SERMON: FOLLOW ME!

Come and follow me!

Come, follow me and be my disciples.

Follow me and I will make you fish for people!

This is at the very beginning of Jesu ministry and it is full of hope, energy, passion and commitment.

Come along! I will give you a new life, a new mission.

 

Listen again to the first few lines of the Gospel today: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching….” As Jesus begins his ministry with preaching and baptizing and calling, it begins in the afterglow of yet another preacher man and baptizer, John the Baptist. These first lines today tell us that his preaching, his baptizing and his words had dire consequences for him: John the Baptist was arrested, and later he was beheaded.

Preaching has consequences. Words has consequences. Faith and beliefs have consequences.

It was so back then; it has been so through all history and is still is so today.

 

There is an old Danish cartoon that shows a couple passing by a Church one Sunday morning, - and they whisper to each other: “They are preaching in there….!” And then they hurry along as they do not want to be preached to or caught in the net of the church.

Preaching is not only done in church. Preaching should be done wherever we are. We preach God’s word with our actions, words and presence.

Today is January 24. The first Sunday after a tumultuous start of the new year with the riots at the Capitol and deep political division – and a newly elected President who is now officially inaugurated into the prestigious office. We have experience yet another peaceful, yet highly disputed and debated, transition of power.

We pray for the country, for the presidency, for the healing and reconciliation to begin. As the young poet Amanda Gorman said in her poem “The Hill we climb” at the Inauguration:

“And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our difference aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.”

We are called, but there are so many distractions, so many load voices, so many opinions, so many theories, so many politics that might drown God’s calling.  Thus, we can only be glad that God is persistent and patient. We are called to follow. We are called to become disciples. We are called to become fishermen for the Lord.

Preaching has consequences, not just in these times where we as pastors might have some disgruntled or unhappy parishioners who think we are either too political or not political enough in our preaching.  But it all starts with preaching.

This last Monday it was MLK day. We celebrated the solemn day watching the movie “Selma” about the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights march led by Martin Luther King Jr.  The movie was released in January 2015 just before the 50th anniversary of the march.

“Selma” is a historical movie about a very divided and violent time in American History.  I was struck by the powerful images of deep division: I was struck by the images of the Peaceful March and all the Confederate Flags flying high as the peaceful not violence protesters were knocked down. This March was more than 55 years ago and much has changed for the better, - and still here in the beginning of 2021 we saw the Confederate Flags flying and even being carried into the Capitol. So we still dream with MLK.

MLK’s was a powerful preacher man. And he knew his preaching and presence had consequences, dire consequences which led to his assassination.

And,  yet was remains from his preaching and presence are powerful words of change, dreams, longings, faith, and peaceful protest.

Jesus was a powerful preacher man. And he knew from the very beginning that his preaching and presence had consequences just like it had for John the Baptist. Truth can be dangerous. Truth and justice can divide even more that it may unite.

St Paul was a powerful preacher man, and he and the other apostle knew that their preaching and presence had consequences. Like John the Baptist St. Paul was likely beheaded by the Romans under Emperor Nero.

Martin Luther was a powerful preacher man, and he knew that his preaching and presence had consequences. He was excommunicated by the pope and condemned as an outlaw by the Roman Emperor. Yet he was not killed, but gained acclamation, following and influence. He changed the world through his preaching.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran Pastor and an anti-nazi dissident, and he too was a powerful preacher man and his presence had dire consequences. He was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo, imprisoned, transferred to concentration camp and hanged on April 9, 1945.

Kaj Munk was a powerful Danish Lutheran pastor and Preacher man during the 2 WW and his preaching has consequences.  He confronted the German Occupation and was killed by Gestapo in Hørbylunde bakker ved Silkeborg January y1944.

Preaching has consequences. Faithful living has consequences.

Despite these consequences, Jesus preaches from the very beginning.

Jesus came to Galilee, preaching and four dared to follow him, and more and more – and the world forever changed. That possibility still exists that we listen to the call, that we follow, that we become faithful disciples and makes a presence in the world.

We are singing an incredibly beautiful hymn after this sermon. The wonderful Danish translated hymn by Grundtvig and with a wonderful melody by Carl Nielsen. It is about a thoughtful fisherman listening to Jesu preaching.

That could be us. You and me. Thoughtful men and women, boys and girls, who are listening to the Words of Jesus. Thoughtful as we consider how life is, what life could be, what the purpose might be and where I should go.

In this lovely hymn, Jesus preaches hope and courage to the thoughtful fishermen to dare to be even more than ordinary fishermen to become extraordinary fishermen of people.

“Fear not”, Jesus said “from now I like you to go and try to catch me living people!”

As Grundtvig so poetic wrote in the hymn: to be caught by the enlightening saving word is a game changer: we will be changed to be sunshine brightening. Full of hope, filled by faith and brimming by love.

And yes, we are today in the Guild with peter. We come with light, carry the cross and we travel oceans of hearts to find where we belong and where God is .

To follow to listen to the words of God changes us and changes where we go and how we live.

Preaching matters. Presence matters.

We might not be Paul, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Desmond Tutu, Kaj Munck or the like, - but we are believers, followers and disciples who sail on the big ocean of God in the small ship of hope and faith.

Let us be thoughtful fishermen as we embark on the journey ahead in 2021. Let us be thoughtful, respectful, compassionate in our calling. We might not agree on everything, we might disagree quite a bit politically, but we should agree on our calling as Christians to live according to the gracious call of Jesus. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we will drown as fools. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters with grace, reconciliation, healing and compassion.

Come and follow. Get up and Go. Let us be thoughtful fishermen in the world.

In a time like this, we need to unite and heal.

As Amanda Gorman so powerful preached in her poem:

“We will rebuild, reconcile and recover.

The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light,

If only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

Amen.