September 2024

The following is a possible framework for the Witnessing of the Word. It can be personalised or altered: its purpose is to serve as an example of how this Saying might be used primarily in the context of a Prayer Group, but it may be used by individuals too. It is not intended to be definitive.  In the context of a group: the periods of silence should be appropriate for your group - probably not less than 5 minutes, or more than 15 minutes.

Saying for the month: ‘Launch out into the deep’ Luke 5:4 (KJV).

To begin the exercise, first spend a short while in relaxation and preparing to be still; you may want to relax your way through your muscles or you may find it helpful to become aware of the sounds around you and then put them aside as you offer this time of prayer to God.

Say this introductory invitation to prayer, then keep a further minute or two of silence:  ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11.28)

Introduction to the first silence - a preparation for listening with the mind:

Only Luke records these imperative words: ‘Launch out into the deep’ ... They form part of the narrative of the calling of the first disciples. Luke’s account is longer than the other Gospel writers who simply record that they left their nets to follow Jesus. John’s account is amplified by the calling of Philip and Nathaniel. As we might expect, these all offer slightly different perspectives of what happened when Jesus first chose and called his twelve.

Luke’s account though here really focuses on Simon Peter. He records how there were two fishing boats on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The fishermen had left the boats and were washing their nets. Jesus got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s and began to teach the people from the boat which had been pushed out a little from the land so everyone could hear him. This was a good way of speaking to a large group of people and Jesus uses it effectively. 

Then, when he had finished speaking, he says to Simon ‘Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a catch’. Simon replies that they have been fishing all night and caught nothing, nevertheless he obeys. We read how he caught a great shoal of fish, so large that the nets themselves were breaking. Even after beckoning their fisherman partners to come to help, the boats were filled with fish and the boats were on the point of sinking. 

This was clearly a complete change and transformation from the hopelessness of the earlier portion of the night.  It must have seemed miraculous to Peter and to those first disciples with him. There were other instances of Jesus’s power to bring about miracles on the Sea of Galilee, but this was the first and no doubt would have remained pivotal in their memories as the most amazing  and abundant catch that they would perhaps ever see. It is no accident that Jesus says to Simon at the end of this miracle: ‘Do not be afraid, henceforth you will be catching men’.

Simon Peter was so clearly moved by this experience that it went deeper and exposed his personal sense of unworthiness.  He says ‘Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord’.  He attached the outward sign of what he had witnessed at the hands of Jesus to an inner world of his own sinfulness, not fully believing his own ability to be similarly transformative. The words of our Saying, ‘Launch out into the deep’, came at the end of a long night when all must have felt very tired, disappointed, and depressed. His response is to contrast his own personal frailty and failure with the extraordinary strength and transformative capacities of Jesus.

With this in mind, and conscious of the places in our own lives where we might want to celebrate an abundance of joy and of those places where we, like Simon Peter, need Christ’s transformative potential, let us take this Saying into our minds, allowing it to speak to us: ‘Launch out into the deep’.

A time is now kept for silence of the mind – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.  The silence concludes with a short thanksgiving, and/or feel free to repeat the Saying.

The first silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.

Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with the heart:

‘Launch out into the deep’: words we would normally associate with the depths of the sea or a lake, or perhaps a river.  They are about moving from the shallows into deeper water. Fisherman and sailors would be familiar with the words in practical terms and with the practice of moving from the safe places into deeper, often unknown, and sometimes dangerous territories.

I remember as a child swimming at what seemed like a safe beach, only to find that an undercurrent pulled me out of my depth into a deep and dangerous sea. Thankfully there was a friend, a strong swimmer nearby, who came to save me.

The ‘deep’ denotes moving away from the safe and familiar to what might well be unknown and potentially hazardous. When Jesus asked the first disciples to ‘launch out into the deep’, he knew he was asking them to do far more than just fish. He was asking them to trust him. And they did.

So too for us, disciples in today’s world, we may find ourselves feeling tired and ‘up against’ things but God calls us to trust him.  He asks us too to ‘launch out into the deep’ in whatever situations we are facing. It maybe church-related: being asked to take on a new ministry and responsibility. Or it may be personal, and God may be asking us to trust him to lead us in terms of our relationships or home life. It might be that a problem has arisen that is absorbing all our attention. ‘Launch out into the deep’ are words that beckon us on into the situation we are facing. It may seem frightening or overwhelming, but we ‘launch out’ knowing that our Lord is with us to help and guide us, to give us the strength and ability to do whatever is being required of us.

Some words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi come to mind: ‘Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible’.  The large catch of fish for the first disciples must certainly have seemed ‘impossible.’ So too when we ‘launch out into the deep’, we may well find very surprising results, even miraculous and a complete transformation of the situation we thought we were facing, before we had faith in our Lord’s beckoning words. And like Simon Peter, this will lead us into a deeper understanding of our relationship with the Lord. Time in contemplation provides a valuable opportunity to explore this love relationship and shows us how, little by little, we can learn to how we can take our Lord at his word.

‘Launch out into the deep’ is a very good Watchword for whatever we are facing in life.  Now we take this Word into our hearts. As we allow Jesus’ words to speak in us, let it touch us and let it work more deeply upon our lives.

A time is now kept for silence of the heart – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.

The second silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you that your Word is alive and within us.

Introduction to the time of intercession – taking God’s word outwards into the world.

In our third silence we allow this month’s Saying to unite us to the rest of God’s ‘waiting to be transformed’ world.  We say to everyone who needs to hear these words …‘Launch out into the deep’.

Say the name of a person or a group of people, and after a short pause, repeat the saying. For example:

‘Alison and your family … ‘Launch out into the deep’ …

As we allow the word to speak through us we might direct Jesus’ word towards those people and situations where there is suffering, hurt and an absence of joy and where abiding in Christ would bring comfort.  Conclude this time of intercession with words of thanksgiving: Father, we thank you that your Word has gone out through us to those for whom we pray.

The Conclusion

Feel free to use the Fellowship Prayer (below) or another closing prayer to conclude your time of contemplative prayer:

Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for all your unsearchable riches which pour forth from you as light from the sun, in boundless profusion and generosity, whether received, ignored or rejected. And now we offer to you, in so far as we are able, as an emptiness to be filled with your divine fullness, ourselves, our souls and bodies; all that we are, all that we have and all that we do. Amen

You may wish to say the Grace together before departing.