Just before I went away our kid’s choir sang an old favourite of mine called ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’. One of the verses goes, ‘Though none go with me still I will follow, though none go with me, still I will follow, though none go with me, still I will follow, no turning back, no turning back.’ It has taken a long, long time but I think after many years I actually understand those lines.

Church life is not about building enough numbers so that our worship is as good as Pastor Whosit down the road, and it is not about getting enough bums on seats to pay the bills, or making sure that everybody is happy and content. Surprise, surprise it is about following Jesus. And if we are in any way au fait with the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (they are in the Bible!) we should have understood this simple fact many moons ago. I am always strangely encouraged by the verse in John:

‘Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.’

My quirky nature sometimes wonders if someone deliberately made sure that this verse was positioned so that it is found at John 6:66??

I think it is why Jesus used examples of nature so much in his stories. Nature is so unpredictable. There are seasons of good harvest and all seems to be following a natural flow and then we fall into seasons of drought, loss and instability. Jesus tells his stories and I nod along with those who first heard them 2,000 years ago.
Probably my favourite is the parable of the mustard seed:

He also said,

"With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." Mark 4:30-32

Jesus doesn’t talk about building a 25 storey hotel from small beginnings. He talks about seed, shrubs, fields, flowers; things that are small and often hardly noticed. So we faithfully bury our mustard seed of faith and we might be surprised what crops up! Our faith may be rewarded by birds coming and making a nest in the fruit of our seed planting. However, birds don’t stay forever; they have seasons also and before you know it they fly off to another nest, perhaps, bigger, safer or more immediately rewarding or pleasing to the eye.

I have decided to follow Jesus and though none go with me, still I will follow. This message is so foreign for the ME society of our times. Because you see it is not about me – it is about Jesus. It is not about how powerful, popular or proficient I am – it is about Jesus. It is not about theology, doctrine, dogma, a three fold plan of salvation or 40 days of whatever the latest fad is. It is all about Jesus.

I worshipped in another place a couple of weeks back. It was a good service, good message etc; but my experience was blighted by a simple incident at the front door. As we entered a very eager man with the gift of perception noted that I was male and confronted me with a clip board and asked if I was going to the upcoming Men’s Weekend. There was no introduction – just the question.

I read somewhere recently that grace has to be experienced – not explained. I believe that the churches greatest challenge today is not about music, worship, prayer or preaching. It is not about children’s ministry, adult ministry or whatever the heck ministry is trendy at the time; but it is all about finding a way for people to meet with and perhaps choose to follow to Jesus.

Perhaps the best way to do this might be for us ‘Jesus followers’ to remember that we are not Good Friday Christians but Easter Sunday people. We follow a resurrected Christ, which by my strange logic says that he is still alive?!