9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”
John 21:9-12a
In an age when we may find ourselves inundated with messages and to-do lists, something I have found helpful in my ministry is to listen to podcasts. I’m following a few, trying to keep up with episodes when I can, missing more of them than I’d like, and attempting to listen to those passed along to me. I’ll give it a few minutes, and if I’m hooked, I’ll keep listening. Otherwise, I’ll pass on to the next. A confessional moment here, friends.
What I have found with podcasts is that many times, if an author is being interviewed, they tend to share key points from their book. So, podcasts have become my 21st-century Cliff Notes or Sparknotes.
In a recent podcast, Hidden Brain: You 2.0 Slow Down forwarded to me from colleague Jon Strother (Beacon & Sound District Superintendent), I learned about Fred Bryant’s definition of savoring: “the capacity to attend to, appreciate, and enhance the positive experiences in one’s life” (Bryant and Veroff, 2007, p. xi).
We have all heard the phrase, “savor the moment,” and we can certainly name those places where time slowed down for us, and our senses were enhanced as we fully embraced the surroundings we were in, the sounds encompassing us, and the people who may have been present around us.
I remember visiting the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter, along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where a rock is centrally located in the chancel area, marking the spot where Jesus cooked breakfast for the disciples in John 21. This is known to some as Mensa Christ, which means the table of Christ. With a few extra minutes that particular morning, I remember sitting in the church, imagining what it would have been like to be one of the disciples and watching Jesus cook breakfast. It reminded me of watching my parents cook over a fire during our weekend camping trips, and it was easy for me to see Jesus cooking the bread and fish he was preparing for the disciples. It must have been quite a moment for the disciples, as they smelled the food being cooked, with hunger on their minds after pulling in a heavy catch. A positive experience, no doubt, for the disciples that morning.
Listen to what Bryant says about gratitude as it relates to savoring (48:37):
“Gratitude is the ability to pinpoint a gift from an external gift giver. The benefactor could be a friend, it could be a stranger, it could be a deity, it could be a loved one. This is something outside us which has blessed us, given us something positive. Unless those realizations hit us and we reflect on that cognitively, there is no gratitude.”
There’s something special about receiving a gift. I’m not very good at it, and it always feels a bit awkward when someone offers me a gift. A family recently shared homemade brownies with me, covered in amazing icing, in a beautiful baker’s box. What struck me was when they presented it to me, all three of them had beaming smiles on their faces.
John tells us the disciples knew it was Jesus who was preparing breakfast for them. And once the meal was ready, Jesus “came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish” (21:13). What a gracious act Jesus shared with the disciples, as he offered bread and fish for them to eat. A true blessing of nourishment and sustaining grace.
Savor the moments, my friends, just as the disciples did with Jesus.
Blessings,
David
Sunset, Pleasant Grove UMC, September 2023 – taken by David Blackman