NOTES:
1] The lake of Gennesaret is Lake Galilee. The other evangelists always call it the Sea of Galilee, though it's only about 20k by 11k.

WARMING UP: Is 'O I do like to be beside the seaside' one of your theme songs, or is the seaside not your scene?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Afterthoughts from, follow-up to last week's Group, or since?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

1-3       Do we still have some vague hope that people will 'press upon ' us to hear the word of God as in days gone by? Do  they ever come? What's 'Plan B'? What of the fact that there are more people down by our lakes, rivers, & seas in their boats than in most of our churches each Sundays? Could we confidently contradict that? How come Jesus could connect with these folk but we don't seem to be able to? Does it have anything to do with our shutting God away in our churches rather than consciously encountering him on our beaches & our sports grounds, our pubs & our clubs?
            If we were challenged to summarise what Jesus teaches people, could we do that in, say, three sentences?

4-7      Do we prefer our religion to confine itself to shallow water, or are we prepared to venture into the deeper waters of life & faith? What is there about that that can threaten us? What if we're so comfortable in 'shallow water', that we paddle our life away there, when Jesus & his more adventurous followers are further out in life's depths?

           If the great catch of fish is a miracle, what is the purpose of it? If it is more a sign (JN's term for most 'miracles'), what is it a sign of? Do we ever feel we've worked hard in some field of life, or at some project, without much success? Have we ever reached a stage where there seems little point in trying again? Do we have enough confidence in God to explore new directions in our discipleship? How are we to discern the difference between trying something a different way, & a gimmick?

8-11   Have we ever experienced our world being turned upside down as Peter does here? Is part of the weakness of our discipleship ever that we think we know our world better than God does? (As Peter thinks he knows the fishing world better than Jesus could possibly know it!) What lessons do we see the disciples-in-the-making learning from what happens in this incident? What lessons can we ourselves take from it - as disciples still in the making? Is there any substitute for   Peter's starting point (i.e. recognizing ourself as 'sinful' = turned away from / switched off God) needing to be our starting point, too?
           Is the metaphor of 'catching people' likely to be more offensive than helpful in our culture today? Can we suggest a metaphor that better reflects our understanding of relationships? Is there something we still have to leave behind before we can truly follow Jesus as those named here do?