Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XI).
Tisha BeAb or Tisha B’Av (תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב), literally ‘the Ninth of Av,’ an annual fast day in the Hebrew calendar, begins this evning. The fast commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem, about 655 years apart but on the same date in the Hebrew calendar. Tisha B’Av begins at sundown this evening (12 August 2024) and ends at nightfall tomorrow (13 August 2024).
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 17: 22-27 (NRSVA):
22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, 23 and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.’ And they were greatly distressed.
24 When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?’ 25 He said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?’ 26 When Peter said, ‘From others’, Jesus said to him, ‘Then the children are free. 27 However, so that we do not give offence to them, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.’
This morning’s reflection:
I have been a vegetarian most of my life, but the rewards of fishing at the Lake in Capernaum in this morning’s Gospel reading is worth working with. Ernest Hemingway, in The Old Man and The Sea, says ‘Il faut (d’abord) durer … It is necessary, above all else, to endure. It is necessary to endure.’
Over half a century ago, when I hitchhiking in the Peaks on the borders of Staffordshire and Derbyshire in my late teens, and staying in Ilam Hall, I came across the work of that great Anglican writer, Izaak Walton (1593-1683), known not only for his biographies of John Donne, George Herbert and Richard Hooker, but also known as the author of The Compleat Angler.
In The Compleat Angler, Izaak Walton points out that fishing can teach us patience and discipline. Fishing takes practice, preparation, discipline; like discipleship, it has to be learned, and learning requires practice before there are any results. And sometimes, whether it is fishing in a river, fishing in a lake or fishing in the sea, the best results can come from going against the current.
Walking along the piers in coastal fishing towns and villages in Ireland or on summer holidays on Greek islands, I sometimes watch the careful early morning work of the crews in the trawlers and fishing boats, and I am reminded that good fishing does not come about by accident. It also requires paying attention to the nets, moving them carefully, mending them, cleaning them after each and every use, hanging them out to dry.
And fishing is also about noticing the weather, watching the wind and the clouds. Good fishing takes account of contexts … it is incarnational.
Time and again in the Gospels, the Kingdom of God is compared to a huge net cast over different numbers of people and species. We are the ones called to cast that net, and we cannot hang any sign outside on our office doors saying: ‘Gone Fishin’.
Nor can we stand by the bank or on the shore, content with two sizes of fish. We are called to go after the ones that others let get away, not just those who come to Church regularly, but also those people who sit in darkness and in the region of the shadow of death.
Peter is sent to go fishing in the lake. He is told to take the first fish that comes up and that he is going to find a treasure beyond his expectations. It is an image of what working for the kingdom of God can be like.
There are days when fishing seems pointless, and there will be days when we are happy with our work together. And as we work together, hopefully, there will be days when we are surprised with what we can achieve together, all in Christ’s name and all for the sake of the one that otherwise might get away.
Today’s Prayers (Monday 12 August 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Whom Shall I Send?’ This theme was introduced yesterday with a programme update from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Regional Manager Asia and Middle East, USPG, on the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East’s new programme launched in accompaniment with USPG, ‘Whom Shall I Send.’
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 12 August 2024, International Youth Day) invites us to pray:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for all youth workers and ministries within the worldwide Anglican Communion and all the young people in their care.
The Collect:
O God, you declare your almighty power
most chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace,
that we, running the way of your commandments,
may receive your gracious promises,
and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
Lord of all mercy,
we your faithful people have celebrated that one true sacrifice
which takes away our sins and brings pardon and peace:
by our communion
keep us firm on the foundation of the gospel
and preserve us from all sin;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
God of glory,
the end of our searching,
help us to lay aside
all that prevents us from seeking your kingdom,
and to give all that we have
to gain the pearl beyond all price,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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