Rev. Tessie Mandeville
May 6, 2007
Christ Covenant MCC
Decatur, GA 30033

There are people who impact our lives and their legacy lives on long after they are gone. This week I am particularly reminded of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, a couple that I knew from childhood. When I was 10 years old, they invited me to live with them for the whole summer. Of course I said yes to that because it was my chance to be an only child instead of one of four as usual.

I lived with them for the summer and what I remember most is that we went fishing every morning. And when I say morning, I mean morning. Mrs. Brown woke me up at 5 AM every morning, which I thought was a tad too early. But Mrs. Brown persisted and by 6 AM, we were on our way.

We went to the river, put the boat in and went on our way. I loved fishing. I loved the water. I loved the sport of it all. But there was one thing that I didn’t like and that was what Mrs. Brown made me wear. You see, my hair and skin were very light, and in order not to get sunburned, she made me wear jeans, a flannel shirt and a broad rimmed hat. Well, that wouldn’t have been so bad except we were in South Carolina in the middle of the summer and it was hot! But that didn’t matter to Mrs. Brown nearly as much as not wanting to tangle with my Mom if she sent me home all sunburned.

We sat in our boat on the water and fished until noon. We talked and sang and enjoyed one another’s company. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were part of my church community so we often talked about God too.

It was a glorious summer and one that I wish I could have all over again. I felt so loved by them. They took care of me, made me laugh, took me to church and taught me some life lessons such as: If you want to catch fish, you have to get up earlier than they do; and, if you don’t want to get sunburned, you have to wear jeans, a flannel shirt, and a hat on your head—no matter how hot it is! Mr. and Mrs. Brown impacted my life in wonderful ways and their legacy of love and laughter lives on in me today. Of course, the other legacy that lives on in me is that I love a woman in a flannel shirt!

Some fishing tales are actually true and as we continue our post-resurrection sermon series, TheSeven Next Words of Christ, we find ourselves in the middle of another fishing tale.

On one particular day, not long after Jesus’ death, Peter and the other disciples decided the Jesus story was over and so was their relationship with him. So they went back to fishing, believing that it would take their minds off what had happened to them and to their beloved, Jesus. But it didn’t work. They didn’t catch anything all night. They tried so hard to get back to a normal life, but it didn’t work for them. This is pretty much how it works for us too in our relationships. Often we want to distance ourselves as quickly as possible from any pain we’re going through. We try to pick up our shattered lives and lose ourselves in the ordinary ways of doing things. But it doesn’t work for us either. Our pasts cannot be shut out or cordoned off so neatly.

Just after daybreak, when they were probably feeling frustrated, a mysterious person called out to them from the shore. We’re told that it was Jesus who called out to them, but the disciples don’t know that right away. Maybe there was a mist that blocked their vision; maybe it was still too dark or they were too far away from the shore. Or just maybe, they had to come a little closer and face the truth of their past, in order to see him more clearly.

Jesus called out to them, “You don’t have any fish do you?” They had to admit that they didn’t. He told them to cast their net to the other side and they’d find some fish. So they cast their net to the other side and they caught so many that they couldn’t get them all in the boat.

All of a sudden, John had a moment of clarity and said, “It is Jesus!” In our modern vernacular, I believe we’d call it “déjà vu” because this whole scene was very familiar to them. It wasn’t that long ago that the same men were in the same boat on the same sea, and Jesus performed the same miracle. Luke tells us the story in his gospel.

Imagine what they must have been feeling and thinking when John called out, “It is Jesus!” According to the story, Peter was so beside himself that he put on some clothes, jumped in the water and swam to shore. I’m not sure which is stranger—that Peter put on his clothes and jumped in the water or that he was fishing naked to start with! But I can tell you that if Mr. and Mrs. Brown would’ve been there, he’d have been completely covered!

They all got to shore and Jesus said, “Come and have breakfast.” I’d like to think they sat around that charcoal fire similar to how we gather around our communion table today. Jesus took the bread and fish and served it to them. And in that moment, they were absolutely sure it was Jesus. They recognized him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And I suggest to you today that the disciples didn’t need to see Jesus to know it was him. They recognized him by his actions and the impact he had on their lives. They recognized him by the legacy he left behind. Jesus made a difference in their lives and he called them to make a difference too. Jesus made choices that lead to his legacy and he reminded the disciples they could make choices right now that would lead to their legacy.

When he said, “Come and have breakfast”, I believe it was an invitation to come back to their center, to re-engage with the world, and to live the lives they were called to live. One of the great things that Jesus taught us is that our pasts don’t have to limit or confine us. That’s what he taught Peter when he asked him three different times, “Do you love me?” Remember, Peter was the one who denied three times that he even knew Jesus. When Jesus questioned Peter, he was trying to teach him he could make different choices this time that would lead to a different legacy. And he teaches us that we can make different choices too. In this moment, right now, we can start over. The choices we make today will lead to our legacy.

All of us here today probably want to leave some type of legacy. We want to make a difference in the world by the way we live our lives. We want to make a difference in the lives of the people who follow us.

Let me tell you about a gay, Philippino man who impacted lives and made a difference in this world. One January morning, Lisa and I went to a place called Fort Point, which is at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. We went there to watch the Olympic torch come through the area on its way to the Winter Olympics. Lisa told me about a man that would be one of its bearers. His name was Louie Bonpua.

Lisa met Louie and learned his story because she was training for her first duathlon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma society’s “Team in Training” program. Louie had leukemia and battled it bravely. He was not one who would let himself succumb to despair. In fact, earlier that fall, he trained for and completed an Ironman triathlon in 18 hours, all the while undergoing chemo treatments.

As we stood at Fort Point that early January morning, we waited anxiously for Louie to arrive. A huge group of friends and supporters gathered there and one of our friends shared with us that Louie had been in the hospital the last three days. His doctors weren’t even going to let him come carry the torch because he was so weak. But Louie and his family planned otherwise and hatched a plan for his hospital escape. As it turns out, his doctors relented and had an ambulance bring Louie to Fort Point.

We watched as the ambulance arrived and they brought Louie out on a stretcher. They placed him in a wheelchair but he got up. He decided he was going to walk on his own. And as another Olympic torch bearer rounded the corner, he handed the torch to Louie and Louie started walking with it. The crowd went wild! We were so excited! Louie was beaming! He took that torch and walked his .2 miles, laughing and smiling the entire way, while we clapped and yelled and cheered him on.

Two days after he carried the torch, Louie lost his battle with leukemia. And as we gathered that evening to celebrate his life, I realized what a legacy this man left behind him. He faced overwhelming odds as a Philippino man with leukemia because there were not a lot of Philippino people on the bone marrow donor list. Louie campaigned endlessly in his community to help them understand how important they are to the battle of leukemia. I believe Louie was of the opinion that his life belonged to the whole community, and as long as he lived, it was his privilege to do for it whatever he could. Because of Louie, the call was answered by his community and Philippino people started getting tested in greater numbers for bone marrow matches. Louie impacted his community in ways that will help them fight the odds in the future.

Louie handed his torch to a community of people that continue to raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society. They are people who put their bodies on the line to make a difference in this world. He left behind a legacy of determination and courage that says, “Wherever we are in our lives, we can make choices that will lead to our legacy.”

May we all learn to look at our lives not as brief candles but as splendid torches which we’ve got hold of for the moment. And may we allow our torches to burn as brightly as possible before handing them on to future generations. Blessed be and amen.

Copyright © 2007 by Rev. Tessie Mandeville. Permission granted for non- profit circulation with attribution of author and venue. Other rights reserved