Preaching Again

So my co-director has been preaching these last few months.  As he will be the director soon, it is important that he is seen as a leader in every area.  He did a great job, but I am excited to be back preaching again.  I do miss preaching when I don't get the chance.

Luke 5: 1-11, 27-32

When I was a child we used to play a game called "duck,duck, goose"  The person who was "it" would walk around in a circle tapping the heads of each person and saying the word "duck."  duck, duck, duck, duck, duck ... this could go on for as long as the person wanted, until finally he or she would choose someone and say "goose".  The "goose" would stand up, chase the person around the circle, and try to tag him or her before they made it back to that spot.

It's a fun children's game - really a lot of fun.  Even as a child, I didn't like to run.  I felt foolish jumping up and running after someone.  I was always slower than others and I would lose.  But, still, when the person was going around the circle saying "duck, duck, duck, duck" I always hoped that they would choose me as the "goose."  There is something so powerful about being chosen.  Being selected.  Getting in to the university and program of your dreams.  Being picked to lead the team.  Being chosen as the teacher's favorite student.
No one likes being passed over for a promotion, not getting the job you interviewed for, or being rejected by someone.

And so it seems a little odd to me that when Jesus was choosing the twelve, the disciples who would take the Good News to the ends of the earth, that Jesus wasn't a little more discerning.  To my knowledge, none of the twelve had an advanced degree, none had relevant job experience, and more than a few were relatives of Jesus.  Jesus had the chance to choose a team of twelve people to carry on his mission and vision, and by our standards, Jesus did a terrible job of choosing.

Jesus chose men that you wouldn't want to be around.  Jesus chose men who stank of fish guts, men who betrayed their country, men who were wanted for murder, and his teenage cousins.

When I read the story of Jesus choosing the twelve - it forces me to re-examine my understanding of leaders and leadership.  We all too often have this idea that we should choose the people with the best leadership skills to lead us - but what if we chose the people who would be most committed?  Or the people who were most teachable?

Cara's story.

Jesus transcends the idea of choosing.  In the same breath that Jesus chooses these men, he lets them know that they aren't special - this isn't a small club - this is a huge movement. They will spend all of their time as his chosen ones choosing others and making the circle wider.  They will grow the ministry, invite everyone else in, and train those people to also invite everyone in.  Jesus chose choosers.

Jesus sits with these sinners in the den of the tax-collector, and Jesus calls all of them to something better.  Matthew will follow, but what of the others.

What if the first time you were invited to Pilgrims, we said "now go and bring back three friends and we can start worship."  How bizarre would this be?  But this is exactly what Jesus is doing.  Jesus is trying to paint a very clear picture that this isn't a secret, hidden, private group.  This is a message of openness.  All are welcome, all are invited - but not everyone will choose to follow.  We invite them anyway.

Do you notice that Jesus doesn't make any promises to the disciples?  He doesn't promise that they will be healed (he doesn't heal any of these men ... although he's healing others), he doesn't promise them the power to heal (although they do heal people), he doesn't promise them money - power- women - fame.  The only thing Jesus promises them is that they will be his disciple and that they will call others to the same thing.  Jesus doesn't explain the fact that 10 of the 12 will be executed for following Jesus.  Jesus doesn't explain that he will be killed on a cross.  Jesus only explains that they will call others to be Jesus' disciples.

I have more than a few friends that I have thought about inviting to Pilgrims but haven't invited.  I've thought ... well, maybe they won't fit in or maybe they will make other people feel uncomfortable.  Or maybe they just won't like what we have here - maybe it's not for them.  How sad that I live among this amazing, loving community and I choose not to open that option up for those friends.  If we are a group of people who believe what we say we believe - if we believe that Jesus really walked on this earth, died for our sins, and calls us to share that Good News - then we need to go out and do that.

Charles Spurgeon was a famous evangelist.  He told this story of a priest who served a prison.  One of the hardest criminals in the country was condemned to the electric chair.  As was customary, the priest would walk the condemned man to the electric chair.  Along the way he would talk with the condemned man one more time and offer him the chance to accept Christ's forgiveness before he was executed.  He had visited this criminal many times and he knew that the criminal was a hard and cruel man who was proud of his crimes.  The priest went through his speech anyway - and quickly explained that Christ had died for all that all may have eternal life.

Suddenly the prisoner stopped and turned to the priest.  He asked, "do you really believe this?"

The priest was a little surprised.  "Of course I believe this.  I'm a priest.  I work in a hard prison with hard criminals."

The prisoner looked back at the priest and said, "because if I believed this, I would crawl across this entire country on broken glass so that others could also believe this.

These are hard words for me.  They convict my soul.  I'm up talking about this, because it's a theme that I need to hear.  If I believe this Good News, far be it from me too keep it from anyone - especially my friends.

Dear friends, I'm convinced that we are a people who believe the Good News.

Let's not forget how very good this news is - we are not keeping some secret ... we are publicly celebrating God's great love.  If we believe this Good News - we need to share it.

Over the next few weeks, we're going to look at the ways that Jesus challenged his disciples to invite others - and we're going to talk about what this means for us and the ways that Jesus challenges us to invite others to follow Him.