Follow Me - 01/24/2021

 

Call to worship:

L: We have heard the profit's cry; 

P: The appointed hour has come.

L: We have heard the profit's cry; 

P: The realm of heaven has entered out midst.

L: We have heard the profit's cry; 

P: Let us turn from our nets and follow the Lord!

L: We have heard the profit's cry; 

A: Let us set our hearts and hopes on God!

Opening Hymn:   Lord of the Dance   #261

1 I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
and I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth.
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

[Refrain:]
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

2 I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
but they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
they came to me and the dance went on. (Refrain)

3 I danced on the sabbath when I cured the lame,
the holy people said it was a shame;
they whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;
and they left me there on a cross to die. (Refrain)

4 I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
they buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
but I am the dance and I still go on. (Refrain)

5 They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he. (Refrain)

Opening Prayer:   

We have heard it spoken that almighty power belongs to God, and that to God belongs steadfast love.

So, to this power we appeal; with this love we plead. We have floundered too long in shifting sands; we need a rock on which to stand. We have shivered too often through bone-chilling storms; we need a refuge where we might find warmth.

For you alone we wait, O Lord. To you alone we pray, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Epistle Reading:  1 Corinthians 7: 29-31

²⁹ I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, ³⁰ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, ³¹ and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

Children's Sermon (video)

Hymn:  Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore   #344

1 Lord, you have come to the lakeshore
looking neither for wealthy nor wise ones;
you only asked me to follow humbly. 

Chorus
O Lord, with your eyes you have searched me,
and while smiling have spoken my name;
now my boat’s left on the shoreline behind me;
by your side I will seek other seas.

2 You know so well my possessions;
my boat carries no gold and no weapons;
you will find there my nets and labor. [chorus]

3 You need my hands, full of caring
through my labors to give others rest,
and constant love that keeps on loving. [chorus]

4 You, who have fished other oceans,
ever longed for by souls who are waiting,
my loving friend, as thus you call me. [chorus]

Prayer of Dedication:

O God, whose breath inspires life and whose heart beats in the womb of the world, how unfeeling we are! We fear the touch of you breath for is stirs the winds of change. We are numb to the rhythm of your heart for it brings the pangs of birth. When we feel, we fear, and we grow numb to the world that is our home, as well as to the creatures who are our family.

Arrest us, O God, for the time of preparation is now past and the time of expectation is now fulfilled. Lead us ever to your presence. Amen.

Gospel Reading:   Mark 1: 14-20

¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰ Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Sermon Title:    Follow me (video)

The message that we heard in Mark today is an introduction to the beginning of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. He came to Galilee after John had been arrested and proclaimed the Good News, just as John had done; only Jesus was the One that John had been the opening act for. Jesus was the Messiah, the One that they had all been waiting for.

It is important to note here that Jesus is not promoting Christianity (it didn’t exist yet), He was there to promote God. To redirect the people who had fallen away from the path, so to speak. And Jesus is speaking about the time being fulfilled and that the kingdom of God has come near. It is now, more than ever before, time to repent and believe in that Good News. This is our indication that represents an action in the past is carrying on in the present. Namely that the action of repentance and belief need to be the order of the day. 

John the Baptist had preached the act of repentance, but Jesus’ message includes something new and fresh; to believe in the Good News. Belief or Faith (the same word in Greek, pistis) becomes a standard for those who hear Jesus’ message. The kingdom of God refers to the period and/or place in which God reigns as undisputed King over the people and all creation.

And now that we have this introduction out of the way, we see that Jesus gets right into the task of calling his disciples to “follow him” in this ministry.

It is said that there are three types of workers. For instance, when a piano is to be moved, the first kind gets behind and pushes, the second pulls and guides, and the third grabs the piano stool.

The way in which Jesus picks out the men who He asks to be His disciples, seems to be rather random and without planning. I think there are many bosses who believe this would be a disaster in the making. Imagine, if we were trying to fill a position in our work place (whatever that work might look like) and we simply meandered the streets and called out to people who are already working to come work with us. We did not tell them the fundamentals of the job or the hours or the pay; just simply told them to come and work for us. Also, they provided no resume or credentials for us to look over, we simply just hired them. I mean, what could go wrong? Well, in our world, just about everything.

Yet Jesus knows these men and He beckons them to come and fish for people instead of fish. And just like that, Jesus has “hired” the first four of the twelve disciples, and without hesitation, they follow him. Again, this may seem random, but it is no more random that the jobs that we do. One of the things that we should always remember is that we can serve God by working in our everyday tasks just as much as we can by sitting in a church pew and praying. When given to God, all of our work glorifies His name. Martin Luther once said, “The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays – not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps, but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

Each one of us has been given the directive, “Follow me,” by Jesus, no matter what our current career choice may be. If we take God with us into every day and every task, then we are living the Christian life that Jesus has asked of us.

.And when we put down our nets (our current jobs if you will), the path that we follow with Jesus is for Him to decide. No other person, outside of requested advice, can tell us exactly how we are supposed to build that relationship.

The winter that architect Frank Lloyd Wright turned nine, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his rather reserved and no-nonsense uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him and pointed out his own tracks were straight as an arrow and that young Frank’s tracks had meandered all over. 

“Notice how you tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again,” his uncle said. “And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that.”

Years later, the world-famous architect liked to tell how this experience had greatly contributed to his philosophy in life. “I determined right then,” he’d say with a twinkle in his eye, “not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had.”

Whatever you are doing, do it for the glorification of the Lord and follow Him wherever He may lead.

Amen.

Closing Hymn:  Dear Lord and Father of Mankind   #358

1. Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise.

2. In simple trust like theirs who heard,
beside the Syrian sea,
the gracious calling of the Lord,
let us, like them, without a word,
rise up and follow thee.

3. O sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!

4. Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.

5. Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.