Welcome to Christ Episcopal Church

I was having a conversation with a colleague recently, who mentioned that he’d been “discipled” by his church in his youth. It was a striking moment that’s stuck with me. “Discipled” isn’t a word we tend to use in the Episcopal Church. We might talk about “formation” or “education” but being “discipled” is probably a foreign concept for most of us. The funny thing about that is that Jesus pretty explicit ly calls us to be disciples. The Gospel writers use the word “disciple” 233 times – and it’s almost always Jesus himself using the word. And while sometimes he uses “disciple” to describe The Twelve, the reality is, more often than not, Jesus applies it to all those who seek to learn from him. To follow him. Everyone from insiders like Peter, John, and James to that guy who heard Jesus once at the synagogue and thought he was amazing. Ultimately, being a disciple is to receive Jesus’ invitation to follow in his footsteps. To pattern our lives after the rabbi whose teaching strategy was to show others what to do, and then to do it with them, and then to send them out to do it on their own. As Christians, we can be members of a denomination and a church. We can do the important work that every organization needs. But without discipleship – without adopting a lifestyle that reflects the way of Jesus – we will never experience the transformation a life in Christ offers. Western Christian strategies for making disciples tend to be information-driven. If we just get exposed to the right information, or participate in the right events, we think, we’ll somehow be transformed.

But if there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last 50 years, it’s that learning about Jesus isn’t enough by itself. Like those disciples on the road to Emmaus to whom Jesus patiently explained how all the law and the prophets pointed to him, we only experience Jesus – we only become discipled – once we experience him. When we connect our faith and our daily life in the same way that breaking bread at the meal opened their eyes to Jesus’ presence among them. If we are to pattern our lives after Jesus’ then the heart of discipleship is service motivated by love. At the Last Supper, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet and tells them, “Go out and do the same thing. Make a pattern of doing this. And every time you do that, remember that I did it for you. This is how people are going to know you’re following me, because you’re going to love them the same way I love you.” Responding to Jesus’ invitation to discipleship calls us to know the stories of the Gospel, so that we can pattern our lives after his. It calls us to embrace the Good News: that the Kingdom of God is not some Blessings, thing that happens after we die, but is an alternative, abundant way of life that can be lived here and now. It calls us to connect the everyday activities of our life to the deeper realities of God’s overwhelming love for the world and all that’s in it. So follow Jesus in the power of the Spirit.

You will not be disappointed.

In Christ, Pastor Aaron Twait