Prayer and Position
This morning’s gospel raises the issue of how we pray.
When I served at St. Mary’s in Belleview, by God’s grace he led us to build a new sanctuary. There was a section for the organ and choir off to the left, facing the nave at about a 45-degree angle. However, the pews were too close together for kneelers. There, as here, the congregation knelt for the Prayers of the People, Confession, and part of the Eucharist. So, I suggested they lean forward, sitting toward the front edge of their seats. It would look like they were kneeling and also reverential.
They agreed. Well, almost all of them agreed. One woman said, “No.” She explained that she felt very strongly that she should stand to pray. This woman was very active in ministry, a true parish leader, and she was very serious. She was the only one of about twenty who felt that way, not even her husband.
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Never Let Go
Meg and I went through a brief phase where we were enamored of Ikea. If you’ve never been, it’s an enormous store filled with all manner of housewares and furniture. When you enter, you’re supposed to go up the escalator and wind your way through the upstairs and then the downstairs, finding what you came to buy along the way; resisting or not resisting a thousand impulse buys along the way. Then at the end are Swedish meatballs. Well, a little café that sells them because it is a Swedish company.
It's a dazzling piece of capitalism.
Their furniture is inexpensive in part because they’ve outsourced the assembly part to you. We once crammed a sofa and loveseat into the back of our minivan, and still had room to bring the kids home, too.
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Jesus Calling
As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake-for they were fishermen. And, He said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As He went from there, He saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee and his brother, John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. Matthew 4:18-22
We just heard Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James and John. He was calling them from something that they were very familiar with. He was calling them away from what had been the only life they knew and what appeared to be their life. They dropped everything and followed Him. My, what faith! Guts? All we know from scripture is that they were fishermen, living day after day in their profession. It doesn’t tell us if they had a passion for anything different than the only thing they knew, fishing.
What we do know is that Jesus had a plan for them.
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