Adam J. Copeland

First Pres Hallock, Minn.

Feb 7, 2010

Deep Water

Luke 5:1-11

Deep river, my home is over Jordan.

Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.

I wonder if that old African American Spiritual is a familiar one to our congregation. Its words are both simple and complex.

Oh, don’t you want to go to that gospel feast,
That promised land where all is peace?
Deep river, my home is over Jordan,
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.

What is that “deep river” in the old song? Is it the river Jordan? Is it a generic baptismal river reminding us of salvation in Christ? Or is it code for the Ohio River or the Mississippi River?

Many African American spirituals were just that, “code songs” or “signal songs” that slaves used to send messages of freedom, messages of hope to one another that their masters didn’t understand. So the slaves, when they sang Deep River, were singing of getting to heaven, but they were also singing of getting over the Ohio or Mississippi River to freedom in the north. Those were deep rivers to cross indeed, for if the slave did escape a plantation, one would be pursued by dogs and bounty hunters and, if caught, would meet a horrible fate.

But the slaves sang freedom songs, songs of faith. Their deep Christian faith kept them anchored in the Lord even when they lived in squalor and captivity. Even while enslaved, they sang of their freedom in Christ and their hope that one day, sweet Harriet Tubman, would be coming for to carry them home.

Deep river. Deep faith even while enslaved. A deep challenge for us because we live in relative abundance. As a society, we have more stuff than any could ever need. But how is our faith? As a professor of mine suggested pastors ask on their visits, “How are you with God?”

Today’s scripture lessons flood us with call stories: Isaiah’s, Paul’s, Simon Peter’s. If they share a common theme it is simply that the person called was not worthy. Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.” Paul says he is the least of the apostles, unfit because he once persecuted the church of God. And Simon Peter fell to his knees and begged when Jesus called him.

But they all, after a time, answered the call. God kept the floodgates of grace open and pushed them through to the deeper waters in a way they couldn’t hold back.n And their faith was deepened. Where is God pushing you? How is God challenging your faith in a way that is uncomfortable or scary, but ultimately helpful and holy?

Let’s take this story from Luke in particular. We pick up with Jesus standing by lake Gennesaret and the crowds pressing in on him to hear the word. Imagine, if Jesus had been preaching in a church, the congregation would be filling the front pews and pressing in at him in the space between the pews at the pulpit.

So Jesus gets a bit claustrophobic, and gets in the boat of a fisherman and puts out a little ways in the lake to get some elbow room. And Jesus preaches sitting in the boat. Now those fisherman had just returned from a long night of fishing, and they hadn’t caught a thing. Jesus met them when they were failures; fisherman who caught fish to put food on their table but who had come up empty that day. Well, as usual, Jesus had something up his sleeve and he tells them to put the boats out a little ways in the deeper water and try again.

Lo and behold the nets end up plumb full! They even had to call in another boat to keep theirs from sinking. Jesus is definitely the guy you’d want at your hole at the Lions Lake Bronson Fishing Derby today. He’d get that first place walleye no problem.

So there’s Simon Peter. Exhausted after a long night of fishing. Shown up in his own trade by this carpenter Jesus. And what does he do but fall down to his knees and cry that he is not worthy. Simon Peter calls Jesus Lord and tells him to go away because he’s a sinner.

Jesus, calm as a cucumber, says to Simon Peter and his buddies James and John, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” And, once they got to shore, the text says, “they left everything and followed him.”

It’s one of those texts that leaves so many questions unanswered: Why did they leave everything immediately? Couldn’t they have sold the fish first and said ‘bye’ to their families and bought travel insurance and then taken off? And, why did Jesus choose these guys? They were just poor fisherman. They weren’t particularly religious. And why did they trust this guy so much as to follow him in the first place?

And now that you mention it: what sort of faith were these fisherman showing? Deep faith? Blind faith? Hopeful faith? Who knows?

In the New Members/Refresher Class this morning we talked about some of the core beliefs of the Presbyterian tradition. One of those beliefs is that we don’t choose our salvation; God chooses us. Most Presbyterians believe we can’t earn our salvation by saying the right words or doing the right thing. No, grace isn’t contingent on anything we do. That’s why we Presbyterians baptize infants — because God isn’t waiting for the child to accept their salvation or be sent to hell; no, God already saved them on the cross.

But here’s the issue. A sort of downside to this very good theology. All this emphasis on what God does (rather than what we do), can make us a little lax and we can forget to respond to God’s grace. Simon Peter “left everything and followed Jesus,” but sometimes it seems like we horde everything and follow our own desires. Since Presbyterians tend not to be focused — like some are — on hell avoidance, we can neglect to our kingdom work in response to God’s grace and love for us. We can become ambivalent towards deepening our own faith.

I learned this week that a Christian motivational speaker is coming to town in a few weeks. His name is Reggie Dabbs. I watched some videos of him online and he does have quite a personality and an intense and captivating speaking style. So Reggie Dabbs is going to speak at the school in the afternoon of February 23rd, and then over at Grace Lutheran in the evening. The Assembly of God congregation is organizing the event, but they’ve asked all the churches to partner with them. We’ll talk about that more at Session next week. But since this passage speaks to Jesus’ call, and Simon Peter’s faith and response, we better start the conversation now.

I don’t know much about Reggie Dabbs, but from what I can gather from You Tube and other posts online, I’m guessing at his evening talk he’ll ask for folks to recommit their lives to Jesus in some way. Call it an altar call, or call it an invitation to deepened discipleship, but my impression is that there will be a point in the service where he asks people to repent of their sins and recommit themselves to Jesus.

I’ll be honest. This type of event makes me nervous. It can set youth up to think that Jesus only loves them if they are good, that only if they say certain words or have a certain prayer said that Jesus forgives them. Presbyterians believe that salvation isn’t something you earn by making a decision in a church basement, salvation is something that has already been freely given for you. So, such events do make me very nervous.

But, on the other hand, we might all do well to renew our faith, and remake our ways of following Christ. And if Reggie Dabbs helps us understand our particular faith better, then I’d be very grateful for him reminding us all that God’s love is always for us, that we are already forgiven before the words are even on our lips.

Who knows if Jesus would hold a Reggie Dabs type rally today, but we do know that Jesus call us to an intense faith. One that takes Simon Peter, James, and John to unknown places without even a minute of preplanning.

Deep river, my home is over Jordan.

Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.

Oh, don’t you want to go to that gospel feast,
That promised land where all is peace?

Don’t you want to follow Jesus to the deep waters of faith? Aren’t you a bit scared, but also excited to see where that journey takes us? Oh, don’t you want to go to that gospel feast?

Well, here it is. A gospel feast laid out for us on Christ’s table. Deep sustenance for our journey. A meal freely offered to which all our invited. Take a big piece. Drink deeply. Taste and see that the Lord is good.