It will be a gift to be back in worship this Sunday, January 21, 2024, and - finally - be free of icy streets. (He said hopefully!!) This Sunday's Gospel Lesson is Mark 1:14-20. You my know this text for its familiar "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." statement.

Midweek Bible Study was snowed out, but if we had met we would have talked about whether John the Baptist's arrest was a trigger for Jesus starting his formal ministry. We would have noted the word "immediately" which Mark uses to add movement and urgency to the story. "Immediately" appears twice in just these 6 verses. We also would have talked about when and why "I will make you fishers of men" became "I will make you fish for people." The driver, I think, is gender inclusion. The Gospel is for everybody, and I totally support that!! However, "fishers of men" is a statement about identity and "fish for people" is an action. I really don't like that and I know people today don't like the notion of the Church being out to get them. I won't bring this gripe into the my sermon, but it would have been great grist of the mill if we had met for Bible Study.

What we will talk about Sunday is retired Federal Judge Michael Luttig and the notion of discipleship.

Sunday's sermon. Not for the faint of heart!

Pr. Dave Brauer-Rieke