The Rev. Carol S. Wedell
January 25, 2009

Some things just won't wait.  We can try to put them off, or keep them at bay, but there are some events in our life that are simply on their own time schedule. 

When I was in labor with Jessica, Mark and I had the good fortune of having a good friend who was a certified nurse midwife be with us.  Susan was not there to deliver our baby, but simply to offer us support.  Although she was not currently on the staff of the hospital, she had worked there previously; so much of the staff knew and respected her.  This meant that we were given a significant amount of privacy, as the staff trusted Susan to call them as needed.

Just prior to Jessica's birth, my nurse came in to check me and said, "Carol, go ahead and start pushing, I'll go get your doctor." (Who was already on the floor).  Soft-spoken and non-confrontational, Susan simply asked me, "Carol, when you had Justin, how many pushes before he was born?"  That was easy.  "Two" I said.  The nurse quickly caught the drift and said, "Stay put.  I'll go get your doctor." 

If you know anything about giving birth, you know that when the urge to push comes, it is something you cannot ignore.  It is a powerful, instinctual response that is almost impossible to overcome.  As a couple of minutes went by, and no doctor appeared, Susan went to the door to the hall and in a voice I had never heard her use, nearly shouted, "NOW!"

The gospel of Mark conveys the same sense of urgency as did my friend Susan. Mark tells us nothing about the birth of Jesus, quickly moves through the ministry of John the Baptist, and by the 16^th verse, has Jesus calling his first disciples. Like an insistent alarm clock, Mark marches forward, using the word immediately eight times in the first chapter alone!  Mark calls Simon and his brother Andrew as they were casting their net into the sea and says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.  And immediately they left their nets and followed him."  By the next verse Jesus has come upon James and John who were mending their fishing nets. Again, Mark tells us, "Immediately he called them and they left their father...and followed him."

One short paragraph and Jesus now has four disciples who have given up their entire way of life to follow an itinerant preacher.  Did you notice that they didn't ask any questions?  In fact, they didn't say anything at all, as Mark records it.  I don't know about you, but I am pretty darn sure that I would be trying to find out a bit more information.  "How long will we be gone?"  "What are the accommodations like?  Will there be showers?" (the latter of course, being the number one concern of our youth mission team!)  "Where are we going?"  But no, that's not what we're told.  Jesus calls; the new disciples follow.

Now it is tempting, I think, to think that it must have been easier for those four than it is for you and me.  After all, Jesus was right in front of them.  But friends, think about it.  They were leaving the only life they had ever known, to follow someone about whom they may or may not have heard some stories, to go who knows where.  No pay guarantees, no contract, not even the assurance of safety.  Just come - follow me. 

I don't think it was easier for those first disciples.  They were called in the middle of their everyday lives, and so are we.  Of course our lives in the 21^st century are radically different than these first century fishermen. Yet the timeless reality which Mark conveys is that God has this habit of showing up unexpectedly and calling us to follow - often without the answers to our many questions.

It is reassuring to me, at least, that Jesus' disciples were not perfect - not even close.  They were simple, ordinary folks who throughout the gospel don't seem to understand, fail to do what they're asked, and misinterpret almost everything.  What we need to remember is that to be a disciple is to be one who learns from the teacher.  It doesn't mean knowing it all.

Also notice that Jesus doesn't call these first followers to add another task to their already full schedules.  He is calling them, and calls us, to a whole new way of being.  You see, there is a difference in being called to a task, and being given a whole new identity.  From then on, Simon, Andrew, James and John are known as disciples of Jesus.  That defines who they are. 

Likewise, Jesus doesn't call them to believe certain things, to have the proper doctrine.  Instead Jesus invites them to place their lives in his hands, so that they might participate in bringing this new world of which Jesus speaks.

So if we believe that these words were not just for people in the first century, but also speak to us, then you and I are called to follow as well.  How do we step out of our ordinary lives and follow Jesus?  Cynthia Anderson, in an article in the Christian Century (Jan 13, 09, p. 21) asks, "What keeps our feet stuck to the bottom of our particular boat?"  In other words, what stands in our way and makes us hesitant to follow?

Probably the largest obstacle is the need that most of us have to be in control of our own lives. The idea of heading out to the unknown is frightening.  I don't want to hand that control over to anyone else, thank you very much!  I've been burned before, and I know what can happen if I don't get to call the shots.  You and I go to great lengths to see that our lives are safe and secure, and handing our lives over to anyone else does not seem like a good idea.  Especially when there are no business plans, or job descriptions, but simply an invitation: "Come, follow me."

Then, at some time our life we come face to face with the reality:  we don't have total control of our lives. The stock market crashes, or someone we know is diagnosed with a life-threatening or life-changing disease, or a person we have known and loved hurts us deeply.  To think that you and I are in control of our lives is an illusion.

For many of us, another obstacle to hopping out of the boat to follow Jesus is that it calls for a different kind of decision-making than we ordinarily use.  You can't quantify or analyze this decision, weighing pros and cons to arrive at a logical conclusion.

It reminds me of some couples I meet with prior to their weddings.  Without pushing a stereotype (because it can certainly work the other way around), it is not uncommon that a groom will be a bit unsure about the commitment that marriage requires.  It simply isn't like other decisions that he has made.  You can't just put together a spread sheet and arrive at an answer.  At some point, there is a leap of faith that the love you have for one another is a trump card that overrides whatever is on the spread sheet.  If you can't do that, you are not in a position to get married.

The same is true for choosing to be a disciple of Jesus.  Lists of pros and cons won't help here either.  Analyzing the situation doesn't tell us what it means to follow Jesus.  The call of Jesus assaults our sensibilities and challenges us in ways we can't imagine. Our lives are pretty comfortable now - why upset the apple cart? Besides, we have responsibilities!  We have jobs and families and church obligations.  We can't just toss those aside!  Remember - not another task added to our already full plates.  We are being offered a new identity:  follower of Jesus.

Sometimes, it may be those very routines that push us further away from God.  We get caught up in doing things - at church or other places, while our spiritual lives shrivel up and dry out. 

Timing is also an issue.  God doesn't necessarily come at a time that is convenient for us.  We don't get to wait until we're "ready," - because in reality, we would never find the right time, or ever be fully prepared and ready.  We're asked to follow now.

And here is the kicker.  This isn't a one day commitment.  It's not a 30 day trial period.  It's a decision to follow Jesus for a lifetime.  We do, however, have to decide each day, each moment that we are going to keep going on this journey, even when it gets tough, even when we don't know where on earth (or heaven) it will land us.  It is always about right now.

Many in our society can handle a "little bit of religion."  It may even come in handy politically or socially.  But even some church-goers get uncomfortable when we take this all too seriously.  Friends, can you hear the call of Jesus as anything less than the decision of a lifetime?

So if this call is for you and me, where do we hear it?  What we called to do?  To be sure, some of us will find our call and vocation within the church - as ministers, elders, deacons, church school teachers, choir members, greeters or ushers, those who fix things around the building - and how grateful we are for all who are willing to serve in such capacities.  But remember where Jesus came to those first disciples:  right in the middle of their ordinary lives.  Not at the synagogue.  Not while they were off by themselves praying (not that that is a bad thing to do!).

Jesus came then, and comes now in the middle of ordinary life - at the office or hospital; at home with the kids, or caring for aging parents; at school or with friends.  Jesus' call is felt as a constant urge, a sense that we simply must do something. God uses us best in the places we care about the most.  Presbyterian pastor and author, Frederick Buechner has often said that our calling is where our personal passion lines up with the world's need.  It's certainly a good place to start.

Did you notice that Jesus isn't calling the disciples or us for some kind of private salvation?  We are called to a public vocation that helps to show God's work and world here and now.

Here is the good news, my friends.  We are promised both companionship and a guide on this journey.  There will a community that will stand by us as we seek to be faithful, that will hold the faith for us when we cannot, that will pick us up when we fall, and that will urge us to a fuller life.  Our guide will never desert us.  We won't be left behind at the first traffic light, but at every turn, our hand will be taken and we'll be shown the path ahead - if our eyes are willing to see it.

This invitation to follow is always in the present moment - right now.  If we are fully present and open, we'll hear the call and feel the presence of our guide.  We can't be focused on what is behind us; on the mistakes we made yesterday or even an hour ago.  We can't be so focused on the future that we forget that our life and the life of the kingdom is NOW!

One of my online colleagues, Mike Johnson puts it this way: God calls each of us by name, in different ways, on different days, to listen, to obey, to follow Christ. Like me, you may feel a nudging in your spirit, an unsettling feeling that something is missing in your life, an unsatisfied feeling that eats at you and won't leave you alone, a perpetual ache in your heart. When God is calling you it is stirring, compelling, intriguing, life altering, extremely satisfying, fulfilling, fearful, and basically not resistible. God may give you an idea, a mission, a project, a calling to ministry....

And what was that call?  Not, "Follow me and I'll make you good enough to go to heaven."   Nor "Follow me and I'll give you inner peace," though that is true, too.  No, the call is "Follow me and we'll go fishing for people. ... Follow me and I will make you instruments of the spirit of God in serving and loving and lifting and changing the lives of people. This is what I am about.  This is what you were born for.  Follow me. The call of God in Christ remains the same:  "Follow me -- attach yourselves to me, commit yourselves to me, learn from me, apprentice yourselves to me, practice living life my way, let me shape and guide you-- and I will make of you life-givers to the world."

Friends, the moment is now.  Will you follow?