Luke 5:1-11

I know in the past I’ve shared with you some of my love for the outdoors, particularly in hiking and backpacking. I’ve found that there is something very special about being in the woods, something deeply spiritual. I guess when you get away from roads and buildings and other things made by human hands, you have a better chance of tuning in to the One who made everything else… 

My first backpacking trip was actually with Harlan Baxter. I was about 30 years old, and he asked me to help him again with a 3^rd Grade camp at Mt. Misery.  I said I would, but on the condition that he take me with him on the Mt. Misery Backpack trip that he also led to the Shenandoah National Park. Of course, he said, “Sure!” 

That was a week-long trip, and everything went wrong. It rained every day, and it was unseasonably cold. Someone lost their ground pad. Another lost their wallet. It rained so hard, in fact, that we had to bail out after five days, because the streams were fast approaching (probably past) the danger level, and we were responsible for eight high school kids whose parents probably wanted them home.  On our last night I was sitting on a wet log with my cheap poncho on, scraping the last of the ‘mystery rice’ dinner out of the bottom of our cook pot. My hair was wet, plastered down over my forehead, dripping into the pot, which I was clutching to me for warmth as I scraped. 

Harlan came over and looked at me (he told me later) waiting for me to say something like, “Anybody who does this more than once must be out of their mind!”  But I surprised him by thanking him for one of the greatest weeks of my life.  And he knew, I was hooked! 

After that, I did about two week-long trips a year for many years. One Mt. Misery camp trip, and one with friends. And of course, Brian and Kim were very young, so they couldn’t go (at first), but they soon wanted to.  And when Brian was about six years old, Dianna and I decided he was ready for his first trip into the backcountry.  The whole family packed up and went with another family out to central PA, to a place called Greenwood Furnace. 

We set everyone up at a campground, and early the next morning Brian and I headed into the mountains of the 80,000 acre Rothrock State Forest for a two night adventure. I was carrying most of our gear, of course. But Brian did have a little book bag on his back with a pair of pajamas in it, and a book.  And , of course, his teddy bear – “Tommy” – was peaking out the top. (He couldn’t be zipped in – he wouldn’t be able to breathe!) 

It started off a beautiful day. But about an hour into it we realized that we had a problem. I had sent for a topographical map from the park office the previous winter. And we had a lot of fun carefully planning our route for this trip, talking about where we would walk, and where we could spend each night. But it didn’t take long to discover that in real life, our map was hopelessly out of date.  The trails on it had not been maintained in at least 25 years, and worse, much of the area in the beginning of our trip had been clear cut. (Lumbered.) 

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a forest that has been ‘clear cut’. Those two words together give you a picture of an open field, don’t they?  Well, it’s not like that! Picture instead, a big mess – large limbs and tons of brush just laying around decaying; saplings growing out of the debris. Now add stumps and trunks that are too twisted to use for lumber… and picture this in hundreds of acres.  Needless to say, there was no trail to follow! 

We stood there and looked at this mess, and I said to Brian, “Well, we can turn around and go back to the campground…or we can try and find our way with our compass.” What did he know? That was back when he still thought I was smart, so he said, “Let’s try it!”  

And off we went. 

I actually had never done any orienteering before this. I knew how to use a compass, but I never really had to use one before. It was always ‘just for fun’ until that day. And as we began climbing over those old tree trunks, and falling over the hidden branches, I was thinking… “80,000 acres is a big place!” 

After awhile, we emerged from that tangle into some real forest, but still no trails. So, using the compass as best as I could, and our map (that I wasn’t certain I could trust), we climbed to the top of the ridge.  At one point for a couple of miles we pushed through great stretches of large ferns.  Brian called it a ‘Sea of Ferns’. (We discovered that ferns leave a sticky substance on your legs and arms. They also cover rocks and fallen trees that you can easily trip over. Again and again…)

[That was the beginning of a rather morbid trail exercise that we still practice.  We have a point system for cuts, and we keep score as we hike. We still do this!  A three-inch scrape is worth more points than a small puncture. And a ‘dripper’ is worth 10.  The one with the most points at the end of a day gets bragging rights!] 

Well, we hiked all day.  I would make my sightings… and we would move on. I found out how deceptive the forest can be. It’s not surprising that people walk in circles when they’re lost in the woods.  If you are walking ‘north’ when north is uphill, you may not notice when ‘north’ becomes ‘downhill’. Your instinct tells you to just keep walking ‘up’.  Even if it’s the wrong direction. I know – we did it! 

As the day drew to dusk, some dark and threatening thunderheads began to gather.  The sky looked rather ominous, and was getting worse by the minute. Soon we could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.  I was trying not to appear nervous, but the truth was, I wasn’t sure where we were, and I didn’t want to get caught in a lightening storm on a ridge.  And with every rumble of thunder, I picked up the pace a little more. 

We kept on like this for awhile, faster and faster until I heard this little voice from behind me call out… “Dad; would you hold my hand?” 

Some of you have heard this story before, I know. (Sorry!) But even though it’s been some 15 years now since it happened, it still means a lot to me. 

I was a philosophy major in college, so strange thoughts come to me quite naturally. So that’s where this is coming from: I would say that that moment was an existential moment. What I mean by that, is that there was something in that moment that was truly more than just a dad and his son walking in the forest.  You might even say that it became a metaphor of life.  We weren’t just father and son, or a child and a parent… for one fleeting moment out there we were so in touch with our basic nature as human beings that a deep truth was being expressed. And I’ve never forgotten it. 

“Would you hold my hand?”  We don’t like to admit it, but deep inside of us we are all asking that question on some level. Because the truth is, we’ve been created with a deep need for others to be part of our lives. We can’t be human alone.  And, because this is a psychological truth, it has spiritual implications as well.  Again, not surprising. The Bible tells us that we’ve all been created in the image of God. And as God’s basic nature is expressed in the mystery of the Trinity – God’s nature is ‘community’ – it should come as no surprise to us that we need the companionship of others, in some very specific ways, to be fully human. 

“Would you hold my hand?”  Jesus certainly understood this.  Back last Fall, in November, I preached a message called “Follow Me”. In that message we looked at the different ways that Jesus invited people into discipleship. The ‘bottom line’ was that he was inviting everyone to ‘follow him’.  The invitation always had Jesus at the center, but still, it was tailored to touch on some specific needs of the people that he was inviting. 

Today, I’d like to add to that, and point out that while the call to be a disciple always has Jesus at the center, it is also always a call to community.  Our Mission Statement reflects this – FUMC is ‘a community of faith’.  Jesus called all his disciples into a living relationship not only with himself, but with others. His Body, the church of Jesus Christ. 

There were levels of intimacy within the ‘church’ even in its earliest forms. When the New Testament uses the word ‘disciple’ it’s not always referring to the 12 disciples. There were lots of disciples besides the 12 whose names we know.  But the 12 were a special group – a group within the bigger mass of followers of Jesus.  Jesus put them together into this smaller group because he knew that by nature we cannot learn what it means to follow him alone. We need others to work it out with us. 

So these 12 were put together by Jesus himself to learn what it meant to follow him in day to day living. And even within this group of 12 there was another group of 3 – Peter, James, and John – who received special attention. Three who were able and ready to go even deeper in their walk with Jesus. They were the ones with Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration, and they were the ones that Jesus took deeper into the Garden with him – the ones he asked to watch with him in the hour of his deepest need. 

So we see that the need for community was not just for the disciples, but even Jesus – fully human that he was - needed community, too. (“My soul is grieving, come watch with me.”)

My point this evening/ morning is very simple.  Jesus said it perfectly in Luke 6:40.

⁴⁰ Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher. 

Someday when my career as a pastor is over, I have no doubt that I will look back on the weekend of November 18 – 19, 2006 as one of the highlights of my ministry.  Top five, for sure! That was our first ‘Celebration of Discipleship’ weekend.  In each of our four services that weekend we had cards available for worshippers to consider (we had been talking about them for a month before that), that said this: 

“With God’s help, [in 2007] I intend to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in these four areas of discipleship:

·        To work towards the Biblical standard of a tithe of my income for the work of God’s Kingdom through this congregation.

·        To find a place to serve as a volunteer utilizing my Spiritual Gifts.

·        To make Corporate (i.e., public) worship a priority in my weekly schedule.

·        To make a plan for my spiritual Growth that includes regular interaction with at least one other person. 

I know I said that I was going to put these cards in the prayer room, and I still expect to do that.  But, frankly, I’m not ready to take them off my desk yet.  I have nearly 500 signed cards sitting on my desktop.  They are a reminder to me of what kind of congregation this is… and a reminder to me of my task.  HeyYoung and I promised you that we would do our best in leading this congregation, to provide opportunities for you do be able to actually do these things.  To help you keep these promises. I take that very seriously. 

I knew when I wrote these that for many people the most difficult one to fulfill would likely be the first one -  not tithing (although that is challenging, too) – but finding someone or a group of people to walk with you in your spiritual journey; in your discipleship in 2007, that would be a stretch for many. 

The culture in Jesus’ day was all about community. Jesus was Jewish, and you don’t have to read too far in the Old Testament to see a huge difference between that culture and ours – we don’t understand how it could be that the disobedience of a few would bring trouble to the whole. We don’t get why individuals don’t seem to matter in the Old Testament as much as the whole community.  Different culture. To be cut off from the community was a horror beyond imagination to the people at that time. 

Today, things have changed; we have – many of us – become very comfortable with being alone. I don’t think that our nature has changed, but I think that we have suppressed our need for community and we’ve even convinced ourselves that we don’t need anybody else.  And it is hurting us. As a society. As a nation. As a church. 

We are afraid to be vulnerable – we don’t know how to do it! It scares us! It embarrasses us. We’re afraid of rejection – and who knows what else? We are so busy today, that even if we think it would be a good thing to find a support person or group, we despair of how to actually get started.  It’s just too much. So we don’t do it. 

But as I get older, I’m realizing  (and this has been difficult for me) how deeply built into me is that need for a supportive community.  It took a lot of years, but I’m finally getting how desperately I need people to know who I am. I need people to keep me accountable to the things I claim to be important in my life. And, I need to be available to others for the same things – not just receiving, but giving back.  Because others have the same needs as me, we’re all wired the same way when it comes to this. 

And when it happens – when we find those connections –  we discover a dimension of our faith that is richer, and deeper, and more real that could ever happen alone. 

So, we’ve been talking in the leadership of this church about ways that we might actually do this better. How can we help our congregation here to connect a little bit more?  How can we keep our promise to you to provide opportunities to keep your promises? 

Well, there are a couple of things that are happening here. One is that we have formed a wonderfully talented group called the “Church Health Team”.  This is a group of seven, who are digging into the character of our church to find some new insights on what makes us tick.  They will be contacting many of you (soon) to invite you to be part of some focus groups; we want to know what the issues are in your life, and the needs and the obstacles that our community face. So, we want to talk with you about that. We don’t want to have to guess! So, if you get called, please consider this as a very helpful thing, and if at all possible, co-operate! 

A second opportunity is one that we are doing much sooner. It’s going to start three weeks from this Wednesday night. And we are going to ask many of you to move out of your comfort zones. 

It’s a rather simple plan, and here’s how it will work.  You know we’ve been running Soup & Study nights on Wednesdays for a couple years now.  They’ve been great, and successful on a lot of levels. And we’ll do it again in the Spring. But the week after Ash Wednesday we’re going to change things up.  This is short term, and it will last just six weeks – until the week before Holy Week. 

When you come to church next weekend, there will be some sheets on the wall in the Narthex for people to sign up to be host homes.  You’ll list your address, and how many people you can host (it’s not going to be a lot).  We’re hoping to get a good geographical representation going – people from all over.  (We’ll have a way to indicate if your home is ‘kid-friendly’ as well.) 

People will sign up to meet at your home for those six weeks.  They’ll come for a light meal, after which, right at the table, we’ll have a sheet with a Scripture reading, and a few questions for you to discuss together as a group. They’ll be story sharing/ observation kind of questions. Nothing embarrassing, or requiring vast knowledge of Scripture. By 8:00 pm (at the very latest!) you’ll be done.  It’s important to keep that time frame. 

The host will be responsible for the meal the first night – again, something simple, soup, sandwiches, or a salad, or a pizza, whatever-  and the group itself will figure out how that will be handled in the rest of the weeks. And that’s it. 

Some of you would perhaps like to be a host, but you don’t have the space, or there are issues that make it impossible to meet in your home.  So, there will also be some groups meeting at the church, in our Hall, but they will still work the same way – the host will provide the first meal, the group figures out what will happen after that.  Church groups will have the option of utilizing our childcare from 6:45 – 8:00 in the Nursery.  So, that may help some of you in this. 

Whether you meet in the Church or in homes, you’ll meet with the same people for six weeks. Have a light meal, and talk about the questions on the sheet. (And we have an exciting resource for that which Karen Murray has discovered for us.) 

Why are we doing this? Well, one reason is right here (show cards). You said you wanted to!

Another reason is found in Acts 2:

⁴² All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

 ⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity - ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. 

I want our church to be like that one!  And maybe something as simple as sharing our meals together with joy and generosity will bring an even more profound sense of awe resting among us. 

Would you hold my hand?  Friends, we need each other…