jobs being teaching seminary courses at MTSO and acting as Gal Friday extraordinaire for the United Methodist bishop over the North Katanga, Upemba, and Tanzania annual conferences, I don’t do much preaching these days. This is a bit sad, because writing liberative commentaries on biblical passages is lowkey my jam.

Earlier this month I got the opportunity to remotely guest preach for Christ UMC in Columbia, MD. My friend Rev. Angela Wells is the pastor there, and as she was taking a family vacation and April 12 was the official kickoff for the Miracle Sunday Initiative (a campaign for endowed theology scholarships for UMC seminaries outside of the USA), she asked me to pulpit fill. The first part of my talk consisted of opening intros and an explanation of why the creation of this scholarship fund was an important justice issue.

Then, I pivoted to the scripture text that had been chosen for Week 1 of the initiative: Luke 5:1-11. (This is where the attached video begins) That’s the one about Simon Peter, James, and John catching a redunculous number of fish thanks to Jesus’ intervention and then choosing to leave everything and follow him. If you grew up hearing this story in church, you might think you know where I went with it, especially on a clergy scholarship fundraising day. But, if you know my preaching style, you know that traditional talking points is not how I roll.

Instead, I explored the socio-economic situation of this fishing community, what it means in terms of the local ecology when a crew of professional fishers spend all night on a lake and catch nothing, the impacts of extraction-based colonial systems, and who sold, ate, and were supported by the mountain of fish that were left on the shore. I talked about the disciples’ family members, Peter’s mother-in-law as well as the parents of James and John. I highlighted the difference between answering an invitation that could result in persecution versus what Jesus never asked of the disciples: to abandon vulnerable relatives to abject poverty.

I also talked about the Hebrew scriptures’ use of the image of fishing for people as being akin to hunting down evil doers. I suggest that Jesus’ invitation to Simon Peter, James, and John was not the invitation that gets presented in Sunday School. This was about joining an economic justice movement

Finally, I left the congregation a couple questions to chew on: What have they felt a call to do that feels more than they can accomplish on their own? What work would they need to leave behind in order to be a fisher for justice?

May pondering upon these thoughts provide food you this week.

Taylor

Rev. Dr. Taylor Denyer