Will
You Come and Follow Me
January 26 / 2014 Isaiah
9:1-4 and Matthew 4:12
What a winter! – it has been quite a few years since I
have experienced such snow and cold and wind
- I think I was living in Northern Ontario the last time I lived through
such a cold, blowy, white winter. But this
is southern Ontario, and I have come to expect milder, greener weather in the
winter – we seem to making up for all the years we had thaws in January and no
snow. Until this year I had never even
heard of a polar vortex - You probably are aware that I live in Lion’s Head –
Northern Bruce Peninsula and for the most part the weather (except the snow) is
not that different from here. I was here
in Kitchener on Friday – I had a workshop at the University of Waterloo and
then I came here to the church, to meet some of you on the M &P committee and
the transition team – thanks for that – by the way – it is good to meet you and
to begin to form relationship with you. Back
to the point – last Friday’s weather – first off – I thought I was prepared –
the weather reports talked about blowing snow – and cold – as a northern girl
that is par for the course – so as I left the church and began my drive home –
I was surprised to come upon a closed road just past Elmira – not being too familiar
with the country I tried to talk to the police officer that was directing
traffic off County Road 89 – he had no time for me – but I called my husband
and he got on line checked the road reports on the internet, and talked me
through a new route that had me going home via Alma. All those roads were not so bad – drifting in
spots but nothing too difficult, I have snow tires and me and my little golf
have been through a lot worse together.
The further north I drove however, and the later and
darker it got, the worse the roads became – I called Rob – my husband from
Hanover to see how things were farther north – and he informed me that some of
the roads were closed – due to drifting and poor visibility – but I kept on
going – I kept on going because I had to get home – I am still nursing my 20
month old daughter and she and I have never spent a night away from each other –
this of course was adding to my anxiety and as the night became darker and the
snow became thicker and the wind became blow-ier, it got later, and my driving
got slower but still I persisted – I just keep going. The roads are pretty deserted as I get on to
the peninsula – there were no cars at the Hepworth Tim Hortons – and only three
in Wiarton – I did not stop, I just kept going wanting to get home. But just north of Wiarton, I come upon my first closed road sign –Highway
6 – the major route north closed - thankfully
there is Bruce County Road 9 that runs up the east side of the peninsula to
Lion’s Head. I was all alone on this
road – and my driving got still slower as I drove through more and more white
outs and snow drifts until just before Barrow Bay – 7.3 km from home – (I
checked on the map yesterday morning) 7.3 km from home I could go no further –there
were two vehicles blocking the road, and I had no choice but to stop.
I was informed that a car had been stopped by a drift
in the middle of the road, a plow came by and attempted to pass the stuck car
and it too got caught in the drift. They
were waiting for another plow to come and pull the first plow out – we were
advised to turn back and seek shelter for the evening – there were now two
vehicles behind me. I chose to wait – a few
minutes later the plow came and 30 minutes after that the one plow managed to
pull out the other plow – through it all - the wind is howling, the snow was blowing,
and the poor municipality guys are out in the cold and snow keeping us informed. After the plow turned around, the second plow
turned around, and went back towards Wiarton – we were informed that Bruce
County was now pulling all plows off the road – which meant that we were now driving
on a closed road. Not a lot you can do
then – if you decide you are not going back the only way to go is forward – and
so we did, slowly and carefully and still even at 10 km an hour there were
moments that all I could see was the windshield wipers moving across my windshield
– after no more than about one kilometer of progress we stopped again – we had
come to the place where the first vehicle had become stuck. We sat there for another 20 or 30 minutes –
it was all becoming blurrier – the wind was picking up – the cold was getting
more intense and the snow was thicker too.
Finally – the municipality guy came and said – he was sorry there was no
way I could go any farther – I would have to turn around and if I knew anybody
who lived on the road go and stay with them for the night – this was the point
where I came to the end of my endurance – I broke down shed some tears – and
called Rob to let him know what was going on.
While I was on the phone – the guy came back – knocked on my window to
let me know that the truck in front of me – which was four wheel drive – was going
to try it – and I could get a ride with him.
We found a driveway a few meters back to park my car and then I got in
the car with a total stranger – and he drove me the 6 km home, to my anxiously
waiting family.
Two nights ago I felt like a person that the prophet
Isaiah was talking to – a person who was walking in the land of deep darkness,
who was set on a path with very little light – one kilometer after another just
hoping that I would make it home that as long as I kept going, desperate to get
to my destination. How many of us have
been in places like that in our life times – places of just going forward,
putting one foot in front of another – knowing where you are going but the way
being blurred and hard to define, with very few markers, and even times of not
being able to see so much as a few inches in front of your face. This is the land of deep darkness – I am
pretty sure that all of us recognize this place – some of us encountered it in
times of turmoil, and crisis like at the end of a marriage or a death of a
beloved spouse. Sometimes the darkness
is when a child of ours makes choices that hurt us or themselves or hurt others
– sometimes our deep darkness is an internal struggle for light, a place of sadness
or loneliness or depression that hangs like a pall over one’s head and seems as
if it will never go away. Darkness can
be entered into at anytime of our lives, - and can last for a long time or a
little but never the less – no matter how long we live in darkness all of us at
one time or another spend time in the darkness.
But wait – says Isaiah – wait and know that a light is
shining – a great light is shining in that deep darkness and darkness will not
overcome it. And I can prove it says
Isaiah – look at where you have been – look at where you are and look forward
into the God’s promise of the future – there you will see the light – the great
light that shines on the land of deep darkness.
Isaiah 9 is a text that reminds the people of their
history – of who they were and how they got to be who they were. Isaiah speaks into time –and into a place -
in order to make sense of them, in order to help the people realize that they
are not alone on their journey, God is with them and has always been with them. On Christmas Eve – we heard this story told
again, and we were reminded once again of the long held promise to the people
of Israel – God’s people - so that we in 2014 have an understanding of this Messiah,
this light of God – this wonderful Councillor, this mighty God, this prince of
peace – God’s promise fulfilled – we are reminded how important he is and how
the people have longed for his coming.
So that when that baby shows up in the manger – the feeling of God’s
presence is so strong – so real – it is palpable – the understanding that God
is fulfilling a long held, deeply anticipated promise resonates not only
through the stable walls and out into the fields to the shepherds longing
hearts - but also –outward and beyond linear time – so this palpable promise
fulfilled flows down through the years through the millenniums to burst into our
longing hearts. “The people who have
walked in darkness have seen a great light; those that lived in the land of
deep darkness on them a light has shined.” (Isa.9:2) Isaiah reminds the people of where they have
been – when their lands were stripped from their hands, reminds also of days of
yore when things were well – like the time that they were victorious against
the Midians – reminds them of who they are and more importantly reminds them of
whose they are – that they are God’s people and God has promised them a
different life – a better life – a life where “the yoke of their burden, the
bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressors will be broken –
that is to say, they are being promised a day when they get to live their lives
focused on holy things instead of unholy things, when justice prevails, and
forgiveness ensues and peace is realized and God’s way of living is the only
way to live.
So that Messiah, that light of God as foretold by
Isaiah - that grown up manger baby boy, shows up today after 40 days in the
desert and wanders down to the seashore –takes a look at what is going on -
sees some men fishing – and says – Simon, Andrew drop your nets for catching
fish and catch some people and follow me – and they do – immediately says Matthew
– these two men leave all that they know and all of their limitations behind
and follow Jesus. – Come and follow me –
and moments later – again at the lakeshore among the fisherman and boats and
nets – Jesus spies another couple of men out with their father –and calls to
them and says– James and John – follow me, leave the nets, leave the boat,
leave your father and follow me. And
they do – like the two before them they leave everything they know and everything
they know themselves to be and follow Jesus.
Will
you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will
you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will
you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known?
Will
you let my life be grown in you and you in me?
(Voices United #567)
Will
you come and follow me? Will you go
where you don’t know? How many times
have you heard this passage – how many times does the voice of Jesus call you
to go where you don’t know and asks you to let his love be shown? Once, twice, three times – many many times –
we are called many many times in our lives to follow Jesus, ‘it is not a been
there done that’ moment that only comes around once and once we have said yes –
then ‘that’s all she wrote’ – not so – the call of Jesus is an event that
happens to us many times throughout our lives and at many different ages and stages
and through many of life’s circumstances and within many moments. The call of
Jesus comes to remind us to let go of who we think we are and to stop relying
on ourselves and to open ourselves up to the presence of Jesus in our lives,
guiding us forward – showing us the way.
To meet the stranger in the four wheel drive truck and see within his
compassionate heart – the Christ. We are
all called to step out in faith to where Jesus calls us to go. One thing that we need to remember is that
this call is not so much a call to things, it’s a call to leave where you are
in that moment – this call is about meeting the Christ – this call is about
being in relationship with God through Jesus.
David Lose at Working Preacher writes: what strikes me is that Jesus is calling
these first disciples not into work but into relationship.” … Jesus issues the
same call to us -- to be in genuine and real relationships with the people
around us, and to be in those relationships the way Jesus was and is in
relationship with his disciples and with us: bearing each other's burdens,
caring for each other and especially the vulnerable, holding onto each other
through thick and thin, always with the hope and promise of God’s abundant
grace. Sometimes that call -- to be in Christ-shaped relationship with others
-- will take us far from home and sometimes it will take shape in and among the
person’s right around us. But it will always involves persons -- not simply a
mission or a ministry or a movement, but actual, flesh-and-blood persons. …, Jesus
called ordinary people right in the middle of their ordinary lives to be in
relationship with the ordinary people all around them and through that did
extraordinary things … and he still does.” [1] Jesus calls us ordinary people sitting
in these pews this morning at St. James’~Rosemount church – called to be
disciples of Jesus – to leave what we know – and to set out in faith and walk with
Jesus to live our ordinary lives but because we follow Jesus our ordinary
becomes extraordinary. We are called out
of our darkness by the light, we are called from the snow storms of our
lives. Jesus sees us, calls us by name
and says: ‘follow me’.
Christ you summons echo true when you but
call my name
Let me turn and follow you and never be the
same
In your company I’ll go where your love and
footsteps show
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and
you in me. (Voices
United #567)
