Fly Fishing and the Episcopal Church

Last Sunday, The Rev. Richard Mayberry gave a wonderful sermon on fishing and the Episcopal Church.  For those who were not able to be with us here are some highlights and for those who were there, here is an opportunity to reflect again on his wise words: 

So focus with me on these three scenes from my youth.  Scene number 1:  I’m with my Dad, sitting in a rowboat on Silver Lake in Washington State.   Dad is fishing.  I’m bored.  It seems we have been sitting there for hours.  Dad catches a few small fish.   Scene number 2:  We are on a deep sea fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean right where the Columbia River meets the ocean.   The boat is bobbing up and down and side-to-side.  I am as seasick as one can be, lying on the floor of the boat.  Dad is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - that makes me even sicker.  But then Dad catches a 25-pound Chinook salmon.  That made his day, his month, his year!!  Scene number 3: It is dusk on the Oregon Coast.  My sister and I are playing in the sand.  Dad is out in the surf, wearing waders up to his arms casting out with a very long bamboo pole.  I believe the bamboo pole was at least 25 feet long, made for my Dad by the local firemen in our hometown.  He is surf fishing and at the end of the day he has caught a number of sea perch.   Well, as you can see, my Dad was a fisherman.  He loved to fish. I did not inherit this quality from my Dad.  But I do remember Dad certainly loved to fish.

I thought of him when I read our gospel lesson this morning where Jesus is at the Sea of Galilee and walks by Simon Peter and Andrew, ”casting a net into the sea” for they were fisherman.

There was a novel written by Norman Maclean titled, “A River Runs Through It.”  You’ve probably heard of that novel.  It was made into a movie.  And the novel begins with these words:

“In our family there was no clear distinction between religion and fly fishing.  We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in Western Montana and our father was a Presbyterian minister and fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others.  He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fisherman, and that John, the favorite, was a dry fly fisherman.”

Now the author of this novel was not the first person to compare fishing with religion.  For in Matthew’s gospel today, we hear Jesus saying to Andrew and Peter and James and John, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

Last Saturday I was having lunch with a former parishioner of mine who used to live in Stamford but she sold her home and bought a ranch in Wyoming.  And she loves it!   For one reason, she has a trout stream on her property.  And she was telling me all about fly-fishing.  She said to be a good fisherman, or fisherwoman I guess, you basically have to think like the fish.  What are they eating?  And you have to know the habits of the fish, figure out what they prefer at particular places and certain times of the day and seasons of the year.

“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”  Now, like fish, people exist in many varieties.  So, to become successful fishers of people, we need to account for individual differences, preferences, perspectives and cultures.  Also we know that varying ages and generations respond differently and have separate characteristic needs.  And as we cannot force a fish to be caught, we thus seek to try to draw others into the Christian circle, not by coercion, but by loving attraction.

So the church’s task, as fishers of people, is to try to find the best ways to invite others to Christ, offering them what we have and letting them prosper if they choose to remain in our environment.

 I read a great definition of an Episcopalian the other day, written by Jacqueline Schmitt:

“There’s no such thing as a politically incorrect Episcopalian.  There are conservative Episcopalians and liberal Episcopalians.   There are straight Episcopalians and LGBT Episcopalians.  There are Catholics and Protestants.  There are African, English, Asian, and Alaskan Episcopalians.  And none of the above.  The Episcopal Church doesn’t offer you set dogma, or pat answers, or a list of do’s and don’ts.  There’s room for all kinds of people and all kinds of theologies.  What the Episcopal Church does offer you is a way of prayer, a way of thinking and asking questions, a way of life in this often confusing, conflicting and complicated world, a way that may lead you closer to God.” 

Here are some other thoughts about being an Episcopalian:  “The Episcopal Church is at its best in its liturgy and music creating a world of wonder in which it is easy to fall in love with God.”  The genius of the Episcopal Church is holding truths in tension.  It’s not either/or but both/and - a church with few “musts” pointing out, not dictating the response to God.

So we are all called to be fishermen/fisherwomen, inviting others, offering them what we have and letting them prosper if they choose to remain in our environment.  Amen.