All are welcome to join us on Sunday, May 4th at 10 am.  This Sunday, there will be Communion, as well as information about the Red Dress and the Moose Hide movements. Sunday school will run during  the church service and coffee is served afterwards.

Here are Rev. Marlene’s thoughts on this week’s passage.

“Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.'” John 21:17

This week’s lectionary passage in John’s Gospel is a Resurrection encounter between Jesus and his Apostles. Here, the group of fishermen, who had followed Jesus, set out for a night on the water, but they come up empty.  Catching nothing by dawn reveals their limitations.  They can no longer achieve their basic goals without the Lord. At dawn, Jesus appears and offers a tip about where to find fish.  The disciples follow the advice, and their resulting abundant catch makes it plain who the mystery man is: “It is the Lord!”  Peter then feels compelled to leap into the sea (there we see allusions to Baptism).  Together with the risen Lord on shore, the disciples present their fish, which Jesus mixes with his own meal.  The mingling of heavenly and earthly food is clearly Eucharistic imagery and an echo of other Resurrection accounts in which the risen Lord shares a post-Resurrection meal with his disciples.

After the Baptismal and Eucharistic imagery, the scene shifts focus to an exchange between Jesus and Peter, where Peter faces a three-fold interrogation, followed by a commissioning.  Three times the risen Jesus questions Peter’s love for him. Each time, Peter affirms his love for the Lord as Jesus calls Peter to care for (feed, tend) the flock that Jesus draws to himself.  Ultimately, Jesus confirms that Peter’s love will match his own; Peter will face a death like that of Jesus and it, too, will glorify God.  Peter needs only to follow him.

Life question: Where is Jesus saying, “Follow me” again in your life?