plenty of fish, plenty of love

Sixth Sunday in Easter ● May 5, 2024

Pastor Jeff Wells © 2024

You can view the full worship video recording at:

https://youtu.be/LG9sB3h-bJ4?si=84fOmm6eJ7RgVRFZ

Scripture Readings: John 20:19-29 (Inclusive Bible)

The reading text is provided at the end of this sermon.

This is a day that God has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! God made this day with us and thousands of others – with our collaboration, courage, resilience, and persistence over decades and generations. God inspired us to keep on striving and struggling, even in times when we lost hope that the United Methodist Church would ever change for the better – that it could ever become fully inclusive for all – especially for our Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, plus siblings. History was made this week and it is very good news! 

Let’s begin by reflecting on the scripture lesson today, which we chose a week before the General Conference began. Before we had in mind that this General Conference was going to be very different from those we had experienced. This story from the Gospel of John is often referred to as “Jesus on the beach.” It is one of several stories in the Gospels of Jesus appearing to his disciples after he was hung on a cross and died. As in some other tales of encounters with Jesus, at first, the disciples do not recognize Jesus. Something special has to happen that helps them to “see” in a different way who is before them. In this case, they have been fishing all night and have caught nothing – zero fish. This unidentified man says, “Cast your net off to the starboard side and you’ll find something.” This time, they haul in almost more than they can handle – 153 fish! That’s enough not only for their families, but enough to feed a small village for several days! Suddenly, the oddly labeled, “disciple who Jesus loved” – I thought he loved all of his disciples – anyway, this disciple suddenly says, “It’s the teacher!” Then, of course, Jesus insisted they come and have breakfast on the beach – because that’s what he always did and taught us to do – we have to share a meal together and to Jesus and experience his presence. We take time to thank God for the gifts of bread, fish, and grape juice the Earth and our labor provides for us share with one another, and we build relationships and community with one another. It’s communion, you see – one of the very important ways the spirit of Jesus shows up for us repeatedly, in which we experience God’s presence, and we are reminded again to love one another.

Well, the spirit of Jesus showed up and was felt in amazing ways these past two weeks at the UMC General Conference. Can I get an amen? Let’s be clear – God is present continuously and the Jesus shows up at every General Conference, but that does not guarantee that everyone present will be moved in the same ways. And it does not assure what is deliberated and decided will align with God’s desire for goodness, love, justice. 

God was present and at work and Jesus showed up in every General Conference and all the times in between. While there were often defeats, loss, harm, and lament, there were also always moments of joy, courage, partial advances, and deep, loving community. 

This has been a long and difficult road. Some of us have been on this journey for longer than the Israelites wandered in the desert wilderness. It was the 1972 General Conference that voted to include in the Book of Discipline, the hateful and hurtful phrase, “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” The majority at that General Conference also condemned marriage between members of the same sex. Yet, God was there, Jesus showed up. Much good legislation was approved at that GC, but these awful things were approved that haunted and hindered the UMC for 52 years. Those words have now been stripped from the UM Social Principles and the UM Book of Discipline, along with all of the anti-Queer hate that has been codified and reinforced in the rule book of the UMC over many General Conferences. Today, there is no more ban on same-sex weddings. No more ban on LGBTQ+ clergy. No more “fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness.” Instead, what is now proclaimed, not in print, but in hearts and spirits and voices is this: hatred, homophobia, and Transphobia that are incompatible with the love and teachings of Jesus!

Queer Methodists and their accomplices have been taking on this fight for love and justice since at least the aftermath of the Stonewall Uprising in 1969, when the United Methodist Church began to divide over whether or not it would be an inclusive church. 

The congregations in this building – Metropolitan Duane UMC and then the Church of the Village – have, since the time of Stonewall, had a membership that is 40-50 percent LGBTQ+ persons along with strong allies and accomplices in the movement for love and justice. So, the joy we feel is very personal and so is the lament. We remember Rev. Ed Egan, who was the pastor of Metropolitan Duane in the 1970s. That was the congregation that inhabited this building before it became part of Church of the Village in 2005. Ed had been a leader in the movement for Lesbian and Gay rights since the 1950s. Ed was forced to retire in 1977, when an anonymous group of 9 members of the congregation outed him to the Bishop and District Superintendent and demanded he be replaced. Ultimately, the Bishop and DS gave in to them, in spite of the strong support Ed had among the leadership of Met Duane. 

We also remember Rev. Paul Abels, who served as the pastor of the Washington Square UMC in the early 1980s – another congregation that helped to found the Church of the Village. Paul was the first openly gay pastor in any Christian denomination in the U.S. When the 1984 General Conference passed the ban on gay clergy, Paul felt compelled to retire. Ed Egan and Paul Abels are heroes of our movement for radical inclusion. You can find memorial plaques to each of them in our Chapel of the Beloved Community downstairs.

These past two weeks, 52 years of hate and harm was deleted from the Book of Disciple. And a lot of good stuff was added, too. Here are a just a few important pieces:

• an expanded and more holistic sexual ethic

• a pathway to the reinstatement or pastors who had their clergy orders taken away for being Queer or for performing a same-sex wedding

• an updated call to racial justice and mechanisms to implement that in the UMC

• Deacons now have the authority to celebrate communion and baptisms

• Gender is now included as being of sacred worth

It’s been a long road. Let us never forget all those who worked and prayed for this day, but did not live to see it. I believe they and their contributions live on in God. Many others lost hope or were too wounded by the struggle and felt unable to remain in the United Methodist Church. Today we remember and celebrate all of their contributions, too. 

So many pastors, leaders, and members of the Church of the Village, its predecessor churches, and sibling congregations in this struggle prayed, advocated, spoke out, and acted out. I am grateful to all of them. I am very grateful for the work of Methodists in New Directions in the New York Annual Conference and for Affirmation, the Reconciling Ministries Network, and the Queer Clergy Caucus across the UMC for their difficult and tireless efforts that led to this moment.

I thank God for all the ways she/they helped us to find solace, sanctuary, and love in the midst of all of this. I trust that God will lead us toward healing for all of the hurts that can be healed and the broken relationships that can be mended. Surely, God will help us to change the hearts that can still be changed and transform aspirations into lived experience.

The journey isn’t over. There is still plenty to be done. But we have created the possibility for a much more inclusive, loving, and just church. 

Rejoice, friends! It’s a new day in United Methodism. There will be no more charges and no more church trials of clergy for being Queer or performing same-sex weddings. Hallelujah! Never again will the UMC declare Queer people “incompatible.” Hallelujah! The ban on same-sex weddings is eliminated for good. Hallelujah! From this day forward, if you feel called to be a pastor in the UMC, no person and no board or committee in the denomination can hold you back because of your sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. Hallelujah! Finally, Love has won! – Hallelujah!

Beloved, Jesus shows up and teaches us, over and over, there is plenty of fish and plenty of bread, so welcome everyone to the table and share all that you have with one another. And there is plenty of love too. The boundless love of God is in you and working through you, so love one another in all the ways you are able. This is the message. This is the good news. This is the way of abundant life. Live it out in the spirit of Jesus.

John 20:19-29 (Inclusive Bible)

Later Jesus again was manifested to the disciples at Lake Tiberias. 

This is how the appearance took place. 

Assembled were Simon Peter, Thomas “the Twin,” 

Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s children, and two other disciples. 

Simon Peter said to them, 

“I’m going out to fish.” 

“We’ll join you,” they replied, 

and went off to get into their boat. 

All through the night they caught nothing. 

 Just after daybreak, Jesus was standing on the shore, 

though none of the disciples knew it was Jesus.  

Jesus said to them, 

“Have you caught anything, friends?” 

“Not a thing,” they answered.  

“Cast your net off to the starboard side,” Jesus suggested, 

“and you’ll find something.” 

So they made a cast and caught so many fish that they couldn’t haul the net in. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved cried out to Peter, 

“It’s the Teacher!” 

Upon hearing this, Simon Peter threw on his cloak – he was naked – 

and jumped into the water. 

Meanwhile the other disciples brought the boat to shore, towing the net full of fish. They were not far from land – no more than a hundred yards. 

When they landed, they saw that a charcoal fire had been prepared, 

with fish and some bread already being grilled. 

“Bring some of the fish you just caught,”

 Jesus told them. 

Simon Peter went aboard and hauled ashore the net, 

which was loaded with huge fish – one hundred fifty-three of them. 

In spite of the great number, the net was not torn. 

“Come and eat your meal,” Jesus told them. 

None of the disciples dared to ask, “Who are you?” – 

they knew it was the Savior. 

Jesus came over, took the bread and gave it to them, 

and did the same with the fish. 

This marked the third time that Jesus had appeared to the disciples 

after being raised from the dead.