It is such a joy to welcome our friends from Lapwai who have come here today to help us observe Native American Awareness Sunday. I'm ashamed to say that is a day we've often ignored– I hope never again. It is also a joy to welcome you as we build a relationship together.
A number of us had the privilege of worshiping with you on February 21. We also had the joy of feasting with you. Those of you who didn't go with us missed a great meal. We had cedar plank salmon, roast pork, and a vast array of other dishes. We came home both spiritually and physically fed.
This all began when the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference met in June of 2015. The Annual Conference is the regional body of the United Methodist Church. Our General Conference, or the global arm of the church, had mandated that every Annual Conference observe an Act of Repentance for the
ways the church has abused and harmed our Native American brothers and sisters over the years. One of the ways the church did that was to force Indian children to attend church run boarding schools where they were punished for speaking their native languages and had their Indian culture beaten out of them in other ways. "Kill the Indian, save the child," was the philosophy.
Those schools were horrible and I'm sorry for the harm they did. And I was not there at the time and cannot undo the pain they caused. So the question that came before the planning team for the Annual Conference Act of Repentance was what can we do today? I also know it is easy enough to say, "I'm sorry" and then make no lasting changes so that the repentance means nothing in the end. "What can we do?" we continued to ask. The answer was to encourage Anglo churches to build relationships with tribes in their areas, to learn their stories, their challenges, their accomplishments.
I was pleased when our Annual Conference lay members took that call to heart and recommended to the Church Council to reach out to the Lapwai Church. I was even more pleased when thirty people participated in our first visit. I challenge all in the Moscow Church to communicate that goal to your new pastor and to continue to build this relationship.
Given the marvelous salmon dinner on which we feasted on February 21, I think it is fitting that today's Gospel lesson is the story of the miraculous catch of fish and the appearance of the Risen Christ at a fish breakfast on the beach. You heard the story: Peter and the other disciples seem a bit confused after Jesus' crucifixion and then his appearance to them later. He had risen from the dead – and yet they seem at loose ends. Peter says, "I'm going fishing," and the others join him.
They fish all night and have no luck. At day break a figure appears on the beach and calls to them to cast off the right side of the boat. Suddenly they have more fish than they can handle. John recognizes the mysterious beach figure: "It is the Lord!" he says and impetuous Peter quickly pulls on his shirt, jumps in the sea and splashes ashore to Jesus. Jesus already has a fire started and some fish grilling. Even though the disciples had been unable to haul in the net, so heavy was it with fish, when they land the boat Peter hauls it ashore, not even tearing the net.
As I read of this miraculous catch of fish I thought about the stories of salmon runs in the days before hydroelectric dams were built. The stories say there were so many fish they turned the rivers silver and pink, so many fish that it seemed one could walk across the river on the fish.
One of the places known for the bounty of fish was Celilo Falls on the Columbia River. For 15,000 years native peoples gathered there to fish. You can still see a u tube video of people dipping their nets into the turbulent river and lifting out fish. Again and again they pull out fish. It seems like a miraculous catch of fish to me. Many tribes lived on the salmon they pulled from the river at those falls. Clearly it took skill, strength, and courage to fish in this way.
Sadly, Celilo Falls was lost after the construction of the Dalles dam in 1957. Like so many other treaties made between native peoples and the US government, the right to fish was taken from them by the government's hunger for cheap power. There is no more miraculous catch of fish at Celilo Falls, or many other favorite fishing grounds.
When the disciples first went fishing they caught nothing, sort of like trying to fish at Celilo now, or in all the other places where fishing rights have been broken. When Jesus called to them, "Let down your nets on the right side of the boat" and their nets were suddenly filled, it was if their fishing rights had been restored.
After they realized it was Jesus on the beach and came ashore, he had breakfast ready. We read, "Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish." Those are nearly the same words used to describe the last meal they had had with Jesus, when he took bread and broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you." He did the same with the cup. We usually call it the Last Supper. Maybe it was the last supper but our story today tells us it was not the last meal they had with Jesus, for there was breakfast on the beach.
As I prepared for this sermon, I learned that in early Christian pictures, the Eucharist – this meal of thanks which we celebrate in remembrance of Jesus – the meal is often of bread and fish, not bread and cup. I'm not sure when that changed, but you see it could have been that our menu for Holy Communion could have been bread and fish.
There's another little detail in this story which is telling. Jesus had built a charcoal fire on the beach. I can only imagine that when Peter splashed ashore he was wet and cold. He probably stood by that fire to dry off and warm himself. The only other time the word for charcoal fire is used in the Bible is after Peter denied that he knew Jesus and Peter again warmed himself by a charcoal fire. Twice he stood by a fire. Twice he warmed himself at the fire. The first time he had denied Jesus. The second time he recognized Jesus.
And then they sat down to eat. The Last Supper turned into the First Breakfast. Their table fellowship became a sacred meal – a holy time when the Risen Christ was with them.
As we ate salmon and pork and so much other good food in Lapwai, two churches joining together, I believe the Risen Jesus was present with us. It was a sacred meal. Today we invite you to join us downstairs in our fellowship hall for an ice cream social. And as we eat and talk together, I believe the Risen Jesus will join us. He might have brown skin and a few wrinkles, or he might come to us as a little girl with blonde curls, or a man with a bald head.
Table fellowship is a form of sacrament, though we may not be in a sanctuary or even say a prayer. Think of all the meals in the Bible: manna and quail in the wilderness, the feeding of the five thousand in a grassy place, the meal at Emmaus when the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, the Last Supper – and the First Breakfast.
As we eat together God supplies us with the strength and nourishment we need for the work of repentance, restoration, and reconciliation.
I don't have the power to restore the salmon runs to Celilo Falls or the lesser known spots along the Snake and the Clearwater where the Nez Perce peoples once fished. I can't erase the long term hurt caused by the boarding schools. I can listen to your stories and learn your names. And I can welcome you to Tut-kin-ma (Moscow) and say to you kat-si-yow-yow (thank you) for coming to our church today. Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.