May 11, 2025 · Rev. Derek van Gulden · Proverbs 3:13-20; John 21:1-14
On Mother's Day, Rev. Derek van Gulden remembers a seminary assignment to draw God (the result had long curly hair) and a childhood morning when a friend's grandmother told the story of the risen Jesus cooking fish for breakfast on the beach. Jesus is always there to feed you and welcome you home, and, as she put it, he's a good cook.
Transcript
People of God. Would you join me in a moment of prayer? Gracious and holy God, this morning I ask you to move the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts by your love, and help me this day not to be the instrument of my own or anyone else's oppression, but to be an instrument of peace in every step and every breath, in every moment of every day. Amen.
I was going to add a piece of scripture to Liz's reading, but sometimes those last minute things, the liturgist just look at me and go, huh? No, I didn't ask her, but I want to read you this for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways And my thoughts than your thoughts. And that's from Isaiah fifty five, verses eight to nine.
I read that because. Well, because I did. Now I read it because I can remember being in a class in seminary early on. It was my first semester where I was still trying to figure out why God had brought me there. And the professor said, I want you to each of you write attributes of God and then draw a picture of God and tell us why. At first I froze because I can only do stick figures, but. And so I wrote down things. I wrote my children's names, the three of them an attribute of each one of them, and I circled God, and then made a little stick figure and. why the other students presented. I just kind of slid back and back into the shadows because I thought, wow, I am so far off what they think. And it was another thing for me to think, maybe I really don't belong here.
There were students that talked about God being a judge, a king, an overlord. Pictures of God, mostly with a white beard, short hair. One of them had in a ball cap, a fishing cap, and other portraits. Afterwards, when everybody had left, the professor came up to me and she said, Derek, you didn't share anything. You've lived an interesting life. We think, why can't you share? And I went, oh, I'm so far off the mark and I don't get it.
She says. What don't you get? She asks to look at my paper and I showed her the three words, and then I showed her my stick figure and she goes, So God has long curly hair. And I said, I guess so. And she said, how do you refer to God? And I said, mother. And she said, so why do you think you're wrong? Why is it that we feel we created in God's own image can put a gender on God when God's ways are very different than ours?
She asked where I learned that, and I admitted that as I was growing up above my mom's desk on the wall was only one thing. It was a bumper sticker that said, When God created man, she was only kidding. Now I asked her about that and she goes, I like it because it shows God has a woman. God created men and women equally. But she said, in my mind, God has always been a woman.
And then she proceeded to tell me a tale that she had heard from her parents. I don't know how long it was passed down. And it was a tale of, a village with a number of youth just about teenage age. And when you were growing up, was there ever that one house in your neighborhood that you tended to collect that because there was always cookies or a story? I might be the only one, but in our neighborhood, it was we always met there in the wintertime, the parents would put bales of hay up in front of one part of their house too deep, because it was a great hill to slide down and we didn't wreck it. The mom and dad made these amazing cookies and banana bread and hot chocolate and lemonade. Not that anybody else's parents were lacking in everything, but it was just that one household you went to. There were they had two children, a boy who I think was my brother's age and a daughter who was my age. And so in that neighborhood, or what did we call them, growing development in that development. I grew up in a farmhouse before there was a development, but it was just a place we all went to.
And I can remember one time when they invited all of us to go out to their camp. And I can't even remember what their camp looked like, but and we all had to have permission from our parents. A couple extra parents came, so we were all safe and it was just for the day. And we got there in the morning. And I remember thinking, why do we have to get there so early? We got there at six and when we got there, they had a bunch of fishing poles all set to go and they had a dock. They didn't have one of those, what do you call them? Party boats. The. But they had a boat big enough to fit all of us. I think there were about six of us.
And so we went fishing. Guess how many fish we caught? None. And we came back in. And grandma, who we'd never met before, was there. And she said, why do you have those stupid lures on your fishing rods? Worms, worms created by God for fishing. And so we went back out And between us I think we caught two fish, not one hundred and thirty three or one hundred and fifty three. But we were excited.
And when we came in, grandma and the other parents had a bonfire going, well, not a bonfire, campfire and a grill over it. And they were already cooking fish and biscuits. And we brought the two fish, cleaned them and they threw those on and we, we sat and ate fish for breakfast, which was new for most of us, unless you count fish sticks, which were. But the most fascinating thing was some of the. You know, the mom said, do you want to go swimming now? You guys want to. We've got some inner tubes or.
Grandma wants to tell you a story if you wish. And for some reason we all sat down and. Grandma. Read what? Liz just read a little more animated. Adding a few things here and there. People that we might understand and know.
And as she read it, some of my friends said, I've heard this story before. It's a neat one. And at the end, can you explain it? Now, you know, I grew up Unitarian. I had never heard that story, but it was amazing. And at the end, one of them actually it was her granddaughter, said, so what does this mean? And she said, well, Jesus in that moment was showing that no matter what time in our lives and his. He's always there to feed you. He's always there to welcome you home. And he's a good cook.
I've always remembered that. It is one of my favorite stories in Scripture. And when I hear it or read about it, I think of grandma, who is a great storyteller. And that's the first time I actually heard anything about Jesus in my life. Unitarians. We didn't they didn't read scripture in the church I grew up in. But.
I still remember that at times when I need to be lifted up. Most recently. It was Jillian that helped me do it. So last week, not the week before last two weeks ago, I stopped doing everything so I could be here for her contemplative time and chanting. And I really encourage you to come. But in that moment, as I just relaxed and breathed and heard these chants that just they take you somewhere else. I started to cry. It's because that story came to me as if I could smell the fire. I could smell the fish. I could picture grandma and all of us just sitting there quietly and thinking back. We were like fifteen and sixteen, and I'm sure my kids ever sat through anything I try to storytell them without being fidgety. But for me, it was a beautiful thing to remember that Jesus is always there to feed you in whatever way you need it. To open your arm, his arm, reach out and welcome you.
And I think it's very powerful because it's a post-resurrection story. As Lord said, it's the third one. Third one. There's four of them. But I'll always remember. Fish with a worm and having fish for breakfast is pretty good, especially when the people doing it just have an inkling that you're not going to bring many. So they went to the store the night before and got some. May you be so blessed. Amen.