Come and Have Breakfast

When you think about Australia, what comes to mind? Perhaps it’s our beaches and our food. There’s an oft-quoted figure that 85 percent of Australians live within 50 kilometers of the coast. I’ve often been asked by overseas friends what our national cuisine is. That’s a hard question to answer with all the variety! In reality, we just love food.

If you go to one of our beaches on a summer evening, you’ll always find groups of people eating fish and chips as seagulls hover close by, sneakily trying to steal a hot chip or two. 

This familiar scene reminds me of one of my favorite “Jesus stories,” which is found in the Gospel of John in the New Testament. A group of Jesus’ close friends have decided to go fishing as they try to come to terms with Jesus’ death a few days prior. These “professional” fishermen go through the whole night without catching a single fish in their nets. As dawn breaks they hear a voice calling from the beach, asking if they’ve caught any fish. 

I've often imagined how I would have responded to that question if I were in their shoes. They graciously replied that they hadn’t caught any fish, to which the distant figure suggests they drop their nets on the other side of the boat. They do this and their nets become full of fish, to the point of it being in danger of ripping, so they go ashore. Then Jesus said, “come and have some breakfast!’ 

Those simple words are an invitation to share a meal, but not in a fast-food way. Rather, He was calling them to eat together in a long, unhurried way that is more about the deep, rich conversations than it is about the food itself.

Australians pride themselves in being portrayed as laconic, relaxed, easygoing people, who never get too stressed and respond to challenges and hardships by saying, “She’ll be all right, mate.” But the truth is much darker. Suicide rates for fifteen to twenty-four-year-olds is at its highest rate in ten years,[1] and suicide is the leading cause of death among young Australians.[2] Roughly forty-one thousand young people between the ages of twelve and seventeen have made a suicide attempt, and a third of all deaths among young men is due to suicide.[3]

There are a myriad reasons we have this crisis in Australia, and one of them is the loss of community. We are a lonely people who are crying out for authentic relationships; for someone to say to us, “Come and have some breakfast.” That invitation from Christ is just as powerful today as it was for the disciples. We, the church, must be a people who will sit and listen to others and invite them into a relationship with Christ. This is what we must be doing.

Prayer Requests

· Pray that the church in Australia would model what it means to be a community of caring.

· Pray that believers would be a listening people who draw others into a relationship with a God who loves them and wants them to understand the bigger story they are a part of—a story that can give their life meaning and significance.

    

[1] Jessica Longbottom, “Suicide Rates for Young Australians Highest in 10 Years, Researchers Call for New Prevention Strategies,” ABC, November 29, 2016, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-30/system-for-suicide-prevention-rates-highest-10-years/8076780.

[2] “Deaths in Australia,” Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, July 17, 2019, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/leading-causes-of-death.

[3] Longbottom, “Suicide Rates for Young Australians Highest in 10 Years, Researchers Call for New Prevention Strategies.”