Simple Times: John 21:1-19

He is Risen indeed.



I am so excited about being here, in this place, at this time, with all of you.



I have heard more ministers whine and complain about the sunrise service. How you have to get here early. It makes you tired for the later services. Yada, Yada, Yada.



But not me. If I were to have only one chance to go to one service the entire year, this would be it.



I’ve always been wired a little bit differently than most, I guess.

Because I like things simple.



If you gave me the choice between two things, I will usually choose the simpler option.



I prefer writing on a piece of paper with a pen than typing on the computer.



If you were to give me the option of driving a speedboat or paddling around in a canoe, I’ll take the canoe.



I know a lot of you are campers. So am I. But if you were to give me the option an RV with a satellite dish, stove, bed, etc. Or a backpack with a tent strapped to it, I’ll pick up the backpack and start walking.



It’s just how I have always been.



And on Easter Sunday, churches go all out. Special music. Fancy clothes. New decorations.



As they should. I mean, its Easter for crying out loud!



The day we spend the entire year preparing for, and the rest of the year trying to understand. The day around which our entire faith is based. Where the gracious love of God is shown in its most purest form. Where we learn and know that God is merciful and grace-filled. Where we look forward to a future with hope because of who Jesus Christ calls us to be.



But it is at the sunrise service, where we gather simply. With close friends and family. Outdoors, with the sky as our ceiling and the grass as our carpet. With folding chairs as our pews, and a rickety lectern as our pulpit. Celebrating together, the love we know is the most powerful force in the world.

I like things simple.



Because I get overwhelmed when things are complicated.

Thank God I’m married to the wonderful woman that I am because without her, our finances would be in sorry state. I don’t like dealing with money, because it is complicated. Trying to haggle for the best deal or the best price. Trying to arrange things for the biggest tax breaks. Trying to “play” the stock market. I don’t know how people “play” the stock market, because that seems like one of the most complicated games in the world.



Or when my schedule gets too busy, I get overwhelmed. Trying to coordinate and evaluate and prioritize; it just gets to be too much. And my typical response is that I have so much to do, that I rarely get anything done.



You probably know this feeling. With kids schedules. Baseball games and practices to coordinate. Meals to plan and cook. Shopping to be done. Work to finish. Stores to manage. Animals to feed. Family to see. All of it, a part of life. It gets too complicated and overwhelming at times.



And we grasp at things to help. We grasp at a self-help book. New technology to help us coordinate. We buy our food already prepared, or order it from somewhere else. And sometimes, just sometimes, we grasp at blame to help us cope.

It is our spouse’s fault for not doing enough, it is the government’s fault for putting an extra burden on us, it is the school’s fault for asking us to volunteer.



And sometimes, we turn to what we know we can do, rather than face the complications surrounding us. We know we can check our brains out and watch TV or play on facebook. We know we can immerse ourselves in our work or family, and neglect everything else. So we turn to that. We turn to something else, anything else, rather than dealing with life.

I feel that too. I think everyone feels this way sometimes, but we don’t like to admit it. And Jesus disciples felt that too.



They had just been through an ordeal! Following Jesus, seeing the trial, seeing the horrific death, meeting him again after life…it just got to be too much to handle.



So Peter said, I’m going fishing, and the others agreed.

Basically, Peter is announcing, I’m going to do the one thing I know to do rather than deal with everything else that has gone on. It was a great experience, following Christ, I’m glad I went through it, but its over now, so I’m going back to what I know, and the others agreed.



Probably a good idea. Its more secure. Got to have food on the table and a roof over our head after all.



But it doesn’t work. At least, not until Jesus shows up again. Then, they get more fish than they can handle. Then, they are told, there is even more fish to come! Then, they are asked, do you love me? Then you need to look after my sheep.

In the church, Easter is a big deal. Ministers all over the country will collapse on their couches this afternoon in exhaustion. People will go to their homes or restaurants and eat brunch. And will get up tomorrow at 6am, get the kids clothed and fed, and send them on their way, kiss our spouse goodbye then go to work, and think, back to the same thing.

But then Jesus shows up again! This is tremendous news!

Jesus shows up where we work and tells us that he is still calling us loved. I tell Georgia and Meredith every day that I love them. Every day. And I mean it every time I say it.

And Jesus shows up where we are and says it to us. In every way.



And to tell you the truth, that complicates things a bit. It complicates things for the disciples. Now they have been called to something more.



When they tried to run back to their old routine, Jesus calls them to something more. The old routine is still there, but now Jesus is there too.



The classroom is still there. The kids are still there. The sports are still there, but now Jesus is there too.



We are called to love one another. And so when we meet someone, we share the love of Christ with them.

One day, a priest was walking down the street. He was traveling through a part of town that he really shouldn’t have been in, because he was white, and there was a law in South Africa that said he was better than the people he was walking among. He passed a young mother and her son. And he smiled and nodded, and continued on his way. He shared the love of Christ with them, in however a small way. That young man decided that if a priest can share love like that, then he wanted to be a priest. He grew up and studied, and changed the world. His name was Desmond Tutu. The priest’s name was Father Trevor Huddleston.



Easter does not call us to escape from life with our faith. But instead reminds us that Jesus is Life. Jesus shows up in all places. And in every aspect of our lives tells us to love one another.



Easter tells us that Jesus is risen. And continues to rise. Just as the sun rises every day over our world, and we rise from our beds, Jesus rises every day in our heart.



I am so excited to be here. In this garden, with you, and with our risen savior Jesus Christ. Who no matter how layered and complicated our lives may be, enters in, and gives us life abundant.



The question that is before us, is not whether we will escape or not, but will we invite others into this higher calling? Because Easter is not just one day, but every day. And Easter is not just in the church, but sometimes its Jesus showing up on the shore of a lake. Jesus showing up in our lives. Every day.



And so I want to close with the command that Jesus commands at the end of scripture. I’m alive and I am life…follow me.