The Time Has Come

Last night the Yale Graduate School Christian Fellowship had our first meeting for the new academic year.  As part of setting the context for who we are and what we are about, we looked briefly at Mark 1:15-17:

"The time has come,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”  As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said,“and I will make you fishers of men.”

There were two main "take aways" for us from that.  

First, in a time of transition, it's important to remember what is foundational. For Christians, that foundation is that we believe that in and through Jesus the reign of God is breaking into the world such that the long anticipated promises for renewal, restoration and redemption are coming to pass in the world. To "repent and believe" in this context is not a matter of what we often think of when we hear the word "repent."  It's not about stopping doing something bad and/or feeling badly about what we've been doing. No,in this context to repent is a call to align ourselves with God's purposes - to leave behind lesser loyalties and get on board with what God is doing.

That is borne out in the next two sentences. Jesus calls the two fisherman to follow him and then makes a promise to them.  As they follow, they will become "fishers of men." They are called to follow and they will be sent on a mission.

And so are we.

These two fisherman had no idea what Jesus was actually up to, but they saw and heard enough to know that they wanted to be part of what he was about. We too don't know just what it will mean to follow Jesus here at Yale.  But the call to them and to us is to align ourselves with God, follow the way of Jesus, and see what he will do in and through us. 

One other point we considered last night. This call was to "you" in the plural.  As the story goes on, Jesus gathers a community and keeps sending them out.  We have a fellowship so that we can learn together how to follow Jesus in this place and so that we together can be agents of God's work here and now, blessing others and reflecting the reign of God in how we live.  

Welcome to the adventure!