I love the post Easter stories of Jesus.

The confusion as to whether he can walk through walls, and thus is ghostlike, or can eat fish, and this has a material body. The way he is sometimes recognized, and sometimes not. The way he cares for the disciples and fills them with the holy spirit.

All the stories feel like a call to action, and also a promise that whatever happens, God will redeem it.

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The Other Side of the Boat

Sometimes, what you are doing is not working. You keep fishing and there are no fish. You plan standouts in your town, but people are not coming. You start community discussions but neighbors don't show up. Your food pantry has few takers. The three who want to support immigrants can't get others to help with the planning.

It is the Christian calling to to take risks for the common good. We might be arrested, hurt, or embarrassed by our actions. We try to have courage in the face of those risks. But the biggest risk is that our plan doesn't gain enough momentum to keep going. The good idea doesn't work. No one comes, or even more painful, three people come and are disappointed.

In John 21:1-19 the disciples are giving up after a failed fishing expedition. As they come in they see the risen Christ at the shore. Before they quit, he suggests dropping their nets on the other side of the boat. The haul is so big it breaks the net.

Now we all know fish aren't swimming on one side of a boat and not the other. We also know that sometimes we get so caught up in how we solve a problem that we think this solution is the only one. We forget the goal in our insistence on a particular strategy.

This was my call to ordained ministry--I was trying to fix this and that detail of my life when God suggested that I put my net into the water on the other side of my boat. Instead of adjusting details of this particular life path, it was time to find a completely different life path. My goal of finding a meaningful life stayed the same; my strategy changed.

When our strategies for caring for the least of God's children are not working restate your why, your purpose, your goal. Remember it is one particular strategy that did not work, not that the goal was incorrect. What other strategies would achieve the same goal?

Think big to find the other choices. Connect to other organizations, other churches, and other resistance groups to get ideas. List many ideas. And then figure out where your congregation has the energy to try again. Which one idea is a good one to try next. Which three will work, and which of those three will you start with? What are people already doing and how can you expand on that?

As for the disciples, it helps to get Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit in on the discussion. Use prayerful discernment in identifying which is the next best strategy to try. Remember that we hear from God often by hearing from other people. Ask around about the ideas you have, see which ones excite others to take part. Pull in more people to be part of the planning for the next try. Get volunteers from outside your church to take on specific tasks. Include the school system, or the senior center, or the a political or resistance group. Invite another church to join you--in the planning and volunteering, not just asking them to attend.

And then try again, on the other side of the boat..

Do you have a project that is not working as well as you hoped? What are some frustrations and disappointments you have faced? Just reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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The general strike website is gathering names of people willing to refuse to work until actions are taken. They won't start the strike until they have 11 million workers registered.

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When things are not going well it is easy to think that nothing is working anywhere. Indeed many people are getting hurt. But the website Waging Nonviolence says that the actions we are taking are making a difference.

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