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“To fish or not to fish,” was a big question for Simon Peter. To fish was never a question down South where I grew up. Fishing, and hunting too, were the most popular sports. This was before golf courses, before television, before college sports got so big. Hunting season was short, but you could fish everyday in the many rivers, streams and lakes. Every little boy received a fishing pole or a rod and reel on his first birthday. Not cleanliness, but fishing was next to Godliness. If you went fishing but couldn’t catch any fish, your pastor would quickly say, “You’re not living right. Better get right with God. Then you’ll catch plenty of fish and big ones too for the family fish fry.” The first Bible lesson I learned in Sunday school was how Noah spent his many days on the ark wanting more than anything to fish. All that water swarming with fish. What else was there to do? But when Noah taught his sons how to fish, he was very worried, because Noah had only two worms on board the ark. Talk about great opportunity but little resources.

But of course you were not supposed to go fishing on Sunday or to the movies. Because fishing was hard work and so much fun. Church on Sunday, but no work and no fun, and so no fishing. If you sneaked in a little secret fishing on Sunday afternoon, you had to keep it quiet and live with your secret sin. Now pastor Jim loved fishing more than anyone else. When his vacation came, pastor Jim went fishing everyday, even on Sunday when he winked at God, hoping no human being would see him or ever know. As luck would have it, on that Sunday pastor Jim caught his biggest fish ever, weighing in at thirty-five pounds. What a dilemma. How to brag and show off your biggest catch ever and say you caught it not on Sunday, but on Saturday or Monday. What’s this God-loving, Jesus quoting pastor to do?

Well, if you went to the West Virginia Hunting and Fishing Show last weekend at the Civic Center, you know how important trophies are, of bucks with racks of antlers, big fishes taxidermists can mount up on the wall over the fireplace, so you can brag and brag forever. Well, pastor Jim mounts his big thirty-five pound fish with his mouth open and shows off his trophy in his study. And right under the big fish he puts a bronze plaque that everyone says refers both to the fish and to pastor Jim. The plaque says, “If I could keep my big mouth shut I’d be alive today.”

Simon Peter opens his big mouth, “Master, we have been fishing all night long, with nothing to show for our labors, and you want us to put down our nets again?” Simon is the expert fisherman. Jesus is a carpenter from Nazareth. What does this carpenter know about fishing? “We’re tired out after trying all night long. Time to go home and get some rest.” But Simon lets Jesus use his boat for teaching. And Simon recognizes

Jesus as “Master, or rabbi, teacher.” Night is better for fishing, not daylight. “But because of your word, because you say so,” Simon says, “I will let down the nets.” Obeying Jesus, they begin to catch so many fish! Nets breaking; call James and John to help; “Our boats are sinking with all these fish. Lord,” Simon calls out, falling down at Jesus’ knees, “Go away from me, for I am a sinful man.” What does this amazing catch mean? Simon cries out for help, fearing what this means, fearing who this Jesus truly is, fearing because this great catch does not come from his expertise as a fisherman, but from obedience to the words of Jesus, this new master.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus says, “From now on you will be catching people.” Why does this miraculous catch of fish not make Simon and his partners happy, ecstatic with joy and flush with visions of money from their success? Why is Simon afraid at this success? Because Simon knows this event is a parable to show not how to fish. Simon knows in his gut Jesus shows him who Jesus is, why Jesus is here, and how Jesus brings the new kingdom of God breaking into history. And Simon knows this great, good news claims him and will depend on him and his partners to spread this good news far and wide. For Jesus is calling these fishermen to come follow him as his disciples. Disciple means to learn, to learn how to serve Jesus so as to fish not for creatures with fins and scales that swim in the waters, but to learn how to fish for and to catch human beings for whom, unto whom Jesus is bringing fulfillment of God’s promises for God’s people and through them for all people.

No wonder Simon feels so inadequate, no wonder Simon recognizes his own sinfulness, his own unworthiness, and no wonder Simon is afraid of what Jesus calls him to do. He’d rather play it safe, with business as usual. But Jesus calls him away from business as usual. Jesus offers him a new pathway, invites him to be born anew from above, to cast his nets into deeper waters. Deeper waters bring so many fish, but deeper waters bring this blessing from Jesus, not from Simon’s own efforts alone. Fear is a normal human response to this gift you don’t earn, this gift Jesus gives. Fear because this comes from Jesus’ power and Simon realizes he has no power and no control of his own. All he can do is obey Jesus’ word. Will he do this when Jesus calls them to fish for other human beings?

With this parable event as our model, Jesus calls each one of us, all of us to come and join him as his disciples, to learn from him, to obey his word, to cast our nets and ourselves into deeper waters, to catch others as we have been caught. This means Jesus calls each one of us to fish in our own deeper waters and not to fear, our normal human response, but to trust Jesus indeed comes unto us to be our Lord and Master. And when we obey, even if we are fearful at first, when we go into deeper waters, we will discover we too are being born anew from above, we will discover we are being blessed with the obedient service we need. In our trust, in our obedient service, looking to Jesus as the author and giver of our faith, we shall discover what Jesus means when he says, “I am come that you may have life and have this life abundantly.”

Jesus calls disciples not to follow self, not to be master of our own souls, but to go into deeper waters and learn to serve this man from Nazareth who derives his virtue and direction not from us creatures but from God his Father who is the creator of us all. How tempted we are to brag about our trophies, our achievements, our success and how we trust our own economics, our own lifestyle, our earned degrees and want to impose our human success upon Jesus, upon the Church, and upon God’s kingdom, so that we can feel good and safe and secure, not trusting Jesus, but trusting ourselves.

We are always tempted to take credit for our birth, our life-long accomplishment, and seek to guarantee our place in heaven by our own self-righteousness. We know and are so comfortable with ourselves. We want more business as usual. But the Bible teaches we belong not to ourselves. It is God who has made us, and not we ourselves, as the psalmist puts it. We belong first and always to God in birth, throughout life, and in our death and beyond. And this is the gift of God in Jesus Christ, and God in our Lord Jesus invites us trust this truth and not other false truths we may be so much more comfortable with.

Two friends told me about their wedding some 45 years ago. They went to their home church in Indiana and wanted all their friends from college to join them for their wedding ceremony. But that church made sure that all their African-American friends and guests were uninvited, made to feel unwelcome and unwanted, and so none of them came to celebrate their happy occasion. My two friends were hurt/offended and assured me they never darkened the door of that, their home church ever again. I tried to suggest that Jesus calls for us disciples not to practice business as usual, not to abandon that church that needs to practice this good news. Jesus calls us to go into deeper waters, to remain in that prejudiced church and to work there to change the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God; work to help that church to welcome all the human beings God seeks to catch.

Jesus beckons to Simon and to all of us and says, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” Do we trust Jesus to do this? Especially when he puts this condition on his invitation: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Do we trust him and go with faith and expectation of his blessings into our deeper waters?

Can we trust this Jesus when he calls us into the deeper waters where as the Apostle Paul promises, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; for all of you are one in Christ”? (Galatians 3:28) If we trust Jesus, we believe God has already shown us the true vision of how God has and will overcome all opposition, all evil, all our human fear in God’s determination, God’s faithfulness to God’s promises to reconcile this world unto himself.

Ninety years ago, in 1915 our great, great-grandfathers shared this vision, trusted the word of Jesus, stepped out into deeper waters, and they erected this beautiful edifice in order to obey Jesus and catch fellow human beings. In l932 the next generation built the Education building, in l958 the Activities Building. Deeper waters. Soon we added elevators to those buildings to make them accessible to all. Then we campaigned to renovate this sanctuary and our educational facilities.

Twenty-five years ago this congregation turned the vacant house next-door into Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home to serve men recovering from addictions; two years ago the new building was opened. We now support Rhea of Hope Home for women in recovery. Deeper waters. Through Covenant House we reach with healing to homeless persons and persons suffering with HIV-AIDS. Through Manna Meal and our own food pantry we join with many other Christians to respond to Jesus when he says, “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.”

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and for us Souper Bowl of Caring Sunday. Deeper waters, for we can both enjoy popular sports and minister to fellow humans, with our nets to catch folks, as Jesus puts it.

Thirty-Seven years ago, Dr. Benny Benfield urged this congregation to establish the Kanawha Pastoral Counseling Center. I remember well his arguments, his enthusiasm about how we needed to unite Jesus’ great commission “God into all the world, make disciples” with modern Science, especially Psychology and Psychotherapy and demonstrate how all of modern science and technology are tools of the creator, such as our radio broadcasts every Sunday morning; deeper waters. All of modern science offers deeper waters; and deeper waters may arouse fear in us, or trust in us; deeper waters given to us to help us to respond to Jesus who says, “I was a stranger, sick and in prison and you ministered unto me.”

Now this congregation has a new guitar-pick’in and grinning pastor, with strong youth ministry background, ready to lead us into deeper waters. How do we trust Jesus to use us to obey his word to catch young people in this media-oriented culture growing more and more focused upon self-gratification rather than serving our Lord? Deeper waters. We are now searching for a Director of Youth Ministry to continue and build on the good work of our Interim Director, Leslie Clay. And we are searching for a new Director of Music, someone skilled to lead us into the deeper waters our guitar pick’in pastor envisions for our music of praise and worship.

And our Stewardship and Capital Campaigns are not focused on money, but upon how each of us can prayerfully ask and hear God lead us to repair and update our facilities, to strengthen our resources, our to equip ourselves with tools necessary to do outreach and hospitality, so that we may indeed be faithful to the vows we take when we join this church and the vows we all take when we baptize our children and new members. Now it’s our turn to fish in deeper waters. Now is the time for all of us to pull together, just as Simon Peter knew he could not fish for humans alone, but reached out to include his partners James and John.

So God calls us to trust the words of Jesus, to put aside our fear of deeper waters, to cast out our nets again, not with business as usual, but into all the deeper waters our faith calls us to do with trust in Jesus in whom all of God’s promises are fulfilled, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

As the Apostle Paul reminds us, the waters ahead will most certainly be deep and fearful, if we rely primarily upon ourselves. But if we cast out our nets in trust and obedience to Jesus’ word, we should expect Jesus to fulfill in and through us Jesus own words, “Greater works than these you will do.” Paul the Apostle puts it this way, writing to the fearful Corinthians. When we trust God in Jesus to work through us, we shall discover that “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”