"I’d Rather Be Sailing" - Mark 1:14-20 - January 23, 2000

Like most pastors I serve on a number of committees and boards in my community. Sometimes it means driving a considerable distance. Here in the Midwest, with all the snow and ice it can be difficult, especially in January. This past Wednesday I had a Church Development Meeting in Dayton. I can remember saying to myself, "I’d rather be sailing."

I am sure that all of you participate in activities that drain your energy and resources. We dread certain meetings because they are boring. Or, there are people there we simply don’t like. They are the ones that never shut up or vote in opposition to the majority. Did you ever go to a meeting and ask yourself, "Why did I bother?"

To be part of church development is important to me, but whenever I find myself away from the church for a half a day, I keep thinking of all the other things I could do. Besides, you can’t sail in January so I attended the meeting. I went with no agenda and I had no expectations that anything exciting would happen.

At this particular meeting we heard from two members of a church that recently formed in a growing area of Cincinnati. Our committee has provided resources and leadership to help them get started. They were excited about their future. They meet in a school and have about 75 adults and children attending on Sunday morning. They are reaching people who for the most part are unchurched. They are also involved in a local interfaith hospitality network that assists the homeless. One of the members said that most of the people who come are people in pain, suffering from personal problems and problematic transitions.

This group of people have a vital ministry. They have heard the call "to follow and make disciples," just like the men that Jesus called in our story in Mark. They could have kept fishing, but instead they left their nets and joined Jesus in his mission to "preach the good news."

What I heard last Wednesday morning was good news. It is a story that needs to be told. It is about people who are lonely, searching for fellowship and the presence of God in their lives. The two men who came to our meeting were professional men. They had taken time off from their work to report to our committee on their progress. They could have been sailing, or bowling, or golfing or shopping but no, they were participating in the call to follow Jesus.

About a week ago I wrote an article for the local newspaper. Writing is hard work, especially when your article is going to be published in the newspaper. I invested some quality time and believed my message about "grace" was a good one. On Sunday morning not one single person commented on my literary efforts. They just forgot I rationalized and didn’t lose any sleep over it. I must admit, however that a little appreciation now and then really feeds my ego. I thought to myself, "I could have been sailing."

On Monday morning, two working days after my article was printed, I received a postcard in the mail from a gentlemen who lives in a local retirement community. He said that my article was very good and told me to keep up the good work. He really made my day. He affirmed the necessity to "preach the gospel" even when you feel like you aren’t appreciated or could be doing something more fun.

Jesus called the fishermen to be "fishers of people." His mission required the efforts of disciples in order to continue the proclamation of the gospel. Responding to the call is a given for people who have faith. But in a world which puts so many demands on our lives it is easy to assign a low priority to responding to that call. We would rather be entertained or do things that don’t require a personal sacrifice.

In the January 2000 issue of Homiletics, there is a children’s sermon about fishing. The author says that "People who fish are often passionate, persistent and patient." To answer the call of Jesus requires passion. That means there is a genuine desire to reach out to people in pain or who are broken.

I don’t believe that for us to be people of faith means to quit our jobs or leave our families. For at the end of the gospel we find these same disciples back doing what they started out in the beginning, fishing in Galilee. Nevertheless, when we reach out to others it is sometimes necessary to remove the obstacles that stand in the way.

One time there was a high school in the inner city of Philadelphia that was wanting to improve it’s basketball program. It seems they could never win any games. A new coach was hired and he was convinced that the school had adequate talent. One day he noticed a group of youth playing at a park. He recognized one of the boys who was extremely talented. He asked him to come to practice but he never showed up. Several weeks later the coach stopped him in the hall and asked him what happened. Embarrassed, the boy made some lame excuse. Another boy approached the coach after school to tell him the real reason. "Coach," he said, "the boy has no tennis shoes." The coach immediately went out and bought a pair of tennis shoes and delivered them to the youth.

Sometimes, it is something simple that stands in the way, in this case a pair of tennis shoes. That is a small price to pay to help a young man have a sense of belonging. Notice that the disciples didn’t say to Jesus, "We will be along later" or "Wait until we finish our fishing trip." They went immediately. To be passionate about our faith is to respond when the opportunity presents itself.

Jesus wants us also to be persistent. When we don’t get strokes, (like not hearing positive comments about an article we wrote) we get discouraged. We think that no one is listening or that no one cares. When a friend or neighbor declines our invitation to come to worship we give up. Our friends at the new church start in Cincinnati delivered brochures to over 3,000 homes not once but three times. There persistence paid off for a few folks responded to their message.

In addition to passion and persistence, we also need to be patient. Whenever we invest ourselves in some project or mission we like to see results. We are driven by statistics and achieving certain goals. Jesus never got to attend a ground breaking ceremony for a new church or cut the ribbon for the dedication of a new church building. His understanding of being faithful was to call disciples to follow.

I believe that the church gets so consumed with maintaining the institution we forget the importance of calling others to follow. My experience in church development has taught me two important principles. First, a church grows when you are constantly inviting others to come and be part of the faith community. Second, people will come when we remove the obstacles that stand in their way, which for some could be simply the need of a pair of shoes.

I am glad that I went to that church development meeting last Wednesday. It reminded me, just as this story has done, to be passionate, persistent and patient about my faith.

By the way, my day last Wednesday didn’t end with the church development meeting. Since I had to go to Dayton for the meeting it afforded me the opportunity to take my daughter to lunch who has a birthday coming up. And there’s more. I had time to browse in the local seminary bookstore and search for books and resources. Even then my day was not finished. I also had the opportunity to visit my two grandchildren for an hour. That is a rare treat. And to think I started the day by saying, "I’d rather be sailing."

Just one last note. It just so happens that on that same day, in the evening, I had supper with two of my very closest friends. We haven’t seen one another since last summer. What was our reason for getting together on a snowy night in January? What else, but to plan our sailing trip to the Chesapeake Bay this summer.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio