At Sea, The Reverend David R. Williams, Epiphany V--Year C--Feb. 4, 2007

Give us grace, O Lord, not only to hear your Word with our ears, but also to receive it into our hearts and to show it forth in our lives; for the glory of your great name. Amen.
 
“I don’t want to carry wood all my life,” says a ten-year old little girl from Ethiopia. 
 
Driving out of the African city of Addis Ababa, a news reporter is confronted with an endless line of women and girls, young and elderly, carrying heavy loads of wood on their backs.  They march toward the city.  “The heavy loads propel them forward almost at a trot,” the reporter says.
 
They carry the firewood for miles from eucalyptus forests into Addis Ababa. The women bring the wood to the main city market where they will sell it for a couple of dollars.  That will be the income for the day. It takes a full day to bring wood into the city and then walk home. Two dollars a day.  
 
Amaretch, a ten-year-old little girl, is one of the wood carriers. Amaretch, which means ‘beautiful one’, got up at three am to begin her day, collecting eucalyptus branches and leaves before her long, painful journey to the city. 
 
“I don’t want to have to carry wood all my life,” she says to a news reporter.  “But at the moment I have no choice because we are so poor.  All of us children carry wood to help our mother and father buy food for us.  I would prefer to be able to just go to school and not have to worry about getting money.”
 
When this group of reporters encounters the depths of poverty in Ethiopia for the first time, they return to their hotel rooms and cry their eyes out.
 
“I would prefer to go to school,” says an innocent ten year old little girl.
 
Can we—the  little “we” of Holy Comforter, Burlington--effect change in the broken economic system of a developing African nation? Change enough for Amaretch to go to school? 
 
As caring people, committed churches and corporate Diocese we are compelled to address the Millennium Development Goals. We in developed countries share a precious earth with Amaretch and other children of God yearning for a better life.
 
Simon is a fisherman.  He is a good fisherman.  In fact there are many other “professional” fishermen working with Simon. They know the signs, the seasons, and the weather – how so many variables make a difference in the success of catching fish.  As much knowledge as they have, the element of mystery still is a component in what makes good fishing days and what makes terrible ones.  
 
They have been fishing all day.  Today has not been a good day.  They are exhausted.  The nets must be mended and washed. 
 
A crowd of people follows a preacher to Simon’s and his friends’ boats.  This stranger gets into Simon’s boat and preaches to the crowd.  The stranger then suggests to the fisherman that he go out into the deep water and put the nets down just one more time. 
 
What on earth makes Simon go?  He, not the preacher, is the fishing expert. Simon and his friends have been working to no avail for hours – all day.  They are absolutely exhausted. Simon’s decision makes no sense at all.
 
“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch,” says the preacher Jesus.
 
Deep water.  For us, deep water is a most scary place to be, especially if the boat is small.   Water symbolizes life in Bible stories.  To travel over water is to move through chapters stormy and smooth of one’s life.
 
Bishop Curry talked about another biblical “water” story last week at Diocesan Convention.   Jesus walks onto the sea amid blowing gales, the disciples’ boat precariously rocking back and forth.
 
”The mission of the church following in the way of Jesus of Nazareth will always be at sea,” Bishop Curry said.
 
“I need only mention some words to evoke the sound of wind and the sight of wave for us: Iraq; 9/11; terrorism; global warming; Darfur; schism; Anglican communion; genetic engineering; stem cell research; HIV AIDS; immigration; gay marriage; the new wall in Palestine.” 
 
Surely we can add Amaretch, her sisters and brothers subsisting in abject poverty beyond our understanding and comprehension. 
 
“Put out into the deep water – not the safer shallow water, not the clear water--but the deep, risky water. 
 
Once the nets are torn with so many fish and the boats begin to sink with the heavy loads, Simon falls on his knees before Jesus and pleads, “I am a sinful man!”
 
When called to be the earthly voice of God, Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.”
 
Why does Simon move beyond safety into those deep, forbidding waters? A net-breaking, boat-sinking, split-second decision.
 
This story of Jesus and the fishermen shouts to us the immeasurable nature and power of Jesus. The strange preacher pushes us somehow to think and act in unfamiliar, mysterious ways and calls us to deep waters even and perhaps especially when, giving up, we think we have done it all. 
 
Why would Simon go?
 
Simon goes because he too hears the voice of Amaretch.  This “beautiful one” of Ethiopia calls us to deep waters as she pleads simply to go to school.
 
We risk torn nets and sinking boats because we have enough power and resource to make possible school for Amaretch and other desperate children. We venture out into Millennium Development, our deep waters, first in “ante-up” of seven tenths (.7%) of our annual income. We believe the fish are there and that we may not only to catch some of those fish, but also become fishers of God’s people.
 
“I don’t want to carry wood all my life.  I want to go to school.”
 
The miracle for Simon is not all of the fish.  The miracle is in the call of Jesus. 
 
“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for wondrous good news.”
 
Amen.