The Butter Cross

This is the front address from the Butter Cross our parish magazine distributed free to every home in our community.

THE PARlSH CHURCH SERVING THE CHURCHES IN THE COVENANT FOR UNITY AND THE COMMUNlTY OF BlNGHAM

Rector: REV. D. L. HARPER

July

While he was on earth Jesus chose a number of people to be his disciples. They were quite a mixed bunch. Several of them were fishermen, including the down-to-earth Simon Peter and the young man called John, who thought deeply and was perhaps a bit of a dreamer. There was a tax collector and a political activist. And besides the twelve men there were a number of women too. Mary Magdalene may be the best known, and perhaps we should include Jesus’ mother amongst them as well.
But that was long ago. Can we be Jesus’ disciples today?
The word “disciple” basically means a pupil. This group of people travelled around with Jesus, learning what he had to teach. They found that what he said was so important, and gave such meaning to their lives, that it was worth the discomfort of travelling around the country with him, picking up all the gems that dropped from his lips.
Being a disciple today must involve wanting to learn from Jesus. I do recommend trying to learn from Jesus. His words are profound. Some of them are easy to understand, but there are others where it will take a lifetime to absorb all that they mean. Helping us to take these in is, of course, one of the purposes of the Church.
But there is a more important side of being a disciple than this. Those first disciples had been ordinary people, going about their daily lives, until Jesus met them. Then he said to them “Come, follow me.” They left what they were doing, not just to travel with him, but to learn to live as he lived. That meant living a life of caring for others and obedience to God. It meant giving up all thought of personal gain. It meant being willing to make sacrifices for the sake of doing good to others. It short, it meant taking on Jesus’ way of life for themselves.
Being a disciple today must mean much the same. It means trying to live as Jesus’ lived, putting into practice the principles he taught. Of course, none of us are perfect and we don’t live up to it, but that is the goal.
A few weeks ago in our church a group of people were confirmed by the Bishop — those who had been baptized as children taking on for themselves the promises that had then been made on their behalf. By doing so, they were saying that they wanted to be disciples of Jesus today. They were looking for his strength to enable them to follow where he led.
He says to each of us “Come, follow me”, and we can all make the decision to do so. How about it?
Your Rector,
David