Let’s Go Across to the Other Side
Early in Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, things were working quite well. The sick were healed, the hungry were fed, the outcasts were included and the demons were driven out. In fact, things were going so well that some of the disciples didn’t want to leave the eastern shore of Lake Galilee. Galilee was a comfortable place. Nevertheless, when the time was right, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.”
Jesus’ journey to the other side was not simply a trip to another Jewish town. It was a new and possibly risky chapter in the ministry of Jesus and his disciples; this was their first mission to Gentile territory. No longer would their ministry be “for members only.” It would now include non-members, even enemies of the Jews. For “the other side” was the home of the Gerasenes and the notorious “Gerasene demoniac.” Yet Jesus and his disciples obeyed God and went to this new place.
If the life of Jesus and his disciples is instructive for the church, and I think it is, then this story says a lot about what it means for us to journey with Jesus. Sometimes even when things are working, Jesus calls the church to go to a new place, “across to the other side.” Things may be comfortable, but God calls the church to continue the journey.
I believe that this is part of what is happening at St. Mark’s right now. Through cottage meetings, mutual ministry reviews and our recent workshop, “An Afternoon For the Future,” we have been listening for God’s call and God’s direction to a new place. From our workshop, it seems clear that this “new place” will include more young adults, youth and children. It will include a focus on spiritual growth and discipleship that forms mature people of faith.
One thing that seems clear about this “new place” is that God’s work through St. Mark’s is not only for members of St. Mark’s. I believe God is calling us to a deeper commitment and to a new emphasis on mission and outreach to others. St. Mark’s has much to offer our community, and with God’s help we will get “to the other side.”
Danny