Disciples Are…

For the past year we have explored what it means to be called by God… a natural move is to now explore in great depth the outcome or result of God’s call, which is Discipleship.  The call we answer is to a specific form of Discipleship… as we are Disciples of Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ charge from God is to transform the world, to actualize God’s Kingdom (though the word ‘Kindom’ is perhaps a more understandable metaphor for Gospel-hearers in 21^st Century America), and thus our Discipleship is not an inwardly focused, individualized activity… but is focused on others… we are Disciples on behalf of the world!

November Theme: Disciples Are… Wise As Serpents, Innocent As Doves

Disciples of Jesus try to imitate the healthy ways he approached life and interacted with others… living with balance, and observing healthy boundaries with others… being both nurturing of others and nurtured by others; helping those he encountered make their own decisions, versus enabling destructive patterns of behavior; being content with what God called him to do, and content with the differing seasons of his life; being respectful of the personal integrity of others, yet always willing to stretch or break limits imposed by society that kept fellow humans from being all that God had created them to be.  Jesus implores his disciples to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10.16)… calling us to pay attention to the challenges of living a faithful and balanced life and protecting ourselves from those who would encourage a lesser way of living upon us… all the while being open to the gifts of others, open to the needs of others, and open to how God would have us serve them.