Dear all,

I hope and pray this letter finds you well and keeping warm and safe.  This week we continue to examine the start of Jesus’ ministry in the gospel of Mark when Jesus is calling His first disciples.  The passage is Mark 1: 14-20.  This week we will be having our annual Covenant Service which ties in with this theme very well.  During our Covenant Service we recommit to following Christ in the coming year.  Whilst this year will be quite different, we are still making the same commitment.  Let us first look at the reading. 

It begins on a sombre note because John the Baptist has just been put in prison.  Notice the moment John’s ministry stops, Jesus’ begins.  Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the gospel stating that the kingdom of God is near, and the time had come to repent and believe the good news.  So, we see a link that Jesus is continuing the message proclaimed by John.  The text then moves to Jesus walking beside the Sea of Galilee, as he does so, he sees Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake. 

Jesus challenges them to come and follow him.  He tells them that He will send them out to ‘fish’ for people.  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.  How astonishing is it that they literally put down their nets, left their boat and followed Him?  I suppose it is the equivalent of us leaving the keys in the ignition of the car with the door open or the house keys in the front door and going off and following Jesus.  The text does not even tell us what happened to the boat!  Then Jesus walks a bit further, and the same thing happens with James and John although this time Zebedee, their father, and their hired men are left in the boat.  All four men are challenged by the call of Jesus and all of them respond positively.  It must have been so utterly compelling and life changing for them they felt that they had to accept. 

We too are challenged by the words of the Covenant Service and we make the promise that ‘I am no longer my own but yours.  Your will, not mine, be done in all things, wherever you may place me, in all that I do and in all that I may endure when there is work for me and when there is none; when I am troubled and when I am at peace.  Your will be done when I am valued and when I am disregarded; when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking; when I have all things and when I have nothing.  I willingly offer all I have and am to serve you, as and where you choose.’  (Methodist Worship Book, page 288-289).  This means we are to serve Jesus whatever He calls us to do.  The words are as challenging today as when first written by John Wesley and remind us that the Christian life is not easy, but we must remember that God is with us as we serve Him.  Jesus is calling us today, are you accepting the challenge? 

May our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who calls us to serve, bless us now and always,