FOLLOWING JESUS: A FULL CONTACT LIFE
(Preached on Sunday, January 27, 2008)
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. -Matthew 4:23
Increasingly the hallmark of our modern society is isolation and limited human contact. So much business is done on personal computers that we no longer have to worry about messy face-to-face communication. We communicate through email or text messages on our phones. Even meetings can be held online. It has even become commonplace for corporations to fire people via email. Nor do you even need to go to the office, rather you can Atele- commute@, that is, work from home.
There=s no doubt that it is now possible to live life in the world virtually cut off from people. Ironically, at a time when there are more people alive on the planet than ever before C more than six billion C it is now possible to be more alone than ever before. With technology, there is less and less need to actually be involved with other human beings.
We have lost something very important. The ordinary little interactions of daily life, the mundane encounters that have no meaning in and of themselves C these make up the fabric of our lives in the world. Life without them is not the way we were made to live. What God has in mind for us is a life of involvement with people, touching people and being touched by them, messy though that is. (Speaking of touch, even when we have face to face contact, we have almost no touching anymore as more and more schools, companies, and professional organizations establish rules against human touch C no hugs, no pats, no touch.)
Which brings us to the gospel reading and the way Jesus began his ministry. Walking by the Sea of Galilee, seeing Simon and Andrew, James and John, he called them to be a part of his mission. It is no accident that the first thing he did in his ministry was to call others to help in the undertaking. What he called them to do, what he calls us to do, is to be engaged with people, that we plunge in and get involved, that we no longer stay aloof from the world C from the rich and poor, from the sick and the possessed, from the powerful and the powerless. Jesus= own ministry was one of intense involvement with people and with their needs, teaching them, bringing good news and light into the darkness; healing their hurts, physical and otherwise. All this is what he is calling Simon and Andrew, James and John to engage in when he tells them he will teach them how to fish for people.
Imagine that you are going fishing. You put on your waders, fill your pail with bait, get your fishing gear, pack a sandwich and some cold drinks, kiss your spouse good-bye, and say, AI=m off to go fishing.@ Then imagine that you go out to your attached garage, set up your fishing gear, and throw your line out onto the front lawn. How many fish are you going to catch? None. Why? Because in order to catch fish, you have to go to where the fish are. Of all the analogies Jesus could have used for evangelism, he chose >fishing for people.= Why did he choose fishing? Might it be because fishing requires us to go to where the fish are? Fishing requires us to engage the fish in community. Fishing involves us in a full-contact life.
For far too long this call has been interpreted to mean bringing people into the church. Yes, that should be part of it, but look at the description of Jesus= ministry in verse 23: AJesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.@ Jesus brought love and acceptance and inclusion and good news and healing through what he did. He came to make a difference in people=s lives. He came to reconnect people with God and with one another. He came to restore community. And he did so through full contact involvement with people.
Jesus invites us to share in that mission: ACome, follow me, and I will make you fishers of all God=s people. Cast wide your nets. It=s a new world, crying with human needs; you can do it, for I am with you.@ That doesn=t mean we can solve all the problems. It doesn=t mean I can fix every marriage that might be falling apart or when someone cries for their dying spouse, child or friend that II have the power to heal them. It doesn=t mean I can reach into other hearts and take away their pain, and neither can you.
But there is power through human contact. The power of God is personal. It is the entryway into new community where the influence of God is real and makes a difference. It is in community where we can be fully known and where we can fully know others. In that open and honest knowledge lies the possibility of growth, healing, and redemption.
Weekly, the neighborhood children would get together for a hike. The children would all pack their lunches and walk several hours to Peter=s Pond. There they would catch frogs, swat at flies, and relax in the shade of the huge weeping willow tree. Nobody ever fished in Peter=s Pond because everybody knew that there was nothing in it. One day, Tad took his brother=s microscope down to Peter=s Pond. He set up the microscope and looked at all kinds of things: bug wings, moss leaves, and the like. When he put a drop of water on the slide and invited the other children to look, they all got the surprise of a lifetime. In that one drop, they saw a multitude of life. Through that microscope the children saw hundreds of single-cell animals. Tommy was so impressed that when he got home he told his mom all about it. He said, AEven though everybody says that there is nothing in Peter=s Pond, it is actually full of life! Because of what I saw I will never look at a pool of water in the same way again!@ His mother said, APeople are like ponds, you think you know them but you don=t. It=s not until you see what=s under the surface C inside their heart C that you really know them.@
This is why full contact life is so important. It is where the real power for healing and growth in human beings is found. Jesus is not just calling us to drag people into a church but to engage people where they live and get to know them personally. As we do that, we will discover ways we can offer support, healing, and care, through companionship and friendship.
There was a man who no one in a small town seemed to know. He lived in a single room, in a run-down apartment building. His room was awful. Dirty clothes and dishes cluttered the floor. There was a single light bulb, without a shade, hanging from the ceiling. The curtains were always closed. The state of that man=s room echoed his physical, mental, and spiritual condition. He was living in gloom, hopelessness, and despair. He didn=t have a friend in the world. Then, he got sick. He was offered two choices: 1) stay in the hospital until his death, or 2) go back to his apartment with the appropriate health care team, including hospice care volunteers, in place. After a great deal of arguing, the man finally agreed that he would allow other people into his apartment. The first time his hospice care volunteer came, she started to clean up his apartment. ALeave it alone. It=s all right as it is,@ he grumbled. But the volunteer persisted and eventually he let her go ahead. As she cleaned and tidied, she found an oil lamp that was obviously very beautiful. She washed it and then polished it until it shone. The man watched the volunteer with curious eyes, but said nothing. When it was clean, she asked, AWhy don=t you ever light the lamp?@ AWhy should I light it?@ he replied. AI am used to living in darkness.@ AWill you promise to light it if one of my friends comes to visit you? The volunteer asked. AYes,@ he replied. AIf your friends come, I will light the lamp.@ The volunteer began to get her friends to visit the man. Even though he was dying, it was the beginning of a new life for him. It all happened because one person cared enough to become engaged in full contact life with this man. She observed and listened and she got to know the man. She could then engage him in a full relationship and she could bring other people into the relationship to broaden the community. And together she and her friends made a difference in his life.
Jesus is walking the neighborhoods around Christ Church and in which we live. He invites us to join him in a full contact life in those neighborhoods to engage in mission and ministry with the people who live there. This means getting to know them, learning what lies below the surface. To do that we need to explore, research and talk to people in those neighborhoods. We can do that by exploring demographic data as a starting point, but we also need to talk to key leaders in the community. These are business owners, social service agency people, local government officials, school personnel. But to really get to the heart of the neighborhoods, we need to spend time in them in prayerful observation. We need to be in the malls, restaurants, soccer fields and parks, watching the people, observing their lives, listening to them and getting to know who they are, what are they dealing with, what are their challenges and celebrations. We can also talk with friends, neighbors and acquaintances to learn what we can from them about the neighborhoods. All of this can help us develop a Apicture@ of the community around the church. As we come to know the community, we will be better able to engage in full contact life with the members of the community.
God=s vision for the world and Jesus= vision for ministry C his own and ours C is not about doing it alone, in the privacy of our own homes, or even I the privacy of our own church. No, the vision is for involvement with others, engagement int he world, perhaps even entanglement. The National Football League is wrapping up its season, while ice-hockey and basketball are in full-swing. All three are full-contact sports. So is life. Especially the life to which Jesus calls us if we are going to follow him.