Sunday April 18, 2010

First Presbyterian Church
Ripley Tennessee
April 18, 2010
3nd Sunday of Easter
Psalm 30
John 21:1-19
I like a FIRE in my camp

The title of this sermon is dedicated to my brother Tom. Tom and I have spent many evenings sitting around a campfire. His favorite saying is “I like a FIRE in my camp!” as he would throw another big log on the fire.

I have had the good fortune to have spent many such nights in the great outdoors. I grew up camping. As a child I remember camping in my back yard with my friends. I remember going out to one of our farms and picking a favorite spot. Always at the center of the campsite would be the safe place to build a fire.

As I grew, I have been blessed to have traveled to every state in our great nation. I have camped in, or pulled a camper through, 95 percent of our states. Always, always, whether summer and 95 degrees or in the fall in Vermont when the temperature dropped below freezing, there was a fire.

I have even raised my own children camping. Andrea and I love to talk and remember times sitting around a camp fire. Andrea and I got married, moved away from home and had children. My best friend and his wife did the same thing. We ended up two states apart.

Usually about twice a year, he would call me, or I would call him and say, “I think it’s time for some therapy”. We need to retreat and relax in front of a camp fire. Ti was a time apart that allowed the world to restore its balance.

Funny thing; you may not remember the details about a particular trip but what you recall are the conversations around that fire. My children join in and each has their own favorite campfire stories.

From the Pine forests in Vermont to the Smoky Mountains, from Edgar Evans State Park in Tennessee to Lake Muncho Provincial Park in the Yukon, From the desert southwest to the Boundary Water Canoe Area in Canada; the story is the same. I can remember a particular campsite and beyond that, a particular conversation with particular people.

At the church camp Na-Co-Me in the fall, the favorite activity of adults and children alike is the night of the bon fire. That’s when we get together, the first weekend of October and make smores and cook hot dogs.

In my experience, there seems to be something primal about sitting around a fire. The fire at the center of the group gives warmth, it gives light, the fire provides nourishment. Because of the heat, sound actually changes. Because of the light flickering, we become memorized. Because of the sound of the fire, we are distracted.

We are drawn together in some primordial way. This is what Jesus understood. Outdoors, the fire is to the soul, what the alter is inside the church. It is the focal point that draws everyone’s attention. It is a commonality.

I think it may be interesting to note here that all the Easter Readings we have shared thus far, Jesus has offered Peace, but this time, I believe that there is already peace.

The scene is the shore of the Sea of Tiberius, or if you like, the Sea of Galilee. It is morning and the apostles have been up all night fishing only to be unsuccessful. They are tired, hungry, probably still in shock and probably not in a very good mood.

Then there is a greeting from a friendly person on the shore. This person turns out to be the risen Lord. He has a cooking fire all ready and he says “come”. Have you ever smelled bacon cooking in a campsite at sunrise? To say that the scene was welcoming for the Apostles is an understatement.

It was to this comforting fire that Jesus called his followers. It was this fire that Peter was drawn. In verse 7 we read “…As soon as Simon Peter heard him say “It is the Lord” he wrapped his outer garment around him and jumped into the water”. Impetuous Peter strikes again.

I want to make sure we don’t miss the timeline of this heartwarming story that has unfolded over the last few weeks of our time together. Sometimes reading a progression or chapters chopped up from week to week can in deed cause us to miss out on subtleties in the story. So let’s recap.

It was just a few days earlier that Jesus was telling the Apostles of his impending death. The next day, Jesus was welcomed as a Hero coming to fulfill Hebrew prophesies. That night he was betrayed by one of his own. Things go dramatically worse from there. In a matter of hours, Jesus found himself no longer the hero, but the villain. Peter was no longer associated with an entourage who would change the world, now Peter found himself a hunted man, an insurrectionist who was wanted.

A few more hours fly by and Jesus is put on trial. It is all happening too fast to comprehend! In all of the history of Christianity, this brief defining moment is but a heart beat in comparison. And yet, it is the nail upon which we hang our faith. Peter suddenly finds himself fleeing the scene as the other disciples scatter.

Peters own words spoken only hours before must have begun haunting him by now. Mathew 26 recalls the words of Peter, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I will never fall away”. By now Peter has bound to have remembered that Jesus even predicted that Peter would deny Jesus (John 13:13). Rushing back to Peter, the memories of how disloyal he had been must have been overwhelming!

Have you ever boasted when you should have been silent? I have

The actual denial of Christ by Peter in John 18:15 and twice more in John 18:25 must have had a soul crushing weight upon Peter’s spirit.

Has it ever seemed that your spirit was crushed? I have.

A couple days more pass by in our recap of events, and we come upon the shame, mockery and torture of Jesus. All this while, don’t you just know that this was like salt in Peters wounded pride? Peter would have felt as about as lowly as any of us here have likely ever felt. And then his friend was dead and buried. It was over and Peter was left to live with the shame of his actions.

Have you ever felt so ashamed of your actions you could die? I have.

Moving on in our recap, Peter then witnesses the impossible; Jesus is raised from being dead. Jesus was back to life now. All this was as a bad dream. Everything is restored! Thank goodness! All is well! It is as if nothing ever happened only better! Oh, rats, yeah, I don’t think Peter can move past this whole DENIAL thing.

Have you ever faced something that just hung you up? I have!

Something DID happen and it changed the course of human history. Everyone was swept up in the joy of the miracle. The world was changed forever. This WAS the true Son of God and now EVERYBODY knew it. Peter knew it too. Peter truly realized the inescapable gravity of his horrifying mistake. He had actually denied, three times, the man everyone now knew to actually be the Son of the Living God.

Have you ever seen hope but were afraid or too timid to put your faith in it? I have.

Now here is Jesus, returned from the dead and the proverbial 800 pound gorilla is in the room when Jesus first appeared to his friends. Jesus appears in that closed room and changed the lives of those there. Can’t you just see Peter, impetuous Peter, swell up with joy only to remember how disappointed Jesus must be in him.

“Oh my gosh” Peter must have thought. “I wonder if he will even speak to me again. Will I become an outcast? Jesus has every right to throw me out of this little club!” Peter would have been to Jesus like my dog is to me after eating another TV remote control! This is the first time we are shown how the Lord reacts to Peter after the last few days of excitement.

But watch what happens! For each and every time Jesus was denied, Peter is pointedly and gracefully forgiven. No matter what he had done, because of his regret, Peter is forgiven sitting at the camp fire. The warmth, nourishment and the light of Christ and the fire renewed Peter and the rest.
David Lose, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.
"Jesus' repetition isn't meant as rebuke but as absolution:
three invitations to confess
in order to wipe away three denials just days earlier.
In and through this tri-fold pattern of question and confession
Peter is restored – to himself, to his Lord, to the discipleship community.
And yet it is more than that, too,
for Peter is not merely forgiven and restored but also commissioned."
Regardless of our circumstances in life, regardless of where we find ourselves along our spiritual journey, at any given point in our lives…the same is true for you and for me. That is the gospel message...in the name and because of the work and love of Jesus Christ…you are forgiven, restored and commissioned.

AMEN