I do not come from a family of college-educated folks.  My parents did not go to college.  Neither did my grandparents.  My dad’s little sister went to college in Springfield for a year and one of my mother’s younger brothers went to Arkansas for a year.  I was the first in my family to attend college however my sister managed to graduate a year ahead of me.  She successfully navigated the 4-year route at University of Kansas while I took the 8-year route through Park College via the US Air Force.  My youngest brother also has a college degree.  The next generation of kids in our family – the majority of them all went to college and a couple of them have master’s degrees.  I am not sure that my sister and I were exactly trailblazers in the family, but we were firsts.

It takes people willing to be first at something for innovation to take place.  Someone has to lead the way.  They have to lay the foundation upon which others will build.  The first computer program was written long before machines were invented to perform the computations.  Charles Babbage is credited with this and Ada Lovelace, a student of Mr. Babbage, was the first to write a complex algorithm meant to be carried out by a machine.  That is one of thousands of examples of people who led the way into something new.

In the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke there is a moment when Jesus asks the disciples about his identity.  “Who do the people say that I am?”  The answer was the reincarnation of a past prophet or evangelist.  Then Jesus asks them who they say he is.  In Mark and Luke the answer is short – the messiah.  However, in Matthew, the writer expands Peter’s answer to “the messiah, the Son of the Living God.”  And then Jesus tells Peter that this was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit and that he will be the rock upon which Jesus will build the church.  Peter was established as the leader – the trailblazer.  But Peter was not the only leader – others would lead in the church and continue to do so.  That is because leadership is not a position.  Rather, it is an activity.  The implication is that anyone can lead at any time.

We are called to be leaders in sharing the Gospel.  This simply means that we see the possibilities and a new reality that has yet to emerge, the reality of God’s coming kingdom.  We preach the Good News of this and invite others to share in it.  We continue to build upon the foundation laid for us through Peter and the apostles, Paul and his companions, as well as church fathers and mothers.  We are the rock and God is continuing to build his church upon it.

I invite you to take time and read each of the scriptures above followed by reflection on the questions below.  Consider the ways in which God is inviting you to be part of the rock upon which God continues to build the church.  Lastly, I pray that God bless the reading of God’s Word and the meditations of your heart.