As Little or as Much as You Want

Something from the tackle box:

       Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also know as Lake Tiberias.  A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him.  It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down.

       When Jesus saw the large crowd coming towards him, he asked Philip, “Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?”  He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do.

       Philip answered, “Don’t you know that it would take almost a year’s wages just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?”

       Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples.  He spoke up and said, “There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish.  But what good is that with all these people?”

       The ground was covered with grass, and Jesus told his disciples to have everyone sit down.  About five thousand men were in the crowd.  Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God.  Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat.   (John 6:1-11 CEV)

       One of the activities that I really enjoy, especially in the summertime, is going to a good fish fry.  Not a restaurant fish dinner.  Even if they call it a "fish fry” and serve it every Friday night and a lot of people order it, for religious reasons or just because they like fish as much as I do, it’s not a fish fry.  It might be a good dinner out, but it’s not going to a fish fry any more than going out for ribs at the local steak house is going to a barbeque. 

this is NOT a fish fry

       No, a fish fry involves a lot of people who don’t cook fish for a living doing most all of the work.  Sometimes there’s some money exchange involved, as I’ll explain in just a minute, but nobody’s earning his or her way through life by doing it.  Quite often it is purely a social event, done simply for camaraderie over a good meal, with little or no concern for the costs involved.

       Now, as I just hinted, there are two kinds of fish fries that you can go to, and they are both enjoyable, but one is better than the other in my opinion, and it’s the reason I say that I especially enjoy going in the summertime.

this IS a fish fry

       The first kind of fish fry you can go to, which I do like, is your local community, “let’s raise a few bucks for the good cause,” kind of fish fry.  The kind where you’ll see the rollout sign next to the church hall that says, “Fish Fry Tonight – come support our daycare and pre-school programs – All are Welcome.” 

       These are generally good fish fries, but not usually because of the food,  They are good because they are a community event.  People make plans to meet each other and share dinner together at one of the long school-cafeteria style tables that will invariably be set up.  With a little agreement about when you and your friends are all getting there, you can all enjoy a lot of food and great company in a very relaxed atmosphere, which is worthwhile. 

       But the fish itself, while it may be good, - even very good, - is also going to be commercially acquired.  Store bought.  It has to be.  If you’re going to invite the public and charge them a price, even if it is to support the pre-school program, you’re going to have to pass a state inspection that isn’t going to allow you to clean, fry and serve up the mess of catfish that old uncle Ed caught down at Mud Holler at different times over the last several weeks. 

this is NOT a good plate of fish

       Nope.  You’re going to have to buy the fish, - probably frozen fish, - at one of the bulk food stores where most restaurants get their fish.  Hopefully the guy or gal in charge of the purchase gets good fish, fillets that haven’t been pre-breaded or battered, fish that can be thawed and prepared as if they where local caught.  That can turn out to be pretty tasty, if the organization is willing to go to the expense and work of doing it that way.  But the closer the main entrée gets to what I would call, “fish stix,” the less likely I am to ever come back for another of their fish fries, good company not withstanding. 

       Of course, the second kind of fish fry is the   type that I really enjoy being a part of.   That’s the private, invitation only affair, put on by a local crack-pot fisherman, or fisherwoman, who wants to share their season’s good fortune with friends and family.  Which is generally much appreciated by the friends and family that are shared with. 

this IS a good plate of fish

       I guess I should explain what I mean by a “Crack-pot” fisherman.  I got this definition from humorist, Ed Zern, who wrote something to the effect that; People who fish primarily for food, the sport of fishing being inconsequential, are called pot-fishermen.  The more expert ones are called crack pot-fishermen.  All other fishermen, who are in it for the sport, are called crackpot fishermen.  I know this is confusing. 

       Anyway, these private affairs are where the really good locally caught fish and the best camaraderie are most likely to be found.  I have been blessed to have been invited to a good many of these affairs over the years, and have even hosted a few smaller ones out of my own summer’s pan-fish catch. 

       Meaning no disrespect to the people who are reading this story right now, those who have hosted me at their absolutely wonderful fish fries, which I most earnestly desire to be invited to again and again in the future, I would like to tell you about my favorite such affair, hosted by my colleague Jerry Jones, now retired, but at that time the pastor of the Congregational Church in Greenville. 

       At that time Jerry and his wife Marilyn kept a summer home on the banks of the Clam River in between Cadillac and Lake City, about an hour’s drive north from Greenville.  Jerry and I are very good friends, the bond being reinforced by the fact that we are both avid outdoorsmen.  Jerry is primarily a hunter, while I love to fish, but the bond is there.  The Clam being a pretty decent trout stream, and knowing how much I love to fly-fish, I had a standing invitation to drop by any time and wade into the creek off of his property, which I did every now and then. 

       On one such occasion, after I’d called it quits in the river for the morning, Jerry and I got to talking, and he told me that his son, who liked to fish about as much as I did, had talked him into buying a good sized boat to keep docked at the marina in Lake City for fishing on Lake Missaukee.  They had done some trolling for bigger fish out on the lake with very little success, but then had noticed that there was one section of the lake, in the shallow reedy part, were smaller boats congregated and people seemed to be having a lot of fun catching lots of little bluegills and sunfish.  They had gone over to join the fun but, having only heavier tackle for bigger fish, they were only able to hook and land a half-dozen or so between the two of them.        

       After telling me this tale of woe, Jerry was wondering if I wouldn’t go out with him and show him how to rig up some smaller hooks and tackle with the right baits and get in on the pan-fishing frenzy.  I said that I happened to have a couple of light spinning rods and a tackle-box in the back of my car, and we could go out that afternoon if he liked.  Which is exactly what we did. 

       To get to the matter at hand, we came home with around 40 nice panfish between the two of us, which we cleaned and popped in his freezer.  Added to the dozen he and his son had caught earlier, we had over 100 nice little fillets to dispose of.  And that’s a good number to start thinking about a fish fry with. 

       We decided that we would invite all our fellow pastors in the Western Michigan Association of Congregational Christian Churches, along with their spouses and kids if they had them, to a social gathering and fish fry on the banks of the Clam River in two weeks time.  We have these kinds of gathering, an ice cream social or dinner out at a Chinese restaurant, once or twice a year and knew that we would get between a dozen and twenty people to come. 

       I did the math and figured that if we did have a good turnout, there would be about five little pieces of fish per hungry mouth, which would be OK, as long as we had lots of sides.  So I asked Jerry, “What do we want to do about tater salad and coleslaw?  Do we want to do French Fries?  What about the pop and the iced tea?  What about deserts?  Do we want ice cream, cake, or homemade cookies? A few little pieces of fish per person is not going to be enough for everyone.”

       And this is where the spiritual lesson starts to come in: Jerry just shook his head and said, “I’m not up to worrying about all of that.  Just send out the invitation saying: Mark and Jerry caught the fish.  They’ll cook ‘em if you’ll come and eat ‘em!  Put the date, time and location on there and then we’ll just see what happens.  I’m betting we’ll have more food than we can eat.”  

       I had my doubts, but that’s what I did.  Within a few days I’m getting phone calls; Reverend Barry Lucas in Allegan want to know how MUCH potato salad he should bring.  Should he bring a macaroni salad too, or just the potato?  Reverend David Kleis in Eau Claire is picking up a couple dozen Hawaiian bread dinner rolls on the way up, should he get more?  Reverend Eddie Winter is bringing four homemade pies, one each, apple, cherry, lemon meringue and banana cream.  Should she try to bring the ice cream too?  It might get too soft by the time she gets there from Saugatuck. 

       Most of the ones who didn’t call still brought stuff.  We had more people than even the high end of what we had planned on – and more food than we could eat.  We didn’t even quite clean up all the fish that Jerry and I cooked.  There weren’t even close to five thousand of us there, more like two dozen, but if you had gathered up what was left over it might have filled up at least one good-sized basket. 

       Jerry knew what was going to happen – even though I had had my doubts.  Will miracles never cease? 

Something to take home in your creel:  

       I believe in miracles, and especially the miracles that are presented to us in the bible as miracles.  If the story tells us that Jesus started breaking up and handing out a few loaves of bread and two fish to the crowds, and that when he did so the fish and bread “miraculously” feed everyone there with a dozen baskets of leftovers taken up afterwards, then that’s exactly what happened – miraculously - as far as I’m concerned.

       But I also agree with the hymnist, William Cowper, that God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.  I believe that those kinds of miracles worked by Jesus, - in people’s hearts, minds and souls, - were in fact, much more mystical and wonderful than the miracles he worked by superseding the laws of time, space and matter with his divine prerogative to do so.  I believe that a soul moved from self-centered greed, to self-giving generosity, is cause for greater rejoicing in the kingdom of heaven than a mountain picked up and moved from here to there. 

       The bible says that Jesus’ multiplying of the loaves and fishes was a miraculous sign that people saw, and which caused them to begin proclaiming Jesus as the Prophet of God come into the world.  But, I ask you, if Jesus hadn’t miraculously multiplied the loaves and fishes, - as he did, - but had rather miraculously changed every heart in the crowd, - so that when each and every one of them who saw him give every bit of what he had to someone else to eat – was then inspired to give every last morsel that he or she had stowed away in their pocket, pouch, sack or hamper to the person next to them out of selfless generosity, - and then that person did the same, and so on like falling dominos throughout the crowd until there were twelve baskets of food left that no one could give away because there was no one left who hadn’t eaten all that they wanted and more, - because everyone in the crowd was only thinking about the other guy, - If Jesus had done that, - would it have been any less of a miracle than turning five loaves of barley bread and two fish into enough food to feed the crowd, like he did? – I’m inclined to think that it would have been even more of a miracle than what we are told that Jesus did do.  But then, - maybe, - Jesus did both.  - Now there’s a thought.

       Good people, who have been touched by God with His goodness, always have generous hearts.  You can pick them right out.  When you offer them something, almost anything, they can’t help but show a desire to offer even more back to you or someone else in response.  It’s all part of the miracle of their being formed into the image of Christ, the likeness of God’s own Son, which the bible tells us is a part of our salvation, at least for all who’ve really answered that calling.   

       I should have known that just as well as Jerry Jones knew it.