Submitted by Pastor Donna Clark Fuller, 

Rock Port and Watson United Methodist Churches 

“As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers…”

We are beginning a new year. This can be a time for a new walk in our lives. As we think about making New Year’s resolutions, let’s think about the new thing Jesus was starting when He began His walk on this day so many years ago by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was starting to call His first disciples. He called ordinary people to an extraordinary life. He met people doing a job that was common in that place – fishing – and called them into a completely different job. He was not calling them to an easy job, just the opposite. He was calling them to bring a different message to the world, a message of God walking among us, God coming to save us. He was also calling them to live into an old message, the message of loving our neighbors as ourselves. He was calling them to help bring this message to a world too often focused on selfishness and greed, domination and warfare.

The destructiveness of that world exists in our world, too. This past year has been especially characterized by divisiveness and hatred among people over differences in politics, culture, race and sometimes, it seems, anything we can think of to fight about. The world needs us to find a new path to walk. The world needs more people willing to follow Jesus into that life He calls us towards, to walk the new path with Him.

What could that new path look like? If we see where Jesus led his disciples, it was to many places, encountering many people they would never have met if they had not followed Jesus. They were led to large crowds and places of solitude where prayer was easier. They were led to celebrations and moments of sickness and death. They were led to the cross, and to the empty tomb.

I invite you to commit for this coming year to answer Jesus’ call. Consider where He would have you walk in this New Year. Consider where He would have you go. Imagine the places of prayer. Imagine the people he would have you encounter, talk with, try to understand and especially to love.