Be ye all of one mind

“ Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. ”

The big , blunt fisherman was tired. He was ready to turn in for a long morning's nap. He'd fished all night and had done no good, so he was in a dark humor in that mid-morning light. He cursed under his breath as he washed the nets of the weeds and sticks that were his entire catch. “Lousy lake, lousy fish, lousy fisherman! What kind of a life is this? Oh, and just what are all these people doing at my shore at this hour? What kind of carnival is this?”

He recognized Jesus just then, and his tired eyes went wide as He walked right up to him, with a smile: “Simon, would you take me on your boat? Just push off shore a few yards so I can talk to these people without them pressing me so close.” Simon was a kindly man, even if he was in no mood for being sociable this morning. So he graciously complied and they floated in the shallows. Jesus hung his feet over the side. “We should be compassionate for each other,” He began, “for after all, we are brothers. We should love each other as brothers. Like my friend, Simon, here, we should all be courteous and take pity on each other, even as he has toward me…”

Jesus preached a lesson that took Simon's heart of weariness and impatience into a world of love and peace, gratitude and finding a common cause with every man. He saw himself in a new light and saw much room for improvement. He had met Jesus before, by the Jordan where John had been preaching and baptizing. John called Jesus the Lamb of God that day. “Simon. I'm done speaking with the people, and I'd rather not join them on the shore just yet. Would you take us on an excursion over the deep waters? Let's go fishing…”

Just 11 years ago, God worked some wonderful magic on this town, with this congregation, to restore this historic building to Himself, using us. This church was in the soul of Chico, and everybody had feelings about it, felt a part of it as they feel part of this downtown. It's theirs. That's what makes this town different from places like Oakland or LA. We raised $200,000 in cash, our old building sold and our own bank account put together gave us almost enough to buy this monument without debt. From the time we were tearing out the Chinese restaurant, a part of our vision for this complex was to turn a wing called the Beachcomber into a commercial coffee house for the college students and downtown shopping clientele. Our concept was based on a number of things. People drink coffee , especially good coffee and espresso drinks, and they'll pay good money for them. People like to congregate in comfortable surroundings, talking, reading, listening to good music, soaking in the culture. The young people of Chico have too many alcohol-driven entertainment centers and too few that draw them without the use of beer. The young just don't come to church services Sunday mornings , even to check them out. This is to be a doorway to interact with a new generation. It was also part of our commissioning by God to take this building back from the Dynasty-Shell Cove-Beachcomber for Him. It had three bars but had gone bankrupt in a student town. His commission to us was to create this coffee house to reach out and bless this community, to use this prime location to go fishing for men.

We would call it “Augie's.” The dream and the name have stuck for eleven years. At Chico State almost three entire classes of students have enrolled as freshmen and graduated as seniors while we've waited for this outreach to be started. Every week I get asked by someone, “Hey, when's Augie's going to open?” The idea has captured the imagination of hundreds of people. Many ask if they might work there. But we've waited to have the church out of debt and funds sufficient to design it, build it, equip it, staff it and open it for business. We won't tap into church general funds or ask for help from church members again once it's started. We're almost there. We've started construction, as you've seen, and the design has been studied for years, developed and improved, and was approved by the city for building.

Look at our Summary Cost Analysis . The entire cost of building improvements will run just short of $90,000. Our specialty equipment just over $50,000. Other costs are the architect, building permits, hiring and training the first employees, buying bean, advertising, etc: $41,000. A totale of $181,000 in all, and what we have to work with right now is $123,000. We're $58,000 short of opening, with cash in hand to run it for many weeks of potential shortfall as the business builds.

The coffee house will have comfortable seating throughout, with a fireplace at the far end to be a visual magnet to customers on the street, and a fountain splashing in the front window. The décor will be Celtic, reminiscent of the days of St. Augustine, missionary from Rome to the Angles on the Isle of Great Britain. He encountered an ancient culture, christened by Patrick and Aidan, given to loving the creation as the work of a master artist. Their art will grace our walls. The place will be magical. Morning and evening it will fill with happy faces, meeting and enquiring and sipping organic coffee, eating fresh sandwiches, munching excellent pastries. They won't be able to avoid seeing that this coffee house is part of a church. When they swim into that net, a great draught of fishes may be caught and converted to Jesus.

Our vision is young people just starting their own lives, hearing and seeing what popular culture offers, but seeking something deeper, more important, more real. Some will join our church. Some may even be called to ministry, going from Chico to St. Joseph's seminary. I pray we may become a source for new priests, sorely needed across our province.

Our vision also includes what we'll do with the money. A successful coffee house is a lucrative business. Augie's charter states that 10% of all profits go immediately from the business to local charities not associated with our church. That is our tithe to God. After that, the government gets its fair share in taxes, and the remainder stays in the business or goes to the church Vestry to determine where it should be given: more charities, the seminary, diocese, province, church improvements—finishing out the basement, starting a school, wherever the need is greatest. Starbuck's one block away does an estimated $1.5 million sales a year: about 30% being profit. What could we do with $300,000 after taxes? For one thing, I wouldn't ever have to ask you for money to fund our building improvements, ever again…

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” said the carpenter's Son to Simon. “Don't be afraid.” The big fisherman, dropped the nets filled to breaking with hundreds of fish and, though still weary, followed his Messiah, to a mountaintop, to a dead girl's bedroom, to the olive press near Jerusalem, to an empty tomb, to the place of Christ's Ascension, to an upper room, to baptize 3,000, to persecution, to being the head of the new church of Jesus' followers. As the acknowledged leader of the Apostolic council, Simon Peter wrote the epistle we heard today, the teachings of Jesus broadcast through the faithfulness of a former fisherman. “Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one for another, love as brethren, be pitiful, courteous…”

Some of you have waited for a reason to give to the church for the Augie's project. Your reason is here, right now. We need some $50,000 to open the doors. We have a $10,000 pledge of matching funds for all cash gifts. There is still $22,000 worth of equipment to purchase. There are 15,000 students at the university whose souls may perish, not knowing what we have here. There are dozens of men who just can't afford to leave job and family to pursue their calling to the priesthood at seminary, and dozens of churches that are not being planted or built, blessed as we have been, for want of that support—thousands of Anglicans losing their faith in this tradition in Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, San Jose, Fresno, Marysville, Corning, and Oroville. The fish are out there. We have been given much, and God's commission. Just one last push financially, and we should find ourselves with the enviable problem of what to do with all the money .

Follow me and I will make you fishers of men . The evidence that He can and will do it is all around you. Are you selfish enough to want to keep this a secret? If I didn't know there's $57,000 out there, I wouldn't bother you about it; I'd be embarrassed to mention it. But beyond the operating expenses of this parish, you have given $800,000 in 11 years toward this building's renovation. One last push, one launching out over the dark blue waters of the deep, one more casting out of those nets of love: and we will see a catch of fish we never imagined. But we must be all of the same mind. I am not going to mention it again in a sermon. The Lord is sitting in our boat, feet dangling over the side. “Let's go fishing,” He says. Well?

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