Month: December 2013

Apprentice?

I’ve been ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church for 35 years this December 17.  So why am I still an apprentice? The term refers to someone who studies under an expert until she or he masters a craft. But the apprentice relationship conveys not only the acquisition of a skill set. An apprentice also learns character from the master. And in fact, the term apprentice as it was chosen for these reflections does not refer to ordained ministry, but to my fundamental relationship with Jesus the Messiah.

I picked up the term apprenticeship from the late Dallas Willard. He was using it as an alternative to the more common term discipleship. Discipleship is particularly common in Christian jargon, though its meaning is by no means clear. Willard referred to the role of an apprentice learning character from the master, not just studying the master’s techniques and teachings. Yet one thought fought its way to the forefront of my consciousness. One can be a disciple of almost anyone, living or dead. All the master need to is leave some teaching behind; or in the case of Socrates, have a student who makes a record of the teaching.

But apprenticeship is different. While you can be a disciple of anyone, you can only apprentice yourself to someone living, someone with whom you communicate. Being an apprentice of Jesus implies a lot of things that many Christians are not that sure of.

Loose threads

Somewhere along the line, fairly early on, I lost the thread. The thread in question was what moved me towards seeking ordination. It was a desire to see Christians get rooted deeply in their faith, to know what they believed and why they believed. It was, at the time, all head stuff. Christ-like character didn’t come into it which was just as well as my character was about as non-Christ-like as they came. OK, I was 18 at the time so maybe there’s some excuse for that moment. But not for the years of moments that followed.

 

It’s 42 years on from that day. According to the late Douglas Adams, “42” is the answer to life, the universe and everything. Of course, in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the problem was they didn’t really know what the question was. It’s a question I’ve stopped asking. Instead, after 42 years I’ve found myself on a journey with Jesus. I’m not sure where it’s going, but it is filled with surprises, big and little. Maybe something of what I’m experiencing may be of help to others who’ve lost the thread, or at least know that there is a thread to be found.

 

I’ll be sharing (rather irregularly if past history is any indicator) some of the adventure on this blog. And not just the stuff in the past. This is a daily adventure. Parts of it are satisfying, parts exhilarating, parts are discouraging – but all of it is fun.