{"id":54194,"date":"2020-03-14T01:13:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T01:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/?p=54194"},"modified":"2021-09-28T18:15:36","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T18:15:36","slug":"enoughness-remember-and-repent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/2020\/03\/14\/enoughness-remember-and-repent\/","title":{"rendered":"Enoughness: Remember and Repent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Today&#8217;s blog post comes from the sermon that Amanda Vetsch preached on John 21:1-14 in chapel at Augsburg University on March 11th. To listen to the sermon, click the Sound Cloud audio link. The Scripture text can be found below the link and the transcript of the sermon can be found below the Scripture reading.\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ENOUGHNESS \u2013 REMEMBER AND REPENT\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/775791253&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"chapter-2\"><span class=\"text John-21-1\">After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26890\" class=\"text John-21-2\">Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26891\" class=\"text John-21-3\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>Simon Peter said to them, \u201cI am going fishing.\u201d They said to him, \u201cWe will go with you.\u201d They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26892\" class=\"text John-21-4\">Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26893\" class=\"text John-21-5\">Jesus said to them, \u201cChildren, you have no fish, have you?\u201d They answered him, \u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26894\" class=\"text John-21-6\">He said to them, \u201cCast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.\u201d So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26895\" class=\"text John-21-7\">That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, \u201cIt is the Lord!\u201d When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26896\" class=\"text John-21-8\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards\u00a0off.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26897\" class=\"text John-21-9\">When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26898\" class=\"text John-21-10\">Jesus said to them, \u201cBring some of the fish that you have just caught.\u201d<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26899\" class=\"text John-21-11\"><sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26900\" class=\"text John-21-12\">Jesus said to them, \u201cCome and have breakfast.\u201d Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, \u201cWho are you?\u201d because they knew it was the Lord.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26901\" class=\"text John-21-13\">Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"en-NRSV-26902\" class=\"text John-21-14\">This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.\u00a0<span class=\"text John-21-1\"><strong>John 21:1-14<\/strong> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I originally picked this reading because it\u2019s one of my absolute favorite stories in the bible. It\u2019s one I often go to to remember my \u201cwhy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why I continue to show up everyday, why I do the work that I do and study the things that I study, and why I continue to hold on to a Christian Tradition and belief system that has a found itself so interwoven with white supremacy and cis-hetero-patriarchy that it sometimes hard to see, hear, and feel the gospel through all those layers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This story has 2 of my favorite things about the Gospel message:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s got enoughness and it\u2019s got food.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it gets at \u201cenoughness\u201d\u00a0 in that\u2019s its a post-resurrection occurrence and in the huge haul of fish, more than they could even draw in<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And food &#8211;\u00a0 it shows us how simple and sacred it is to share a meal together. Also, I really love breakfast and the image of sitting on a beach eating breakfast with Jesus. How wonderful is that?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m being honest, I picked this reading in the hopes that, if I picked something\u00a0 that I was already pretty familiar with, it would be super easy to just slap a sermon together. As it turns out, that wasn\u2019t the case. And I probably shouldn\u2019t just slap something together up here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So as I sat with the text I just kept coming up with more questions. The questions ranged from silly to complex, like:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did a resurrected Jesus\u2019s body really need to eat breakfast, or was he preparing it for the disciples?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why did Peter put his clothes on to jump into the water? And why was he naked?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where did the fish that Jesus was cooking before the disciples came to shore come from?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did fisher people usually sit together and eat breakfast after being out at sea?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did people on the shore usually call out to the fisherpeople and tell them where to fish or was this a weird Jesus trust thing?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And my biggest question, what does it mean to practice enoughness or\u00a0 a theology of abundance in the season of lent?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While all of those questions would be fascinating to wonder about, I\u2019m going to spend this time on the last one.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So first, let me explain the pieces of that question that might be confusing and then I\u2019ll wonder about it with you all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do I mean by enoughness?\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I mean the belief that there is more than enough, that through God\u2019s promises, we have more than enough, we are more than enough, and we can hope for a better tomorrow. I see this enoughness as a core theme throughout the whole biblical narrative, God shows unending generosity to humankind. I see it in the stories of God providing manna while the Israelites were wandering in the desert, I see it in the parables that Jesus told, especially in the story of the workers who all worked a different amount of time and got paid the same at the end of the day, and in the story of the resurrection. Death is real, and it isn\u2019t final.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if none of the biblical references made it any clearer, What might a theology of abundance look like in our context today:\u00a0 It\u2019s trusting that we only need the resources we will use, we don\u2019t need to hoard hand sanitizer or soap.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So now that we have a better idea of what I mean by abundance, what do I mean by Lent?<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0In many mainline Christian Traditions, we are currently in the season of Lent. That means, throughout the year, we follow the story of Jesus and right now we are at the part of the story before Jesus\u2019 death and before Easter. This season is a time to prepare for Easter, to repent, and to remember. Many people do this by fasting. Sometimes that means fasting from food, sometimes it means fasting from something, or maybe it means adding a new spiritual habit thing in. One example is from the ELCA Young Adults is to fast from single use plastics.\u00a0 This season is a season that is often somber, quiet, and simple. The invitation at the beginning of the season, on Ash Wednesday, is to remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do we hold both of these things at the same time:\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A belief in abundance and enoughness\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a season of remembering and repentance\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are two ways I think we can do that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, remember. R<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">emember that there is enough. I can fast from hoarding. I can fast from fear. I can fast from hopelessness. I can fast from all of those things because I believe in a God that has, does, and will generously provide for humankind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, Repent. For me, I\u2019m going to be better repenting\u00a0 if I am rooted in God\u2019s promises of enoughness. W<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hat does that mean? While clinging to the promise that I am beloved, I can be more open to repenting from the ways in which I have caused harm. In the ways I haven\u2019t always been kind, the times I caused harm to the earth when there were less harmful options, the times I talked over someone else, the times I didn\u2019t listen,\u00a0 the times I consciously or unconsciously assumed my white body was more important than a black, brown, or indigenous body, the times that I remained complicit.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For me, if I\u2019m not rooted in a promise of enoughness, the invitation to repentance might actually end up as a trip and tumble into a deep pit of guilt and shame and that\u2019s not the point of repentance. Repentance is to turn away, it is NOT to turn into myself, but to turn away from the ways that I have caused harm and remember that as a beloved Child of God I am called and freed to live in repariative ways that bring good news to my neighbor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And these two examples are on the individual level, what might it look like if our communities, cultures, and countries remembered and repented? So I will leave you with that, for you, What might it look like to embody a belief of enoughness in a season of remembering and repenting?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s blog post comes from the sermon that Amanda Vetsch preached on John 21:1-14 in chapel at Augsburg University on &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":465,"featured_media":54195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54196,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54194\/revisions\/54196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}