Come After Me | January 11, 2016

January 11, 2016

One of my favorite parts of my job as a Youth Minister is meeting teens where they are. I mean this literally and spiritually. Just yesterday at our youth mass one of my choir kids was so excited to tell me that she had a copy of her basketball schedule to give me. I have several teens that are in musicals or plays coming up. Rugby games are on of my favorites to watch because I am convinced that a bunch of drunken Irish guys invented it and I love its uniqueness even though I have no idea what is really going on! I’ve gone to cheer competitions, singing competitions, school talent shows, dance recitals, water polo games, tennis matches, Eagle Scout ceremonies, speeches, school masses, science fairs, and every kind of sports game you can imagine. This is where I get to witness my kids doing something that has captured their heart. It helps me to love them better by knowing them better. I know for me that when people take the time and make the effort to come see what I do, it means the world. I feel invested in and I feel loved. I want to do whatever I can to let these kids know how important they are and that I really do care for them.

It’s definitely not a requirement for my job to go this extra mile, and believe me, I have driven lots of miles in this county and even to LA to be at some of these things, but my vocation, as a minister demands that I go the margins and that means I need to go to where they are. People ask me all the time what makes my program thrive and continue to grow. If I’m being honest, a huge part of it is that I do go and meet them where they are (lead, of course, by the Holy Spirit to do so). Teens more than anything need acceptance and they push proverbial acceptance envelopes all the time with things like colorful language, risky behavior, clothing and style choices, rebellion against authority, and all kinds of other angst. When any or all of the above don’t incite me or cause me to freak out, they immediately soften their hearts, their tone, their attitude, and their angst. The same approach can also be applied to teens in the spiritual life. Meet them where they are at without judgment and acknowledge that it is okay. Help them to feel secure in their place and show them acceptance, and then and only then will they allow you into a very protected part of themselves. Once that relationship is established I can invite them to a deeper, richer, and more developed spirituality that isn’t forced down their throats, but presented as an exciting opportunity for them to explore. This of course requires time, patience, and perseverance. Easier said than done, but completely worth it in the long run.

Today’s gospel gives us a little glimpse into Jesus’ way of meeting people where they are and the importance of relationship in ministry. He was on his morning prayer walk, which is a lovely thing for me to picture. He saw his friends (yes, he was already friends with them and had been working on it for some time already) casting their nets into the sea, meaning it was before dawn. Jesus, the Son of God, prayed before dawn, how beautiful! Simon and Andrew, James and John, were used to seeing Jesus on the shore every morning. They were familiar with him. Jesus had spent time observing them and their interaction with one another, their leadership abilities, their feisty language, their strengths and weaknesses, their senses of humor, their dedication and commitment, their mannerisms, their overall personalities, etc. For whatever reason, this was the day that he would offer them an exciting opportunity to explore, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Up to now, Jesus had been an intriguing character to them, and they obviously felt some connection, some sense of trust, some morsel of interest in what this non-fisherman, daily walker person had to say about their trade! It was probably more, “Oh, we gotta hear this! How is this dude going to teach US about fishing?” There has to be a touch of mystery in the beginning of discipleship otherwise we would not be inclined to investigate. Who knows how long Jesus had been going to the shore and watching these guys do their thing. What we do know is that Jesus was a master at relational ministry and he made each and every person that he encountered feel loved.

Jesus has been working on his relationship with us since we came into this world. He meets us where we are, whether we notice him or not. He has been observing how we interact with one another, our gifts and talents, our feisty language, our strengths and weaknesses, our desires, our everything. He waits on the shore for the right time to call out to us, “Come after me.”

Today’s challenge is two-fold: meet every person you come in contact with where they are at in their walk with God or not with God without judgment or negativity so that they feel loved and secure, and listen for Christ’s calling to you from the shore…what is he asking of you today?

Reading 1 1 SM 1:1-8

There was a certain man from Ramathaim, Elkanah by name,
a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim.
He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu,
son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
He had two wives, one named Hannah, the other Peninnah;
Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.
This man regularly went on pilgrimage from his city
to worship the LORD of hosts and to sacrifice to him at Shiloh,
where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas,
were ministering as priests of the LORD.
When the day came for Elkanah to offer sacrifice,
he used to give a portion each to his wife Peninnah
and to all her sons and daughters,
but a double portion to Hannah because he loved her,
though the LORD had made her barren.
Her rival, to upset her, turned it into a constant reproach to her
that the LORD had left her barren.
This went on year after year;
each time they made their pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the LORD,
Peninnah would approach her,
and Hannah would weep and refuse to eat.
Her husband Elkanah used to ask her: 
“Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you refuse to eat?
Why do you grieve?
Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

Responsorial Psalm PS 116:12-13, 14-17, 18-19

R. (17a) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD. 
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people. 
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia MK 1:15

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 1:14-20

After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.