“Putting Out into the Deep”
Luke 5:1-11
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Anybody remember these words from the Beatles:

“I’m just a nowhere man, living in a nowhere land, making lots of nowhere plans for nobody. Doesn’t have a point of view, knows not where he’s going to. Isn’t he a bit like you and me.”


Ever feel that way? You wonder what this life is all about. You question what you are doing or where you are headed. You are uncertain where you can fit in and make a difference.

It is precisely in these broken and uncertain times that God has the best chance of breaking through our hardened shells and debilitating fears. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus proclaims again and again.

I suspect, Peter was feeling much like a “nowhere man” when his call came to him. There he was on the shore after fishing all night and catching nothing. He was tired and caught up in the nets of his life unable to untangle himself.

And then much to his astonishment Jesus borrows his boat and asked him to push off from the safe shore and move out into the uncertain depths of the sea.

Yes, Jesus knew that Peter was exhausted. They hadn’t been fishing for fun but for a livelihood. They had caught a very disappointing…zero…nada…nothing! But even though he had caught nothing Jesus asked him to do something, and that something…”To go out into the deep waters,” and to “let his nets down.” The invitation sounds simple enough, but is it?

You see what Jesus was really asking Peter to do was to trust him. To trust him so much that he would be willing to leave the shallow places in his life and in his work and begin to explore the depths. “Come on Peter,” Jesus is saying, “TRUST ME!” It is a call to move a little bit deeper in trust.

I am convinced that all of us have been beckoned by God to go a little bit deeper in our relationship to God and to trust God’s divine protection and guidance. But all too often our response to that call echoes that of Peter’s.

No, Lord, there is no sense in me putting into the deep. I have fished those waters already. I don’t see any sense in this invitation. I have tried to follow you and it seems like I have come up empty handed every time. I am just tired. I would rather stay here on solid ground. SOLID – so we think!

We are good at resisting God’s call in our lives. I have said such things as: No, Lord, why don’t you ask somebody else. I’m not good enough, smart enough, young enough, or old enough. I’m not faithful enough. I’ve tried, Lord. I really have! But nothing seems to work.

But it is precisely at this point where Peter becomes a model for discipleship. It happens at the very moment when Peter responds to Jesus call by saying, “but if you say so.” Then off he goes, perhaps reluctantly -- out into the deep water and there he finds ABUNDANT LIFE like he had never imagined.

No, it is not an abundance of worldly wealth, but it is an awakening to the richness of God’s love and grace. Peter had been called to a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And so are we. (Pause)
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In a few short moments we will be asked to affirm a call for someone to join us here as a Co-Pastor to lend his gifts to us particularly in Administration, Young Adult and Family Ministry. Some have described such a move at Central as a giant leap of faith…..jumping off the deep end. I, for one, believe God is calling us to push away from the safety of the shore and to do a new thing here. And I trust that God will bless this thing we are about to do.

But, permit me one word of caution…..We all must know that this individual’s call is no less or no more important than YOUR call. For I am convinced that God has a purpose – a unique, specific, focused, powerful purpose – for each one of us here this day. Ones call, you see, does not simply spell out some action for us to take….Our call should also say to us, at the very core of our being, that we are the objects of God’s desire. Think about that.

Eugenia Gamble wrote…listen to these words not only with your ears but also with your hearts….She says, “The call that comes to us as Christians comes to us from a God who asks us to live fearless lives of risk and promise and to turn away from lives of barrenness, misplaced longing, and grief-stained apathy.”

Eugenia goes on to add, “You see, those first disciples who answered the call of our Lord…snapped out of the old understandings of life ruled by restrictions and an inner life ruled by faded hopes and festering shame. They snapped out of the despair of long-awaiting into the hope of a new day. Like cold water splashed on the face of a fainting person, the call from God brought them to their senses.”

Our calls begin in the heart of God. They come clearer in the stories of our faith. They whisper to us still when sitting by a river bank and the water reminds us of our baptism…the sign and seal of our calling. It is in those moments that we catch a glimpse of the person we might yet become. Our calls ring out in our hearts when we see need in our home, church and world…and we wonder…What can I do? They slice through our priorities with one phone call from a nominating committee or a spirit-nudge to go ahead and make that commitment to a particular congregation. They snatch us to our senses in the midst of a world gone mad…and we stop to think that it just doesn’t have to be that way.

And we begin to hear those words rising up in our throats; “Here I am, Lord, send me.”
You see it is a matter of trust...not in our own ability, but in God’s!!!

I have been told that the words, “Do not be afraid,” appear 365 times in the scriptures…Why that’s enough for each day of the year…OK be afraid on Feb. 29th of Leap Year……..

You see, to not be afraid to answer our call is to TRUST God in that calling. So may we mark this day as the day that the People of Central set aside their fears and began to live more deeply in the lavish love and grace of God!