When preparing to preach, a preacher studies the text and often finds an itch that needs to be scratched. In today’s Gospel, we heard Mark’s account of Jesus calling his first disciples. There are distinct differences from John’s Gospel account, which we heard just last Sunday. John says Jesus called Peter and Andrew down on the river Jordan with John the Baptist close by. Mark says they were on the shore of the Sea of Galilee after John the Baptist had been arrested. Matthew and Luke align with Mark but add more details and context. (Mark is very fast-paced.)

Six years ago, actually exactly six years and one week ago today, I preached here for the first time, filling in immediately after Fr. Tom Seitz retired. That was the second Sunday after Epiphany and I preached on John’s account of Jesus calling his first disciples. And I likened it to my first date with Meg, which was a “blind date” and, without going into all the details, I shared that by the end of the evening I had fallen in love. That was a first step in our relationship that has led to today, our 35th wedding anniversary.

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There’s an old saying, a bumper sticker phrase that I recall from the 70’s or 80’s. It may be older than that. It goes, “Think globally, act locally.” I have not heard it said that way for a long time and I wonder if younger generations have heard it. In any case, it is very much present in our thinking. We understand more than ever that we are part of a very inter-connected world.

We see it in the life of our church. It’s as simple as our recycling bins, which are a small way we attempt to help the ecology. We have an annual golf tournament to support our sister church in Santa Maria, Honduras. We support missionaries in Southeast Asia and Sao Paolo Brazil. This past year Bishop Patrick Augustine visited and we supported his work for the Diocese of Bor, Sudan.

If you’re keeping score, and I am, that means Church of the Good Shepherd in beautiful Lake Wales, Florida, thinks globally and acts locally to support mission and ministry on four continents. That’s you. That’s all of us. We may think that has grown out of our ever-developing technologies in communication and transportation. That sure has a lot to do with it. I’m sure a lot more does, too.

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