The Rev. Victoria Kempf III after Epiphany B 1/22/06 St Paul’s, Ft Collins

Briefly describe child playing "follow the leader."

In playing "follow the leader" one does exactly what the leader does,

scratch nose, stick out tongue, hop over a rock

Describe Game of “Sardines”

In Gospel of last week with Philip and Nathaniel

and this week with Simon and Andrew, James and John

Jesus enters into a sort of "follow the leader."

One can imagine the ministry of Jesus

as being a sort of long drawn-out game of "follow the Leader"

which ended for a time at the foot of the cross,

but was taken up again as some of his followers met deaths like his,

and as all gave their lives in one way or another to serve the God of Jesus.

In 1897 a minister by the name of Charles M. Sheldon

wrote a book that took the nation and the world by storm.

It was about.....

minister (the Rev. Henry Maxwell)

trying to write sermon on following Christ …..

preaching it…….

young man's speech at the end of sermon……

collapse and taken to minister's home…..

week where the minister stayed by his side ……

and cared for him…….

man died in early hours of following Sunday morning.

Maxwell's sermon was different the next week

he ended it by asking again

what it really means to follow Jesus.

Proposed experiment …….

Asked for volunteers who would pledge for one year

not to do anything without first asking the question

"What would Jesus do?"

And after asking that question,

each one will follow Jesus as exactly as he or she knows how,

no matter what the result will be.

About 50 people out of the very large congregation responded.

The rest of the book

is about what happened to some of them and what happened to the town

in which they lived out their pledge to walk in the steps of Jesus.

The newspaper editor

realized his paper could be a great force for good

in the community, and also that his job would be endangered.

The heiress

found the spiritual fulfillment she had been looking for,

and also found her family furiously opposing her efforts.

An executive

realized he must decide whether to go on condoning his employer's

law-breaking activities, or possibly lose his job.

Lives were changed forever, as they explored this new meaning

of discipleship.

Now it is quite popular these days

for some Christians

to wear a bracelet or something

with the letters WWJD on it,

standing for “What Would Jesus Do?”

When Jesus asked people to follow him,

he was asking them

to do more than just believe what he had to say.

He was also asking them

for more than a simple copying

of their imagined understanding of what he would do.

In saying "follow me" Jesus was asking for conversion.

Conversion is not just having beliefs to live by,

Or footsteps to follow exactly,

But rather offering oneself to be changed within,

to live in a state of faith.

To ask the question

“what would Jesus do?” is not enough

if one’s inner being

is not changed in the process.

It is possible to have beliefs without being changed inwardly.

"A belief" can be a hand-me-down point of view;

while conversion, by definition

means a personal choice has been made.

That is why it is possible

to be raised a "good Episcopalian"

and at the same time

be largely unaffected

by any talk of “conversion”

and a life of faith.

Conversion involves moving

from one 'structure of meaning' to another.

There is a re-centering process.

One is grasped by a new way of thinking

and being in the world.

There is a conscious adopting

of a new set of values, a re-shaping of priorities.

A profound change occurs.

There is a new center of gravity.

In conversion, there is always a change

in what one trusts in

and what one has loyalty to.

I suggest the question should not be just

What would Jesus do?

But more

“What is Jesus / God doing?

Now. Here.

At this time and place, in my life, in yours,

in this church, community, world.

What is God doing –

while the world sits again at the brink of war?

What is God up to …

in a world of fear and uncertainty?

Conversion is a turning of the heart.

And Faith is living in relationship with the Holy

without needing the certainty

of easy answers.

or of any answers

at all.

Discipleship is walking in the way of Christ

Even if the path is obscured,

Even if the answers are not right before us

Even if the presence of God is fleeting,

Or if this troubled world seems to be

alone in the universe.

Meister Eckhart, 13th century Rhineland mystic:

“What good is it to me

if this eternal birth of the divine Son
takes place unceasingly

but does not take place within myself?

And, what good is it to me

if Mary is full of grace

and if I am not also full of grace?
What good is it to me

for the Creator to give birth to his Son
if I do not also give birth to him

in my time

and in my culture?

This, then, is the fullness of time;
When the Son of God is begotten in us.”

This morning, as we always do,

we will participate in the Eucharistic meal

of bread and wine that Jesus gave to his disciples.

Participate in that meal as a disciple,

as one who chooses to be changed

by a life of following Christ.

Receive the bread and wine

as nourishment for your journey

as you continue following in the way.

Amen.

A Parish For All People!