Growing up in the land of 10,000 lakes, I spent quite a bit of time out fishing. Whether it was from the neighbor’s dock when visiting my grandparents up north, spending hours in the boat with my dad and grandpa, or even sitting in an icehouse on the frozen lakes during ice fishing season, I learned quite a bit about life and ministry from fishing. Perhaps that is why Jesus calls so many fishermen to be his disciples. So let’s see what we can possibly learn from fishing, or at least what I have learned during my time in ministry.
Lesson #1:
Patience: Now, as I’m sure that many of you can guess, I was not a very patient child. I was constantly active and had a hard time sitting still for a long time unless it was with a book in my hands. But, with fishing, especially in a boat, I didn’t have any other option than to sit and wait. The fish bit on their own timeline, not mine. This is a good lesson for faith, as we accompany one another through life and faith journeys because we cannot force someone into anything. We must be patient and meet people where they are at, and trust that God is with us in that waiting too. Sometimes, waiting for God’s response might take a while, and it might not be exactly what we wanted. But, we never know what God is going to call us into, or when. We are called to be patient…even when that is difficult.
Lesson #2:
Coming up Empty: Another lesson that fishing taught me was that sometimes you will spend literally hours in a boat and catch nothing. Or, if you’re really lucky, you might catch some seaweed! Like in ministry, not every encounter we have with people is going to have a visible result, but we keep showing up in love, accepting that this is what we are called to do. We are called to show up for the sake of the world, no matter how the world responds around us. The joy in fishing is being present, just as it is to be in relationship with one another. Ministry isn’t just about numbers in the pew or the number of programs we have, but it is about how we live out God’s calling for the church. Sometimes what we think God is calling us to just doesn’t work out quite the way we planned.
Lesson #3:
Pay Attention: I struggled with this one as a kid too. My brain was always moving from point C-D before my body had even moved from point A to B. Unfortunately, because of this, my dad and grandpa learned that you had to pay extra close attention, especially when it was my turn to cast. I still have what I affectionately call my “lucky lure,” and I always know which one it is because one of the hooks is a different color, after my grandpa had to switch it out when I accidentally hooked him instead of throwing it into the water. This was a good lesson for them and for me, that we have to pay attention to our surroundings. Context matters! In life and in ministry, the context in which we are in shapes how we view and understand the Gospel, and it’s important to be aware of that.
Lesson #4:
Leave the Boat: Sometimes, you’ve got to leave the boat while fishing! This was more of an issue for the girls in the boat, I will admit, but we cannot spend our entire lives on a boat, or we miss out on what else is around us. This is especially important for the disciples that Jesus calls today because they could have chosen to stay in their boats and keep fishing, but they would have missed out on what Jesus said and did. This is not to say that being in the boat is a bad thing, after all, Jesus spent a lot of his ministry in boats, but it does acknowledge that life exists outside of the boat too.
Lesson #5:
Better with Company: Now this lesson is more applicable to my life than to others, but I learned for me that one of the best parts of fishing is the people I am surrounded by. For starters, I don’t actually really like to eat fish, and my attention span would not allow for me to sit in a boat for hours on my own. I know that some people like to be alone while they fish, as their way of getting quiet time, which is a valid and necessary part of life too, but I needed the people. My grandpas and I didn’t always talk a lot, but I distinctly remember much of my childhood just spent sitting next to them on a dock or on a boat, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. For the disciples too, they are not sent out alone, but are sent to be companions to one another on the journey. We are created by a relational God to be in relationship with one another and we get to celebrate that as the beautiful gift that it is, even when we sometimes get annoyed by our fishing companions. I’m just saying that sometimes I got bored sooner than the men in my life, usually because I decided I was ready for lunch about 5 minutes into our hours long fishing trips…
I’m sure that there are so many more lessons that we can learn about life and ministry from fishing, but I have come to understand a little bit more about why Jesus called so many fishermen as his disciples. No, they weren’t perfect, and yes, there were probably also just a statistically high number of fishermen in the cities, but I think it is important that Jesus calls James, John, Andrew, and Peter. That they leave their nets and their boats behind, but they cannot leave behind the lessons that fishing has taught them. Those lessons will be their new tools as they embark on this discipleship journey. Sure, they will no longer be fishing for actual fish, but the principles still apply.
Jesus doesn’t call his disciples despite their life experiences, but rather because of them. Because their experiences have gifted them for their unique callings from God. So too does God equip us because of the experiences we have had in life; it is one of the beautiful ways that we are able to testify to the diversity and fullness of God! Thank goodness that we do not all hear the Gospel the same way or live exactly the same either.
I think back to my Seminary graduation. I was one of the youngest in our class, graduating at just 25, while our oldest classmate was graduating and being sent out at the age of 72. We spanned everywhere in between, and we were all called because of our life experiences. I learned so much from my peers because of that age range and that vastness of life experience, that gave me new perspectives for ministry and helped make me a more well-rounded pastor. So, while I learned some lessons growing up as a fishing kid in the land of 10,000 lakes, I know that you all have learned about life and faith through your experiences too. As we continue to grow in ministry together, I cannot wait to learn more about those experiences, as we see where God calls us together, uniquely equipped and prepared for this time, to step out of the boat and into a new chapter together.