It means to be a follower. There is a motor cycle club of that name. It is the designation of three discernable groups in the New Testament who surrounded Jesus. There is a generic designation to all those who followed Jesus. There are the 70 who were 'sent out'. There was the Blessed Dozen, starring with Jesus in a great Leonardo Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper.
It's who we are as we grow for a lifetime in the tutelage of Jesus Christ. When we give our lives to Him, we have entered officially into that covenant of disciple and Rabbi, student and Master, learner and teacher, guided and mentor, those who want to live life as it ought to be lived and the one who has actually done so, by the power of the Living God. To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus. Everything that we learn, from what book has the hymns in it the first time we come to worship, to the stories from the Scripture, to figuring out how to run a bake sale, to recognizing and surrendering sinful practices in our lives, those are all in the Syllabus of "Being a Disciple."
Discipleship follows and grows out of Worship. In Worship, we have stepped into the Light of Jesus. In Discipleship, we step back out and start the process of allowing the Holy Spirit to mold us into reflectors of that light, witnesses of the triumph, evangelizers of a world that needs the healing power of Jesus so badly.
A couple of other 'ships' follow on to Discipleship. I'm thinking of Fellowship and Stewardship. Fellowship is the deliberate mingling and befriending of the others in our Neighborhood of faith. It beings with the passing of peace in church, where we, in an act of worship, reach out to wish the peace of Christ to the rest of our "pew-mates". It continues into larger events, usually involving food, that the church prefers. It may include social contact outside the church 'sphere', sharing time, sharing interests, striking up friendships among the congregation members. We do this to build the neighborhood, to build our contacts in that neighborhood, we do it to create around ourselves a support network of the faithful, recognizing, at the very least, that we are not alone.
Stewardship touches on the Great Idol of our time. Yes, we are created to be stewards of our time and talents to God's service, but the Elephant in the pew is the piece about money. You are a disciple of Jesus? You are growing in the neighborhood you are in? Are you supporting that neighborhood, that church, with your pledges and offerings? Do you truly turn from spending habits on your own life to realizing that if you give 1%, 2%, 5%, 10%, God is letting you keep 99%, 98%, 95%, 90%? Or are you uncomfortable with the thought that what we give is a measure of our discipleship of Jesus?
The other 'ship' in Discipleship is "Education-ship". Yah, it doesn't quite fit, but it is the learning component, learning what Scripture says, learning what the church teaches, learning the history we have (so we are not doomed to repeat our mistakes). Maybe 'intern-ship' or 'apprentice-ship' doesn't sound quite so awkward as we keep hammering this metaphor.
But all of it is about becoming more like Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment