POWER BREAKFAST BY
THE GALILEAN SHORE: Forgiveness, Love and Mission
The Rev. Dr. Winfred
Vergara. St. James Episcopal Church, Elmhurst, New York. April 14, 2013. Easter
III.Text: John 21: 1-19
What would you do and
how would you feel if you get invited to have breakfast with Jesus?
In 2008, I was privileged to go to Israel to study a course
called “Palestine of Jesus.” For three
weeks, we stayed at St. George’s Anglican College in Jerusalem and traveled to
Bethlehem, to the river Jordan, to the Dead See and to the Sea of Galilee. I
tell you, it was like a dream come true. It was so heartwarming to see where
Jesus was born, to walk where Jesus walked and to preach where Jesus preached. Early in the morning, my classmates and I
would bathe in the cool, fresh waters of Galilee. We would sing hymns and
spiritual songs and we would imagine Jesus walking on the water and the
apostles fishing for what is now called “Peter’s fish” or tilapia.
In the place called Tabgha inTiberias, there are two
churches named after two miracles. The first one is called the Church of
Multiplication, for that is the site where Jesus multiplied the five loaves and
two fish to feed 5,000 people. The other one is called the Church of the
Primacy of Peter, for that is the site where Peter was restored and forgiven by
Jesus. I was chosen from among my classmates to preach and celebrate the mass
in that church.
As I was reading the Gospel of John 21, there was a moment
that I could hardly speak. I felt that there was a lump in my throat, I was
choking with emotion and that my heart was so filled with gratitude for the
amazing, awesome and extraordinary grace of God. For in that place in Tabgha, Jesus asked Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And Peter replied, “Yes,
Lord, you know that I love you.” And Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” As I
was reading that Scripture text, I felt that I was there---and Jesus was
addressing those words to me---right after that breakfast where Jesus invited
us to be.
POWER BREAKFAST
I call this "power breakfast"
as a demonstration of God’s divine initiative in Christ: first point is forgiveness,
second point is love and third point is mission. Jesus calls us to forgive, he
commands us to love, and he gives us a mission. (Do you still remember the reasons why I am a "three points preacher"?)
First, the power of forgiveness.
The ability for forgive is not a sign of
weakness but a sign of power. Jesus empowered Peter by giving him the gift of
forgiveness. The apostles were fishing all night but they caught nothing. This
is a message that “without God, we can do nothing.” Without God, in the words
of the Ecclesiastes, all our works and our achievements are “vanity and a
striving after the wind.” We need God
for because there is a God-shaped hole in our hearts that only God can
fill. Peter was empty that morning. His
stomach was empty because he was hungry. His net was empty because there was no
fish. His heart was empty because a week ago, he had denied Jesus.
Out of his emptiness and depression, came an invitation from
Jesus. “Come had breakfast with me. Oh by the way, cast your nets on the right
side and you will find fish.” They cast their nets on the right side and there
was a huge haul of fish---the nets were almost breaking. My friends, when you
have breakfast with Jesus---your plate will be full!
Then Jesus asked Peter three times: “Do you love me?” And
Peter was grieved for he was asked by the Lord three times. But it did not take
long for him to realize that the reason why Jesus was asking him three times
was because he had denied the Lord three times. In other words, just as he had
sinned three times, he was being forgiven three times as well. That power of
forgiveness has fully restored Peter to what was to be his destiny. Like the
prodigal Son who returned to the Father, Jesus was giving him back the golden
ring. He was a son again. Forgiveness washed away his guilt and shame. He was
restored, reconciled, healed.
The power of forgiveness is the power of healing. There was
a woman who had cervical cancer. The doctor gave her a grim prognosis: the
cancer metastasized. It had spread to her intestines, liver and kidney. She might
die in three months. After the initial shock, denial and anger that
terminally-ill persons often go through, she decided to accept her fate and to prepare
for her funeral. Then she remembered that throughout her life, she had made some
friends but also some enemies. She had been hurt by other people and she had
also hurt other people. So she decided that since she had but a short time to
live, she would spend the rest of her life forgiving those who hurt her and seeking
forgiveness to those she had hurt. She called, emailed and wrote to them one by
one. And every time she had forgiven someone or had received forgiveness from
someone, some cancer cells were being removed.
The process went on and on until she was completely healed. There is
power in forgiveness!
The power of love "Do you love me?" Peter and the
apostles of Jesus had learned love from the source and author of Love Himself.
The bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosever would believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Por que de tal manera amo Dios al mundo, que
ha dado a su Hijo unigenito, para que todo aquel que en el cree, no se pierda ,
mas tenga vida eterna. Sapagkat minahal
ng Diyos and mundo kaya niya ibinigay ang kanyang bugtong na anak, upang ang
nanampalatay sa kanya ay hindi mamamatay bagkus magkaroon ng buhay na walang
hanggan” (John 3:16). I wish I could
say it in many more languages, but I
tell you, LOVE is a universal language. Even in unspoken words, love is clear
and understandable.
Someone once said that there are three things which husbands
and wives, brothers and sisters, friends and lovers , must learn to say in
order for their relationships to last for a lifetime. These three words are: “I
love you; I am sorry; please forgive me.”
My wife and I have been married for 35 years now. We have no children.
What keeps us together these many years? Maybe not so much in words, but in
action, we might have spoken these three words to each other, for a thousand
times. Because we are all human, we are imperfect. I like the prayer of
Alexander Pope, “If I am right thy grace impart, still in the right to stay. If
I am wrong, O teach my heart to find that better way.” And the more excellent
way is love (1 Corinthians 13).
The power of mission
From the power of forgiveness
and love, Jesus proceeded to tell Peter
of his mission. “If you really love me, then feed my sheep. “ I feel that that
is my mission too in this church, St. James Episcopal Church in Elmhurst, New
York. I want to see this church
experience a revival, I want to see this
church grow and re-establish its rightful mission in this community. We are a
historic church finding our place in the 21st century.
The origin of St. James dates back from 1704 when America was
still a colony of Great Britain. Our charter was signed by no less than King
George III. St. James Church saw the
fight for American Independence both politically and ecclesiastically. The
first bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Seabury was one of
our earliest rectors. Dr. Benjamin Moore, the first president of Columbia
University was one of our earliest lay leaders. At some point, Elmhurst was called
the “New Amsterdam” because this was a Dutch
neighborhood.
But fast forward to the 21st century. Elmhurst
is no longer the New Amsterdam or even the Old Amsterdam. It has become a global village in Queens, New
York one of the most diverse communities in the world. Here is a rapidly growing Chinatown and clusters
of ethnic communities: Latinos,
Filipinos, Southeast Asians, South Asians, West Indians, Caribbean in addition
to Black and white. How do we position
ourselves as the new St. James in the
context of our time?
“If you love me, feed
my sheep.” I believe the Church grows when the people are fed but not when they
are fed up. Let us feed God’s people with
the uniting Word of God and not by divisive politics of man. Let us be one in sharing
the Body and Blood of Christ as well as one in sharing a cup of coffee, a cup
of tea, or a bowl of soup.
“And I have other sheep that are not yet of this fold”( John
10:16). St. James Church is surrounded
by people from other cultures and ethnicities who are hungry for the Word of
God, hungry for the bread of life, hungry for community. They too are hungry
for forgiveness, for love and for mission.
Many years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, issued a dream. “I
have a dream that one day, black boys and white boys will walk hand in hand.”
As he dreamt the dream of integration and unity, Martin Luther King, Jr. also prophesied against the American Church
of segregation. He called the 11 o’clock on Sunday as the most “segregated time
in America” because the Blacks and the Whites were holding purely Black and lilly
White worship services.
Today, here in Elmhurst, the dream of MLK will have a new significance:
we dream not only that Black and White but Brown and Yellow and Red and Green,
Mulato and mestizo----and all colors of
the rainbow will be welcomed in this Episcopal Church. Let us heed MLK’s prophesy by radically
welcoming ALL PEOPLE to our Healing
Service at 10:30 A.M. and removing every trace of segregation in our 11:00 A.M.
Eucharist. “Though we are many, we are one Body because we all share in one
Bread.” By his dying on the cross, Jesus Christ has broken down every wall of
hostility and opened for us a new and living way. Let us open this Church to the
whole community of Elmhurst and let St. James Church be a forgiving, loving and
serving Church in the 21st century. Amen!
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