Love is Alive: Already Waiting for Us

There's a charcoal fire already burning. There's fish already laid upon that fire. There's bread already being prepared, and this is where the depths of that moment really begins to unfold because before the disciples arrived, before they brought anything in from their catch, before they explained to Jesus how long their night had been, before they explained to him what they had just lived through, Jesus had already prepared what they needed. [01:03:16] (32 seconds)  #PreparedBeforeWeArrive

What did Jesus say? Hey. Come have breakfast with me. Hey, fellas. Let's eat together. Let's break bread together. Let's let's hang out. And as much as we love to eat, this is Jesus inviting them. This is Jesus inviting us to sit and simply be in his presence. Be with Jesus. Jesus sees our needs, and he welcomes us with a kind of grace that creates space for people to just simply be however it is that we are. [01:03:48] (43 seconds)  #BreakBreadTogether

And while they were working, while they were wondering, while they were doing their best, Jesus had arrived at the place that they would already come into. He's already there. He's already present. He's already waiting. Nothing small about that moment at all. In fact, this is everything because it shows us something about the very presence of Jesus Christ that he moves toward us, that he is present ahead of us, that his love is already in place before we can recognize where we are going to be met. [01:00:10] (45 seconds)  #JesusIsAlreadyThere

Sometimes it's tough to see in the heart of the moment. Like, we're in a cloud. We can't see why everything's happening the way that it is. But over time, as we reflect, as we look back, we begin to notice, we come to see that we have been met again and again in ways that we did not fully recognize in the moment, that Christ has been present in the middle of our ordinary. [01:06:07] (31 seconds)  #ChristPresentInOrdinary

Christ has been present in the midst of our extraordinary in every single type of day in between. That grace has been at work in quiet and steady ways. Sometimes grace has been at work in loud and firm ways with us. God's love already there. And so we continue forward. [01:06:38] (30 seconds)  #GraceAtWork

Think about it. Jesus, their beloved teacher, the one that they've been following, their rabbi, he's been on trial. He was killed. He was placed in a tomb, and they have seen the risen Jesus. They have stood in the reality and the power of resurrection. They know in a deep and undeniable way that something well, I would say everything has changed, and yet it doesn't make sense. [00:57:28] (38 seconds)  #ResurrectionChangedEverything

And so they go out onto the water and they cast their nets and they work through the night. They're moving through the rhythms that have shaped them their entire life. Let's remember, they are professional fishermen. They know what they are doing, and this is something that is grounding for them. This is their kind of work. They know how to do this. This allows them to keep moving as everything is starting to unfold in their hearts and minds, and the night stretches on, and their nets remain empty. [00:58:59] (39 seconds)  #EmptyNets

We are giving ourselves time. We are allowing our minds to catch up with our hearts, and that's where our gospel story meets us today. Because when we meet up with the disciples in the part of this Eastertide message, this is the exact kind of space where something life changing has already happened, and yet they are still living into what it will actually mean. They're still holding together what they have experienced and how it is shaping what will come next for them. Just think about it. [00:56:47] (41 seconds)  #MindsCatchUpWithHearts