FROM THE PULPIT: `ENBRACING THE `F' WORD'

There's a word common to our vernacular vocabulary that begins with the letter "f," a word so disgusting we seldom ever use it in polite company. This word insults our dignities and degrades our sensibilities.

The "f" word I'm referring to is "failure," the modern pariah that kills our hopes for success and deflates our self-esteem. Failure embarrasses us in our success-oriented culture. Admit to your boss that you failed, and you're going to get fired.

We don't like failures, yet every day we fail ourselves and the expectations others have for us. What can we do or where can we go when we fail?

When Peter experienced the ultimate failure, denying Jesus after insisting that he would follow Jesus even to death, Peter didn't know what to do. In the wake of the crucifixion, the apparent failure of their hopes and dreams for the Kingdom of God, Peter returned to what he knew, namely, the vocation of fishing (John 21:3).

Sometimes we believe failure disqualifies us to be part of the church or participants of a community. We seek separation and isolation. Who wants us when we fail? Yet failure doesn't disqualify us, but rather shrinks our vision for what the future holds.

Consider when Jesus called Simon Peter to be a disciple, Jesus gave Peter the commission to fish for the hearts of men and women (Mark 1:17). Yet in the wake of Christ's death, Peter can only see himself fishing for the underwater variety. His vision of what he could accomplish for God shrank from his potential, but he was never disqualified.

In the encounter with the risen Christ on the beach, Peter experienced a different "f" word, the word of forgiveness. Just as Peter denied Jesus around a fire, so Jesus brings Peter to the reminder of his failure around a fire on the beach. Three times, perhaps for each of the three denials, Jesus restores the relationship he and Peter once shared.

In this encounter, Jesus does three things for Peter that Peter could not do for himself. First, Peter could only find personal healing when the one he sinned against forgave him. Second, as Jesus forgave Peter, he set him free from the past, and gave him back his future and his calling to "feed my sheep." Third, Jesus proves to Peter that forgiveness is stronger than failure, no matter what you've done.

Isn't it interesting, almost to the point of desperate insanity, how we wallow in our guilt and resist the freedom in Christ's forgiveness? Remember this: pigs wallow; Christians accept Christ's forgiveness.

I think it's about time we embrace a new "f" word, a word that need not be spoken in metaphorical, acronymistic coded secrecy. We are forgiven! Jesus Christ sets us free! That good news is the reality made possible at Easter.