Beyond the Horizon // Bread Bath and Beyond // Jan 25 2026

``And there were five days that we were at sea, and we had a perfect horizon all the way around. We could not see land. I think we saw two ships the whole five days. I don't know if we ever even saw an airplane. I mean, we were not in a part of the Pacific that there's a lot of shipping traffic or anything. [00:04:17] (20 seconds)  #AnswerTheCall

But the interesting thing is as we saw this island get closer and closer, we stopped looking at all the rest of the horizon. We just looked at the land. It was comforting to see land after having been at sea for so long. It was exciting thinking about what we were going to do. We had plans to go up to Volcanoes National Park. We hoped it might be actually fountaining while we were there. [00:05:13] (25 seconds)

But when you're on the sea, they clearly knew just how big Galilee's water was, and it is surrounded by hills. And I just imagine how comforting it was for Simon and Andrew to know those hills, to know that water. That was their world. They knew what the weather was like. They knew how the water went. They knew and were comforted by their familiar surroundings just like we were when we finally saw land on the ship. [00:06:47] (31 seconds)

And when I think about Simon and Andrew, there's a power that comes through Jesus and the Holy Spirit that we only have access to when we say, yes, I will follow you. Yes, I will go where you lead me. And we receive the holy spirit through baptism, and we are renewed in Christ's presence every time we gather around the table that Jesus sets for us, the table we call holy communion. [00:08:37] (28 seconds)

Now as Methodists, we talk about the grace that God gives us as coming in three let's call them waves since we're going fishing here. The first wave we call prevenient grace, that grace where God is reaching out to us before we even know who God is and what God has to offer. So Jesus somehow knew Simon and maybe he'd been watching them, maybe he'd been chatting with them, but Jesus was preparing to go and meet Simon and Andrew, and he was preparing their hearts to receive him. Now the moment when we say yes to God, when we've met God and we say, yes, we want your grace and your forgiveness in our life, we call that the moment of justifying grace. [00:09:19] (48 seconds)

And you could say that the moment that Simon and Andrew say, yes, we will drop our nets, we will leave our father, and we will follow you, was that moment of justifying grace. But what Simon and Andrew really needed for the rest of their lives because as they followed Jesus, they discovered Jesus had a message that went far beyond what they understood in their lives at that time. And in fact, it would go so far as to lead Simon and Andrew to deaths on behalf of Jesus and their faith. [00:10:07] (36 seconds)

They only got there because of the daily sanctifying grace that was provided to them through Jesus Christ and the sacraments that we receive in the water and the meal. Sanctifying grace is something that's available to every one of us when we have said yes to Jesus. Every day when we get out of bed, we have been given the gift of free will as well. And we have the free will like the people of Nineveh to go in the wrong direction and to do the things that are not pleasing to God. [00:10:43] (33 seconds)

Some people have small horizons right now because they're dealing with medical problems. We've got people that are battling cancer. We have people who are caregivers for loved ones who've had strokes and heart attacks, who maybe have mental health issues that they are caring for, and sometimes they feel like their horizons have gotten really small. Some of us have well defined horizons that are part of our families and part of our jobs where we know that we have work to do within a certain area because of the job we have and what Jesus has already called us to do. [00:12:02] (37 seconds)