The Message and The Mission

10.25 – Covid notices before filming – Mobiles off. Toilet – go out through side door, use toilet for disabled, then come back into Acland Hall via the Café. Masks throughout please. No singing. No offering. Consider sharing an encouragement or testimony later, remembering this will be seen by people outside the church as well a part of it. Look into the camera when you do. Because we have two cameras filming, it might be that the back of your head is on camera so if you’re uncomfortable with that let us know now so you can swap seats….
Explain the gaps have been left for guests… as and when we have more guests than seats then we will politely ask if any members of the church are willing to vacate their seat. You may well be wary, nervous, unsure what to expect, but it’s gonna be ok… God is here. He was here before we arrived… be more conscious of his presence more than the mask wearing…

10.30 – START camera filming… Welcome – Ali > > > Song - Come, now is the time to worship

10.35 - Bible Reading of Mark 1: 14-20 read by Laura King

Intro – Remember being picked for sports teams at school? No-one wanted to be last! Great to have the finger pointed at you. Yes! Yet when we think of ‘Jesus’ calling to us? Reaction? Do we want to keep our distance? Are we wary of we might be called to do? Anxious about what’s involved? Bizarre considering what he offers… forgiveness, peace, relationship, eternal life… most of us DO like that and have said “yes please” to that… of course we are all busy in different ways… so we might not have time to drop everything and ‘follow’… we might not have the courage or know-how to ‘fish’… we might not have the energy or emotional capacity to ‘mend nets’ or do what has to be done… our passage today sees both a very immediate and sacrificial response to the words of Jesus. Wow! What led them to respond how they did. No bright lights, no rolling thunder, no visions, no angels dressed in bright clothes – Jesus simply says, “Come with me” and they immediately got up, left everyone and everything, not exactly an easy let alone responsible thing to do, but it indicated their seriousness, and their readiness to be taught how to ‘catch’ people.

Why did these guys respond to Jesus? If we were to ask Peter, his brother, Andrew, and the two brothers, James and John, to tell us about the circumstances surrounding their ‘call’, we might be surprised to learn that, for them, the cross of Jesus had little to do with it - at least initially.
In fact, when we read about Jesus calling his disciples, both here in Mark and elsewhere, there was no mention of the cross. Jesus simply commanded them to follow him and he promised to make them something that currently they were not: “fishers of men”. And having heard the call, they answered the call - immediately…
This is not the first time that Jesus had encountered Peter and Andrew (see John 1). And since James and John were likely partners with Peter and Andrew (Luke 5: 9), they too probably also had prior contact with Jesus. So this call did not come out of the blue. Information is needed before there will be transformation. People need to know who it is that they are being called to, and also what they are being called to. Whilst God can zap anybody just like that, preparation is the usual course towards conversion and change.
These men may well have been baptised by John and so were prepared for the way. Maybe they were just waiting to hear the word, to hear the call from the one who had been announced? There was certainly an evident authority in Jesus’ words and presence… when God’s Word carries that force with us, respond…

Jesus calls ordinary people - The first people Jesus calls here are fishermen – common men working a common trade. Historians say that an average of about 300 fishing boats would be in the water on any given day in the Sea of Galilee, which is about 65 square miles. There would have been many fishermen out there that day, and Jesus handpicked 4 of them. What was special about them? Nothing. What was special about you? Nothing. This means there is never any reason to be proud of being a Christian. We didn’t do anything. Jesus did the calling. It’s not about what we do, but what he does. If you’re not a Christian and are wondering if you are good enough, religious enough, or anything else enough… the answer, every time, is that you’re wondering about the wrong stuff. You don’t have to be special in any kind of way at all… just available, and willing to say ‘yes’! What started as 4 fisherman and a carpenter is now the Christian Church, with an estimated global membership of 2.4 billion people. Before we are too critical of these guys, they’ve not left too bad a legacy!

10.50 - Song – The Potters Hand > > > Prayers led by Glyn > > > Puppets

10.55 - Following Jesus means living as he lived - When Jesus called these 3 fishermen, they were able to physically disembark their boat and walk the shoreline with Jesus. They were able to physically spend their days and nights following him. Jesus is no longer here in physical form, but he left a figurative trail for us to follow with his life. In 1 Peter 2: 21, God says, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” We are to live as Jesus lived, to speak as Jesus spoke, to react to people as Jesus reacted to people, and to endure suffering as Jesus endured suffering. He left us an example (John 13) so that we might follow in his steps.

Following Jesus is regardless of what’s ahead - When Jesus called them to himself, he did not unpack all that following him would require. It is obvious that following him meant that their relationship with him would take priority over all other relationships. (James and John left their father.) It is obvious that there would also be some measure of socio-economic cost. (They left their nets, their boat, and their hired help.) Yet there is no mention at this point of the martyrdom that most of them would experience…
Though we are further down the historical road than they were, the lesson remains valid that Jesus does not always spell out all that it means for an individual to follow him today. If he did, we might resist the rescue.
But if we answer the call of Jesus to follow him, then his mission will become our mission. That is very clearly marked out here as ‘catching fish’. Also that we recognize there might be some things that we have to ‘leave behind’. For the guys fishing, “they left” their nets, they left their jobs, they left their security, they left what they had known and got used to. And they followed Jesus.

Following Jesus should lead to transformation - There was an immediate sense of re-ordering going on, but that didn’t ought to be a one-off experience. If Covid has taught us anything, and this continues to be the case as we speak, there are times where we need to repeatedly take stock as to where we are and think through what’s best or right for us from this moment on. We should do that as Christians. How is your ‘following’ going? Are there things you should be ‘leaving behind’?
Jesus said, “I will make you into…” => these guys were not the finished article. None of us are. But the fact that there is a starting point and a statement of intent as to what these men are going to become highlights to anyone considering following Jesus that although he loves and accepts us as we are he wants to make us ‘into’… what person he wants us to be. His aim is for our transformation. People becoming Christians and staying the same is a lame advert for Christianity. People being Christians and being no different to anybody else is a lame advert for Christianity. It also doesn’t say that much of the transformational power of Jesus – if there’s no change going on in our lives. Wherever we are at right now, be open to his transforming you.
Never let any believer say, “But this is who I am” which suggests either that you don’t feel God would be interested in doing anything new in you, or that you don’t believe He has the power to.

Following Jesus is worked out in community - When we answer the call, we are answering it individually, to be sure. But… we are, at the same time, answering it in community. When Jesus called his disciples to follow him, he was calling them from a family to a larger family. For us that is the Church. And at such challenging times when physically meeting together has been so hard (and at times even illegal) it means we need to be creative and work all the more to seek to express some form of ‘togetherness’, also remembering God’s Word exhorting us, “Do not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing…” (Heb 10: 25).
Jesus did not call people to follow him and then train them in isolation from others. No, he called them to train them in community. They were called to be followers of Jesus together, to be fishers of men together, to be fixers together. The community would get messy at times. They would all ultimately forsake him when the shadow of that cross crept closer. Yet what do we find at the end of the story? We find them, in Galilee (Mark 16: 7), as a community again! Without communal connection, we will live in a bubble, assuming that all is well when, most likely, there is a lot of room for improvement. And this improvement can come through you!

11.15 - Song – I see the King of Glory
Song – Glory to the King

11.25 - Time of Sharing? (Roger) Dee & Carol shared…
Community Kids – Video Clip from Laura > > > Celebrations – Chris to close?

AFTER camera stops filming – Book seats from Friday. Exit one row at a time. No chats outside but PLEASE consider who you might speak to or have fellowship with elsewhere!!!