What a grand day to gather --- the beginning of another school year, the return of many from the places of summer, Rally Day is a day of energy and excitement, a renewing of commitment and relationships and hopes for the year as people of Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church.  Kids are everywhere and there are some new faces and new ideas waiting to be tried.  On a day like this, we feel GOOD about who we are and what we are about.  And then along comes Jesus with these words about discipleship.  Someone has said that Jesus would have made a terrible parish pastor.  He doesn't have a lot of finesse; he isn't much into sugar-coating the truth in order to make it a bit more palatable, he tells it like it is.  He isn't interested in growing a mega church; he is interested in followers who know the cost of discipleship.  He is like a tour guide who is trying to prepare us for a trek like we have never experienced, telling us that there will be moments when it seems impossible, when in order to make it further, we will have to lay down some of what we are hanging on to, and forge ahead.

           A year ago today I was in Madison, Wisconsin --- part of a cheering team for my son Chris who that day completed the Ironman race.  The Ironman, if you aren't familiar, is the triathlon of all triathlons.  It is a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and concludes with a 26.2 mile run.  The entire day was cold and rainy --- very uncomfortable to be a spectator, and almost unbelievable that the athletes could persevere in such weather.  As my son prepared for the Ironman, he kept a blog, which he still keeps as he prepares for yet another race in 2009 --- he calls it Becoming Ironman.  One entry which he made lately is reflecting on the race last year --- he says, "The race seems sometimes the least significant part of it all.  But its mysteries are deep, and I can tell you that having done it once and being in training for it again still two years out, its allure and effect are just as strong and curious and magnificent and brilliant. Ironman transcends the swim, bike, and run, and certainly the athlete who engages it.  It is a rare and beautiful thing in life, to partake in something so genuinely larger than yourself."  And then he goes on to give a little wisdom to those who are participating this year --- "When it gets lonely out there, and hard, and impossible, that's where you start withdrawing from your Ironman deposits which you made during your early morning long runs, or when you were out in the thunderstorms, or when you chose to run in 15 degree weather instead of hit the treadmill. Sometime in there you have to dig deep, and that is what becoming Ironman is all about."

          Maybe those words of Jesus recorded in Luke are like those of an Ironman coach.  Someone who reminds us that this is big, that it will take all that we have, but that it is the becoming that is essential, it is the journey, the process, the being formed and transformed by the power beyond ourselves, in the case of Christian disciples like us, transformed by the power of a gracious God who became flesh for love of the world.

          We could hear these words from Luke today and think this is not the journey for me, I can't possibly measure up, but what we trust in faith is that with God, anything and everything is possible, and with God, what matters most is that we stay in the relationship, stay in the conversation --- keep on in the process of becoming disciples.  This call to discipleship is one that will involve sacrifice, pushing sometimes beyond our assumed limits. In his book, Power Surge, The Reverend Mike Foss identifies 6 marks of discipleship --- pray daily, worship weekly, read the Bible, serve in this congregation and beyond, be in relationship to encourage spiritual growth in others, give of time, talents, and resources.  Too many times we look at those as crunch time activities --- when we are in trouble or serious pain, THEN we will pray or read the Bible, then we will look to establish those important relationships, but just like an athlete in the Ironman, we don't become faithful disciples by pondering it, we become by becoming --- by striving and practicing the faith.  We become disciples by following Jesus.  When we follow a discipline of regular prayer, worship, Bible reading, stewardship, community --- we are building up, in training, putting together some resources for becoming disciples --- it is what we draw on when the road gets hard or lonely or seemingly impossible.

          We have a theme for our life together this year --- Together in Ministry: Chosen, Gifted, Sent.   We are going to weave that theme into all that we do because that identifies who we are as the people of God --- this ministry is ours.  Ministry simply means to serve, it comes from the word minor, as in less than --- and we, all of us have been chosen by God for the purpose of carrying out this ministry.  When we are baptized, God says, I choose YOU, you are mine, and I have a job for you.  I want you to be my witness in the entire world; I want you to tell others about me, I want you to be a sign of my love and my grace.  And then God gives us gifts so that we can carry out that ministry.  Some can preach, or teach, some can sing or listen.  Some have the gift of administration and some the gift of compassion, but the promise of God is that each person has been given a gift for building up the body of Christ.  EACH PERSON --- not one of us is without a gift.  This is what we mean by the priesthood of believers, we all of us, together have this mission and ministry.  And then, we are sent into the world, we are sent out as the ones that God is using to make a difference in the world that is in need of hope, a world that is full of people who have yet to hear and trust the good news that they are loved by God.

          This ministry is ours, this race is ours, and this becoming disciples is ours.  And we go out in faith that God is at work in us.  The moment my son crossed the finish line, he could call himself an Ironman, but becoming Ironman took a lot more than that final moment of glory.  Becoming disciples is a life long journey too --- someday we will cross that finish line, someday we will hear, "Well done good and faithful servant," but NOW is when we become disciples, now is when we keep forging ahead in spite of our fears and our doubts.  And now is when we trust in the one who has called us to this task.

There has been some press lately about the darkness of doubt that laid hold of Mother Teresa throughout her ministry. Some people have said that it just proves she was a sham, or that she really was not a person of faith.  To me it proves an even deeper faith --- that she could keep on running the race, keep on following and becoming, even when God seemed so absent.  That she could care so deeply for the poor and the suffering in spite of that sense of God's silence is a sign of faith to me.  A disciple is not on the path of glory, a disciple is following the way of the cross, the way of servanthood and sometimes a disciple is going to fail or feel like just laying it down.  Sometimes when we count the cost, we cannot imagine how we will keep on.

There is a great quote from Martin Luther on the front of this month's Metro Lutheran --- it reminds us that the Christ we follow is the one who makes the race possible for us.  "I believe in Jesus and was baptized in his name.  Thus when we are fatigued, let us run to the fresh and untiring Christ."  The road does get lonely and hard and impossible sometimes, but the promise is that the fresh and untiring Christ will lead us, through all the hills and valleys, through the light and the darkness, and we, the ministers of God are chosen, gifted, and sent to follow.

AMEN