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Invited to Follow...

The theme of our recent Irish Methodist conference and for our new President Rev. Dr. Heather Morris was "A People Invited to Follow..." With that in mind here is a dramatised reading I put together for another conference event 9 years ago, which we are using as  a call to worship this morning: 


Reader 1:        As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 
Reader 2:        "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Reader 1:        At once they left their nets and followed him.
Reader 2:        As they were walking along the road, a man said to Jesus,
Reader 1:        "I will follow you wherever you go."
Reader 2:        Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
Reader 1:        He said to another man,
Reader 2:        "Follow me."
Reader 1:        But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
Reader 2:        Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Reader 1:        Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
Reader 2:        Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Reader 1:        Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
Reader 2:        “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Matthew 4:18-20, Luke 9:57-62 , Mark 8:34

Shalom

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