Fishing and landing a catch is no picnic. By fishing I don’t mean the gentle sport of angling I mean fishing deep at sea by trawler men. Deep sea fishing is hard graft, scary at times, dangerous even perilous but it can bring rewards. A good catch of fish can bring in a good price at market, although every penny made is well earned. 

Deep sea fishermen deserve our respect, for they are ordinary people (usually but not always men) who daily leave the security of home and the land for the insecurities of the sea; braving and battling all sorts of weather and conditions. Fishing is tough but it is a challenge these men rise to almost daily. Fishing for men or people, as the modern translations have it, is not easy either. 

To be brutally honest it too is hard graft and rarely as rewarding as hauling in a great net of fish. Yet fishing, for people, is something that all of us here, are called to do. That may sound or feel rather dogmatic and pious - and you may not have expected me to have stated it so boldly but it is what I believe we are called to do. We Christians are not called to experience our faith on our own. We are called by Christ to share our experiences of him and his Gospel message of love, with EVERYBODY around us. The great commission at the end of Matthew’s Gospel account charges us to do this:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations &  teaching them to obey everything that I have  commanded you.”               Matthew 28:19

Christ expects us to respond and act upon this command to mission and evangelism. But how can I do this? This is a question I often ask myself and ask of God when I pray. More often than not the answer is how can you not do this. You may ask yourselves the same question. Obviously, there is no easy answer but I think St.Paul gives us a clue today when he says:

 “For I am the least of the apostles & by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain.”

Despite originally wanting to stop the spread of Christianity and to debase the Christian message Paul became one of its greatest ambassadors. He realised that Christ had chosen him for the skills he had not realised he possessed. Christ continues to do the same with us today. We are what we are. I am what I am - Flawed, imperfect and human. But, as a human being we are all blessed with God’s grace. 

A grace that has lavished upon us gifts, talents and skills to use and share in the spread of the Christian message. I am what I am and despite all that God still loves me! Pretty amazing - eh? This is what we are called to share with others, this is the bait or the net with which we are called to fish - just ourselves, as we are. It is our imperfections that can help us the most in this fishing because if we allow others to see them, they might believe that they with their imperfections have a place in God’s Kingdom and Christ’s church too. This is how we are called to mission, how we are to reach out to others -  by simply being who we are; and having the courage to tell others that despite it all God loves us and loves them too. Never be afraid of who you are. For you as you are is exactly the person Christ loves beyond measure and exactly the right person with the right skills to bring others to him to be loved unconditional too. I am what I am and what I am is no mistake. You are what you are and that is no mistake either.