And as Jesus passed from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9

Nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus tell folks to worship him. He does however repeatedly tell folks to follow him. In all of our church-going habits, all of our sacrament receiving and professions of faith, I wonder if we have given this enough reflection.

It’s dangerous territory, actually. Jesus led a radical life, one that is indeed difficult to follow. He did not achieve much as achievements are conventionally understood. He didn’t write a book or play a sport in a Division One college. He wasn’t chasing merit or climbing any kind of ladder. He never actively sought recognition.

In short, he didn’t do anything that we spend most of our time doing. He spent his time with outcasts, the poor, those on the skids. He didn’t talk about the problems of poverty. He lived with it, all of it. If conservative politics can be criticized as being unconcerned with the poor, liberal politics can be criticized as happy to talk but not so keen to act.

I wonder what a Creed based on Jesus’ invitation to follow him would sound like? Every week we in many Christian denominations say the Nicene Creed – statements that we affirm as true (I am afraid to say, quite mechanically and without much thought). But what if we affirmed a commitment to follow Jesus? What if we affirmed our commitment to step back, think outside of our big goals, and think about why Jesus, Son of God as we affirm in the Nicene Creed, came and dwelled in such a lowly place? What if we committed to join him, in our own ways, ourselves?