A reflection:
Without a net – Unfolding Light
Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
And immediately they left their nets
and followed him.
—Mark 1.17-18
Jesus, Quiet One,
your call is not just the seashore challenge
to change my vocation.
You call every moment,
every conversation, every choice.
You whisper gently,
“Here. Come with me. This way.”
Am I radically open to your nudging,
ready to go an unexpected way?
What entangling nets must I let go of,
what habits and comforts must I leave behind,
what familiar safety net must I forgo,
what that I thought I knew
will I have to cease to know?
What nets have me?
Here, now, Beloved, draw me out. Set me free.
Working without a net.
Just your presence, your quiet, your love.
A Sermon from 3 years ago when we last had these readings in Year B 2021: Discipleship - following and fishing
Holy Hermit Syncletica of Alexandria:
"There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his own thoughts."
“In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing towards God and afterwards, ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire; at first they are choked by the smoke and cry, and by this means obtain what they seek (as it is said: ‘Our God is a consuming fire’ [Heb. 12.24]): so we also must kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work.”
