Reverend Raymond Osborne, Pastor

Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

Wesley Chapel, of course is what I call “home.” One of the advantages I’ve had is that of calling several places “home.” For some reason Ashe county is more “home” for me than any other place – I suppose it is because my Mother, Sister, Uncles, and Cousins all live there. If you’ve never been to Ashe county North Carolina you really owe it to yourself to endure the long ride to the mountains just to take in part of the glorious beauty of God’s fabulous creation.

My parents owned a Christmas tree farm way back in Three Top Mountain. In fact, it was so far back in the mountain that they had to pipe in sunlight! There, beside the farm was the beautiful and majestic New River – one of the oldest Rivers in the World. The new river ran briskly across rocks and twisted its way through the valleys at the foot of the mountain.

Just up the road from my parents farm was my cousin’s Christmas Tree farm. As you approached Jim’s largest field, there was a lane that was protected from intruders by a chain locked gate. Just on the other side of that gate was what we called a “low water bridge” that provided him access to his field on the other side of the New River. For those of you who have no idea what a “low water bridge” is – it’s a bridge that is built over a river or creek and whenever it rains the river and creek rises over the bridge.

Well let me tell you there was nothing I’d rather do than take a chair, a can of Green Giant Corn, and my fishing pole to that bridge and spend the day sitting on that bridge fishing. The New River was and still is notorious for its brown and rainbow trout.

On this particular day as I approached the gate to my favorite fishing hole I noticed an old Ford LTD sitting there. “Blast it! Someone has found my secret fishing spot!” I got out of the truck, got my stuff, and walked to the gate where I saw a man sitting on the far side of the bridge fishing. He appeared to be in his late 70’s or 80’s. He looked up at me with a frown on his face, almost as if I were intruding. I smiled, sat my chair down, covered my hook with corn, and threw out my line.

The old man was singing! In a little bit he stopped singing and spoke. “You gotta sing to um ya know!” “Excuse me?” “If you don’t sing you won’t catch nuttin – you gotta sing boy.”

I just went on fishing. Every now and then I would catch what I called a “redeye;” a flat looking fish with red eyes and a sharp fin on the spine. They were fighters and fun to catch but I don’t think I’d want to eat one.

In just a little bit the old man yells, “I got one!! Man I got a BIG ONE!!! I told ya boy – you gotta sing!” Then he began to sing “She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain” at the top of his lungs.

His pole was bent almost completely in half. I thought the line or the pole was going to snap but he kept singing and kept working that fish. When he finally landed the thing he quit singing and began cursing. “A BLASTED OLE’ WATER DOG! A WATER DOG!!! DAD BURN WATER DOG!!”

Now the New River was notorious for Water Dogs too. If you’ve never seen one it’s an experience you won’t soon forget. They are one of the ugliest critters God ever created and for the life of me I can’t figure out their purpose in this world even though I’m sure they have one. A Water Dog is a cross between a fish and a dog. It lives in the water like a fish but it has four feet and a tail just like a dog.

What happened next was a bit unnerving. The man, still cursing that Water Dog took out his pocket knife and cut that thing all to pieces. “I’ll show you! I’ll teach you!” I got a bit nervous! He then threw it on the bank, folded up his chair, packed up his fishing gear and left. As he went by me he said, “I’m going home! Where there’s a Water Dog there ain’t no fish!”

As I heard his trunk close, pow! A fish hit my line and it was a good one! I kept praying, “Lord please don’t let it be a Water Dog!” When I got it out of the water it was a 23 inch beautiful Rainbow Trout. I was so proud of my catch! I took it to a cousin who is known for being one of the best at his trade but extremely slow. Last time I called him he hadn’t mounted that fish for me. I need to call and see if it’s done. It’s been a good 12 years now.

Our Gospel lesson this morning contains yet a different kind of fishing story. Simon was a fisherman by trade. Fishing was the means he had for paying his bills and providing for his family. He knew how to fish and was probably very good at it or he would have been a tentmaker or something else. We all can’t be Bill Dance and spend our lives fishing and getting paid for it – but it sure is appealing isn’t it? I have decided to buy a Ranger boat, have a christening service for it. I am going to name it visitation and the new message at the pastorium will say, “You have reach the pastorium of Union United Methodist Church. I’m sorry I can’t take your call right now, I’m out on ‘visitation!’”

It had not been a very good day at the office for Simon. He had been fishing in his usual fishing hole and – well they just weren’t biting. Jesus gets in his boat and says, “Go on out to sea a bit Simon and put down your net for a catch!”

I may be wrong, but if I read this right, Simon was a bit put out by the Lord’s request. At our house one of the big events that occur every morning before school is the “seek and find our shoes event.” Isn’t it amazing how kids lose their shoes? I tell them, “Go look for your shoes.” Inevitably, they both soon return, “I can’t find them.” “Keep looking.” They come back, “I STILL can’t find my shoes!” “Keep looking.” “But DADDY! I have looked everywhere and I STILL can’t find them.” “Well there’s one place you haven’t looked.” “Where?” “Wherever your shoes are.” Now let me tell you the children get a bit agitated at Dad’s request to “keep looking.” I felt almost the same frustration in Simon’s voice. It had been a long day, a hard day, and a day without results. Here comes the Lord into the boat and says, “Go on out to sea a bit Simon and put down your net for a catch!”

But notice what else Simon says, “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." He did what the Lord directed him to do and what were the results?

“When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.”

Then what happens next I think is significant. Simon alls to his knees and worships Jesus saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

What happened? What made the difference? What had Simon learned that day? Let me give it to you in a simple – life application type of way. First, Simon learned that things always go better when Jesus is in your boat. Let that sink in a bit. Absorb the wealth of that treasure into your minds this morning. Things always go better when Jesus is in your boat.

Our lives are enriched when Jesus is abiding within us. Listen to me – if Jesus is present in our life, there is absolutely nothing that will ever come your way that you and Jesus can’t handle. This is my life philosophy: “There is nothing that Jesus and I together cannot handle.” Let me say that Jesus doesn’t need my help. It is I who needs HIS help. And I use the wording “Jesus and I together” not in the sense that I am going to help Him take care of whatever it is in my world that I can’t handle but as a reminder to myself that I will never face anything alone. Jesus is always there to help me! And He’s here to help you too.

“I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13

“I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” Psalm 121

“Remember, I am with you always, to the edge of the World." St. Matthew 28:20

Do you hear the Gospel? The Euangellion? The “Good News?” It is the promise that once you and I allow Jesus to be a part of our lives – we will never face anything alone.

Now THAT is the kind of knowledge I NEED in my life. It is a knowledge that brings calm assurance in the midst of a storm Ever noticed how many lessons are taught in learned in the Bible that involved water? When God’s people were fleeing from Pharaoh and his army what happened when they got to the Red Sea? I mean there it was. Can you imagine the panic in their lives as they approached the Sea? “O God what do we do now? We’re going to die!” Can’t you hear the army? “We got them now!” Then all of a sudden the danger was removed when God parted the Red Sea and His people walked across dry land!

Do you remember the story in Mark 5? Here let me read it to you.

“On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” (Mark 5:35-39)

You see the Good News is “Things always go better when Jesus is in your boat.”

Very quickly look at the last part of 10 & then all of verse 11:

“Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."

When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.”

Once you and I have learned this great truth, we are to go share that truth with other people. How is our church going to grow? By sharing the truth that I’ve just shared with you, that “things always go better when Jesus is in your boat” with other people. As we begin to grow our church and as we gain new people we ought never lose sight of our mission statement:

“Union United Methodist Church equips and prepares individuals to share and show the love of Christ.” Our goal is NOT to grow a church! Our goal is NOT to fill the pews. Growing a church and filling our pews will happen as long as we keep on task and that task is to share and show the love of Christ.

In the final verse of our Gospel reading this morning Simon and those with him committed themselves to being disciples of Jesus. They “left everything and followed him.” Are you willing to follow him this morning? Our Lord invites you this morning to his table. As we partake of the elements this morning I challenge you to allow the elements to speak to you in two different ways.

First let these elements serve as a reminder to you that because of His life, death, and resurrection, things always go better when Jesus is in our life. Secondly let these elements serve as a reminder to us that when we allow Jesus to be in our lives we never ever have to face anything alone. Finally, allow the invitation to the Lord’s table this morning to also serve as an invitation to our committing ourselves to following Him and becoming His disciple.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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