3rd Sunday Ordinary Time Year A

3rd Sunday of the Year (A) – Who are you for?

Has anyone else ever thought that the disciples were a bit of a rum lot? No - maybe it is just me then? Why, when they were called by Jesus and then followed Jesus listening to His words and witnessing His actions, why would they then get confused and start following each other? I am for Peter. I am for Paul. Where in their witnessing did it all get confused and lost?

We have come to the end of our Week of Prayer: the Week of Prayer that we celebrated with other Christian Churches here in Bebington.

It was a week of daily events which each had their own title or theme: one of these was – “Is Christ divided?”; and a later one was centred on what it was to be a follower of Christ and how this resulted in teams, groupings, splits and gatherings under different disciples –as in our second reading.

Both of the events I attended had interesting discussions for those present – they included such things as - Pink Floyd, various TV Quiz shows, the bewildering and blameless behaviours of teenage children, the responsibilities of individual people as parishioners and the question about practising our Christian faith in private or in public – these were all in the mix - and made me think that much more deeply about today’s readings.

Today’s second reading from Paul, deals with the issue of “Who are you for? Is it Paul, or Cephas: for Apollos or for Christ? – and pulls us back to this question – Is Christ divided? Has Christ been parcelled out – as Paul asks? He emphasises that there is only one Christ: one Christ who was crucified for us: one Christ who died for us and rose again for us: one Christ for whom and with whom, we were baptised. One Christ we were called to follow. Christ cannot be divided: He is one – complete and whole.  The resulting discussion emphasised where the real problem was – and still is.

His followers! His followers were then and still are today a different issue. They are divided and mixed up; confused and in disagreement. They have lost sight of Christ and focused instead on His disciples: they have lost sight of the message and decided to follow the messengers – and in doing so have become fragmented; have become unfocused. They have lost sight of their calling to become Christians – followers of Christ – and fishers of men.

And our gospel today is all about that calling and being called. It tells us about the calling together of His disciples. He says to two groups of fishermen, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” And they left their nets at once and followed him.

No questions asked; no explanations sought; no promises offered or made: no – a simple and clear calling and an immediate response: they were called and they answered. They answered to the strength, the love and power of Christ.

Maybe this is also true of us today. We were all here called to be followers of Christ when we were baptised. Our parents and guardians responded on our behalf when we were babies: but maybe then became less involved; less directional as we grew.

They agreed that we would become Christians; that we would practise our faith and grow into it as we grew into our lives, with their support and direction. They agreed that we would become active followers of Christ – living Him in our everyday lives and showing by our love for one another that we were different, special and this “something extra” would invite and entice others – none-Christians – to see what we saw; to hear what we heard; to feel what we felt and to love what we loved.

In other words – to become Christians. We would become fishers of men and our nets would be our faith alive in us every day, drawing people to the message of Christ: our language and our behaviour would attract and draw others in.

So back to our week of prayer, our week of Christian Unity.

There were two images that have stayed with me from this week.

The first challenged the idea that it was okay to practice one’s faith in private – to be a secret Christian; to be a strong but silent follower; to be a supportive shadow – that is clear in its outline - but never comes into the light. Is this enough? Really?

The second was when we opened the service and there were seven or eight little candles – all of different colours. And the minister invited us up – church by church – to light one of these candles – which we did. And he then pointed out that although of different coloured wax, they all burned with the same bright, white light. Although lit by representatives of seven or eight separate churches, we were there as Christians - one and all.

He expanded on this image when he related this idea of light to Pink Floyd – yes to the rock group and in particular to one of their albums, LPs or in todays’ parlance – CDs. Dark Side of the Moon was its title and it has as its cover-graphic the picture of a bright white light coming into a prism or a crystal and then coming out the other side in all of the colours of the spectrum: one bright light made up of so many shades of colour.

We may have preferences for many of the different shades of colour but for us as Christians there is only one bright light – and that is Christ.

There is only one answer to the question, “Who are you for?” Just as Paul and Matthew did, Christians today must always - and without hesitation - answer – “I am for Christ”.

Bidding Prayers

1.       That on this weekend when we celebrate being open to the Word of God, we pray that our lives, our hearts, our minds and our spirits are always open to His Word. Lord in your mercy

2.       That those who have not yet received the Word of God into their lives can be reached and can rejoice in its reception. Lord in your mercy

3.       That the Word of God which represents true love and peace can reach all countries suffering from war and conflict. Lord in your mercy

4.       That we can all shout out with joy and with confidence, “I am for Christ” and live this exclamation in our everyday lives. Lord in your mercy

5.       That the sick of our parish are nurtured and supported by us in our prayers and our Christ-like-actions. Lord in your mercy

6.       That those who have died recently find eternal rest with the Lord and that their families are comforted, knowing they are with their heavenly Father for ever. Lord in your mercy

7.       That Mary joins her prayers with ours as we now pray together, Hail Mary, full of grace. .