Responses to the new president have been all over the board – from all those celebrating his inauguration and expectant for the promised change to come – to all those who have marched and protested who are fearful about the prospects of that very same change – to all those who don’t know what to think or who want to wait and see what really happens – to all those who frankly are unable to engage at all because life is already just way too much.
In the midst of all of this – what does it mean to follow?
Matthew 4:12-23
Season of Epiphany
I spent the last three days in Louisville, Kentucky at a conference for people from around the ELCA and around the country who work with youth in ministry. Pastors, youth directors, campus ministers, church members – around 1000 of them – who came together for workshops and networking and all the stuff you do at a conference like that.
For my part, I was there to share the work of our mission trip organization Serve Boldly – and to invite people and their churches to come on one of the trips that we host and coordinate.
What I discovered in those conversations with leaders is that there are a lot of awesome and creative people out there. It was energizing to hear all the ways youth and their congregations are serving – all the unique things that the followers of Jesus are doing.
As a quick aside, there was a representative from ELCA World Hunger at this conference with a table as well – and she was asking what we are up to at Gloria Dei and I mentioned the creative and fun Christmas ornament project that our Sunday School and High School kids did in Advent and that we had raised over $2,500 for World Hunger – she was so excited, she came over and hugged me.
We can be heartened that we are indeed a part of something bigger with the wider church of which we are a part.
So, this week, in light of this morning’s scripture passage, and all of the conversations I’ve had in the last three days, and all that is going on in our country and in our world, I have been thinking a lot about the concept of following.
Especially in light of all of the varied responses to the new president: from all those who are celebrating his inauguration and are expectant for the promised change to come – to all those who have marched and protested – who are fearful about the prospects of that very same change – to all those who don’t know what to think or who want to wait and see what really happens – or to all those who frankly are unable to engage at all because life is already just way too much.
In the midst of all of this – what does it mean to follow?
For me – “to follow” or to be a “follower” speaks to some level of commitment. For example, if you didn’t know, I am a huge Packer fan – you didn’t think I wouldn’t work that in somehow today did you? – In other words you could say that I am a big-time follower of the Pack – that I am committed. If they lose today, I won’t stop being a follower. Because win or lose, I am in it for the long haul.
However, “following” in the social media world in which we live can be a little different – commitments can be much more temporary or distant or peripheral. To follow on Twitter or Instagram or Snapchat or to be a friend on Facebook can be more about monitoring, or keeping track of someone or something – and much less about commitment.
These different connotations of what it means to follow – lead us to considering what it actually means to be in relationship with one another – what commitments do we share?
When Jesus invites Peter and Andrew, James and John to follow him, he is not calling them into a temporary or distant or peripheral kind of relationship – Jesus is inviting them into a relationship of possibility – into a relationship of opportunity.
It may even be too simple to say that they were called into a new, changed life – it was actually more than that. They were invited into something dynamic – something that moved them physically and spiritually and emotionally.
I think it is telling that when Jesus invited those four fisherman to follow him – that they actually got up and went – they were physically moved into the first day of the rest of their lives. You see, to follow Jesus is to say yes to the possibility – not just with our hearts and minds, but with our feet and with our hands.
This is such an interesting time in our world. So many things feel unpredictable – unstable. Discerning the difference between fake and real is harder than ever. The willingness to listen and the patience to hear and be heard – to take the time to break down the walls between us – it all feels so hard to do.
And yet here we are – in this new world with relationships to care for in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, even in our social media feeds.
We have a world to care for where people are hungry – where water is not safe to drink – where hope and trust are in short supply.
We have a world in need of our compassion – in need of our voices that call out fear and hatred – in need of our hands and feet to carry and walk alongside our neighbor – in need of hearts that say yes to the possibilities – yes to the opportunities that Jesus gives to follow him.
There is work to be done and this is the world we’ve been given and we have been invited to follow in the way of Jesus.
Jesus who announces the good news of God’s presence. Jesus who spent his time focused on healing and wholeness – on sharing the grace and love of God in real and tangible ways. Jesus who long before anyone could say yes to him – has said yes to us – Yes, you are a child of God. Yes, you are worth it. Yes, I want you to follow me.
Let us pray…Amen.
Rev. John Berg
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Northbrook, IL