Safety Net

• Afternoon Tea on February 14th at 3pm (please RSVP by February 8th)
• Tentative: Corned Beef Supper on March 14th (keep your eyes peeled for details)
• We are beginning our collections for Fuel Assistance for local families in need
• SOUPer Bowl Sunday Collections continue!
• Death Cafe January 24th at 4pm (we meet monthly)                                                                    
• Discussion Circle is the Last Sunday after Church                            
• You, Me, and We: Walking Together with Love March 29th after Church

Visit our Calendar of Events to explore our upcoming dates and times

This week is a week of prayer for Unity.  It is a time when we are called to remember what it is that brings us together.  If you feel so called in your faith journey, offer up a prayer of unity each day this week.  Perhaps it is formal prayer.  Perhaps it is a cry for peace in our nations and in this whole created world.  Perhaps it is a deliberate moment to hope that all beings may know freedom from hunger and thirst, that we may all be sheltered and know freedom from fear.

It is a time to remember our part on the Safety Net.  On the Web of Love.  

Our Sunday Reflection is recorded and can be found HERE (posts each Sunday by late morning or early afternoon).

It is a time to remember our part on the Safety Net.  On the Web of Love.  

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we are so busy creating deep gaping divides between one another. We are so busy looking for the ways in which we are different.  We are working very hard to tear each other down and apart.  It would almost be comical if it wasn’t so terrible.  

I love that one of our ongoing Missions is around food.  We are always gathering food for those who need it.  It is a constant reminder that we all have common needs for survival.  No matter how different we are, we need food, we need drink, and we need shelter.  And at all times, ordinary and special, we “cast our net” together to help make sure that no one goes hungry and that no one goes thirsty.  It’s universal.  

We begin from a very basic need to remember that we are…the same.  It’s universal.  

One of the first things Jesus does is to bring into the fold…fishermen. This might be like Jesus heading to the local McDonalds to find his disciples.  These are ordinary people.  Hungry and thirsty and seeking more.  Just like us.  

Jesus says “I will make you fishers of men”.  He will make them casters of nets.   

I imagine there were expectations from these fishers of men.  Who should be a part of this journey?  Who belonged and who didn’t?  I’m sure they envisioned a plan.  A revolution that would change the hierarchy.  Perhaps they envisioned being part of some final battle that would change everything.  

Every time they think they begin to understand, Jesus says brings up a story or a parable that confuses them and makes them think bigger…cast the net wider.  He invites someone unexpected to the table.  Someone who…doesn’t belong.  He casts the net wider.  

What happens when we’re seated next to someone who makes us uncomfortable?  I remember being at an airline interview and the interview question was: what do you do when a passenger complains that the person sitting next to them smells funny?  I don’t remember how I answered, but I remember the question distinctly.  I also remember rebelling against hierarchies in first class. That didn’t go well for any of us.  We like our hierarchies…especially when we’re at the top.  

What do we do when we’re sitting next to someone we don’t think should be there?  We might ignore them.  We might turn our back to them.  We might complain.  We might try to get them to move.  

For Jesus, there was no “doesn’t belong”.  As soon as anyone got too comfortable, Jesus cast the net of uncomfortable.  

When we sit long enough with one another, we start to realize how not so different we really are.  Instead of bringing each other down and tearing each other apart, we start to lift each other up and put one another back together.  Maybe this is why there are so many healing stories in the Gospels.  Jesus is lifting up and putting back together…quite literally.  

Instead of ignoring, we could strike up a conversation.  Instead of turning our backs, we might offer a morsel of food or pour the wine.  We might engage and talk and listen and laugh.  We do have to laugh. Happy are those…  

We’re all in this together.  Jesus’s greatest gift might be continually bringing us together and to the same level.  

There’s a saying that we’re all in the same storm, but we’re not in the same boat.  While I understand the sentiment, it’s not my favorite metaphor.  I feel like what it says is that we just need to somehow get a better boat. If we make more money, we can buy ourselves a better boat.  We could steal a boat.  We might take a better boat that someone lost control of.  We’re still competing for the best boat to get out of the storm. 

We’re still focused on the “thing” that will make our lives better.  

Your boat, my boat.  We’re comparing our boats with one another.  We’re competing and judging.  I earned this better boat.  What did they do “wrong” that they’re still floating in a raft in the storm?  Then if we manage to get to calmer waters…what about those still struggling?

All these boats continue to separate us from one another. If they fail in that boat, our boat won’t go down with them. It makes us think that our humanity and survival isn’t wrapped up in the humanity and creation around us.  As if we can survive alone…in our own boat.  

In all honesty, we’re all in the same boat.  We might be in different sections of the same boat. Some of us have the first class rooms.  Some of us are in tenth class. Some of us are in the kitchen.  Some of us are part of the cleaning crew.  Some of us are the healers and the teachers.  Some of us are in the engine room or the coal room, making everything run.  Some are navigating.  Some are keeping a lookout.   

We are all sharing the boat.  We will need one another if we are going to get out of the storm.  We live as if we can live without one another. As if we don’t WANT to live with one another.  

As if it’s ok for some people to get lost in dark corridors or fall off the side of the boat into the storm.  Maybe this why we’re given nets…to catch one another when we fall.  To fish one another out of the water.  

We’re all in this together.  Same boat.  Same Table.  Same stew of messiness.  Same storm of Goodness.  Same Earth.  Same Creation. 

It’s still Good.  God created the world out of nothing.  To nothing it can easily return, but God doesn’t return us to nothing.  God’s net of Love is still growing, creating, and building.  God’s net is still there to catch us.  

God’s Net is ever-expanding and ever-growing.  This week of Unity reminds us that we are interwoven and interconnected whether we want to be or not.  We are all in the net together.  We’ve been drawn in together and maybe our work is to heal (put back together) our broken corner of the net (or plug the holes in our corner of the boat).  

We cannot stop believe in the Good.  God casts a Net of Love far and wide.  Jesus casts a net of Love far and wide.  We can do our part to love and heal our little corner of the net.  So that maybe, just maybe, we can be the safety net for someone around us who needs it so desperately.  We can be a part of the Healing.  

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called.