Sermon for Sunday May 29, 2022 - The Fish Tank (We’re Not Gonna Take It, Anymore!)

GOSPEL: John 17:20-26

The holy gospel according to John.

Glory to you, O Lord.

[Jesus prayed:] 20“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
 25“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

At the risk reminding us how old we’ve become,

It has been almost 40 years since

Twisted Sister released their rock anthem

“We’re Not Gonna Take It!”

Despite almost 40 years of singing this anthem,

the evidence suggests that we have,

in fact,

continued to take it.

The song was written as a battle cry for the downtrodden.

It suggests that the ways of this world,

the systems of this world,

the powers that be - aren’t so great!

The life this world has to offer

“is trite and jaded,

boring and confiscated,

if that’s your best, your best wont do!”

We know this to be true.

Twisted Sister’s battle hymn,

highly influenced by the Christmas Hymn

“O Come All Ye Faithful”,

could be sung along with the song of Mary, the Magnificat,

the song of Hannah,

and other hymns that proclaim

God’s goodness and God’s reversal;

declaring that God

casts the mighty down from their thrones

and lifts up the humble of heart,

that God has filled the hungry with wondrous things

and left the wealthy no part.

We know that what this world has to offer

just isn’t good enough;

those with corporate or national power

continue to violate,

invade,

oppress,

and operate in systems that

give preferential treatment to the wealthy,

that keep the powerful in power

and do not lift up the vulnerable.

Unless we find ourselves in those positions of power,

we want change,

we cry out for change,

we cry out “We’re not gonna take it!”

Yet amidst deep polarity in religion and politics,

polarity that is inherited by the system

and intensified by you and me,

amidst our sin,

amidst our apathy,

amidst our suffering,

our trauma and tiredness,

we indeed continue to take it.

Human beings like you and I prefer the predicable,

even if the predictable is mediocre.

We even prefer the predictable compared to

the uncertainty of God’s hopeful future.

Unity in Jesus Christ,

the promise of an open and free future

is more terrifying than the known discomfort

we comfortably live in.

Jesus’ prayer from John’s Gospel,

the image of being completely one in this world,

the hope of unity in love

comes with the necessity that people,

us included,

will change or be changed,

and change is hard!

We are afraid of change,

even when we know that change is good for us.

We have a fish tank at home.

My children have named those

who now find their home in this tank:

Aquaman the Pleco,

Jimothy the Beta,

and 3 aquatic frogs;

Gregory, Bernard and Fish the Frog.

One of the weekly tasks is to change some of the water,

and to clean out the rocks and filter.

Sometimes we have to take the fish and frogs out of the tank

in order to clean things up,

and these tiny creatures do not like it one bit,

especially Aquaman the Pleco.

If we don’t change the water

nor clean the rocks and filter,

they would continue living

in the filth they have created

and their lives will decay.

They wont be able to swim freely,

their existence will be miserable,

and death will come too soon,

yet not soon enough amidst suffering.

Changing the water is good for them.

Cleaning the messes they’ve left behind is good for them.

But this change is frightening

for those whose home is in the fish tank.

They would sooner continue to live in their known discomfort

than experience the change of increased quality of life.

Many of us have a fish tank theology;

as though God is on the outside

watching us who are inside the fish tank,

as though God is sort of active

but mostly distant,

as though we plead with God, saying

“come and clean these dirty rocks!

Come and change our water!

Come and clean our filters!

Come, save us!”,

and then we wait.

We wait for God to act because

we don’t think we can clean the rocks ourselves,

or change the water ourselves,

or clean our filters ourselves.

We prefer the predictable

because it is easier than change.

And, for some,

the fish tank of life feels like a prison cell

that holds captive,

in chains of defeat,

chains of loneliness,

chains of fear,

chains of suffering

with little to no hope that things will improve,

whether God is watching us out there or not.

But God is not just out there some where,

God is with us in the fish tank of life.

We are not fish;

we are not limited to a memory

somewhere between 30 seconds and 12 days,

our intelligence is not limited to

smelling and finding food.

We not only remember tragedies from this past week,

we remember sufferings throughout our lives,

and we have been taught about

suffering and tragedies

from even before we were born.

Even those of who who don’t really know

suffering and trauma in our own lives, 

know about the suffering and trauma of others.

We aren’t fish.

We are the baptized.

We are created in God’s image,

gifted with God’s Spirit,

created to create,

called to live into the unity

that is already ours in Jesus Christ,

called in our baptism,

not just to strive for,

but to work for justice and peace.

God is not absent;

God is here and at work in the fish tank of life.

God is building God’s kin-dom in and among us,

and God often uses our hands to help.

God’s Spirit is in the very air we breathe.

Christ’s presence is in the bread and wine

and in our cookies and coffee.

The waters that flow through the rivers,

lakes and oceans

is the same baptismal water in this font, that,

with God’s Word,

cleanses us from sin,

frees us from sin, death and the devil,

and gives us rebirth as children of God.

In baptism,

the old sinful self is drowned

and new life in Christ is born.

We live our lives in baptismal waters,

reborn in the promise;

the living hope of God’s hopeful,

united,

loving future.

In baptism; this gift, this life is yours!

Don’t settle for the life this world has to give.

You don’t have to take it, anymore!

You need not swim aimlessly,

you need not live in fear under the bridge,

You need not feel stuck,

wondering what your purpose might be

in the fish tank of life.

God’s hopeful future is yours.

God’s hopeful future is not just

something that waits for us after death;

God’s hopeful future;

unity in Jesus Christ,

love in Jesus Christ

is a reality we might live into today;

a reality that is possible by God’s Spirit.

That means a faith that comes with

a willingness to change and be changed

by God’s Spirit.

It means thinking outside the box,

or outside the fish tank if you will.

It means seeing others through God’s eyes;

really seeing those we share the fish tank of life with.

For you,

it might mean joining God’s work of

feeding those who hide under the bridge

or those who don’t get to the food first.

Or, it might mean joining God’s work of

cleaning out the filters of this life

that are dirtied by our polarization,

violence,

oppression,

climate change,

racism,

misogyny,

and other pollutants in our fish tank.

In the fish tank of life,

God renews what is torn,

God brings back to life,

God redeems what broken,

and God invites us into that work

of cleaning,

feeding,

and filtering,

trusting that we don’t do it alone,

rather God is already at work,

and God is already speaking.

In God’s Word today,

Jesus is saying to you

who find the fish tank of life a prison cell;

expect God to break into your prison

and free you from your chains.

Believe on the Lord Jesus,

and you will be saved,

you and your household.

In God’s Word today,

Jesus is saying to

“You who love the Lord - hate evil!!

God guards the lives of the saints

and rescues them

from the hand of the wicked.”

In God’s Word today,

Jesus is saying to you who hunger and thirst

“Come.

Let anyone who wishes

take the water of life as a gift.

Our God, the Alpha and the Omega,

the first and last,

the beginning and end,

is coming very soon,

and is indeed with us now,

and is indeed at work in us.

May you join the hymns of Hannah, Mary

and Twisted Sister,

declaring to the ways of this world:

We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore!

May you find your home,

your shelter

and your purpose

in the waters of baptism.

And in this gift of new life,

May you heed God’s call

to work for justice and peace

in the fish tank of life.

Thanks be to God! Amen.