Reading: Mark 8:27-38
As most of you know I spend some of my working time at Royal Perth Hospital where I assess the outcome of hip and knee replacement surgery. We look at how well patients function after the surgery, what their pain levels are like and how much range of motion they have in the joint at various timeframes post operation. It is a way of assessing how effective these operations are at getting people back into the community, pain free and functioning normally. Administrators and health economists take this information and information about the length of stay and cost of the operation and determine the cost effectiveness to the community and to the person. They examine whether the joint replacement is worthwhile in terms of dollars spent and the increased quality life it gives the recipient. As it turns out joint replacement is an incredibly cost effective treatment, and gives people who are often completely disabled a new lease of life.
So in health, lots of energy is taken up with determining whether the cost of a procedure is worth the outcome. In today`s reading we are faced with a similar life changing question. What is the cost of following Jesus, and are we prepared to pay it?

It is interesting that we spent many weeks in John`s gospel working through the images Jesus provides of faith. Faith is not a set of rules but a way of life. Faith is not just head stuff but heart stuff. We have to take our faith out of the intellectual sphere where it sometimes gets stuck and move it into the sphere of the heart. And when we talk of heart we don`t mean that space in our body that pumps blood but the way it is meant in the bible, a point within us where our whole being is focused. The driving force of our faith is found in the heart and it is the heart that guides our life and our actions, our inward and outward journeys as we have heard previously. In the New Testament the ideal heart for humans is perfectly modelled in the heart of Jesus. So it is Jesus who gives us an idea of what this faith based life will cost.

In today`s reading from Mark we are confronted with poor Peter, another disciple who doesn`t get the message about Jesus and what his life and death really means. Jesus responds strongly, seemingly fed up with his blindness, and the words of Jesus that follow cut him down. We hear Jesus saying `For those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it`. This is not about another life somewhere else, or a life that is to come. The life that Jesus is talking about is the life here and now, about the kingdom of God as a present reality, one where love is paramount. Suddenly the gospel comes alive and the risk of following Jesus more real. No wonder Peter was confused, he wanted a king who would rule with power, not one who was going to die on a cross and call them to follow. Yet Jesus is very clear in this passage about what we are to sacrifice, we are to give away our old life in order to save it. It is a life changing moment for the disciples and for us, where everything we thought was of value isn`t and instead love and love for one another are the sole criteria by which things are measured. As listeners today, to lose one`s life in this context is to lose our old way of living, a way of comfort, conformity and consumerism which often is at odds with our faith, and which ultimately is meaningless. This is the life we lose when we follow our hearts and commit to Jesus.
But Jesus also knew from his experience that losing this old life and entering a new life of love wasn`t going to be easy, for himself and for his followers. And he doesn`t pull any punches when telling the disciples what is going to happen to him because of it. Suggesting that relationship is more important than winning, and love more important than power, and acting on these convictions, confronts everything that people thought was life giving, not only in the 1st century but also here in the 21st century. Jesus on the cross represents the result of this change in direction and emphasis. This is why the cross is such a powerful symbol. Jesus does not enter the game and then resort to the things he loathes when times get tough. On the contrary, he goes to his death faithful to the call of radical love and inclusiveness. As John Robinson says in his little book `Honest to God`, `Jesus is the man for others, the one in whom love has completely taken over, the one who is utterly open to and united with God, the ground of all being`.

So leaving behind our old life is hard. But Jesus does not only put forward the cost of discipleship but also the benefits. He asserts in the reading that, `those who lose their life for his sake will save it`. But how can that be? Does committing to our faith with every part of our being give us something in return, something that is worth the cost that Jesus and many of his followers paid. Something that balances the cost of being out of step with the society we live in, being thought crazy, stupid or anti modern. Something that offsets the economic cost because we are called to help the poor, the emotional cost because we are called to help the weak and marginalised, the time cost because we are called to be in community and support one another, and often the cost of our health because we may need to stand up and voice our concerns in places where our life may be threatened.

Many people would say the benefit of faith and discipleship is eternal life or life after death. Yet Jesus is far more radical and political than that. His benefits are for us personally and for us as a society and a world, and they are for now. But it is not something that you can tell people. Each person has to experience the benefits individually. To see and sense that the connection to God and to each other is life giving and life changing. And that this connection enables us to transcend the norms and expectations of society and lead a life full of purpose and meaning. A new life that is free of those things that control and belittle and marginalise all people, including ourselves. I believe that the more we love and the more we engage with our fellows the more we can sense this freedom that comes with God. And with this freedom we enjoy a fullness of life as Nev would say that is not comparable to anything money can buy. This is what Jesus was on about when responding to Peter, that the cost of discipleship is outweighed by the benefits it brings for all. And by hanging on to our old life we risk sacrificing this new life.

I have had these benefits of a faith based life reinforced recently after starting my new position here at Wembley Downs. For many, many years I have though endlessly about taking this step and going into some sort of ministry, but things always got in the way. Small children, work, mortgages, and other responsibilities seem to have prevented me from taking the leap. I thought so much about it, it seemed it would never go away, but I could never really picture myself doing it either. Then as we say, things changed, and circumstances have led me to be in active, albeit, small ministry here. It has been challenging because I still work at RPH, still have kids, although bigger, and still have a mortgage. However, it is in the doing that often things are revealed. For me I have found the practice of ministry has strengthened my faith, brought it from my head to my heart and connected the different aspects into a fulfilling whole. It would be very difficult to explain this feeling to others outside the church because ministry seems to be such a non-profession, you don`t produce anything, certainly don`t make any money and don`t have any power as defined by our society. Yet connecting with people, bringing forth the gospel and attempting to change our society so that all people can live more complete and full lives, even by doing small things, actually seems quite powerful.

And it is the doing of small things or whatever we can that is critical because we all have choices we can make. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who gave the ultimate sacrifice during WW2, said, `This transcendence we speak of consists not of tasks beyond our scope and power, but in the nearest person at hand`. So there is not a ranking of cost, so that the person who sacrifices all that they have including their life is ranked higher on the benefits scale. That is not what the reading is saying. Rather we are to live out our faith in a way that is consistent with the gospel of Jesus, so that every day and in each relationship love is at the centre. This will often have a cost because it is a call so different from society`s expectations, but we don`t start with the costs but with faith. And this faith can be alive and active regardless of age, stage or health status. I have seen this first hand after working for our church, having been astounded by the support given behind the scenes here for those in need, whether that need is emotional or physical Things that go on which people do without any thought of gain or recognition is amazing.

But it is not just to the faith community that we are called. We are also called to try to change things outside ourselves. Our society is at the crossroads and requires us to speak loudly, and act strongly against all the things that devalue and debase life, all life. It means engaging in programs and actions that promote peace over war, love over hate, that actively encourage inclusiveness and community and that attempt to protect and nurture our environment. We are called to do what we can, when we can. So let me give you an example of what you can do today.

Jeremy Gilley is a film maker, who in 1999, launched Peace One Day which is about to occur again next week. He had a mission, to establish the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence with a fixed calendar date. Amazingly, two years on, in 2001, he achieved his primary objective when the 192 member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the 21st September as an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence, calling it the UN International Day of Peace. By 2007, the UN estimated that over 100 million people from all walks of life actively supported Peace Day around the world, promoting and engaging in peace making activities, and other activities that encourage a united and sustainable world. Not just between nations but in our homes, communities and schools where we can all participate. Here in Perth there are plenty of ways of getting involved, including a free screening next Monday of the film called, The Day After Peace which charts Jeremy`s remarkable 10-year journey as part of the UWA spring extension.

Now you may think an international peace day is an empty gesture, and what difference does a day make. Well, we need to start somewhere, and where there is the will to do one day, maybe there is a will to do more. We are called to be among those people who see the vision and love it into being, even if it is a vision that seems completely mad and the cost too high. The cost to ourselves and to others of doing nothing is unfortunately even higher.

So we are all people of faith, we are all called to give away our old life of comfort and conformity for a life of love, to be agents for change so that lives can be lived in freedom and peace. Jesus has said if we do that we will save our life, perhaps we might even save our world. To me that seems a very cost effective exercise.