What does it mean to you to be a follower of Jesus Christ?
Perhaps, if we got a couple hundred responses from folks connected to Davis UMC – perhaps then we can put together a picture of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Not just what it means to me. Not just what it means to you. But what it means to US – the people of this congregation.
Let’s give it a try: post your answers!
What does it mean to you – to be a follower of Jesus Christ?
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For me, Jesus is a connection to something beyond my understanding. Lots of my life and my work, too, are also beyond my understanding. In my life, In those arenas, I look to predeccessors, my grandparents, folks, + others I’ve heard of. At work, I am often asking: how do others do this? What did they learn? An entry for me was something I read somewhere (was it some medieval approach?): if you can’t conect with God, connect with his Son If you can’t connect with Jesus, connect with his mother? Thinking of how I both carry forward my folks + try to understand them — maybe doing some of that well and other parts less successfully — and then think of Jesus trying to understand and fulfill his Father: I hope thru him I can understand some of God, and find a model of how to be a ‘good’ child of God. And when I fall short, I recall a lesson from Chicago politics: even the good Lord himself couldn’t satisfy everyone.
I frequently get lost! I have a very poor sense of direction, so I hear a sense of urgency when I hear the word follow. When driving somewhere new, I want to be close to the person I am following so that I do not end up where I cannot find my way. To me, living as a follower of Jesus means I want to stay in love with God and work on removing all of the obstacles I place in the way of that journey. I think there was an urgency when Jesus called his disciples as well. They dropped their nets immediately and transformed their life with a new purpose and direction.
Jesus came and lived with – laughed with, ate with, walked with, talked with, cried with, suffered with, rose with – ordinary people. I work in a public elementary school. I meet a crossection of our youngest citizens and their families. I am for sure not getting rich or famous. To me, following Jesus is about being with the people, caring about all, wanting the best for all. The amazing thing to me about the Jesus story is that it is about the ordinary people and it has survived this long in spite of and because of this.
Following Jesus means setting aside my self justification and often my intellect to come back to a view of people (and myself) which takes Jesus’ teachings into account. Acting in accordance with those teachings (which is have become my concience) is following Jesus.
Hi Eva – It is really helpful to me to hear you make the connection between conscience and Jesus’ teachings. It would be fascinating to hear more about this, particularly in terms of spiritual/faith formation (for children , youth and adults).
I just discovered that there is a WordPress app to follow this blog on iPhone or iPad.
To follow Jesus….when I follow I want to be like ____ (you fill in the blank)….so that must mean I want to be like Jesus (that’s my logical thinking)…..following has many meanings, but this is what follow means to me….confusing!
Hi Judy – Not confusing to me at all. But I wonder what about Jesus do you want to be like? I find myself saying to myself I would like to be a friend of ordinary people, including those on the margins, as Jesus was. I would like to be an advocate with the poor and oppressed as Jesus was. I would like to have the courage to overturn the tables of commerce (economic injustice) as Jesus did. And rid people – including myself – of the “demons” of mental illness and addiction or at least offer them comfort and some form of healing as Jesus did. I would like to go off into the wilderness to pray and be alone like Jesus. This is actually rather exciting for me to list because initially I was caught up in the ways I often find Jesus portrayed as someone rather rude, impatient, angry, and not all that grateful or encouraging. As if I am not ever those things and worse (ha)!
It becoming clearer – the light bulb just turned on! It’s not what I want to be, but what Jesus wants me to be. Thank you, Chris. You always help me sort out my confusion. Now to listen to what He’s telling me….
Chris – I too want to go into the wilderness and be alone to pray like Jesus. Why don’t I make the time to do this? I used to struggle with reading parts of the Old Testament until I started noticing how Jesus quotes scripture so much.
Dear Pastor Kelly – Thank you for initiating this conversation, first at Church Council and then in worship on Sunday. I look forward to hearing what others have to say on this subject!
When I consider your question, I find myself first grappling with what it means “to follow” or be “a follower.” At first glance, following doesn’t carry a lot of positive associations for me. I follow recipes. I follow (mostly) traffic rules. I follow (mostly) the laws of the land. I follow (often) my daughter and husband as they walk ahead of me. But following isn’t necessarily my first inclination. It feels too limiting, too sheep-like, too vulnerable to the whims (and abuses) of others.
Yet I recognize that I do a whole lot more following than I ever acknowledge or am even aware of . . . following the trajectory of my personal history, following my habitual – even addictive – ways of doing things, following mindlessly certain customs of our culture or church. I recall a sermon that Pastor John Oda gave at DUMC in which he wore a hat with a carrot dangling off the visor. It made me laugh but also think about what “carrot” I was actually following – instead of God: comfort? avoidance of pain? a sense of belonging?
I find the dictionary helpful here . . . “to follow” is to come after, to obey, to accept as authority, to imitate, to engage in a calling or way of life, to watch steadily, to understand something. It is the granting of authority, the obedience, that seem to be my stumbling blocks to following or becoming a follower. I have my reasons, of course, for hesitating, for this disinclination to go along with the crowd or conventional wisdom or particular religious traditions. Following the Creative Spirit, following my conscience, following those I love and admire, following the God of my imperfect understanding comes fairly readily. But following Jesus . . . is something I will need to practice, imitate, something that may require more trust and courage than I have had in the past.
Hi Chris (and everyone) – this reminds me of some of my feelings about using “Lord” as a title for God. It’s a title I have NOT connected with for more years than I have. But, in recent years, as I have thought about what it means to me to imagine that God’s agenda comes ahead of mine, or ranks above my personal agenda, I have more of a resonance with the title “Lord.” It’s still something I struggle with – mostly because it’s so hard to put God’s vision ahead of my humanness!
Thanks, Pastor Kelly! It is really helpful to hear how you have “translated” a word like “Lord” in a way that is meaningful to you and to many of us in these times. “God’s Agenda” and “personal agenda” remind me of the Buddhist concepts of “Spacious Mind” and “little mind.” It is a relief to trust that God has the LARGER view!
Just keep talking and writing – I’m interested in everything you might say 🙂