His name was Lem, and he was a musician.

He was a musician,

who had spent a good deal of his life playing the saxophone in a jazz band. He was good at playing the sax and he enjoyed his life.

His home was the bus and his family was the band.

Every week he would visit a different town and play in a different venue.

One day the band in their bus home pulled into a small, quaint little town to fuel up.

When Lem stepped out of the bus, he looked up and noticed that the sky was a deep blue and the air was filled with a joyous life.

The sidewalks were full of children running and playing.

Lem noticed that this town was different than the many others that he had played in.

This was a town that had a certain appeal to it; it was a town that somebody like himself could settle down in.

It was a town that could provide an opportunity for a traveling musician to start a new life.

So Lem told the band goodbye and stayed.

He traded in his saxophone for a broom and began his new life working at the local general store.

Instead of band mates that made up his family, he now had eleven boys that he gave candy to when they came into the store.

Lem grew found of the boys that came into the store and he liked all of the children in that small, quaint town.

So when a group of people in the town decided to hold a town meeting about keeping the boys that came into the store, from bothering people and to keep them out of trouble, Lem went.

At the meeting, people were very upset and concerned. Some wanted the best for the boys and others didn’t care about the boys and just wanted them out of the way.

People were giving suggestions on what could be done and others would fire back the reasons why it couldn’t be done.

And in all the fuss, Lem stood up and suggested that the Boy Scouts might be a good thing for the boys.

The meeting hall became quiet and then a few snickers from a couple of people in the back broke the silence.

The leaders of the meeting quickly told Lem that the Boy Scouts was a good idea and that it had been brought up in the past, but nobody wanted to be the Scoutmaster.

But Lem stood up and volunteered himself for the job of Scoutmaster; and just like that; the boys had something to do.

A few weeks later, the entire town filled the sidewalks to see the boys off on their very first hike and camping trip.

There were eleven boys of all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life, clumsily following behind Lem, with one boy blowing on a trumpet.

As they were marching, the boys asked if Lem knew a song to sing as they walked.

Lem thought for a moment and remember a song that Sgt. Carter used to sing when Lem was in the Army.

So Lem began to sing ‘Sgt. Carter said there’s a fight to win, Follow me boys, Follow me.’ And that became their song, follow me boys, follow me.

After they had hiked about four miles outside of town they came up on a rundown shack that was just off of the road.

As they walked past it, the boy in the back who carried the trumpet was hit in the back with a rock.

They all turned around to see sandy-haired boy wearing a dirty t-shirt holding a sling shot in his hand.

His name was Whitey, the boys all new him as a trouble maker, the son of the town drunk.

He was shunned by the other boys his age and the townspeople ignored him, just like they ignored his father.

Trying to keep the peace, Lem invited Whitey to join them on their trip, but Whitey just kicked the dirt and walked away.

As Lem and the boys marched on, Whitey sat on the porch of that old shack, and watched them; and when they couldn’t see him anymore, he started to follow them.

When Lem and the troop came up on their campsite, they had to build shelter for the night. With the boys being Boy Scouts for one day, and Lem being a Scoutmaster for only one day; building a shelter proved to be quite a problem.

They were struggling to build make shift tents and shelter. As soon as they would put up one side, the other side would fall down; and to make matters worse, as they were attempting to build their home for the night; laughter was coming from the edge of the woods.

They looked up to see Whitey and his dog laughing at them from old stump.

Once again, trying to keep peace between the boys, Lem asked if Whitey, since he seemed to know so much about making tents, if he would help them.

And Whitey did. And after he helped them build the tents, he slept in one that night, and stayed on as a Boy Scout.

And Whitey too, marched as Lem sang ‘Follow me boys, follow me’.

From that day on, the group of 12 boys including Whitey grew. The fellowship that existed between the boys and between Whitey brought them together each week. The group brought in boys who were rich, who were poor, who were smart, who weren’t so smart, the athletic, the non-athletic; the wanted and the unwanted, like Whitey.

The bond was so tight between Lem and his troop that when Whitey’s father, the town drunk died; Lem adopted him as his son.

The boy who was despised by everyone, had finally come home.

The lessons that the boys had learned in Lem’s Boy Scout troop and the fellowship that they had enjoyed, and the new life they gained as their leader sang ‘Follow me boys’ would stay with them forever.

Years later, the boy that carried the trumpet became governor and Whitey, the rock throwing, sandy haired kid, who became the son of Lem, was now a doctor.

Even though what I just told you came from the movie ‘Follow Me, Boys’ that starred Fred McMurray years ago, the story didn’t come from Hollywood.

In fact, the story that I just told you is 2000 years old. But it really isn’t an old story at all, it’s a reality that we live every single day.

It’s a reality that welcomes us into the Kingdom of Heaven and counts us as a child of God.

Saint Mark tells us of a tax collector; the most despised person 2000 years ago. Everybody hated the tax collectors because they were notorious for collecting not just a government tax, but a tax for themselves.

No one knew how much tax they would have to pay each time the collector came around.

So he was despised, ostracized, and hated; and thus was the life of the tax collector.

Matthew was such a man. A tax collector for Herod. Jesus found him sitting at the tax booth near the shore of Galilee.

Jesus approached this hated man, searched his heart, and told him to follow me.

The Son of God, offered a new chance for this hated man. He offered acceptance and hope to this man who had never before know what it meant like to be accepted or feel hope.

Now this is where the story no longer becomes a story but a reality.

When we look at ourselves, when we truly look at ourselves, we realize that we are no different than Matthew.

We may not collect tax or hold some other hated position, but we are like Matthew in the fact we know what it feels like to be without hope and acceptance.

We know what Matthew went through, sitting by ourselves as people walk by avoiding us.

We know what it feels like to be like Whitey; with our only comfort being rocks that we throw at other people.

Our rocks may be words, thoughts, or our actions that we throw to hurt people, trying to find comfort in our isolation.

We may be isolated on the outside or our isolation may come from the inside;

We may distance ourselves from other people; smiling on the outside but crying out on the inside.

We may sit alone and wonder if we will ever find a way out of this isolation; if there will ever be a time when we will find a place where we will truly be accepted.

Will there ever be hope; will there ever be a reason to look up and smile at the sky?

When will that time come?

Jesus looked at Matthew and said, ‘Follow me’.

From that moment, Matthew had found the answers to his questions.

The question of where he could find acceptance and where hope springs forth, the question of where he can find a life better than the one he was living was answered in those two words; follow me.

Whitey and the other eleven boys found a new life of hope and acceptance, where they were given the tools to be successful in their lives, when they responded to the words ‘follow me’.

They found a place that loved them no matter what home they came from or what they did or how much money had.

There they found life, and Whitey even found a home.

The offer to ‘follow me’ is given to us as well. And when we follow Jesus, we are lead not only to hope of eternal life in Heaven, but we are lead to the hope of life here on earth.

When we follow Christ; truly follow Christ. When we listen to his words that spoke to his disciples and speak to us now; we find all that we need to look up and smile at the sky.

When we read the Gospels, we find a hope that is given to all of us.

We find a God that freely adopts us into his kingdom.

We find all of this when we respond to those two words; ‘follow me’.

And just as Whitey became a doctor to heal others and Saint Matthew became an apostle, teaching and preaching to the world about Christ, we too are called to lead others to respond to Christ’s ‘follow me’ offer.

Because in the freedom that we find, in the acceptance in which we live and in the hope which sustains us, by following Christ, we are called to share it with one another, not only in words; because to follow Christ is not only a decision, but it’s a lifestyle.

We are called to show others the way by loving them; by example; by showing them acceptance, by offering them hope.

Saint Matthew gave up his life collecting tax; and in doing so he found acceptance and hope we he answered the call.

Whitey gave up his life of throwing rocks to become a doctor and be a son; we he answered the call.

We can give up our life that has been without hope and acceptance; we can give up our life that has been to difficult to bear; and we can embrace a new life, when we embrace the call of Christ.

Follow me, follow me.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.