“Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”
-- Luke 5:10

Eugene Peterson in his introduction to the Gospel of Luke writes: “Most of us, most of the time, feel like left out-misfits. We don’t belong. But with God there are no outsiders.”

Think of the leper touched by Jesus, the tax-collecter dining with Jesus and uneducated fishermen called by Jesus. As Luke tells the story, all of us who have found ourselves on the outside looking in on life, with no hope of gaining entrance, now find the doors wide open, welcomed by God in Jesus. We enter through faith in Jesus’ authority, acknowledging our sinful unworthiness through humbling ourselves, willingly leaving everything else behind. The result is a relationship with Jesus not only as our (moral) teacher, lover and friend but as our Lord and Savior. The former is easier than the latter. It’s therefore not surprising to hear Jesus say: “Don’t be afraid.” Following Jesus is
a huge step, but it won’t be for our benefit alone.

In His extraordinary great love with which Jesus calls us, he chooses to use all of us to call others to him in the same way, especially the marginalised. We all must answer this call and there is great opportunity to do so. We have some wonderful Easter services coming up and straight after Easter we’ll see the start of the Christianity Explored course offered through Bellevue Chapel. You might want to consider to do the course together with a friend, colleague or neighbour. We long for people to find life in Jesus!