“Casting to the Right Side”

Sermon preached at the 11th Annual Multicultural Church Conference, on May 29, 2010, at the Chicago O’Hare Marriott. The theme for the conference was “Deepening our faith, Widening our culture.”

“Fish Story,” a collector’s plate by the Knowles China company
based on a painting by Jeanne Down.

By Magdalena I. García

Isaiah 42:5-12 (New Revised Standard Version)

John 21:1-14 (New Revised Standard Version)

A couple of years ago, at the annual rummage sale
hosted by the Lutheran church down the street from my house,
I bought a collector’s plate called “Fish Story,”
which features a Jeanne Down painting.
To the right side of the painting there is a grown man on the dock
selling fresh fish by a stand,
and paying close attention to the two boys who approach him.
The youngest boy is in front, with his arms stretched out wide,
suggesting the size of the fish they caught,
while the older boy stands behind him,
holding a line from which hangs a single sardine-size fish.
Fishing stories...fishing tales...

Today’s Gospel story is also about some boys—Jesus’ boys—
who despite their credentials, expertise and hard labor,
at the end of the day—or rather at the end of a looong night—
had nothing but empty nets!

Would you do me a favor?
Every time you hear me say the word “nothing”,
could you echo me by saying “absolutely nothing.”

Let’s practice...The disciples had been fishing all night,
but they had caught nothing...(absolutely nothing).
This was obviously long before the days of The Weather Channel,
or they would have known the fish were not biting.

And just after daybreak,
as the disciples are getting ready to go home with nothing…
Jesus shows up jogging along the lakeshore, and singing:
“Si tuvieras fe como un grano de mostaza...”
(“If you had faith like a little grain of mustard...”)
Well, we’re not really sure if Jesus did that,
but we are certain that he played a Second City trick on the disciples!
Jesus walked up to those tired disciples who had caught nothing...
and said, “Maybe you could try something new.
Maybe you could cast the net to the right side of the boat.”

Amazingly, the disciples DID NOT respond with a “No, but...” attitude.
The disciples DID NOT SAY something like, “Huh? Or, say what?”
Maybe the disciples were Second City graduates (or at least interns)?!
Amazingly, the disciples respond with a “Yes, and...” attitude.
They follow Jesus’ suggestion and, behold...they hit the jackpot!

It’s a great story!
And we love this kind of story for at least two reasons:
First reason: We like stories with a happy ending,
where the good guys—and gals—win,
where people hug and make up,
where they live happily ever after.
Second reason: It’s quite different from the first one,
but perhaps even more important:
we are tired of catching nothing...

But thanks to the “yes, and...” attitude,
the disciples get a bonanza.

Now...did you notice how many fish they caught???
We are told that they caught exactly 153 fish.
Isn’t it odd that we are given the exact number?
Why do you suppose they did that?

Maybe they counted the fish in order to divide up the catch.
It’s just like when my church has potlucks,
and we have 80 people in line,
one chicken and four pots of colored rice!
You bet someone has to find a sharp knife,
and cut that chicken into 80 pieces,
so that everyone gets at least a little bone to suck on.

Or maybe they counted their fish so they could go home and brag.
Are you familiar with the Fisherman’s Creed?
“Early to bed, early to rise, fish all day, make up lies.”
Or maybe the Gospel writer or editor i
s trying to teach his audience something.

Well, it turns out that Jerome,
one of the earliest Bible commentators,
talks about the significance of the 153 fish.
He says that at that time,
there were 153 known varieties of fish in the world.
Therefore, according to Jerome, this story is a symbolic picture
of Jesus and his disciples drawing the ENTIRE world
into the net of God’s great purpose.

Furthermore, the Gospel writer emphasizes
that the net was NOT broken by the 153 fish.
So clearly there is room for ALL the fish in God’s net!

Isn’t that cool???!!!
It’s wonderful evidence, additional evidence,
that we did not make this up!
From the beginning,
the church had a multicultural vision of itself and its ministry.

That’s actually a very common interpretation of this text.
But how about considering an uncommon interpretation?
It comes from John Killinger,
who is a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA),
although he has served pastorates
in Baptist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches.
He is also the author of over 50 books on multiple subjects,
and taught at Vanderbilt Divinity School and Samford University.

Killinger suggests that in this story,
the left side and the right side are also symbolic details.
The disciples had been fishing all night on the left side,
and coming up with nothing...

Now, thanks to science, what do we know about the left side?
The left side of the brain is...
the calculating side, the orderly side, the analyzing side...
the Presbyterian side!
But the right side of the brain is...
the dreaming side, the creative side, the picturesque side...
the multicultural side!

Uh, uh...Here we go again...COULD it be that Jesus is saying
that if we want to stop coming up with nothing...
we need to try a little “innovation on the verge?”

(Note: this is a reference to Joel A. Barker’s concept
which says that “innovation on the verge
is the combining of two or more very different elements
to create a new territory.”
More information and resources at:
http://www.innovationattheverge.com/).

Let’s see, maybe we need to STOP dropping the net
on the organ-playing side,
and TRY fishing on the drum-beating side???
Or maybe we need to STOP dropping the net
on the Sunday morning side,
and TRY fishing on the Friday evening side???
Or maybe we need to STOP dropping the net
on the ____________ side,
(you fill in the blank according to your context)
and try fishing on the ______________ side???

Could it be that Jesus is suggesting that a bonanza awaits us
if we dare cast our nets on a side of the boat
that seems highly unlikely to bring any yield,
or that we avoid like a plague?

Let me tell you what casting the net on the other side
looks like at my church these days.
I serve Ravenswood Presbyterian Church,
a 108 year old congregation here in Chicago,
that in 1968 became bilingual and bicultural
by welcoming as full members a group of Hispanic immigrants,
and more recently has claimed a multicultural identity,
by expanding its understanding
of shared worship, shared power, and shared mission.

Examples of shared worship
+ Communion by intinction with breads, cloths, cups and baskets from around the world (i.e. no more White only at the table, with white tablecloths and white cubes of Wonder bread!).
+ Multicultural songs in bilingual as well as monolingual services (including different versions of the Gloria and Doxology every season).

Examples of shared power
+ Bilingual Session meetings (which makes for long evenings) with mutual invitation (which drives some people crazy because they can’t control the conversation).
+ Changed Sunday hours. For decades, despite having lower attendance, the English service had prime time on Sunday morning (10:00 a.m.) while the Spanish service had the cranky hour (11:45 a.m.). Really, at noon, the infants are cranky because they need to be fed and nap, and the men are cranky because they are missing the football kick off… Noon worship is not the praise hour, it’s the cranky hour! But we now have English worship at 9:30 am and Spanish worship at 11:00 a.m. And combined, bilingual worship once a month (or sometimes more often for religious holidays) at 11:00 a.m.

Examples of shared mission
+ Giving to Casa Central (the largest social service agency serving Hispanics in the Midwest) the same amount that we give to the Presbyterian Homes (talk about messing with the gods!)
+ Sharing the building for free with tenants and other partners when they do public service and education.

But our casting on the right side has to be even wider than that!
Just as we thought we had figured out life and ministry,
new neighbors started moving into the community.
We now have a gentrified and gentrifying neighborhood all around us,
that is increasingly White, upper-middle class, un-churched,
and apparently not interested in multiculturalism.

So we are trying out new things to present the Gospel
in a recognizable cup,
to neighbors who do not identify with Sunday morning worship.
For example, in partnership with another church,
we started an organic garden,
which this year for the first time has attracted
two families from the neighborhood, with their children,
and we are befriending them.
And last year we also started hosting InterPlay,
which is an international program and a style of embodied spirituality.
InterPlay sessions, offered once a month in the gym, lead participants
through movement and stories, silence and song, ease and amusement,
as a way to unlock the wisdom of our bodies
and the wisdom in our communities.
There are weeks when I have more people in the garden and in the gym,
which surely tells me that God is doing a new thing in our midst.

Now, as you can imagine, all these efforts have faced opposition.
Or they lack adequate support from the congregation.
Many simply view it as another crazy thing our Pastor is trying.
Because you see, at the end of the day,
no matter how many times we come up with nothing...
most of us DO NOT really want to do a new thing.
We’re alright with GOD doing a NEW thing,
as long as God lets US go on doing our OLD thing.
We’re ok with GOD doing a “little verge” and even a “big Verge.”
We’re ok with GOD doing a “little v” and even a “big V,”
as long as WE can stick to our own letter;
or better yet, our own alphabet!!!

Well, nobody said that “casting the net on the right side"
was going to be easy.
You and I, just like Jesus, have to deal with lots of left-brained people.
They often sound like they work for Noah’s Building Company.
They want to know how long is it and how wide is it???
They want to know how costly it is and how profitable it is???
They want to know this, and they want to know that...

Well, here is Killinger’s second insight.
In a sermon featured on 30 Good Minutes way back in 1992 he writes,
“Jesus had dealt with a lot of left-brained people in the Gospel.
They were the legalists, the ones who thought
the world was constructed by an accountant
and everything could be got down in black and white.
Maybe Jesus was saying to the disciples here
that they were not to be like accountants,
always trying to take the measure of things;
they were to live and act out of their right brains,
as visionaries and artists.
They were to trust God and live nobly, generously,
without counting the cost
or stopping to dot their i’s and cross their t’s.
If they would do that, they would always find their nets full,
they would live in the overflow of grace and excitement."

Wow! This is powerful stuff!
Can you imagine us living our faith NOT as accountants,
but as visionaries and artists???
Talk about innovation on the verge!!!
It’s going to take one humongous V for Presbyterians to do that!

My friends, some of us have been fishing for a looong night
and coming up with nothing...
And no matter how hard we try,
we keep coming up with nothing...
And no matter how much we spend,
we keep coming up with nothing...
And no matter how much we cut,
we keep coming up with nothing...
And no matter how many amendments and resolutions we adopt,
we keep coming up with nothing...
And no matter how many times we re-structure and downsize,
we keep coming up with nothing...
We are well acquainted with coming up with nothing...
And we are tired...ready to give up this game
of coming up with nothing...

And just then, we see Jesus coming...
he’s registered for the Multicultural Conference,
and we see him walking along the shore of this tired church, saying…
“Hey kids, how about trying ‘a little v’ for a change?
How about trying a little ‘yes, and’ for a change?
How about casting your net on the other side for a change?”

“BUT HOW COULD THIS BE???,” you say to yourself.
Nobody knows more about your life than you do!
Of course, you’re an expert on your life.

BUT WHAT IF HE’S RIGHT? WHAT IF JESUS IS RIGHT?
What if there’s a tremendously exciting possibility
on the other side,
and all that is required is that we make a little adjustment
in WHERE we let down our nets???
What if there’s a tremendously exciting possibility
on the other side,
and all that is required is that we make a little adjustment
in HOW we let down our nets???

May we learn to live and minister with an attitude of...
“yes, and”
“maybe we could”
“what if”

And may we have the courage
to challenge the Church to do the same,
so that the end of our story might no longer be
that we caught nothing...
but that the end of the story might be
that we risked it all for God’s kingdom,
and that we feared nothing...

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