For the past year we have explored what it means to be called by God….a natural move is to now explore in great depth the outcome or result of God’s call, which is Discipleship.  The call we answer is to a specific form of Discipleship…..as we are Disciples of Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ charge from God is to transform the world, to actualize God’s Kingdom (though the word ‘Kindom’ is perhaps a more understandable metaphor for Gospel-hearers in 21^st Century America), and thus our Discipleship is not an inwardly focused, individualized activity…..but is focused on others…..we are Disciples on behalf of the world!

Theme: Disciples Are….Seed Planters

           Disciples don’t know the long-term effect of what we do and say.  We

            don’t know how long an idea, or a memory, or an act of grace will

            take to germinate within someone….if it ever does.  Despite this

            uncertainty, disciples are called to follow the example of Jesus, who

            spent a lot of time offering those who listened to and observed him

            tiny glimpses of God’s kingdom (a place where people are fed and

            cared for, where everyone has a place and is taken seriously, where

            God’s love causes amazing things to happen).  Jesus’ interactions

            with so many of the people he encountered along his way gave him

            the opportunity to drop seeds of hope and holy possibility deep

            within their being.  He knew he would never see how most of these

            seeds would grow.  Jesus shows us that planters are not responsible

            for the harvest.  They are simply charged with   getting the crop in the

            ground, where it can then be nurtured and tended by God and by

            those who serve God.  These sermons offer the opportunity to invite

            people to think about those who have planted seeds within them, and

            question what has become of these seeds.  The series also begs the

            question of what kind of seeds the Central community is being called

            to plant in the community/world around us.  Disciples are world-

            changers after all!  Perhaps the most challenging idea associated

            with the theme of being a seed-planter lies in pointing out the reality

            that God is not interested in our cultural/personal obsession with

            short-  term results, but measures time and outcomes in much broader

            ways.  The Parable of the Sower will obviously be an important text

            for this Series, as is the time of the year in which the series falls.