Come and Have Breakfast: Meeting the Risen Christ

Come. Come and have breakfast. This is where our calling begins. Not in the perfect moment, but in the here and now. Wherever you are this morning, on this ordinary and extraordinary day. There is no ideal place to serve God. Except the place that he sets you down. [00:48:21] (37 seconds)  #ServeWhereYouAre

He doesn't reprimand them for going back to fishing instead of preaching on the streets. He doesn't tell them off. He breaks bread. He shares fish. He sits and he eats with them. This is resurrection grace. Not rescue into somewhere better, but return into somewhere real with someone who meets us here and now. [00:44:54] (38 seconds)  #ResurrectionGrace

Because often we live with the hope and the expectation that Jesus will meet us just as he met Mary suddenly, gloriously, as we enter his presence and fall at his feet. And, those moments are real and those moments are precious. But, if we hold on to the idea that we'll only ever encounter the risen Christ in those perfect places. Well then, I fear we may find ourselves missing him in the ordinary places where he is already waiting for us. [00:39:51] (38 seconds)  #FindJesusInTheOrdinary

Here, we're greeted not by earthquakes or by angels, but by a very ordinary mundane scene. A beach at dawn. A charcoal fire. The smell of fish cooking. The resurrection has happened and the risen Lord is making breakfast. As I get pulled into this scene, I can't help but wonder what does Easter look like on the ground? [00:39:18] (33 seconds)  #EasterOnTheGround

Because the truth is we will never, we will never have the perfect moment to serve God. We will never be quite ready. We will never have it all together in our private lives. And yet, Jesus meets us there and here and now in the chaos of life. [00:45:31] (23 seconds)  #JesusMeetsYouHere

Men who had fish this water their whole lives are being redirected by someone they could not make out in the early morning light. But, for some reason, they obey. They obey before they recognize. And, that perhaps is exactly the point. [00:43:18] (29 seconds)  #ObeyBeforeYouRecognize

Because Jesus doesn't announce himself. He waits to be recognized. And, the recognition when it comes is shared from one person to the next. One person sees and another response. And together, they come to shore. We're invited to listen to one another and to come to Jesus together. [00:46:30] (27 seconds)  #ComeToJesusTogether

After exhausting themselves all night, they now need to find the strength for an unexpected haul of fish that they're in danger of losing because they can't pull it in. As the sweat pours off them, recognition breaks through. That voice is not a stranger's voice. It is Jesus. [00:43:47] (22 seconds)  #CaughtByHisVoice