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Reflections on journeys at the shore: fishing, trusting, and trying something new

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The two, fish and God, go together like fish and water. —Brian McLaren

We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. — Martin Luther King Jr.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. — Henry David Thoreau

One thing becomes clearer as one gets older and one’s fishing experience increases, and that is the paramount importance of one’s fishing companions. — John Ashley Cooper

Fishing is not an escape from life, but often a deeper immersion into it. —Harry Middleton

Learn to trust the journey, even when you do not understand it. — Lolly Daskal

SONGS about BEING CALLED by LOVE:

SONGS about FISHING:

PRAYER — Garrison Keillor

Thank you, dear God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. Thank you for the rain. And for the chance to wake up in three hours and go fishing: I thank you for that now, because I won’t feel so thankful then. 

THE REAL WORK
— Wendell Berry

It may be that when
we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when
we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled
is not employed.
The impeded stream
is the one that sings.

The FISH— Mary Oliver
The first fish
I ever caught
would not lie down
quiet in the pail
but flailed and sucked
at the burning
amazement of the air
and died
in the slow pouring off
of rainbows. Later
I opened his body and separated
the flesh from the bones
and ate him. Now the sea
is in me: I am the fish, the fish
glitters in me; we are
risen, tangled together, certain to fall
back to the sea. Out of pain,
and pain, and more pain
we feed this feverish plot, we are nourished
by the mystery.

Darest thou now O soul,
Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?
No map there, nor guide,
Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.
I know it not O soul,
Nor dost thou, all is a blank before us,
All waits undream’d of in that region, that inaccessible land.
Till when the ties loosen,
All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds bounding us.
Then we burst forth, we float,
In Time and Space O soul, prepared for them,
Equal, equipt at last, (O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil O soul.

– Walt Whitman

Of FISHING & FISHERFOLK

Great fish do not swim in shallow waters. — Matshona Dhliwayo

The stream at the end of your street can be a place where you make contact with this whole other amazing world hidden right there beneath the surface. Fishing can be the passport to that world. — Jeremy Wade

All goes back to the earth, and so I do not desire pride of excess or power, but the contentments made by men who have had little: the fisherman’s silence receiving the river’s grace, the gardener’s musing on rows… — Wendell Berry 

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. — Vincent Van Gogh

Fishermen own the fish they catch, but they do not own the ocean. — Etienne Schneider 

The water is a dark flower and a fisherman is a bee in the heart of her. ― Annie Proulx 

The creative act is a letting down of the net of human imagination into the ocean of chaos on which we are suspended, and the attempt to bring out of it ideas. It is the night sea journey, the lone fisherman on a tropical sea with his nets, and you let these nets down – sometimes, something tears through them that leaves them in shreds and you just row for shore, and put your head under your bed and pray. At other times what slips through are the minutiae, the minnows of this ichthyological metaphor of idea chasing. But, sometimes, you can actually bring home something that is food, food for the human community that we can sustain ourselves on and go forward. ― Terence McKenna

The most shameful occupations are those which cater to our sensual pleasures: fish-sellers, butchers, cooks, poultry-raisers and fishermen. — Cicero 

Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God. — Tony Blake

I fish to scratch the surface of those mysteries, for nearness to the beautiful, and to reassure myself the world remains. — Carl Safina.

A fish only begins to realize its potential the moment you throw it in deep waters. — Matshona Dhliwayo.

A river is honored for its fish, not its size — Matshona Dhliwayo

When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain. — Mark Twain

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.— Maimonides

I want everybody to go jump in the ocean to see for themselves how beautiful it is, how important it is to get acquainted with fish swimming in the ocean, rather than just swimming with lemon slices and butter.”- Sylvia Earle.I still don’t know why I fish or why others fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel. — Roderick Haig- Brown

The act of fishing – for fish, dreams, or whatever magic is available – is enough. It transports us to a special world, and a state of mind, where we are free. — Fennel Hudson

If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles. — Doug Larson

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers. — Herbert Hoover

I’ve gone fishing thousands of times in my life, and I have never once felt unlucky or poorly paid for those hours on the water. — William Tapply

One thing becomes clearer as one gets older and one’s fishing experience increases, and that is the paramount importance of one’s fishing companions. — John Ashley Cooper

Fishing is not an escape from life, but often a deeper immersion into it. — Harry Middleton.I

f I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago. — Zane Grey.

I go fishing not to find myself but to lose myself. — Joseph Monniger

I only hope the fish will take half as much trouble for me as I’ve taken for them. — Rudyard Kipling

The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. — A.K. Best

Most of the world is covered by water. A fisherman’s job is simple: Pick out the best parts. — Charles Waterman

Be patient and calm – for no one can catch fish in anger. —  Herbert Hoover

Do not tell fish stories where the people know you. Particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish. — Mark Twain

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of something that is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hop. — John Bucha

Fishing is a discipline in the equality of men – for all men are equal before fish. — Herbert HooverIf I were not African, I wonder whether it would be clear to me that Africa is a place where the people do not need limp gifts of fish but sturdy fishing rods and fair access to the pond. I wonder whether I would realize that while African nations have a failure of leadership, they also have dynamic people with agency and voices. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Fishing provides that connection with the whole living world. It gives you the opportunity of being totally immersed, turning back into yourself in a good way. A form of meditation, some form of communion with levels of yourself that are deeper than the ordinary self. — Ted Hughes

People still do not understand that a live fish is more valuable than a dead one, and that destructive fishing techniques are taking a wrecking ball to biodiversity. — Sylvia Earle

Food production is ripping the living world apart. Fishing and farming are, by a long way, the greatest cause of extinction and loss of the diversity and abundance of wildlife. Farming is a major cause of climate breakdown, the biggest cause of river pollution and a hefty source of air pollution. — George Monbiot

Fishing is a hard job. Fishing at night. Rain. Day, night. You have to be wise and smart. And quick. — Mariano Rivera

The industrial way we fish for seafood is harming the marine habitats that all ocean life depends upon. Indiscriminate commercial fishing practices that include miles of driftnets, long lines with thousands of lethal hooks and bottom trawls are ruining ocean ecosystems by killing non-seafood species, including sea turtles and marine mammals. — Ted Danson

Environmentalists aren’t nearly sensitive enough to the fact that they are messing around with struggling people and their livelihoods. They forget that the fishermen are the people with the most immediate vested interest in having a healthy sea. — Mark Kurlansky 

Chefs are at the end of a long chain of individuals who work hard to feed people. Farmers, beekeepers, bakers, scientists, fishermen, grocers, we are all part of that chain, all food people, all dedicated to feeding the world. — Jose Andres

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions of hope. — John Buchan

One of the ways I practice contemplation in my life is through fishing. It’s the place and the space where I find a real connection through the ocean, the waves, the sound of the water, the birds diving, and the struggle with the adversary, which is the fish. — Barbara Holmes

You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water…If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirit.— Constantin Brancusi

FALLING in LOVE
— Attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

Commentary on BEING CALLED

Christianity did not begin with a confession. It began with an invitation into friendship, into creating a new community, into forming relationships based on love and service. ― Diana Butler Bass

The Sacred Call is transformative. It is an invitation to our souls, a mysterious voice reverberating within, a tug on our hearts that can neither be ignored nor denied. It contains, by definition, the purest message and promise of essential freedom. It touches us at the center of our awareness. When such a call occurs and we hear it – really hear it – our shift to higher consciousness is assured. — David A. Cooper

The followers of Christ have been called to peace. … And they must not only have peace but also make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods. … His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce hatred and wrong. In so doing they over-come evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Peace of God — William Alexander Percy
The Cost of Discipleship
The peace of God, it is no peace,
but strife closed in the sod.
Yet let us pray for but one thing-
the marvelous peace of God.

On TRUST

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted. — Lao Tzu

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trust, but verify. — Ronald Reagan

Have enough courage o trust love one more time and always one more time. — Maya Angelou

You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible. — Anton Chekhov

Men trust their ears less than their eyes. — Herodotus

Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust.— Albert Einstein

We’re paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It’s that simple.— Harper Lee

The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams. — Elizabeth Gilbert

Only those you trust can betray you.— Terry Goodkind

Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it. — Richard Rohr

It is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. — H.L. Mencken

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Take no one’s word for anything, including mine – but trust your experience. — James Baldwin

You must train your intuition — you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide. — Ingrid Bergman

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. — Kahlil Gibran

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. — Corie ten Boom

Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement. — Alfred Adler

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.— Stephen Covey

COMMENTARY on the STORY of CALLING FISHERFOLK

We may need to remind ourselves of this obvious fact: not everyone is called to leave the boats and nets, to leave family and place. The vast majority of us are called to stay where we are as we serve God. — Melissa Bane Sevier

He grew up, this Jesus of Nazareth, left his home, and found some, let’s be honest,  rather unimpressive characters to follow him.  Fishermen, Tax collectors, sex workers, homeless women with no teeth, people from bad neighborhoods …  If you think I’m kidding…read it for yourselves.  These people were questionable at best. So, with his little band of misfits Jesus went about the countryside turning water to wine, eating with all the wrong people, casting out demons, angering the religious establishment and insisting that in him the kingdom of God had come near, that through him the world according to God was coming right to us.  He touched the unclean and used spit and dirt to heal the blind and said crazy destabilizing things like the first shall be last and the last shall be first, and sell all you have and give it to the poor. And the thing that really cooked people’s noodles wasn’t the question “is Jesus like God” it was “what if God is like Jesus”.  What if God is not who we thought?  What if the most reliable way to know God is not through religion, not through a reward and punishment program, but through a person. What if the most reliable way to know God is to look at how God chose to reveal God’s self in Jesus?  — Nadia Bolz-Weber

Everybody who knew anything about fishing in Jesus’ day knew you didn’t go fishing with [Simon] Peter’s kind of nets in daylight. Fish could see and avoid them. Also, everybody who knew anything about fishing in the Sea of Galilee knew you didn’t catch fish with these kinds of nets in deep water. They were most effective for fish near the surface. On top of that, everybody who knew anything about fishing in those days knew you needed to be fishing at night or in the dusk of dawn and sunset. You weren’t going to catch anything at the time of day Jesus was speaking to the crowds! … What makes Jesus’ command all the more interesting, Simon Peter knew fishing … Fishing was Peter’s life. Fishing was Peter’s livelihood. He fished every day. He knew how to catch fish. He earned his living catching fish. He took care of his wife and family catching fish. He had partners with whom he fished regularly. So Peter knew what Jesus was asking was crazy, yet… When Peter obeyed, look what happened!  They caught fish! They caught a lot of fish. They caught a boat-sinking amount of fish. Bottom line, it was the wrong time, wrong place, and wrong nets to catch fish. But… Peter obeyed, and nets started breaking. Buddies begin helping. Boats begin sinking. Every fisherman’s dream catch is happening! — Phil Ware

This metaphor, despite the grand old tradition of missionary interpretation, does not refer to the “saving of souls,” as if Jesus were conferring upon these men instant evangelist status. Rather, the image is carefully chosen from Jeremiah 16:16, where it is used as a symbol of Yahweh’s censure of Israel. Elsewhere the “hooking of fish” is a euphemism for judgment upon the rich (Am 4:2) and powerful (Ez 29:4). Taking this mandate for his own, Jesus is inviting common folk to join him in his struggle to overturn the existing order of power and privilege …The point here is that following Jesus requires not just assent of the heart, but a fundamental reordering of socio-economic relationships. The first step in dismantling the dominant social order is to overturn the “world” of the disciple: in the kingdom, the personal and the political are one… This is not a call “out” of the world, but into an alternative social practice. — Ched Myers

In a democratic world, we do not talk about reigns any more than we talk about kingdoms. But we do talk a whole lot about “culture”! So I suggest: “The time is fulfilled, and the culture of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” What does it mean to distinguish God’s culture from human cultures? What does it mean to be “called out” (Gr: ekklesia, “church”) of conventional human culture and to begin to be disciples of the one who brings God’s culture near to us? Why is this such good news? — Paul Nuechterlein

We know that at this time the fishing industry was being steadily restructured for export, so that the majority of fish were salt preserved or made into a fish sauce and shipped to distant markets throughout the empire. All fishing had become state-regulated for the benefit of the urban elite—either Greeks or Romans who had settled in Palestine following military conquest or Jews connected with the Herodian family.  They profited from the fishing industry in two ways. First, they controlled the sale of fishing leases, without which locals could not fish.  These rights, and often capitalization as well, were normally awarded not to individuals, but to local kinship-based “cooperatives” (Gk koinōnoi)—such as the brothers Simon and Andrew or the Zebedee family we meet in Mk 1:16-20.  Second, they taxed the fish product and its processing, and levied tolls on product transport.  Local administrators handled royal leases, contracts and taxes—such as “Levi son of Alphaeus,” whom we meet in Mk 2:14.
            This transformation of the local economy, made possible by the infrastructural improvements (roads, harbors and processing factories) carried out by the Herodians, functioned to marginalize and impoverish formerly self-sufficient native fishing families. Leases, taxes and tolls were exorbitant, while the fish upon which local people depended as a dietary staple was extracted for export.  Thus fishermen were falling to the bottom of an increasingly elaborate economic hierarchy. Elites looked down on them, even as they depended upon their labor. — Ched Myers

Kingdom is a verb to which I submit, an ever-changing call to conversion, a constant learning of a new language of trust, a stumbling into a new ‘language and doing’ in a new place. Then, sometimes, of words of the church resonate with a clarity which silences all babel.  For a moment there is a resting place. But it is not home. The journey begins again. Kingdom, repentance, and belief, are all journey. — Andrew Prior

… we must avoid imagining individuals who ‘go to work… Fishing was an important part of the Galilean economy in the first century. But it was not the “free enterprise” which modern readers of the New Testament may imagine. Even fishers who may have owned their own boats were part of a state regulated, elite-profiting enterprise, and a complex web of economic relationships. These are symptoms of an “embedded economy.” That is to say, economies in the ancient Mediterranean were not independent systems with “free markets,” free trade, stock exchanges, monetization, and the like, as one finds in modern capitalist systems. Rather, only political and kinship systems were explicit social domains; economics and religion were conceptualized, controlled, and sustained either by the political hierarchy or kin-groups … fishermen received capitalization along with fishing rights, and were therefore indebted to local brokers responsible for the harbors and for fishing leases. The location of Levi’s toll office in Capernaum—an important fishing locale—probably identifies him as just such a contractor of royal fishing rights… — KC Hanson

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