Opening Thoughts
This past week we have seen a momentous change in the country to the south of us -- another of many seemingly seismic shifts that have dominated the news and have shaken the world for some time now. It's hard not to get caught up in it, and to let ourselves be drawn into the chorus of folks clamouring and chattering from the wings in support of one side or another.
Against that temptation -- two things.
One is the Serenity Prayer -- for serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference. Whatever that means at any time!
The other is the old eco-saying about thinking globally, acting locally -- to be aware of the big issues and challenges of the day that need to be addressed for the world's well-being, then put our best energy and creativity into acting in ways available to us, to make a timely and effective difference for good right where we are. Because it's through little steps, do-able actions, and meaningful involvement, no matter how little, that the kingdom of God is unfolded day by day in the world.
Let us open ourselves to God who holds us in the cradle of her embrace, and takes our hand as he walks with us through the world.
Reading: Mark 1:14-20
In the Gospel of Mark, the story of Jesus’ unveiling of the kingdom of God in the world begins with his baptism by John in the waters of the Jordan, and a voice from heaven identifying him as God’s beloved Son. It seems an auspicious beginning.
But then … he disappears for forty days and nights into the wilderness, where he is tempted by Satan. And when he re-emerges, it is to bad news. Herod the king has arrested John the baptizer, and everyone who knows the story, knows this will not turn out well for John. He will be beheaded while in Herod’s custody. It seems a crushing blow.
But … Jesus is not deterred. In fact, this seems to be a trigger for him and for others to see and to live in the world in a new and transforming way.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God had has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea -- for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow men and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
As he went a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
Meditation: Monologue by Andrew
Thank you for reading the story. Nice to know it was saved. "Cuz who doesn't wanna be saved? And hearing it refreshes the memory.
I’m Andrew, by the way – Simon’s brother and one of the four fishermen turned “fishers of men”. We liked that title; it worked better than some of the others. Saying you’re ex-tax collect-ors turned into “God’s new collect-ive,” or a herder of sheep who’s now “heard” the good news, just didn’t have the same appeal. Being fishermen was good for something after all; it made us memorable.
But I have to tell you we were not the radically heroic visionaries some make us out to be. You know, totally committed, self-sacrificial servants of God who at the drop of a hat gave up everything for God – the kind of people whose stories you admire and whose lives you venerate, and who also make you feel guilty or somehow “less Christian” because you could never do what they do – never give yourself that unconditionally to a call of God on your life.
We weren’t like that, either.
I mean, we envisioned a better world than the one were living in, and the way it was structured. Who wouldn’t? Our time was as bad as yours. As bad as any.
We were near the bottom of Galilean society – landless, poor, poorly paid by the fish marketing board for what we brought in, overtaxed by unscrupulous collectors, many of us having to rent back our own boats to do our fishing in, because they were held as security by the people we owed money to. We were in a hole we could never work our way out of, and we were not the only ones like that.
And it’s not that we wanted to be on top. We just wanted the world to be fair and just. For the goodness of God’s good world to be shared by all in the God intends. For government to care for the poor and the weak against self-centredness on the part of the comfortable and powerful, the way God intends governments to act.
But the people on top didn’t seem to care. They had their own way of defining what the issues were, and what problems needed to be solved. A way that suited their interests most of all, and that they said was God’s will.
And what happened to John the Baptizer seemed to push us to the point of being ready to do something about it. John was a voice – was God’s voice – for a new way of being a society, for God’s way of living together. And Herod silenced him. Arrested him and put him in jail. And we all knew how that would end.
Have you ever had an event like that in your time? Something so horrendous and unthinkable, that it makes you stop and think? So dark and evil, that you suddenly see the light? So divisive and deadly, that you finally know what side you’re on? That where you are is suddenly at least one step away from where you were as you tried to straddle the fence?
In the face of something like that, you just know “the time has come.” Time for what, of course, is not always clear.
Some might see it as time finally to rise up – to take up arms, fight fire with fire, ride whatever horse no matter how evil as long as it helps you win and get rid of the bums at the top. Others, as time to find a safe place to hunker down, just try to survive the apocalypse – maybe even profit from it and make a few bucks along the way if you can.
Or, it might be something else – a time to say enough is enough, enough of the old and unhelpful ways of being altogether, time to start living a new way, start practicing a better way of being together that maybe we shoulda been following right from the start. As challenging as it may be.
Anyway, however differently different kinds of people might have seen it, it was that kinda time. So when Jesus said, “Follow me, and I’ll make you part of God’s work of making the Earth right,” we were ready.
And the thing is – I think this is what I’m trying to tell you – we didn’t know quite what he had in mind, or all it would involve. Maybe a 20-minute TED talk about some new way of seeing things? An afternoon workshop to show us how we could get our boats out of hock? A weekend retreat to give us the skills and support to start a fisherman’s co-operative so we could control our own future?
I don’t think any of us had 3-year commitment, or even a 3-month plan in mind. It was just the next step in a journey. A good idea – whatever it was – whose time had come. A nudge we decided to accept. A window of opportunity to do something we probably hadn’t done before.
And isn’t that how we end up living life as God intends? By heeding little nudges. Fanning faint sparks of inspiration, taking tiny steps of faith, feeling just enough of a holy breeze to turn us in a new direction? Until step by step, day by day, deed by deed at some point we find ourselves on a journey of faithful discipleship, doing our part in God’s work in the world.
This worship is sponsored by Fifty United Church, and I’m told the congregation is also not the type to sit down for hours on end in discernment and visioning exercises to come up with a five- or ten-year plan to re-invent themselves. But give ‘em a problem to solve, a need in the community to meet, or a crisis in the world to address and you couldn’t ask for a more faithful and hopeful company of disciples, no matter the cost. A community of faith ready to do what’s needed, when it’s needed.
Of course, sometimes that means putting ourselves at odds with others around us, like that day by the seashore when the invitation we accepted put us at odds with our fathers, our families and our friends. To them, we were leaving them in the lurch. We were being irresponsible and selfish. We were becoming something and doing something they thought was foolish and unnecessary.
But don’t we often need to step out from beyond the familiar and take a step outside the comfort of the closed circle, to serve the greater good? To know there is a greater good? And to help create it?
The greatest of journeys is made step by step, and some of those steps are away from what we have been, and from what people near to us want us to be. Taking the step, answering the knock, opening the door, and following a new way can cause upset.
So there’s one thing I want to pass on about opening yourself to what God may be leading you to do next. Be as sure as you can, that it’s God who is leading you, it’s God’s will you are giving yourself to do, and a holy Spirit you are letting into your life.
Because there are impulses, nudges and next steps that the devil will try to sell you as being God’s good will. Not everything that seems good – not even everything that seems religious and godly, is worth giving your life to. Not if you want to feel good about yourself at the end. Not if you want to know at the end that you spent your one sweet, wild life in ways that have helped do some real good in the world.
From our time with Jesus we learned to look for two things when testing the spirit of any new thing. Often the two are together, and if only one of them is really there at the start, the other is sure to follow.
The first is whether the nudge you’re getting is something that will help you know and love God more tomorrow than you did yesterday. If something will help you do that, go for it.
When it really comes down to it – when we’re tossing on our bed through a sleepless night or lying on our death-bed, isn’t this what it all comes down to? How well we love and feel loved by God? How honestly we know, and are known by God?
The second thing is whether what you’re being nudged to do, helps you and gives you a way to love your neighbour as yourself. To love a neighbour in the same way as yourself. Sometimes to love and care for your neighbour in place of loving and caring for yourself.
And I mean “neighbour.” Not just your family. Not just your closest friends. Not just your traditional and comfortable circle. This is about loving someone – or a whole company of people – who are “other” than you. Different. Maybe difficult to be near. Maybe impossible to like. Maybe someone who seems more like an enemy than a brother or sister.
But isn’t the transcending of those kinds of boundaries what Jesus says the time we live in is for? That the time has come for God’s kingdom to come into the troubled affairs of our day. For us to start unfolding and living God’s good will for the well-being and peace – God’s shalom – for all the world? For us to start practicing the kind of life together that we probably shoulda been practicing all along?
That’s what we were looking for and why we took the little step we did when it was offered to us. We didn’t know how decisive and life-defining it would turn out to be. But isn’t that how it goes? We only really know the way, once we start walking it, step by step.
So thanks for reading our story. Hearing it helps refresh the memory of who we really are.
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