The Tilted Halo
The Tilted Halo podcast has a refreshing and honest perspective on the challenges pastors face in their ministry and those involved in ministry as a whole. Hosted by Pastor Kathleen Panning, who has seen it all, this edgy show explores the idea that we all have a "tilted halo" - a recognition that we are not perfect and all make mistakes.
Through personal experiences, interviews with fellow pastors, leaders, and insights from scripture, this show offers advice and encouragement for those struggling with the weight of their imperfections. From burnout and rude awakenings to personal failures and shortcomings, The Tilted Halo provides a safe space for pastors to share their struggles and find support from a community of like-minded souls around the globe.
With a focus on authenticity, vulnerability, and humanity at large, this podcast challenges the notion that pastors must have it all together and invites listeners to embrace their humanity and lean into the grace of God. Whether you are a pastor or someone looking for a fresh perspective on life's challenges, The Tilted Halo is a must-listen in the search for hope, healing, and a renewed sense of purpose.
The Tilted Halo
EP 53: Faith Beyond the Sidelines
The fishing nets were breaking. The boats were sinking. And Simon fell to his knees.
I, Pastor Kathleen, will take us deep into the familiar story from Luke 5 where Jesus instructs Simon to cast nets into deep water after a night of catching nothing. This seemingly simple narrative transforms into a profound message about ministry when we understand the fishing context—in winter and spring, fish stayed in shallow waters, making Jesus' instruction to fish in deeper, colder waters completely counterintuitive to experienced fishermen. The miracle wasn't just about fish but about following divine guidance even when it contradicts our expertise.
Drawing a robust comparison to spectator sports, I reveal how, unlike football games where only a fraction of a percent are active participants, faith offers no sideline seats. I also share the touching story of my grandmother who, even at 102 years old and severely limited physically, found profound purpose in "showing her family how to grow old." This challenges us to recognize that while our ministries may evolve through different seasons of life, we never stop being called to faithful participation.
The episode also confronts our culture's obsession with metrics, quotas, and performance indicators. While our society trains us to measure worth through achievements, the biblical model of success centers solely on faithfulness—particularly when it's difficult or seemingly fruitless. This perspective liberates ministers from the crushing pressure of numeric measurements and refocuses our attention on consistent faithfulness even when immediate results aren't visible.
Connect with me on LinkedIn to continue the conversation about finding purpose in ministry during every season of life.
Welcome to the Tilted Halo. This is a new podcast and it's for anybody who's a woman in ministry. You might be a pastor like myself, a bishop, a priest, a rabbi, music minister, elder children's minister whatever your title is, you're absolutely in the right place, especially if you're someone who loves your ministry and you're doing it well and you're feeling pressure to sometimes be perfect and deep down inside, you know you're not, and how in the world to deal with that? And, men, you're absolutely welcome here too, because this is about ministry and the same thing can happen to you. So you're all in the right place. Let's get started with the show. Welcome, I am Pastor Kathleen, and this is another edition of the Tilted Halo.
Speaker 1:I recently had the opportunity to preach and the text for the day was from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the first 11 verses. It's the account of Jesus teaching the disciples or teaching people, I should say from Simon's boat along the shore, and then he tells Simon to put the boat out into the deep waters. Now, this is after Simon and James and John and other people who worked with them had spent all the night fishing and caught nothing, absolutely nothing. But Simon says okay, if you want me to, I will put the boat. You know, we'll go out into deeper water and fish. Deeper water and fish. It almost sounds like Simon said well, you know, okay, but this is not going to be very successful. I mean, there was no success all night.
Speaker 1:And I recently learned something about fishing on the Sea of Galilee and that is that during spring and winter, and that is that during spring and winter or winter and spring, the fish because Israel could get kind of cold in winter and springtime and most of the fish in the Sea of Galilee really aren't suited to very cold water. So during the winter time they come into the shallower water because that warms up more during the daytime, when there's sun on it which is pretty typical in israel to have sunny days and that water warms up more. So if this had been spring or winter we're not sure, but there's hints that that might be true and Peter or Simon, peter and James, john and the other people with them hadn't caught anything, the fish would have been in the shallow waters. And if they had been fishing in the shallow waters which is where every fisherman would be during spring and winter and still hadn't caught anything during spring and winter and still hadn't caught anything. The idea of going out to the deep water, which is always colder, to find fish would be kind of ridiculous in the minds of any seasoned fisherman. And Simon, peter, james and John and any of the other helpers with them were very seasoned fishermen.
Speaker 1:But Simon goes and he already has some acquaintance with Jesus at that point, because at the end of the fourth chapter of Luke's Gospel we would read that Jesus spent the night at Simon's house in Capernaum and had healed his mother-in-law from a fever. It immediately left her when Jesus healed her, and so Simon already knew that Jesus could do miracles. And so Simon already knew that Jesus could do miracles. In fact, after healing Simon's mother-in-law, lots of people from the community brought in people who were sick to be healed by Jesus. So the idea that Jesus could heal people was not new. It was not something foreign to Simon, something a foreign to Simon, and apparently after that healing he and James and John and others had gone out fishing and fishing was usually done at night on the Sea of Galilee at that time. So to know that Jesus could do a miracle at at least with healing, and to have caught absolutely nothing where in fishing, assuming that they were fishing somewhere where they would expect to have found fish. They, you know, the idea of going out into deep water was a little bit like I'm not expecting much of anything, but I'll go. So you know, we don't know what Simon Peter may have expected and anticipated by going out into the deep water, but when Jesus told them to let down the net, they did. And the account tells us that there was not just a large catch, but that the catch was so abundant that the nets were starting to break. And it was so abundant that, even when another boat came to help them, their partners which may have been James and John, we're not sure, but James and John were there anyway somehow that even when another boat came to help them, they filled both of these boats with fish that had been in the nets and it was so many and so abundant that the boats were on the verge of sinking supplied them with financial income and some stability, not just for a day or two, maybe far more than a couple of weeks. And yet what do they do? Immediately on getting to shore, james, john and Simon leave the catch. They leave their boats, which was their livelihood. They leave their families to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1:The other thing about that story is that when Peter sees the abundance of the fish that they're catching, he becomes very aware that, compared to Jesus, he is nothing. He is totally a sinful person, and that this man, jesus, is far more than a simple if you would a healer. He can do things. He is something much greater and, unlike most miracles, simon falls down confessing his sinfulness to Jesus. You know, get away from me, I am am a sinful man, is what he's saying. But jesus tells him don't be afraid, from now on you will be catching people, not fish. And so that is why they leave the catch, they leave their boats, they leave their families and go to follow Jesus. That story is also found in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and it's shorter in both of those gospel readings.
Speaker 1:But there were a couple of things that stood out for me and that I shared in this sermon that I hadn't really thought about before, and the first one is that you know, we watch football American football if you're watching in a different country, but football and in any football game, including the Super Bowl or any playoff game, but in any football game there are only 11 players on each side on the field at any one time and if there's an additional player who doesn't get off the field in time, that's a penalty to the team where there's a 12th man on the field. So there's 22 players and then like three or four officials who are actually on the field doing the plays, playing the game at any given moment. Yes, there are other players on the sidelines and coaches and some other officials on the sidelines, but on the field itself there's only 22 players and maybe three or four officials. And yet for any professional game there are thousands of people, including college games, for that matter thousands of people in the stands. And I just did some research for that sermon because it was close to the Super Bowl here in the United States and it was being played in New Orleans. So I looked up some information about the Superdome in New Orleans and for NFL games the Superdome can seat 73,208 people. That's the ones in the seats. So when you have like 25 people on the field compared to 73,200 in the stands, the number of people actually playing the game is three one-hundredths of a percent of the number in the stands. That's a very small number and even if we include all of the people on the sidelines, the other players on the team, the coaches, the staff, other officials. It might, for at least the professional teams, it might come to a total of 250 people down there somewhere on the field and the sidelines. The field and the sidelines. That's still only three-tenths of a percent of the number of people in the stands. And then Super Bowl games in 2024, it's estimated that there were over 200 million people in the United States and around the world who were watching that game. I don't know what percentage it would be of the number of people actually on the field compared to the two plus million people, or two million3,000 plus people who are in the stands plus watching. That would be a lot of zeros to the right of the decimal point, making for an extremely small percentage.
Speaker 1:One of the things about being a person of faith, especially as a christian, is that we are all called to be about the ministry that jesus shares with us. There are no spectator seats. As a person of faith, there are many times where, as a pastor, I've heard someone say well, I've done my share, I'm going to let somebody else know, it's somebody else's turn, and there is a point where that's true. There's a time where it's best to let the next generation sometimes come in and be part of or part of a board or some committee. That's great, but it doesn't mean that the person who's saying I've done my time on this committee or this board or in helping in this particular way, that doesn't mean they are no longer needed, they no longer have a role, they no longer have a purpose in the community of faith and in God's community.
Speaker 1:And as I thought about that for my sermon, I remembered my grandmother. And one of my grandmothers lived to be 102 and a half and she in her 80s became. She in her 80s became functionally blind with macular degeneration, and legally blind by the end of her 80s and into her 90s life. But for her it meant transitioning to getting around in a wheelchair rather than using a walker or, even before that, a cane. So she spent years in a wheelchair, probably about six years getting around in a wheelchair after breaking her hip in a wheelchair after breaking her hip.
Speaker 1:And it was at her 100th birthday party. We as a family threw her a nice big party for that and her pastor came and he shared a few words and one of the things he shared was that he had at one point asked her why she thought she was living so long, and her response to that is something I've always remembered. It was, I quote, to show my family how to grow old, end quote. There were so many things she could no longer do, so many. I mean, she had done all kinds of handiwork for years and years and years but she couldn't do that. She couldn't cook, she couldn't do all of the things that had been so much a part of her life. But she still found meaning and purpose, a way that she contributed, based on her faith, based on her sense of family, based on her sense of integrity as a human being, to show her family how to grow old. And she did with a lot of dignity and grace. She had her moments yeah, she definitely had her moments when life wasn't so good and that came out, but by and large, she showed her family how to grow old In a very positive way. And we always have something that we can contribute, our purpose and the way we share. That may change over time.
Speaker 1:I used to be a full-time pastor in a congregation. I've retired, but now I do things this way with a podcast. I do things by reaching out and working with other women of faith, in relationships with them. There are many different ways to do things and that is now my different way of serving. I haven't been sidelined by God. None of us is. There are no spectator seats for people of faith.
Speaker 1:That's the first thing to know. That's the first thing to know. The second thing is that we live in a society that's really very consumed by and obsessed with data. From earliest childhood we get pushed to make the grade, to earn our keep, earn our way, to fulfill our quotas weekly, monthly, yearly quotas, whatever that may be we get. You know, we have to be concerned with price and earnings and budget and all of the net income versus sales, versus expenses that all of these things PE ratios, whatever they may be these become things that consciously and unconsciously become the measure of success for every business, but also for ourselves, as we're measured by an employer and as we think about our own worth and our own value.
Speaker 1:And as we think about our own worth and our own value, there's nothing in the story of the call for any of the disciples. The same is true for the prophets of old Isaiah, jeremiah, ezekiel, daniel. There's no quotas for them. There's no. You know, you got to earn so much, you got to do so much, you have an earnings ratio or anything like that. There's none of that there, no quotas to meet, no bottom line that has to be met, no bottom line that has to be met.
Speaker 1:What is there is the call to remain faithful, and that call to remain faithful is to remain faithful even when, and especially when doing so isn't the popular thing, when it's not popular to talk about God's love and grace and openness to everyone. To remain faithful even when, and especially when, it's uncomfortable and it may challenge us, and even when and especially when we're asked to go deep, which may mean taking a risk, it may mean trying something where there's really no idea that there might be any kind of return. It means staying faithful even when we feel like no one's listening, or even if they're listening, they're certainly not responding Like Simon, peter, james and John when their nets were empty. It's hard to remain faithful. It's hard to have the stamina sometimes the chutzpah, if you will, to use that word the grit. Grit, the backbone, the, the wherewithal, the courage, the stamina to keep sharing the message about god's love in and through jesus, or about god's love period. You know, however, we understand god, but god always calls us to share that message of love, and it's when we're not demonstrating that love that that message can be seen sometimes as and as a sharp word, a hard word by other people, one that they don't really want to hear. And that can be true in our faith communities. It can be true when we share that message within the larger community, when people or organizations or governments which is true throughout history don't really want to hear that message. And it's even true when there are others, faith leaders, who say that that's not God's message for now, but we are called to remain faithful in sharing the message about God's love, and that it's not just for us or for people like us, but it is for everyone.
Speaker 1:So this seemingly simple story about Jesus telling Simon Peter to let down the nets and getting a huge haul of fish shows us that God is abundant, yes, that God loves us, yes, but it also challenges us. Challenges us to never sit on the sidelines, never think that we can just be a spectator in our faith and let somebody else do the work. Won't work, doesn't work that way. And it also challenges us to think and realize that there are no quotas here. There's criteria for success is being faithful, and that's sometimes not easy, and it's something we always have to remember. It's a challenge to us as faith leaders to remain faithful, but also for every single person of faith, because none of us is a spectator.
Speaker 1:Faith is not a spectator sport. Faith is not about data or data, however you should pronounce it. It is about faithfulness, and we all fail in that endeavor, but thanks be to God, who gives us, forgives us and allows us to get back up and go at it again. So, no spectators and being faithful two things from this wonderful, wonderful story. But there are some other things that I've recently learned about this story as well, and look forward to sharing that with you, because there's a whole nother level to this story, and you know that's one of the things I love about scripture. There's always more, there is always deeper stuff in each of these accounts and stories in the scripture, and finding that richness. It's challenging, yes, but that's where the gold is, that's where the good stuff is and that's what we all need to hear and to share. It's not just about going fishing. We are each called to be fishers of people. No sidelines, no quotas, but keep on fishing, be faithful. So until next time, I'm Pastor Kathleen, also known as the Tilted Halo, and I will be coming to you again, hopefully in the very near future. Peace be with you.
Speaker 1:You have been listening to Tilted Halo with me, kathleen Panning. What did you think about this episode? I'd really like to hear from you. Leave me some comments. Be sure to like, subscribe and share this episode and catch another upcoming episode. For more conversation on ministry life mindset and a whole lot more, go to wwwtiltedhalohelpcom, where I've got a resource guide and other resources waiting for you, and be sure to say hi to me, kathleen Panning, on LinkedIn. See you on the next episode.