I’m combining my moments with the children with my communion meditation because I’m hoping we’ll finish ahead of schedule and all stay to discuss the future of our church. What we’re really talking about is our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ and what it means to be a church.  In this morning’s gospel Jesus called his disciples to be “fishers of men” (and women, boys and girls).  So, here’s a story.

Once upon a time there was a group of people who called themselves Fisherfolk. They lived in an area surrounded by streams and lakes and rivers just filled with hungry fish. Week after week, month after month, year after year, they held meetings and talked about their call to be Fisherfolk. They sponsored special meetings known as Fisherfolk Campaigns, and built beautiful buildings called Fishing Headquarters. But, they didn't fish!

The board appointed a committee and held many meetings to talk about fishing and develop new strategies for fishing. They offered courses on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, and how to approach and feed fish. They felt that it was important to establish a good relationship with the fish so that the fish would be more receptive to them and some of them even went for advanced degrees in fishology, but none of them ever went fishing.

After one stirring meeting on The Necessity of Fishing, one young woman was so inspired she actually did go fishing. She reported the next day that she'd caught two outstanding fish, so they immediately scheduled her to go on a tour of meetings in order to tell others how she did it. So she quit fishing in order to have time to tell others about the experience. She was also promoted to the Fisherfolk General Board, which consumed even more of her time, so she had to give up fishing.

Meanwhile, the skeptics watched in amusement and criticized those who called themselves Fisherfolk, saying that they were wasting their time, that they weren't really Fisherfolk at all. "After all," they said, "you're not really following the Master who called you to be fishers of men and women, girls and boys. How can people who never catch any fish really claim to be Fisherfolk?"

We’ve got a lot of important work ahead of us in order to build this church. But, I hope we don’t get so busy that we forget to go fishing.

1. Darrel Robinson, A Plea for Fishing