Connect

Come Follow Me - Week Two

February 22, 2026 0 0

 

Come follow me, a way through the wilderness — Direction

 

Week beginning Sunday 22 February.

 

Introduction:

This week we explore finding a ‘way through’ the wilderness when the path feels lost. We take our folding table out into the wilderness whether that be desert, wild moor, raging seas or a commercial wasteland where real life has been choked out in the name of profit. As we do we follow the way-maker — the truth, the life — Jesus! 

 

Seeds to sow:

What does the word ‘wilderness’ mean to you?

 

Part 1 The Voice in the Wild — John 1: 19–34

John the Baptist identifies himself not by his name, but by his location and his purpose. He is the "voice crying out in the wilderness."

  • When the authorities ask John "Who are you?", he defines himself solely in relation to Jesus. In the "wilderness" moments of your own life — when titles or roles are stripped away — how do you describe who you are?
     
  • John tells the crowd, "Among you stands one you do not know." Why is it often harder to recognise Jesus when he is standing right next to us in the ordinary "wilderness" than when we are looking for him in a miracle?
     
  • John points to Jesus as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." If we imagine this stone table in the wilderness, how does the image of the Lamb change the way we view our own hardships and burdens?

 

Part 2 The Way-Maker — Romans 5: 12–19

“Midway upon the journey of our life / I found myself within a forest dark / For the straightforward pathway had been lost…” are the famous words that begin Dante’s Divine Comedy. It describes the beginning of a fantastical journey but it also resonates with the much more mundane: ‘midlife crisis’ and apprehension about mortality.

Paul explores how one man (Adam) brought us into the "dark forest," and how one man (Jesus) carves the way out. This is the theology of the "Straightforward Pathway" being restored.

  • Paul describes a world where "death exercised dominion." Have you ever felt like you were wandering in Dante’s "dark forest," where the path was lost not by your choice, but simply because of the broken state of the world?
     
  • Verse 17 speaks of the "abundance of grace" and the "free gift of righteousness." At a rough stone table, we usually expect meagre rations. How does the "abundance" Paul describes change your expectations of what God provides in the middle of a spiritual desert?
     
  • Just as one turning point can lead us into the woods, one act of obedience (Jesus on the cross) leads us out. What is one "small act of obedience" you feel called to this week that might help clear a path for yourself or someone else?

 

Part 3 Charting a New Sea — Matthew 4: 18–22

Jesus calls the first disciples away from the familiar waters of Galilee to "chart a new kind of sea."

  • The Immediate Leave-Taking: Peter and Andrew leave their nets immediately. What are the "nets" (habits, securities, or fears) that keep you tethered to the shore, preventing you from following Jesus into deeper, unknown waters?
     
  • Leaving the Father: James and John leave not just their nets, but their father in the boat. Following Jesus often requires us to reorder our most important relationships. What has been the most challenging "goodbye" you’ve had to say in order to keep your "yes" to God?
     
  • The New Vocation: Jesus doesn’t tell them to stop being who they are; he tells them he will make them "fishers of people." How is God currently taking your natural gifts and ‘re-charting’ them for a new purpose in this Lenten season?