Becoming a Follower
Growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was Gilmore Girls. Set in a fictional small town, the story about a single mom and her daughter appealed to me in many ways, as a daughter of a single mom who lived in a slightly-larger small town. In some respects, the show is good and doesn’t age well in others, but is one of my favorite “comfort watches” when I can’t find anything else on TV.
The chorus of the introductory song of the show is a famous song by Carol King,
“Where you lead, I will follow
Anywhere that you tell me to
If you need, you need me to be with you
I will follow where you lead.”
This affectionate statement is meant to remind us that the center of the story is a relationship between a mother and daughter that would go to the ends of the Earth to care for one another. It reminds me that love, in its best forms, is about leading and following, give and take, and faithfulness. This, of course, is something many of you know from your many years of marriage! (Can’t help but have that on the brain this week!)
This weekend, we’ll begin a new, longer-range sermon series called “Follow Me.” We’ve set a theme for the first part of the year 2022 as we as a church seek to follow Jesus in every aspect of our lives. To begin the year, we’ll be journeying through the Gospel of Luke and the stories of Jesus’s ministry to see and learn where God leads us in the example of Jesus.
Through our connection with the church, we have all in some way agreed to pay attention to the actions of Jesus. Something is compelling about the Savior we meet in the Gospels, and for many of us, we have gone beyond just curiosity. We have agreed to follow Jesus with our lives, love him, and let him lead us to the ends of the Earth for his Kingdom. Some days are beautiful, but lots of days are hard. Through our sanctification (a big word in the United Methodist movement that means the ongoing transformation process as we follow Jesus), we are invited to decide to follow Jesus every day, every moment, and sometimes every second!
We kick off our Follow Me series this week with Jesus’s declared purpose in Luke 4:14-21. It is beautiful, real, raw, and… challenging. Jesus states that his purpose is to relieve the pain presently and the real-life conditions people were living in. As Christians, we’ll hear how we, too, are called to the work of natural relief for our community– work that made folks want to send Jesus over a cliff. As we think about Martin Luther King Jr. on the anniversary of his birthday, we’ll remember others who heard Jesus’s mission, agreed to it and made great sacrifices for that mission.
What does it mean to follow Jesus as we love him? What does it mean to deepen our discipleship and our commitment to God, our church, and our community, in the name of extraordinary love?
Let’s find out together- see you Sunday!
Pastor Allee