Breakfast encounter

 John 21:12-14

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

“Come and have breakfast”

An ordinary invitation

issued in an extraordinary time

A smidgeon of normality

in a world turned upside down

An invitation

to much more than breakfast

For as you nourished bodies

worn out from working all night

As you whetted appetites

dulled by grief and confusion

As you went about the ordinary tasks

of cooking and serving fish and bread

you also soothed troubled minds

and tenderly cared for bruised spirits

And, as the smoke from the fire cleared

so that your friends could see you

the wounds of your suffering

clearly visible

they knew you

their risen Lord

calling and commissioning them

to new life

characterised by radical love

and infinite compassion

calling and commissioning them

to feed others

and to care for their spirits

calling and commissioning them

to allow their wounds

to be means of healing the world.

Risen Lord,

if today

we should encounter you

accompanying us at breakfast,

making yourself known to us

in this strange and disorientating time

may we know our appetites whetted

and our doubts and confusion 

tamped down for a bit

at least enough for us to hear 

your call and commission to us

to feed your sheep.

And may our hope be reborn

and our passion renewed

for the healing of all creation.