Decisions, decisions

Scripture John 1:43-51  NRSV 

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

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Nathaniel had to make a decision - follow Jesus or not.  Go with this person from Nazareth, of all places, or keep on doing whatever it was he was doing . Studying Torah, no doubt, in the very traditional ways. Certainly not roaming all over the countryside with an itinerant preacher.  But here is a man who knows him - someone he is quite certain he has never met and who can’t know anything about him, yet somehow knows that he is a scholar (because the whole “saw you under the fig tree” comment is a first century Jewish idiom that referred to someone who was a serious student the way we talk about some academics as living in an ivory tower)  His choice entailed making a sacrifice that I can’t even imagine making.  I like living in a house and having bed and comfy covers and books right at hand ready to read whenever I want.  But he made that decision.  And he became one of the Twelve -  the first followers of Jesus and, after the resurrection, one of the Twelve Apostles who formed what is now the Christian Church.  

We don’t know much about Nathaniel.  He’s only mentioned twice in the Gospels, and not at all in Acts.   There’s this, his introduction and in Chapter 21 of John’s Gospel Nathaniel is mentioned as one of the four disciples present when Jesus appeared at the Sea of Galilee after the resurrection.  Because he was known to be a friend of Philip, he may also have been associated with John the Baptist, but that’s not certain.   Some scholars believe he is known as Bartholomew in some of the other Gospels, but can’t produce any evidence for that opinion except that the name Nathaniel only appears in John’s Gospel and Bartholomew doesn’t.   As most of you know, I love researching stuff, especially historical details, so I went digging and I found a site that had so much information about Nathaniel that I was totally blown away.  I mean, this site had his exact age and his father’s name and how many siblings he had, and his occupation, and even went on at some length about his relationship with the other disciples, who all loved and respected him for his honesty, his sense of humor and his knowledge of scripture and the Law - except for Judas Iscariot, of course, because Nathaniel could see right through him.   Then I looked for their sources for all this awesome information and discovered that it all came from a book that the founders of this organization had received from aliens.  *sigh*   OK, fine.  So, we don’t know much about Nathaniel.  He was from Bethsaida, he was well educated, and he was a friend of Philip.   That’s about it.  AND we know that he made a decision that would change his life, the lives of the people close to him and, eventually, the entire world.   

It probably didn’t seem like such a big decision at the time. I mean, it was big in terms of giving up the life he knew for something unknown.  But it wasn’t all that uncommon for people to decide to follow one of the many roaming teachers or healers.  We know, for example, that John the Baptist had a number of disciples, and he was only one of many holy men roaming the countryside.  But Nathaniel and the rest of those first disciples had no way of knowing where that decision was going to lead them.    

That’s the thing about decisions.  Even the smallest decision can have a huge impact on our lives.  We all have stories about “small” decisions.  Like deciding to answer the phone even though it meant leaving the house late and then passing a terrible accident that might have involved us had we left on time.  Or deciding to go on a mission trip and meeting our future spouse.  Some decisions are easy, others are more difficult - and some day I will figure out why it is so hard for two or more people to decide where to go for dinner!  I mean, seriously, that should not be so hard.  

So, this month we are talking about discipleship and membership.  We are talking about following Jesus and belonging to him, and to his family.  This is the decision that Nathaniel made on that day in Bethsaida, to follow Jesus and become part of the family that surrounded him - the men and women who chose to be part of his daily life and his ministry, to learn from him and to serve him.    That’s what it means to be a member of a church, of a particular congregation.

A number of the folks here today grew up in this congregation.  They sit in the same pew where their mothers and grandmothers sat, and have children and grandchildren of their own.  Some came as young married couples, and have been coming long enough to raise their own children and grandchildren here.   Others are newer, having moved to Selma from somewhere else, or changed church membership when they were no longer comfortable in the churches they had been attending.  Some of you came here because a friend asked you to come to Youth Group, and you decided that you wanted to make this church your home.  Or because a friend you know from work or bowling or volunteering at the Animal Shelter invited you.   Some of you are pretty new to the whole church thing, and some have been church folks since before you were born. (And if you don’t know that’s possible, just ask anyone whose mom was a member here while she was pregnant.)   Some of you are still looking.

So - How do you decide which church is right for you?

Leah found some excellent pictures for today - a megachurch, a small country church, and a downtown big steeple church.  All we really know about these three things is what they look like from the outside.  Well, ok.  We know a lot more about the Crystal Cathedral than just how it looks, and we all know this place pretty well - some of you are even intimately familiar with what it looks like up inside the ceiling!  But generally speaking, when we are looking for a congregation to join, we might have in our mind what kind of place we are looking for.   Each of these has its attractions.  You might want to be part of a megachurch because you can hide in the crowd, or because they excel in entertaining worship services.  You might prefer a smaller church so that you can get to know everyone really well and really be part of what is going on there.   You might be looking for a place just like the church you grew up in, or the exact opposite of the church you grew up in.  You might be looking for an established congregation where you can just slide in to an established tradition, or a new church start, so you can be part of deciding what those traditions will be.  The thing that you are for sure looking for, though, is a place where you fit.  A  place where you can come on Sundays - or any other day of the week, actually - and know that you are welcome.  And a place where you can hear the stories of Jesus and Paul and folks from the Hebrew Bible, and learn more about God and about faith.    A place where you can be who you are, and you don’t have to pretend to be someone you are not.  

Joining a congregation is not a decision to be made lightly or quickly.  You may have heard the old saying “Marry in haste, repent at leisure”?    While church membership isn’t exactly marriage, it kind of is.  Although it’s more like becoming a new in-law in an existing family.  And what person, having fallen in love with their soul mate, doesn’t look at their family - the prospective in-laws - to try to get an idea what the future might bring for them.  In-laws, any family, really, tend to be kind of a mixed bag.  There are the ones we love and get along with, and then there’s the uncle or aunt who you just can’t get along with.  You just can’t agree with anything they say because everything they believe to be true is pretty much the opposite of what you believe to be true.  Their whole attitude is pretty bad, frankly.  They complain about everything.   Or, there’s the aging hippy Pollyanna type, who sees rainbows and unicorns everywhere, and you wonder how she manages to dress herself in the morning.  But it’s family.  It’s not going to be perfect.  And you can always avoid conversations with the family members you don’t like that much, but you will hug them when you see them because . . . family is family.  You don’t have to agree with each other. You don’t even have to like each other.  But you do have to love each other.    Jesus said so.

I know there are folks here who’ve been showing up for a while and haven’t made that scary walk down these really long aisles to receive the right hand of Christian fellowship and become an official member of this congregation.  I know that some of you are still deciding, and some aren’t sure why you need to do that. Because you can do everything here without being an official member. You can come to all the worship services, and receive communion, and be part of all of our volunteer efforts and social events.  You can be in the women’s group and Bible study and help out with the Youth and preside at worship and do all sorts of things. You can pledge your money and time.  There are, in fact, just two things you cannot do if you are not a member.  According to our by-laws, if you are not a member, you cannot vote in congregational meetings, and you cannot serve as a Deacon or Elder or Board member - or any other elected capacity.   So next week, when we vote on whether to approve the budget for 2018 and elect new officers, if you have not joined the congregation, you cannot vote.   And for those of you who may want to be a member here, but don’t want to give up membership in your long-time home church - you don’t have to.  There is such a thing as dual membership.  

You may be wondering who these Disciples of Christ I keep talking about might be.  Those of us who have been around this church for a while say “Disciples Rock!”  But we know this denomination.  We know how it works in this particular congregation, or maybe even several different ones.  But what if you have no idea who we are - you just came to check out this church, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Selma, California.  What makes the Disciples different?  Why are we right for you?  (or not.)  If you want to know those things, talk to me.  Talk to some of the long time members.  Better yet, sign up for a Pastor’s Class, where we will talk about what it means to be a Disciple of Christ.   We’re pretty cool, actually.  We even have a joke book . . You might be a Disciple if your Elder prays about wine but the deacon serves you grape juice.  You might be a Disciple if you don’t want the sermon to last more than 20 minutes so you can beat the Methodists to the restaurant.)   If more than two people want to learn more about the Disciples, we’ll set a time and day that works for everyone, and we’ll have a class.  It’ll be fun.

Being a member in a congregation is not a once and done thing.  You can’t just shake my hand up front one Sunday and think that’s all there is to it.  It’s is more than sitting in your favorite pew on Sunday mornings.  It is more than putting money in the collection plate or singing in the choir or helping out at events. It is a commitment to be part of Jesus’ family here, in this place, at this time.  It is agreeing to embrace this body of people as your family, and to be embraced by them in return.   Membership in a congregation is a covenant to be there for each other, in whatever ways you are able - from something as simple as praying in the privacy of your home to serving as Chairperson of the Church Board.  (Which isn’t really all that difficult a thing.  Our Board meetings are really quite civilized, and our teams work well together.)  Even those of us here who have been members for a long long time continue to commit to serve each other and the church to the best of our ability - because it is what Jesus wants us to do - to love one another and take care of one another, as he commanded us to do.

Nathaniel had a decision to make.  It wasn’t an easy one, and yet he made it quickly.  Because he recognized that Jesus was the Son of God, the King of Israel.  He may not have been entirely certain what that meant, and he certainly had no idea what was ahead for him and for the other disciples Jesus had chosen, but he made the decision.  He made the decision to follow Jesus.  Let us also make that decision, today and every day.