And She Prevailed Upon Us

Scripture Lessons: John 14: 23-29 and Acts 16: 9-15 Sermon Title: And She Prevailed Upon Us Preached on May 26, 2019 This second Scripture Lesson that I’ve just read contains one of my favorite phrases used in the whole Bible, “And she prevailed upon us.” It’s not a verse that anyone should commit to memory because it contains some life-changing theological truth. This phrase in Acts 16: 15 isn’t like John 3: 16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Memorize that one because it will change your life, but remember Acts 16: 15, “And she prevailed upon us,” because in five words the author of the book of Acts describes my whole childhood. Maybe it describes my whole life, and to know the story of the Christian Church is to understand that there are many heroes like Paul, whose names we know, who had to be pushed to realize their full potential by certain women whose names we might have forgotten. In reality, the book of Acts is the story of the likes of Peter and Paul, who would have been nothing were it not for the likes of Lydia. That’s something like my story. I was raised in a family of strong women. My father’s mother raised him and his two sisters in a loving household, despite her husband’s alcoholism. My mother’s mother, Mrs. Peggy Bivens, was such a force that I never once challenged her, questioned her, or tested her. I remember one morning at her house when we were kids sitting at her kitchen table. Because we were coming to visit, she bought some muffins from Sam’s, special for my sister. This purchase was out of character. She stocked her pantry inspired by weight loss crazes of the 1980’s. She mostly lived on Tab cola and Special K cereal. So, I remember her putting one of these calorie laden Sam’s muffins in front of my sister and saying, “Elizabeth, I bought these special for you.” In that moment, my sister did something I thought was unadvisable. She said, “But Nanny (that’s what we called her), I don’t like those anymore.” After she said that, I remember my grandmother trying to convince my sister that in fact, yes, she did still like those muffins. My sister refused to submit to our grandmother’s determination to influence what she liked and didn’t like, which is the kind of thing that happens when there are two strong women in a family, neither willing to be prevailed upon. What my sister did is not what I would have done. Had it been me, it wouldn’t have mattered if they were peanut butter muffins and I had a peanut allergy. I’d rather face anaphylactic shock than the defy the iron will of my grandmother. A couple times I remember trying to tell her that I wasn’t hungry. Did you ever try that? Have your grandchildren ever tried that? Telling your grandmother that you aren’t hungry when she thinks you look too skinny is an exercise in futility. All this is just to say that I can imagine what it was like for Paul meeting Lydia. “And she prevailed upon us” is how our Second Scripture Lesson ended, and I know what that means. Now, being prevailed upon can be either good or bad. If you always allow yourself to be prevailed upon, you’ll lose yourself. Peer pressure can be like that, and peer pressure can be just plain evil, but in this instance, had Paul stood his ground, his bullheaded insistence might have stifled the spread of the Gospel. Thanks be to God, “she prevailed” upon him, because when she did, she expanded the spread of the Gospel beyond what any of the disciples might have imagined. Those disciples were prone to being narrow minded, despite the Savior’s best intentions. Without Jesus around to correct them, surely, he was nervous about who he was leaving his church to. In our First Scripture Lesson, Jesus had to warn the disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” He told them that he would be ascending into heaven, leaving the work of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth to them, but for them to do it, he must have known that they were going to need a little help. Why? Because that’s how we are. The choir sang, “every time I feel the spirit,” which makes me tap my foot a little bit. Already, that’s pushing me beyond my Presbyterian comfort zone. However, if we are to feel the Spirit, we have to be ready to sway to the music. We must be swept up in a greater vision, beyond what we could have imagined. If we never allow ourselves to be prevailed upon by God’s vision for our lives, we’ll never live into our full potential, which is bigger than whatever we had been planning for ourselves. I received an inspirational email last week. I’m on the High Point University mailing list because this woman I was having breakfast with at a conference prevailed upon me. Signing up for the email was easier than fighting her on it, and just this week the inspiring email said: “If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.” That’s a quote from someone named John Green. I don’t know who that is, but he’s right. However, I’d add to it, because what God does in our lives would defy our imagination, which is unfortunate for us, because what’s beyond our imagination scares us. I’ll give you a personal example. About two years ago a man named Jim Goodlet called me. At the time, I was happily serving a church in Columbia, Tennessee. Jim left me a message telling me that he was chairing a Pastor Nominating Committee to find a new pastor to serve the church I grew up in. Now why did I imagine he was calling me? I imagined he was calling me so I could give him the names of some people who might actually be qualified for the position. Never did I imagine that he would want to talk with me. Then a couple weeks later, after a few phone interviews, Jim Goodlet tried to get me to come down here to interview in person. Now that made it a little too real. I got scared then. Why would I do that, I wondered? Why would I even think about going down to Marietta, GA when I was perfectly happy in Columbia, TN. I told Jim that on the phone one day about two years ago, but guess what happened? He prevailed upon me, and it’s one of the best things that has ever happened in my life. How often is that the case? So often the best things in life, the greatest gifts we ever receive, are just like that. We get called out of our comfort zone. CS Lewis said it’s like a child making mud pies in the alleyway receiving an invitation to the seashore. What will she do? Will she go? Will she stay? Will she choose what is unknown and far beyond her reality or will she stick to the small joy of what she has. Will she allow God’s vision for her life to prevail upon her? Years ago our church faced the same choice with this Sanctuary. This Sanctuary was built to seat 400 worshipers. That’s a lot of people, especially when you consider that this Sanctuary that was built to seat 400 was built by a congregation of 96 members in 1853. What were they thinking? There may have had some slow-growth, fiscally responsible members of the congregation who suggested that they pace themselves, but someone like Lydia prevailed upon them and here we are today. You see, this is the way it goes. We have one idea in our head, we settle in to certain expectations and we get used to certain things, but every once in a while, someone like Lydia calls us to do something bigger. It happened in the neighborhood around Kennesaw Avenue last Thursday. Last Thursday if you drove on Maple Avenue or some of the other streets around the Westside School you might have noticed that so many of the mailboxes were decorated. Signs were up congratulating someone named Floyd. I didn’t know who that was, so I asked Chris Harrison our neighbor and he told me that their mailman, Floyd, was retiring after 35 years of delivering the mail. That his wife Katherine said, she’s lived in a house on Floyd’s rout for so long that she’s had a relationship with Floyd the mailman longer than with her husband Chris. This kind of thing doesn’t happen all the time. It doesn’t happen all the time that a mail carrier works for 35 years and retires, it doesn’t happen all the time that a neighborhood even stops to notice something like that, but someone like Lydia prevailed upon all of them. In that neighborhood her name isn’t Lydia. One’s name is Sarah Bullington, another’s name is Becky Poole, and I can imagine how those initial conversations went. “We should do something for Floyd,” one said to her husband. “Sure, we should,” he responded, and then went back to watching the Braves on TV. However, these women weren’t going to let this occasion pass without notice. So, they prevailed upon their husbands and their neighbors. They had a party in the street, raised enough money to send Floyd to Hawaii, and the whole story ended up on CNN. That’s what happens when we listen to the likes of Lydia. While all too often we resist these kinds of voices. By doing so, we stifle the Spirit. We settle for mud pies when God invites us to the beach. Lydia invites us to change the world, but we busy ourselves rearranging the furniture on the deck of the titanic. She reminds us that God speaks of justice on earth and righteousness in government, but what do we settled for? On the eve of Memorial Day, I realize how important the voice of Lydia is, for as the war drums beat again, we must listen to the voices of those mothers and fathers whose children will never come home, to learn again the price of war. Lydia would remind us, if we are faithful enough to listen, that while we have grown used to wartime, God would lead us in the ways of peace. Too often, we don’t imagine enough. We don’t allow God’s vision for the future to prevail upon us. To use Cassie Wait’s image from last Sunday, we don’t pull up enough seats to the table, limiting God’s grace. But what would have happened had Paul ignored Lydia’s voice? He started out this passage in Asia Minor, what is now Turkey. You can read in Scripture about the great signs and wonders performed through Paul and others during his ministry there, but today the skyline of every city in Asia Minor, is dotted with minarets. A journalist trying to follow the footsteps of Paul in Turkey arrived for Mass at the Church of Saint Paul in 1998 and joined a congregation of five other Christians. Macedonia on the other hand. On the cover of your bulletin is a picture of the ceiling of what is called the church of Saint Lydia in Macedonia, which we now call Greece. Thanks be to God she prevailed upon him. And may God, through the likes of such a woman, prevail upon you. Amen.

In Over Our Heads, But Not Alone

Scripture Lessons: Psalm 23 and Acts 9: 36-43 Sermon title: In Over Our Heads, But Not Alone Preached on May 12, 2019 You might know the comic strip, B.C. It runs daily in the Marietta Daily Journal, as well as most other papers, and is set at the dawn of time in the age of cavemen and cavewomen yet offers subtle commentary on our lives today. Last Wednesday that was especially true. In the first frame of the comic, the caveman or “cave-husband” announces, “I’ve invented the dishwasher.” Obviously, this is the first dishwasher ever invented, so in the second frame he demonstrates how one would place a plate in the rack of his new invention, as this is something that’s never been done before. But as he’s bending over and placing the plate in the rack, in the third frame the cavewoman comes up behind him to say, “Good grief! You’re doing that all wrong!” Husbands, has that ever happened to you? Every day that happens to me. Only, the truth is, to do things correctly, I often do need supervision. That’s true of many of us. On this mother’s day we have to give thanks to God for those women who keep us out of trouble. Most men need their mothers, spouses, sisters, and daughters for exactly this reason. If it weren’t for them many of us would be wearing only the t-shirts on top in our drawers and the same ties we bought fifteen years ago. However, I should be careful about making generalizations. Not all men are this way. Take Thomas for example. A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon on the disciple Thomas who doubts the other disciples when they tell him the Lord has risen from the dead. I tried to make the case that when Thomas doubts them, asking for proof, he’s actually being courageous. That would be consistent with his character illustrated elsewhere in the Gospels. In the Gospel of John Jesus said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” You’ve heard these verses. They’re read at most funerals. In response, you can imagine all the disciples saying, “Sure, we know the way.” However, Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” because he was the only man courageous enough to ask for directions. What he didn’t know, he asked about. That was Thomas. What about Peter? Peter is the one in the spotlight this week. He’s been called on to raise a beloved woman from dead. Sounds easy enough. The thing about Peter is that Jesus always believed in Peter more than Peter believed in himself. Do you remember when Jesus was walking out on the water and he called Peter to walk out with him? In the 14th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus was walking on the sea. Peter saw him with the other disciples and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come,” so Peter got out of the boat they were in, and started walking on the water, but then he noticed a strong wind, became frightened, and started to sink. What did Jesus do? Peter cried out in his distress and Jesus saved him. That’s what Jesus does when he’s around, but what happens when Jesus isn’t there to bail him out? That’s a question many mothers ask of their children: “What are you going to do when I’m not here to remind you to do your homework, pack your lunch, do your laundry, pay your bills, and make sure you pay attention to road signs?” On Wednesday, page two of the Marietta Daily Journal, was an article titled: “Bridge beam struck, take 19.” If you need a good reason to subscribe to the Marietta Daily Journal, coverage of trucks ignoring the height restrictions on the historic Concord Road Covered Bridge alone makes our local paper invaluable. The truck that did it last week was hauling a trailer, and I can imagine that the driver’s wife or mother wasn’t with him in the truck. Why? Because if she had been, she would have been doing the same thing the cavewoman was doing in the BC comic: “Good grief, you’re doing this all wrong! It says it right there on the sign. The trailer is too tall, honey.” You can imagine what it would be like if Peter were driving that truck. Without Jesus helping him through life he gets in all kinds of trouble. He wants to walk out on the water with the Lord. Jesus tells him, just don’t be afraid. Have faith. Peter can’t do it. He starts sinking. What will happen to Peter without Jesus around? Today is Mother’s Day. A day to acknowledge that without some people, like Peter, we would be a mess. I used to send our girls to preschool un-ponytailed. I’d have to say to their teacher, handing her a rubber band and brush, “Would you please help me with this? I just can’t do it.” We pack to go on a trip. Sara asks our girls and me whether or not we packed enough underwear. This is how it is. On Mother’s Day we have to give thanks for the people who were there helping us figure out how to make it in this world. And we do have to figure it out, because at some point we have to do it without mama there to help us. For Peter it wasn’t mama. It was Jesus, but it’s the same thing. He had seen Jesus do what the widows were asking Peter to do, only it’s one thing to ride in the back seat of a car and it’s another thing to drive. When Peter found himself in an upper room with Tabitha laying in state, clean and completely dead, you can imagine why he asked everyone to leave the room where she lay. It’s so he could panic. “Please come to us without delay,” was the message these widows sent to Peter. “I thought they just wanted me to preach,” I can imagine Peter saying, only there’s more to being a disciple than preaching. Being a disciple also demands a lot of doing, so Peter went, and I’ve been asked to do enough that was out of my comfort zone and beyond my abilities to have some idea of what it must have felt like for him to be there in that room with Tabitha, a crowd of her friends full of unrealistic expectations right on the other side of the door. There are so many moments in life that demand too much from us. And the worst is when I realize so clearly that there’s no one else to help. It has to be me. Mama wasn’t there to do it for him. Jesus wasn’t around to do it either. It had to be Peter. Do you know what that feels like? I can just imagine what images thinking this way might bring up to your consciousness. In this room today are sons who became fathers. Daughters who became mothers, and some who then became mothers to their own mothers. Right here in this sanctuary are those who long ago went to doctors when they were sick, then became doctors themselves, only now in retirement they have to get used to being the patient again. And I’m up here preaching this morning, but who’s in the choir? The man I grew up listening to. Here I am, and if you think it doesn’t terrify me every time, you’d be wrong, because it does. Only walking out in faith into unchartered territory is what life demands. Jesus calls us to walk out on the water and into the room where the dead woman lies, for if we only do what we’re comfortable doing, we never find out what He’ll do through us if we just trust him. If we never have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we never learn that just when we think we’re all alone, we’re not. though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; [why?] for you are with me. That’s how it was with Peter. He “put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed.” What did he pray, you might wonder, and I don’t know what he prayed, but had it been me my prayer would have been something like, “Lord, I don’t know how I got into this, but you’re going to have to get me out, so work through me please!” It must have been like the prayer uttered by all those who have to say goodbye but don’t believe they have the strength to do it. The kind of prayer voiced by those who need a miracle to make it in a world without their mother by their side. It must have been like the prayer moaned by the desperate and overwhelmed who know what it feels like to drown, in or away from the water. Peter must have prayed the same prayer that we all pray when we suddenly realize that “if it is to be, it is up to me.” That’s a Harvey Mackay quote. He is a seven-time New York Times best-selling author, who among other books, wrote one called “Beware of the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt.” Jean Ray quoted him to me, and it struck me because I have an idea of what it must have felt like to be in that room. To know that it fell to you to speak, but to realize as you utter the words that you’re not alone at all, because this is exactly what they prepared us for. After praying he turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” It’s a powerful moment, but it’s in moments like this that we so truly know that we’re hardly alone and that we are capable of far more than we ever dreamed. However, our fear would keep us from even trying. Too often we’re so consumed with fear we just sink down into the water. Fear that we’re not enough and never will be ensures that we never live up to what we’re capable of. Last Thursday in the paper was a quote from Laurence J. Peter, a Canadian born educator who said, “Television has changed the American child from an irresistible force into an immovable object.” I got a lot of material out of the MDJ this week, didn’t I? But Mr. Peter is right. Those how only watch TV fall asleep to what they’re capable of. While those kids who walk into our Club 3:30 program hear something else. Their graduation was last Wednesday night, and the speech that struck me the most was from one of the graduates of the program, now a college graduate, and former recipient of the Peggy Bullard Scholarship. Daniel Leon got up there and said, “I want to thank all of you who helped me with my homework, but especially Libba Schell, who would say to me week after week, “one day you’re going to be my doctor or my lawyer.” What gift that was to him, as now he goes out into the world knowing he has the potential to do far more than he’d ever imagined. Like him and like Peter, we have to walk out onto the water, knowing that life may be overwhelming, but we’re never alone. Even when it fell to Peter to say the words, still Christ was with him. For when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with us. And even when we walk out these doors to do who knows what and to go who knows where, we may be in over our heads, but we are never alone. Amen.

Follow Me

Scripture Lessons: Psalm 30, John 21: 1-19 Sermon Title: Follow Me Preached on May 5, 2019 The book of Exodus tells about manna in the wilderness. “A fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground” that the Israelites lived on as they traveled through the wilderness, from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. An interesting thing about this manna is that it had an expiration date. Some of the people tried to keep some of their manna from one day into the next, but it “bred worms and became foul.” That sounds gross, but a lot of things are that way. Mostly, they are obvious: milk, fish, house guests. However, other things go foul too. Many things, not immediately obvious, will collect worms and become foul if they aren’t used responsibly and in a timely manner. Money for one and time for another. Officially, the Presbyterian Church has called today “Wills Emphasis Sunday.” It seems odd to add “Wills Emphasis Sunday” to a church calendar that includes Easter and Christmas, but wills are important. Considering what greed does to human hearts and how either want or abundance can hurt families, wills are worth thinking about. You’ve seen how siblings will become more like circling vultures in times of death when an inheritance is contested, so making a will must be emphasized because money will collect worms and become foul when selfishness invades our hearts. Time is that way too. Last Friday I was at the Zoo chaperoning a field trip, and right next to the nice, open gorilla habitat that’s there now is a statue of Willie B. As a child I remember going to visit Willie B the gorilla in his one room in the ape house. I remember how sad he looked in there, and how someone got him a TV. I remember staring at him, confined to his four walls, all alone and with nothing to do but watch TV. It was sad, because watching TV all the time when you were born to live in the jungle will do something to you, and fishing will do something to you if you were born to change the world. After everything they’d seen and heard they went fishing. Now, if there is plenty of time to be a disciple, then there’s no harm in spending an evening going fishing. It had been a stressful chain of events for the disciples, after all. They saw their Lord arrested and crucified. They were terrified of being arrested and killed themselves, so these men acted out of fear and ran or denied him. Then there was the funeral, which is physically and emotionally exhausting in and of itself, but after the funeral his body disappeared from the tomb. That wasn’t expected. The empty tomb demanded that they stretch their minds according to what they never imagined possible. Then he appeared to them, risen from the dead, inviting them to touch and see the wounds left by a cruel society, but healed by God. Can you imagine a more eventful few days? Had I been in their position, after all that I would have wanted to take a long nap, eat a big dinner, and spend the next few days at home. Maybe you would have hiked the mountain or hit the golf course. These disciples decided to go fishing. In one sense, if they were just doing that to relax, then you can understand why. Maybe they needed a break, but there’s a difference between taking a break and putting your life on hold. That’s a real temptation. There’s a thing now called a “Gap Year” that’s meant to be a break. After High School, some students wisely take a year to consider what they want to do with their lives. This year of thinking and exploring can lead to students going to college or a career more mature and directed than they would be otherwise, which is good. If you go to college, it’s good to go knowing what you want to do with your life and motivated to get the training to go and do it. However, some take a gap year, travel and relax, and decide that’s what they’d like to do with their lives. I remember being a Senior in College, thinking I’d like to make a life out of being in college. It was great. My friends were there. There were parties to go to. My parents paid for everything. That won’t work, because education is meant to prepare us for life, and if we put off living, we’ll collect worms and become foul. Do you know anyone like that? The disciples went fishing, but this was symbolic more than it was relaxing. After everything they’d been through, the Gospel of John is telling us here that they ended up where Jesus had found them in the beginning. To Jesus it must have seemed as though all his work and all his teaching had done nothing. As though the end of year Milestone Results come in, and his students had the same score they had at the beginning of the school year. They went back to fishing, and this is bad, because time has an expiration date, and if we don’t use the time we have to the Glory of God we will collect worms and become foul. I didn’t take a gap year in between high school and college, but after graduating college and before starting seminary I fell back on the only work experience I had, lawn maintenance. After all that tuition my parents paid, I went back to doing the thing that I had done before college over at the Winnwood Retirement Home. The only thing different was that after college I got a job cutting grass in Buckhead instead of Marietta. In case my parents concern with this career choice hadn’t made the point clearly enough, I’ve told you before how I remember a woman pointing me out as I worked in her yard and whispering too loudly to her children, “That’s why you go to college kids, so you don’t have to do that.” And it’s not that there’s anything wrong with a career in lawn maintenance, but Jesus is making the same point to Peter. That while we can serve the Lord anywhere, there’s a big difference between using our time and our treasure in service to God and killing time and wasting our money. There’s a difference between relaxing and avoiding. There’s a difference between sleeping in and hiding from the world. There’s a difference between looking at your phone to check the time and looking at your phone to check out from our life. So, some people fish to make a living, other people fish to take a break from what they’ve been doing, while these disciples were fishing to put off doing what they’ve been called by God to do. So, Jesus had to show up once again. Described in our Second Scripture Lesson is the third time the Resurrected Jesus revealed himself to his disciples. He has to keep showing up to tell them what they should have known and get them to do what they should have been doing. That’s the way it is with people though. We have to be encouraged, then encouraged again, and sometimes something still holds us back from doing what we know we should. I’ll run into people at the grocery store who will say, “Pastor, I’ve been meaning to get back to church.” “That’s great,” I’ll say. “A lot has changed. How long has it been?” “10 years or so,” they’ll say, and might add, “In fact, it’s been so long that now I’m afraid everyone will wonder where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.” One of the worst things about procrastination is that if you put something off for long enough you feel too ashamed to just go and do it. So, it was with Peter. Jesus called to him. He was so excited, but did you notice this detail: “When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.” What does it mean that he put on clothes to go swimming? Most people don’t do that, but I know a woman who was taking a shower when a tornado swept through town, and her last, most desperate prayer, was, “Please Lord, don’t let me die and my body be found naked.” That’s how it is. When we’re innocent babies, completely comfortable in our own skin, we just wander around regardless of who sees what. Then something changes. Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, then they made clothes to cover their nakedness. A child wonders if he’s too thin or too big and is afraid to take his shirt off. We cover up ourselves with make-up or whatever, hiding ourselves even before the God who stitched us together in our mother’s womb. Here the Gospel writer is telling us that Peter was excited to see Jesus but in seeing him he felt such shame that he had to get dressed before jumping in the water. He couldn’t stand before him like a newborn, innocent, baby. No. He had denied the Savior three times, then didn’t know what to do with himself, so he went back to fishing. You can imagine. What happens next on the shore is significant. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” When they had finished breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” but maybe you know why the question, like his denial, came in threes. And maybe now you know why Jesus had to show up to Peter again. All the time we put off what must be done for shame holds us in the past while the future passes us by. So, Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” I didn’t understand this part of the story for a long time, but now I do. As a new Associate Pastor, I was honored to be asked by a mother to baptize her child. However, the Senior Pastor wanted to do it. Well, that might have been OK, had I told the mother before we made it to the baptismal font. When the Senior Pastor took the child from her, as the water was marking her infants head, this mother was holding back tears and rage. The look on her face made me want to go fishing. I told my friend George all about it the next morning over breakfast. He looked me in the eye and said, “Well Joe, you really messed up.” That’s not exactly what he said. What he really said can’t be repeated in church. Then he said, “But it’s OK, because you’re going to do it different next time.” We only have so much time before we run out of it. Because the clock is ticking, this church has to be the kind of place where people are set free from shame to live their lives because that’s what Jesus does. He doesn’t give Peter a guilt trip for dragging his feet. He fed him, forgave him, and sent him out to feed God’s sheep. The question he asked Peter is the same one he asks us: Will you feed his sheep? We don’t have enough time to fish any longer. Live today for all it’s worth, and pass on the grace and forgiveness that you have received while you still can. Amen.