September Newsletter

Cast Your Nets...

At the end of August I started reading Fishing Tips by the Rev Dr. John Pentland. In this book John shares some of his learnings from the transformation that has taken place at Hillhurst United Church in Calgary since 2004. John is clear that he is not trying to right a “this is how to become a great church” manual. He is sharing what happened for them, with the hope that there may be some wisdom other congregations can use to explore what kind of a church God is calling them to be.

The Scripture passage John says sparked the structure of the book comes from the Gospel of John. It is an Easter story. Peter and the others have returned to Galilee and their lives as fishermen. They fish all night and catch nothing. Then a stranger on the shore tells them to try casting their nets on the other side of the boat. Why should they listen? They know how to fish! But sometimes anything is worth a try – and they catch so many fish they can hardly bring in the net.

In the Church this story has been used to remind ourselves (or to teach ourselves) that sometimes we intentionally have to do things differently to allow for renewal or growth or rebirth. It is a challenge, because often our corporate reaction is “don’t tell us what to do! We know what we are doing!”. But the reality is that some of what we do is timeless and some of it it universal, and much of it is limited to a certain context and time.

Earlier this year I asked folks to consider what the “big rocks” are in our life as a faith community. I want us to know what we understand to be the most important things to do as a faith community as we set priorities over the next year. A related question is “what do we do well?”, what do we do that is different, what do/can we do better than other parts of our community. Once we sort out those things we can look at what resources we need and what resources we have to make those things happen.

But I want us to be open to the voice on the shore that says “try the other side!”. In the Gospel story, once the net is full of fish the disciples eyes are opened and they see that it is Jesus on the shore. What does he know about fishing? He was a carpenter after all? Some scholars have suggested that from the shore maybe he could see a shadow in the water that showed where the school was swimming. Possibly so. But I think that throughout his ministry Jesus is trying to make people see differently. Jesus continuously tries to make people understand that it is time to do life differently, that in the difference is where God can break in. I suggest that this is still just as true.

Maybe we need the voice of those on the edges, or even outside the community who see the things we can’t see. Maybe we need the voice that reminds us that just because one approach or activity or style has been meaningful in the past it may have had its day.

But at the same time we need the voices that remind us why something had meaning, why something worked before. Because there might still be wisdom there to live by.

When I started seminary 25 years ago a recurring theme in my theology class (at least one I heard) was that tradition was problematic. A recurring theme I hear in many organizations is that tradition is the guidepost by which we need to live. I think neither statement is true (especially given my mother’s definition of a tradition as “something we tried once and it worked”). I think tradition can be problematic, it can also be helpful. When we plan we need to talk through and see which side it falls on in each instance.

And so I ask you. Where do you hear God challenging us to throw the nets on the other side? Where do you hear God calling us to keep on keeping on? (I suspect that some of your answers will contradict each other.) Where are our traditions moving us forward? Where are they holding us back in a changed community? And along those lines, if there was one big piece of ministry you would love to see the congregation take on or expand or revive in 2017-2018 what would it look like?

GORD