Andrew spoke to us last week about Jesus, how he walked alongside his disciples for three years, teaching them and showing them the way. ‘It not only tells them about God his Father but also teaches them how to relate to each other and those whom they will meet,’ Andrew pointed out.

Walking alongside people is good for both them and us in many ways. We bond with people when we go through things side by side. We form lasting relationships. There have undoubtedly been people in our lives that we think of with a smile. Good healthy relationships are what we thrive on.

The healthiest relationship of all however is the one we have with God. It really is of vital importance, more so than anything else in life. This is the point Jesus was making to his disciples in our gospel reading.

We’re precious to him, every hair is numbered and his love is a free gift, but do we reciprocate? Jesus is walking alongside us. Do we turn to talk to him, to listen to him?

We so often give other things priority. We might give in to harmful tendencies, allow our ego to give us status, or follow our own desires rather than living our lives in his service. To do so is not for God’s sake, it’s for our own wellbeing.

Sin destroys us, as Paul was pointing out quite forcefully in his letter to the Romans. We’re no longer enslaved to sin, we’re being transformed by God’s grace. We started afresh in a new life when we decided to follow Jesus.

In Richard Rohr’s book ‘The Tears of Things’ he says that we need to co-operate with grace. He says ‘Our divinely inspired transformation is a nonstop, subtle, autonomous action that we now call grace. It is not a substance or a thing that can be quantified, but a metamorphosis in the soul, a profound change of our inner processor, a new consciousness, an utterly changed motivation, a reversing of our engine without our seeming consent. But our ‘yes’ is important, and necessary.’ It’s a relationship. We need to work together.

As Jesus sent the disciples out to the lost sheep, telling them to share the good news that the kingdom of heaven had come near, we are sent out too. Every one of us has a calling.

Are we willing to say yes? Are we afraid to? Jesus told the disciples not to be afraid, while warning them that it would not be easy and some people would turn against them, even members of their own families.

God will see us through everything. We can trust in him and hold on to our love for him. But it doesn’t mean that we won’t experience pain.

Jeremiah the prophet was sent by God to give bad news to the people, because they were doing wicked things and they were going to have to bear the consequences of their actions. They didn’t want to hear his words, and so they turned against him and made his life a misery. The passage we heard this morning showed how, through his tears and pain, his spirit was strong. He expressed his trust in and praise for the Lord. He knew that God was with him, and what he was doing was good and right.

If the people had listened and changed their ways the disaster which came upon them would have been averted. As it was, it would have brought God’s holy name into disrepute if he had intervened.

A disciple isn’t above his teacher, it’s enough to be like him. If the master of the house is maligned, the whole household is maligned, Jesus said. It works both ways.

On this Father’s Day, when we think of everyone who has had a positive paternal influence on and relationship with us, we can understand this. We don’t want to let down those we love. Rather, we want to live up to the good example they set us.

In the same way we are ambassadors for Christ. Are we ready and willing to do our best to tell and show people who he is? To follow his good example?

It’s surely for us as his disciples today to give people the good news that the Kingdom of God has come near, and to share with the world the love of God so freely given to us by his grace.

Let’s do it, walking side by side.

Amen.

Julie Rubidge, Lay Minister