Mark 1.14-20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
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I few months ago I stopped watching or reading the news. I couldn’t cope with it anymore, it was just so negative all the time. There is always one scandal after another, there is always this or that event going on somewhere in the world or closer to home. I got so frustrated that all I was seeing was bad news that I looked for websites that specialised in good news.
Bad news sells though, we are drawn to it, some psychologists have recently suggested that we have a bias towards bad or depressing stories. And yet, despite this, we love to read books and watch films and hear stories where the hero saves the day, where there is hope for the future, where we cast our cynicism and doubt aside and dare to believe in something greater, better than we can possibly imagine. We still have in us that conviction that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The people of Israel in the first century didn’t have much to sing and dance about. They were under occupation by the Romans, their enemies. The Jewish leaders were in cahoots with them. Their temple had been defiled many years earlier with pagan idols and they were torn by factionalism. Even some ordinary Jews worked for the enemy, after all, who do you think the disciple Matthew was ultimately collecting taxes for?
But despite all this, hope was on its way. John the Baptist had come to them, preaching that the people should repent of their sins and be baptised. And he promised that one would come after him, more powerful than him, somebody who would change everything, and change it for the better. They were waiting in hope that God would bring them salvation, that he would do a new thing. That he would bring his rule and reign to earth. We pray for that very thing to happen every Sunday during communion when we say the Lord’s Prayer together. ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ The people back then were waiting, hoping, longing for the same thing to happen.
Into this situation, Jesus appears on the scene, the beginning of our passage says this:
“Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’”
Salvation has come, Jesus is here. The time is fulfilled, the time has come to cast aside your doubts, cast aside your cynicism. For the Good news has come, God is doing something new. He is bringing the gospel to the world.
And what is the first thing that Jesus does when he proclaims the kingdom of god, he gathers followers around him. In our passage Two fisherman are chosen, the first of twelve in total, they left everything they had in order to follow Jesus. Jesus called and they answered.
Jesus chose twelve disciples to go out and proclaim the gospel message with him, And when the were called they began a wonderful adventure where miracles happened, lives were changed, and the salvation of the world came. This call has been passed on, and for the past two thousand years that call has rang down the generations and millions upon millions of people have answered the same call.
Just as people were looking for hope two thousand years ago, they are also looking for hope today. They are looking for deliverance from their addictions, they are looking for forgiveness, they are sick of being angry and bitter all the time. They want their lives to change. They need to know the love of God that Is in Jesus Christ. And it is our job, it is our job, not mine, to show it to them. To let them see the, the sheer goodness of our Loving Heavenly Father.
Wearing this collar doesn’t make me more important than anybody else here today, wearing this collar doesn’t make me any more of a minister of God then anybody else in this place. Yes I am called to a particular role, that of ordination, but that doesn’t mean that everybody isn’t called to minister in some way.
I believe that in this time, God is doing something new and exciting in the church of England. He has reminded us that it is not all about those in the church who are ordained who ‘does the ministry’. He has reminded us that we are called to ministry and mission in his church not in view of ordination, but through our baptisms. Through baptism we become followers of the Lord Jesus; In baptism we are all called to minister, to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ in our own time, in our own place and in our own context.
The church recognises many forms of ministry, ordained, lay reader, and you may also be aware of Authorised Lay Ministry. These are people who are recognised in the church who are active in the life of the church, using their gifts and talents and skills for God and for his glory.
We already have great lay leaders and we have so many amazing volunteers who serve in so many ways. But we believe that God is calling more people to be a part of this adventure.
The call may be to reader ministry, to preach the word of God to others,
It maybe to worship and liturgy
It may be to youth work
It may be to prayer and spirituality
It may be to pastoral outreach, visiting and listening to others.
It may be to protecting our environment
It may be to administration and governance
It may be to children and families work
It may be to digital church and online media
It may be community outreach and social action
This could be the day, that God is calling you to a new adventure with him, with his church. My encouragement this morning, is that we all search our hearts, and sense the spirit within and where he is calling. To open your heart to what you think God may be calling you to. Ponder that in our heart. If this is something you may be interested in, maybe check out the Manchester diocese website at ALM ministry, there are so many roles in different areas so it’s possible one of these maybe for you. details of this will be coming up on our Facebook page later today so keep an eye out if you’re interested. If you want to do more within the church but not as at the forefront, come for a chat with me or one of the team and we can help you figure out what role would work for you. Come and join the wonderful adventure it is to work for God and for his Kingdom.
This is the call of our Heavenly Father, the very creator of the whole universe! Answer his call on your life today.
Amen.
