"Why Jesus Recruited" Disciples (Excerpt)

The ministry of Christ is a collective one, not one undertaken by individuals alone. Granted, there are times when you just want to leave all those people with excuses and idiosyncrasies and just go on to do what you think you are called to do. Or if you elect to work with a group, you want to hand pick the people you know, the people whom experience tells you will be dependable and get things done. You want people who speak your language, who approach problem solving the way you do. And if you can’t get them, you’d rather work alone. Fact is, no one is as good as you anyway. Well, the ministry is best when it is textured with debate, with different methodologies, when it is set in the midst of real human community, and when we have to contend with a little resistance and nay-saying---even opposition and betrayal and faithlessness. Jesus is showing us how it is done. He is showing us that life is comprised of radically diverse human beings, even if they are from the same biological family. And if we are to live productively in community, we will have to weather a few inconvenient setbacks and roadblocks.
Life must inevitably involve some suffering. None of us relish suffering. I sure don’t. But I know that it is a real part of this ‘ole journey. And Jesus doesn’t exempt us from it, but he gives us the best illustration of how you get through it, how you can be victorious over it, and how because of your faith in the midst of the mire, you can be a balm for healing wounded hearts and thwarted aspirations. Jesus makes us strong for suffering by never asking us to face it alone. And if he is by your side, suffering is no match! Working under uncertain circumstances; working with fragile people, people with undisclosed needs and yearning is a gymnasium that builds up the muscles of our endurance for the vicissitudes of this mortal existence.

Mark 4:12-23

From "Sharing 'Your' God With Others"

So often out of fear that we may be trampled, rejected, disrespected or hurt by mortals, we create and cling to a brand of faith that is circumscribed by the limits of our own vision, but true faith binds our kinship with all who yearn to be free from the yoke of sin.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was willing to endure all manner of questioning from his own ranks in order to declare this universal message. When he spoke out against the Viet Nam War, his own accused him of overreaching his boundary, of focusing on things that were not his business. The principalities and powers accused him of abandoning his mission by focusing on economic rights rather than civil rights. And in these days when we "honor" him, we have recaptured him and re-domesticated him as a leader of Black people only.
The Apostle Paul still cries out from the grave, begging the church to affirm our universal calling, laity and clergy alike, Jew and Greek alike, male and female alike, black and white alike, gay and straight alike, citizen and immigrant alike. For all God's children belong to one another. He is their Lord and ours.
(Ref. 1 Corinthians 1:2)