This past Sunday we began a Sermon Series that is built upon the human need to belong. As I reflect upon a text and the whole biblical story every week, it is hard not to recognize the need of God’s creation, humankind, for belonging and community as a narrative that runs all the way through it like an underground river. It may come from a similar reflection that Augustine of Hippo prayed: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

The ministry of Jesus was, and is, a ministry of belonging. He invited young fishermen, tax collectors, and others from many walks of life in Galilee to “come and follow me.” Come and belong, and in time to learn a new way of life, and in time come to believe so that they exclaimed like Thomas in the Gospel of John to exclaim, “My Lord, My God” or like Peter and Paul proclaiming the gospel message to any who would listen. The point is that Jesus always began, “come and follow me.”