St. Andrew: Called and Followed [St. Andrew's Day]
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 4:18-22 St. Andrew: Called and Followed. “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” That could be a promise. Or that could be a description. Or that could be a threat. Today we celebrate St. Andrew. He is our saint, our patron, the one to whom we have tied our identity. And we are his parish – according to the apostrophe “s” in the name of this church. His story begins in that place where lake meets dry land; Jesus calls him out of the waters and into a new reality. This story begins with a word – a word that cut through the sounds of wind and waves and birds and fisherman hauling heavy nets onto the shore. The word was like a knife – making a clean cut – separating Andrew's past from the entirely new future that was about to begin. The word was like a knife – lodging itself in his heart. Our Gospel story today is an origin story. It is the s...