Come Follow Me
Matthew 4: 12, 17-23
Joint SpringHouse Service-January 24, 2026
Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel
Come follow me…Come follow me…
This morning, I was supposed to share a bit about our justice ministries over the last year. But instead, I want to share a few reflections about the last three days.
The core of our scripture for this morning is this phrase: Come follow me. It is such a simple invitation on its surface. But, unlike the disciples who follow Jesus not knowing how the story ends, we know where Jesus’ path of radical love, solidarity, and healing takes him. Come follow me, Jesus invites us… come and share bread and life with one another… come and be healers… come and bear a softness of love…and use this shared bread, this healing balm, this softness of love as we, together confront Empire’s death-dealing.
Come follow me…
We had whistles, they had guns… Come follow me…
We are living through a moment in which the implications of being called into followership of Jesus are quite clear. And the juxtaposition of true followership and the distorted and diseased Christianity that is baptizing ICE’s violence is truly stark.
I was here for most of the day yesterday after Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE. SpringHouse was opened as a medic station, warming place, and a space offering pastoral care. There were several pastors, lots of food and warm drinks, street medic kits, and warm clothes for anyone to take. One young person with whom I spoke came in shaking and cold. They had witnessed the shooting and had been teargassed. They kept saying, “I can’t believe they killed him.” We gave them water, charged up their phone and just asked what they needed to tell us. After a while, they felt settled enough to gather their things and head out. As they were leaving, they said to me, “I don’t go to church, but I see why people come here, you all are so kind and it’s so hospitable.”
Not fifteen minutes later, one of the people in charge of the medic station came to T Michael, Susie Hayward, and me and said she didn’t know if her transgender child was safe as he had been among the protestors. She couldn’t get a hold of him and asked us to pray with her. With permission, we all laid hands on her and breathed together. Our hands and our breath were our prayer.
As I drove home, I passed an armored vehicle just a few blocks east of here and then, the rest of the drive was filled with thousands of candles lining the streets.
This is the juxtaposition: Alex Pretti bending to help his kindred human being and being murdered in cold blood;
This is the contrast: ICE brutally kidnapping mothers of three month olds and fathers of five year old’s wearing spider man backpacks and neighbors bringing food and keeping each other safe;
This is the choice: state violence or kindred washing the tear gas from one another's eyes.
My friends, Jesus’ invitation to followership of shared bread and tender love and healing balm may feel ridiculously naïve in the face of Empire’s guns and brutality. But it isn’t an individual call. Though it comes to each of us, and we must all make a decision, the invitation to collective response. What Empire fails to recognize is that when we follow Jesus’ call together… we become an unquenchable, an irrepressible power for collective liberation.
Come follow me… may we say yes… and may we go together. Amen.
Matthew 4: 12, 17-23
Joint SpringHouse Service-January 24, 2026
Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel
Come follow me…Come follow me…
This morning, I was supposed to share a bit about our justice ministries over the last year. But instead, I want to share a few reflections about the last three days.
The core of our scripture for this morning is this phrase: Come follow me. It is such a simple invitation on its surface. But, unlike the disciples who follow Jesus not knowing how the story ends, we know where Jesus’ path of radical love, solidarity, and healing takes him. Come follow me, Jesus invites us… come and share bread and life with one another… come and be healers… come and bear a softness of love…and use this shared bread, this healing balm, this softness of love as we, together confront Empire’s death-dealing.
Come follow me…
We had whistles, they had guns… Come follow me…
We are living through a moment in which the implications of being called into followership of Jesus are quite clear. And the juxtaposition of true followership and the distorted and diseased Christianity that is baptizing ICE’s violence is truly stark.
I was here for most of the day yesterday after Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE. SpringHouse was opened as a medic station, warming place, and a space offering pastoral care. There were several pastors, lots of food and warm drinks, street medic kits, and warm clothes for anyone to take. One young person with whom I spoke came in shaking and cold. They had witnessed the shooting and had been teargassed. They kept saying, “I can’t believe they killed him.” We gave them water, charged up their phone and just asked what they needed to tell us. After a while, they felt settled enough to gather their things and head out. As they were leaving, they said to me, “I don’t go to church, but I see why people come here, you all are so kind and it’s so hospitable.”
Not fifteen minutes later, one of the people in charge of the medic station came to T Michael, Susie Hayward, and me and said she didn’t know if her transgender child was safe as he had been among the protestors. She couldn’t get a hold of him and asked us to pray with her. With permission, we all laid hands on her and breathed together. Our hands and our breath were our prayer.
As I drove home, I passed an armored vehicle just a few blocks east of here and then, the rest of the drive was filled with thousands of candles lining the streets.
This is the juxtaposition: Alex Pretti bending to help his kindred human being and being murdered in cold blood;
This is the contrast: ICE brutally kidnapping mothers of three month olds and fathers of five year old’s wearing spider man backpacks and neighbors bringing food and keeping each other safe;
This is the choice: state violence or kindred washing the tear gas from one another's eyes.
My friends, Jesus’ invitation to followership of shared bread and tender love and healing balm may feel ridiculously naïve in the face of Empire’s guns and brutality. But it isn’t an individual call. Though it comes to each of us, and we must all make a decision, the invitation to collective response. What Empire fails to recognize is that when we follow Jesus’ call together… we become an unquenchable, an irrepressible power for collective liberation.
Come follow me… may we say yes… and may we go together. Amen.
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