Call to Worship
Even though we are spread throughout the Fylde:
We meet because the weeping Mary of Magdala once said: “I have seen the Lord!”
We meet because Jesus still comes into our locked spaces and says: “Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit.”
We are here today like doubting Thomas who finally cried: “My Lord and my God.”
We meet like Peter, tempted to forget the call of Jesus: “I’m going fishing.”
We’re meet because of Jesus, who asks us face-to-face: “Do you truly love me?”
We gather here to whisper timidly “Yes, Lord, you know that we love you.”
We meet as a congregation only because many faithful disciples have listened to Jesus’ words: “Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid!
Go and tell, ‘Jesus has been raised!”
Amen
Simon Peter says he is going fishing and the disciples go along with him.
I thank you, God, for the people who accompany me in my day-to-day activities;
and I pray that I will be able to take the risk of sharing Jesus with them.
Amen.
A prayer of confession (© Roots)
The net was full of fish yet did not break.
The disciples heard the voice of Jesus and just did what he asked of them.
Lord, sometimes my net is too full of ‘what ifs?’
If I had been down on that shore with Jesus, I might have spent time worrying
whether these were the right sort of fish for him, or whether the net would hold.
Please forgive me for all the times when I lack trust in you and I spend too much time worrying instead of just getting on and doing.
Forgive me for the times my life is too full of negatives, and not full enough of you.
Amen.
Please read John 21:1-14
Reflection
Peter was a boastful man! In John 13 Peter boasts that he “would lay down his life” for Jesus. But of course, when the time comes Peter cant live up to his boast. He makes it all the way to the courtyard of the high priest, where he stops by the fire to get warm. Then he denies Jesus three times before the cock crows.
We’ve all been Peter. Whether we have denied being followers of Jesus, or simply fallen victim to our own shame because of boastfulness. In John’s Gospel we also have this wonderful reminder that the story does not end with the shame and guilt of denial and self-anger.
Jesus sits at a fire – just like the fire from which Peter launched his great betrayal. This fire, however, signals a reversal of Peter’s shame.
At this fire, Jesus asks Peter to bring him more fish. Peter lands 153! Jesus feeds him!
This is a repeated pattern with Jesus. We see it earlier in the gospel when Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink, only to offer her living water so that she may never thirst. In this story, Jesus asks Peter for fish, but ends up feeding him—body and soul. Jesus forgives Peter.
Jesus will never take away the fact that Peter denied him. But Jesus can invite him in, feed him, and ask him to feed his sheep. Jesus takes away the shame of failure. Jesus redeems us in love and community.
Benediction
Remember this:
you have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
So live lives of reverence and awe.
Trust in God.
Love one another deeply, and with all your heart.
For you have been born again through the living and enduring Word of God.
Go in that assurance!
Suggested Music
I want to walk with Jesus Christ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB9tJGdIMwQ
Will you come and follow me? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o469PRLdbHU
There was Jesus – Zach Williams and Dolly Parton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNqhpRycfY
