June 2, 2013
Texts:
Luke 5: 1-11
1 Cor. 1: 25-31
My entry into the Church of the Saviour community was in 2005, though the seed was planted sometime in the late 90’s and happened this way. At that time my family and I were attenders of Adelphi Friends Meeting, and one of the things I value about the unprogrammed worship of Quakers is that if—a very big ‘if’--if a message arises out of the silence and is the prompting of the Holy Spirit, it can be a very powerful experience. One day during worship a message was given by someone who said she had been to a church in Washington, D.C., and had heard someone preaching who was more authentic in his Christian witness than anyone she had heard preach before,and whose name was Gordon Cosby. Although I am poor at remembering names, this name I would remember. Some years later, in search of a church with a more overtly Christian expression, I decided to check out Gordon Cosby’s preaching at the ecumenical service on 2025 Massachusetts Ave.
As I have been reflecting on my journey within the Church of the Saviourfaith community, what claims my attention as I look back is the sense that these experiences are not accidental or the result of sheer chance. Nor have they come about merely through my own or others’ efforts:God has been calling me to be in the places where my growth in the Spirit is to occur. And so this led me to reflect a bit about “call.”
How we understand the meaning of call necessarily engages our ideas about whoGod is, and God’s purpose for us.God is the One who calls;we are the ones who respond. It is not an impersonal ‘force’ or ‘principle’ or ‘abstract truth’ that calls us and invites our response. And God calls us, not as someone “on high.”Rather, we are called by the One who knows us intimately and is actively present with us, who knows and cares aboutthe details of our lives. If the origin of call is God’s Holy Spirit, its ultimate purpose is for good, for the blessing of one’s self and the world. Were it not so, why would we take “call” seriously, much lesscommit ourselves to trying to live it out?In calling us, God is drawing us ever closer to God’s own heart, that our gifts may be realized and shared.
Many fruitful calls have been and are nourished in the faith community of the Church of the Saviour: Christ’s House, Joseph’s house, The Family Place, and more recently--the call to racial reconciliation; toname but a few—the list goes on and on. If any one of us feels that his/her own call is less significant than these, let us know that God’s most essential call is to love. We love because God first loved us.
I find over and over again the witness of God is love and is what makes trust possible. But at times the tension can feel very great of holding this faith, this trust, together with the knowledge of immense suffering and crises looming, not to mention our own problems and concerns which can destabilize us all too easily. Gordon spoke about this tension, putting it this way in one of his sermons, “We are God’s beloved in whom God revels, and…we suffer and die.” For many of us, the experience of this tension impels oursearch for sources of strengthand healing, like deepening community, like words inspired by the Holy Spirit, like the solace of creation’s beauty. Gordon preached that we should take time each day to rest in prayer in God’s presence, in Christ’s presence, “entering into who we truly are.”I suspect if we could learn to enter daily into our true selves in that Loving Presence, such rest would be transformative.
The tension we’re talking aboutalso pushes us to take on the question of the meaning of why we are here. Those of you who knew Gordon know that he wrestled with great insightand honestywith questions about the ultimate meaning of our lives. Let me share one such question now, and his response.In a sermon of his I recently listened to on tape, he asked, “What is God’s single intentionfor our lives?” Gordon’s answer: “To become love.”
When I first began to listen to Gordon preach it didn’t take long to discover his heart for the poor, for those who were marginalized and oppressed. His call was to move closer to them in many ways.It is the witness of this movement out of one’s comfort zone in the direction of solidarity with people who are suffering that reveals God’s call. When we see this movement, this we can trust: it is love—it is from God.
Among the many gifts Gordon shared, one that I want to hold up is the way he read scripture, paraphrasing at times and putting its stories into common speech (and, of course, in that accent of his that I won’t even try to replicate). He could make the biblical stories feel real because he found a vital reality in them.And so his skill in reading scripture provided the opening through whichhe (and we) could probe its meanings.
As I thought about our scripture selection for today, from Luke Chapter 5:1-11,I began to realize how well it illustratesthe faith journey, beginning with listening for God’s word, risking going deeper into God’s purpose, making an astonishing discovery, becoming fearful, realizing sin, receiving assurance of safety, and at last, a call to inspire others to the journey. As Luke tells the story, first the crowd is listening to Jesus, seeking the prophetic word as he teaches them from out in Peter’s boat. Then Jesus instructs Peter to put the boat out to deeper water that the nets can be let down for a catch. Whereupon Peter, characteristically, gives a little pushback, ‘We were out all night and caught nothing’—but he does Jesus’ bidding.And then, when the nets are so full of fish and bursting, others are summoned to bring the other boat and help. So great is the catch that it is too much for the two boats, and they are all amazed. Peter’s reaction is telling—he is afraid in Jesus’ presence. Suddenly he feels transparent, that Jesus can see him in his sinfulness, and exclaims, ’Go away from me—I am a sinful man!’ Jesus responds with the words that signal the gospel is about to be spoken, saying,“Do not be afraid.”
The gospel these words signal is this: that Jesus will teach him to become a “catcher” or “fisher” of people. How do we understand this? What meaning, if any, does this have for us? Is this bit of gospel relevant to our own missions, and if so how does it shape them? How does it play out in our lives? Does it have anything to do with how we want the church to be a ‘beacon’? So many questions arise; what matters is that we take them on, for ourselves.
As I see him, Gordon was God’s good fisherman, drawing in and caring for the people called to be church together. In this however, he was not alone—he was working with a band of fisher people. Crucially important, as pictured in today’s scripture reading, fishing was not a solitary enterprise but required the help of partners. Gordon was blessed in partnership with current and former members of this wider community. And he was blessed in partnership with his wife, Mary Campbell Cosby, that together they could offer a place of welcome, a spiritual home, to many. Mary is worshipping with us today—we are so happy you are here!
Gordon’s last sermon, one which I was privileged to hear, occurred at Friends of Jesus Church on Oct. 4, 2012, and it testified once again to the authentic Christian witness that he was. Direct, honest, he spoke the truth as he understood it. Perhaps embodying that tension I referred to earlier,he stated his belief in that emphatic manner of his, that ‘there is nothing we can be certain of.’ Healso affirmed: “we need a real change in the direction the whole world is going and the answer is not out there. The answer isin here…”Gordon did not have certainty, but he didhave trust, as evident in these words:“Any solution has to come from the ultimate Source of life.” He said this: “What I used to mean by belief in God, I didn’t mean—I didn’t know how many levels of belief there are.” And Gordon asserted that, “we have to decide who we’re going to trust…Who has the prescription for life?”
May we embark a bit further from shore, confident in the One who makes trust possible, learning from, and thankful for, the faithfulness of our companionson the way.
Amen.
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Open time for the community to share reflections about Gordon Cosby, inviting Mary Cosby to speak first.