Pastoral Letter 48

Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,

Love, grace and peace to you all.

Many churches around us have reopened their doors for worship, but here in St. Andrew’s, we’re still not feeling ready to recommence. We’ve missed our activities so much, prayed hard and hoped for better days to come so we could reopen our doors. The Elders and Council Members will reassess and decide what will be our next steps, when they meet on Wednesday 3 February. In the meantime, I will continue writing to you every week to keep in touch and let you know what our next steps will be.

As I have said in my last letter, our friend, Bob Minton, will cover for me during my leave and take three Sunday Worships 7, 14 and 21 February. The Sunday 7 February Service will be the way that we are doing, and you will have worship at home, with Communion. For the other two Sundays, we will let you know after the meeting. Regardless of what we decide, you will still receive the Orders of the Service, the hymns with my pastoral letter as usual, but probably a short one. I will make sure that the three people who received hard copies on Saturdays, will still receive a copy, to join us on Sunday morning for worship.

I have two things to share with you:

1. Esther was admitted to The Mater hospital last Monday.  Her immediate problem was fluid on the lungs, but when that is cleared, she will likely undergo some form of heart surgery. Please let’s keep her in our prayers and wish her a quick recovery.

2. Sadly, Bette Graham passed away last Sunday. She had been in pain for the past few months and now she rests in peace, after struggling for several years with health issues. She was in Blackhurst Aged Care Centre for the last 2-3 years. I have written to Alison and offered our assistance in any way we can and asked for information. But unfortunately, I don’t have any information about the arrangements. We pray for Philip, Alison and the family for their loss. She will be greatly missed.

Please keep communicating with me for anything you need. I am more than happy to assist you, besides praying for you. Please communicate with each other with phone calls and keep everyone informed with any new developments that happen with you, your family or any congregation member that you know is having any problems.

In the meantime, please continue to pray and put your trust in God, the Father who loves us and is with us always.

We still have some Christmas candles and candle holders, as well as 2021 Calendars. They are on the table in the foyer. When you are around, please come in and take yours, and one or more calendars to give away.

Krikor

NOTE: Please listen and sing along the first Hymn “O Lord I come to You” at the start before following the Order of Service.

Thanks to Mark for suggesting hymns as usual.

Come Follow Me!

Mark 1:14-20

We read in the Gospel of John how Jesus begun to call His disciples. We learn of His call to Andrew and Simon, and to Philip and Nathaniel, the one under the fig tree. Today we read in Mark, how He called these men, who believed in Him, into a new and a different life. We will see how in faith, they followed Jesus, and how we, the church, the members of the body of Jesus Christ, in and by faith follow Him also.

When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, He received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who descended on Him as a dove. At His baptism, the Father said: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. In the gospel of Matthew, we read: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him am well pleased” (Matt. 4:17).  And in Luke at His transfiguration, the same voice said: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen;  listen to Him” (Luke 9:35). And so, Jesus enters into His ministry on this earth, as the chosen One to proclaim the Gospel.

When we look at the text today, we see the ending of one season of ministry and the beginning of another. John has been arrested by Herod Antipas and very soon will be beheaded. You see John the Baptist was calling Herod out because the king had married his sister-in-law after she had divorced from his brother. This Herod was the nephew of the King Herod at Jesus’s birth, who had killed all the baby boys of Bethlehem. John in his preaching of repentance and Baptism had called on King Herod to repent, because his lifestyle was against the laws of God.

The imprisonment of John the Baptist ended his ministry and allowed Jesus to begin His. It seems that the prophecy had been fulfilled and the lesser had moved out, allowing the greater to enter into the picture. John’s message was: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1: 7-8).

John had prepared the way with his preaching of repentance and baptism by water, and Jesus had entered with a message that the Kingdom of God was near so we must get ready, because the prophecy was being fulfilled, the Messiah had come.

Now we know that the first thing Jesus did was call His disciples, some were followers of John the Baptist and some were just common everyday ordinary people like us, but in the text today we see that Jesus is calling Simon (Peter), Andrew, James and John, four men who made a living as fisherman. Scripture says Jesus saw the brothers Simon and Andrew casting their nets and He called them, He walked a little further and saw two more Brothers James and John with their father mending their nets and He also called them.

The next thing we see is this. Mark says that “immediately” or “at once” they left their nets and followed Him.

These four men left successful businesses, most probably their family businesses, to follow Jesus; they gave up everything to follow Him. Jesus must have had something about Him, a charisma that gave these men confidence that if they followed Him, everything would be OK. Something about His character, image or presence must have been seen by these four men that enabled them to have the courage and strength to leave their comfortable life and go into the unknown. Who in their right mind would leave a successful family business to follow a young inexperienced preacher into the unknown?

These four men did and hopefully all of us have also answered the call of “Follow Me”, not necessarily by becoming preachers, missionaries, ministers, pastors or chaplains, but to serve Him in another capacity, on another level. In our story, He called them, and these four men immediately left, and on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue with His followers and began to teach.

And that is where our reading today in Mark picks up. John who had baptized Jesus had been arrested by Herod. Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time has come, and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news” (verse 15).

Here we see two things.

First, that Jesus is making proclamations. This is the beginning of His work, as the Father had said: “Listen to Him.” He is making very clear that His ministry has begun and John’s call for repentance had to be carried forward and the changed lives present the believers in a new form of holy life.

Second, His message is a message of repentance and of the kingdom of God, similar to the message of John, who called for repentance.

Now Jesus invites people, ordinary people, to come to terms with their sinful nature, seek God’s forgiveness and to become a new creature. John had just been arrested by King Herod. It would seem foolish to follow the one who was proclaiming the same message that got John arrested. To keep proclaiming that message, the one that got John thrown in prison, one would either have to be a fool or on a mission from God. There was little reason to follow such a proclaimer.

To be a follower was dangerous. Following might get them arrested, too.

Now Jesus is walking along the shore of the sea of Galilee. This was a busy place for fishermen and merchants and the like. And He sees Simon and Andrew, and says “Come here, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And right away, they do. They put down their nets and follow Him.

Just down the shore there was a boat. In it was a man, Zebedee, with his two sons, James and John. They had finished fishing and were mending their nets. Jesus called out to James and John, and they too, stopped what they were doing, and came and followed Jesus.

We see that Simon, Andrew, James, and John followed Jesus.

What does it mean to be a follower?

1. The follower is not the leader. And in fact, it takes a leader to have a follower. Two leaders are not leaders. They will mess up and probably turn against each other. And two followers are not followers. They are just lost together. The follower follows behind the leader. The leader decides to stop or go, turn left or turn right. The follower, as long as he is following, does not get to decide. He cannot just do it my way. The follower is not independent, not his own boss. It is the leader who leads, who decides, and who is responsible. The follower must be willing to surrender the right to make his own decisions over to the leader.

2. Because the follower is behind the leader, the follower does not get to see what lies ahead. Only the leader knows that. The follower simply walks in the path and footsteps of the leader. The follower cannot see ahead, he can only see the leader.

What does this tell us about following?

Following is an act of trust. Following is faith in action. To be a follower, one must trust the decision-making to the leader. And to be a follower, one must trust the decision the leader has made. The follower follows because he trusts the leader. And when he stops trusting the leader, he will soon stop following. Following and trust are tied together. The follower has faith in the leader, and a faithful follower will follow his leader. Why? Because he has faith in the leader.

What about those disciples?

Jesus called the disciples to a life of faith, a life of faith in Him. Notice how when He called, they came right away? Now, how is that? Remember, Jesus was proclaiming repentance and the kingdom of God, just as John had done. You can see where that had gotten John. And the danger was the same for those who followed such a proclaimer.

A follower would have to decide: This Jesus was either a fool, or He was true, and on a mission from God. Yet these disciples came right away. How did these disciples come so quickly? They came because of the call of Christ. Christ called them. His Word, His call gave them faith, faith in Him. By that faith, they knew that He was true. They knew He was not a fool, but on a mission from God. And by that faith – that trust – they followed Him. They could not see what lay ahead, but they trusted Jesus. In the past, they made the decisions about fishing. But now Jesus would make the decisions for them. They had faith and trusted Jesus. Their following was a result of their faith. It was their faith in action.

What about us? What about you and me? Jesus has called us, the Church. He has called us to a life of faith in Him. Do we ever feel that life is out of control? Yes. And it is. Life is out of our control, but it is in the control of Jesus. He is leading. He has called us to trust Him and to follow Him. What happens when we are not content to be the follower, and try to be in control of our own lives? We get all caught up.

How, then, do we follow Jesus?

By trusting Him. To follow Him we need not work harder at following, we need only trust Him.

How do we trust Him?

By faith. Faith which He gives us through His Word.

What about our lives? What will this year bring? Or what will tomorrow bring?

We had a very difficult year in 2020, which was full of challenges. Faced bushfires, storms, a deadly pandemic, natural disasters, wars and lost loved ones. But what will happen in the year 2021?

We do not know. We cannot see ahead. But we have One who can and who does. Jesus sees what is to come. We need only to follow. And to follow, we don’t have to see the future, we only need to see our leader, Jesus. And we do see Him. We see Him by faith. We see Jesus by faith when we hear His word. We see Him by faith in His body and blood. We see Him by faith when He receives our prayers.

Just as the disciples, it can be dangerous to follow Jesus. And just like them, we must decide whether this Jesus, who calls us to repentance and into the Kingdom of God, whether this Jesus is a fake with “Fake news”, or He is real.

And how do we know?

By faith. The faith we have received from the Apostles, the faith we have received from God by His Word. He has called us by His Word. And by faith we believe. We know that He was and is on a mission from His Father. We know that Jesus is true.

Like the first disciples, we follow Jesus by faith. We cannot see the future. But we see our Saviour. We can and do trust Him, with our lives now, and in His kingdom forever. We follow Him by believing. We have been called to be His people, His followers. We need not work harder at following Him, doing it in our strength. Rather we follow by believing and trusting Him. We have believed His word and repented. And faithfully we follow, day by day, step by step, trusting Him to lead us. For His kingdom, the kingdom of God, is at hand.

We need to be faithful followers. When He calls us and says: “Come follow me”, we need to listen, decide, commit and take the first step to follow Him, our leader, our Saviour, our redeemer and our Lord.

He has called, has been calling ever since and He is still calling. We need to listen, hear His voice and His call. We need to follow Him. After all He is our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer, our Leader and our Rescuer.

As the words of a contemporary hymn, titled “Rescuer”, composed and sang by Rend Collective, a Northern Irish Christian folk rock worship band originating from Bangor, Northern Ireland, says:

He’s our rescuer!

He’s our rescuer!
We are free from sin forevermore.
Oh how sweet the sound,
Oh how grace abounds.
We will praise the Lord our rescuer.

There is good news for the captive,
Good news for the shamed.
There is good news for the one who walked away,
There is good news for the doubter.
The one religion failed,
For the Good Lord has come to seek and save.

He’s our rescuer!

He’s our rescuer!
We are free from sin forevermore.
Oh how sweet the sound,
Oh how grace abounds.
We will praise the Lord our rescuer.

He is beauty for the blind man,
Riches for the poor.
He is friendship for the one the world ignores,
He is pasture for the weary.
Rest for those who strive.
Oh, the Good Lord is the way, the truth, the life.
Yes, the Good Lord is the way, the truth, the life.

He’s our rescuer…

He is our rescuer, and He is calling us to follow Him.

What will be our response?

If we believe that He is our Rescuer and Saviour and he is calling us to follow Him, all we have to do is to listen to Him and accept Him as our true and trustworthy leader and Lord.

Amen!