Some assembly required?

     This third Sunday in Easter we are once again in John's gospel, enjoying a lakeside picnic and barbecue with Jesus and the disciples.  With another familiar text, we will once again be challenged to read John 21.1-19 with a different lens than usual.  As part II of our worship series, we are focusing on worship as central.  Last week we took a look at how God's mission and purpose is revealed through Christ and through worship.  For Lutherans the church is defined by its worship, the church being “the assembly of all believers among whom the gospel is purely preached and the holy sacraments are administered according to the gospel” (Augsburg Confession, Article VII).
     Our text from John sheds some interesting insight into this definition of church and worship.  It begins with a list of all the disciples who were together, 7 in total.  If the disciples hadn't been together to begin with, the whole story wouldn't have happened.  But because the disciples were together, they witnessed the power of the living Christ.
     Apparently trying to move on with life after the crucifixion and two appearances of the resurrected Christ, the disciples tried doing something 'normal.'  What is more normal for fishermen than fishing?  So Peter decides to go out and the whole group decides to go with him.  Again, if the disciples hadn't been together, the story wouldn't have happened.  But they stick together.
     And it's a terrible night of fishing.  They didn't even haul in one fish - and  then a stranger from the shore suggests they throw their net on the right side of the boat (right as in the relative direction, opposite of left, not the 'correct' side).  Can you imagine the conversation in the boat?  I wonder if they did it - figuring they had nothing to lose, or if they had an argument about whether to waste their time and should just head in.  If it had been me in the boat, I suspect I would have been reluctant to try something a total stranger suggested, and it would take six other people to convince me to try it. And when they do, they catch so many fish they can't pull in the net.
     At that point one of the disciples realizes the man is Jesus and Peter jumps in to greet him.  (Did you notice that Peter puts on his clothes in order to jump into the lake??)  So far everything has been dependent upon the fact that the disciples were gathered together.  And as they are gathered, Jesus appears, feeds them, and gives them a purpose and mission.
     Worship - the place where disciples gather, are fed, and given purpose and mission is central to the life of faith - both for the individuals and the community they form.  Again, as we heard yesterday, God meets us in worship just as in worship we meet God.  And the one thing that makes a community of faith is the people, gathered together.
     Isn't it always about the people?  Apart from a faith community even, the people can make or break anything.  Think about how people impact your working environment.  Think about people and personalities can impact any get together.  It is always about the people.  And yet in worship we are blessed because it is about the people but it is also about God.
     It is about the people of God, the grace of God revealed in Christ, it is about people who gather and 'pretend the kingdom' as a professor of mine is fond of saying.  So when we are gathered for worship, the personalities, the differences, the quirks and the charming qualities are all accepted.  Everyone.  As they are.  Because in God's kingdom, everyone is welcome, everyone has a place, everyone is loved.

     This is a picture of my ordination (right), a glorious and wonderful gathering of friends, families, and yes, even some complete strangers, who came to worship and celebrate God's grace, and God's mission and purpose for my life.   It is one of the worship services that I will always remember - because of the gathering, because of the tangible sense of the Holy Spirit, because everyone there had a place, no matter their views.  It was about the gathering, it was about God's presence in the gathering, it was about mission and purpose in the world.
     Thinking about our John text in this light, I am wondering about the assembly - the gathering.  The assembly is required for worship, and in the assembly God's mission and purpose is fulfilled.  I am left pondering how God is changing the assembly of which I am a part?  How is God's mission and purpose being lived out in our assembly?  In yours?