Having posted on Foundations I had intended more reflections on the third foundation, the foundation of the church. However, in working on that I realized that I need to work a great deal more on the 1st and 2nd foundations beforehand. Since that will take some time, and there are less than 2 weeks left on this sabbatical leave, I’ve turned my attention to the booklet I’ve been preparing on the Trinity Way of Life. Even that has gone in unexpected directions. The introduction has taken on a life of its own and I am posting it here to invite any comments and reflections.
How are you growing in your spiritual life?
- Rapidly?
- Moderately?
- Slow and steady?
- Contented?
- Stalled?
- Dissatisfied?
- Never even thought about the question?
It’s a question worth considering. Spiritual growth for Trinity Parish is the process of discovering God in the “tiniest infinite detail” of our lives. It means the realization that our lives have eternal purpose and that we can make a difference in our world when we connect with others on the Jesus road. Spiritual growth moves us from being a collection of individuals who may gather from time to time on a Sunday morning to being the Body of Christ – the coherent and conscious presence of Jesus in that part of our world where we live and work and play.
It is obvious that Jesus himself is central to our concept of spiritual growth. But how do we relate to Jesus? We can be an admirer as many of his followers were. That doesn’t get us very far on the Jesus road. But many of his admirer’s became disciples, a common enough word in religious jargon. The word in the New Testament that we translate as disciple simply means student. The significance of that word only becomes apparent when we look at what a student did in those days. Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, described it this way:
In other words, what makes you a disciple is not turning up from time to time. Discipleship may literally mean ‘being a student,’ in the strict Greek sense of the word, but it doesn’t mean turning up once a week for a course (or even a sermon). It’s not an intermittent state; it’s a relationship that continues. The truth is that, in the ancient world, being a ‘student’ was rather more like that than it is these days. If you said to a modern prospective student that the essence of being a student was to hang on your teacher’s every word, to follow in his or her steps, to sleep outside their door in order not to miss any pearls of wisdom falling from their lips, to watch how they conduct themselves at the table, how they conduct themselves in the street, you might not get a very warm response. But in the ancient world, it was rather more like that. To be the student of a teacher was to commit yourself to living in the same atmosphere and breathing the same air; there was nothing intermittent about it.[1]
For this reason, we use the term apprentice rather than disciple.
The Trinity Way of Life is our peculiar way of intentional spiritual growth, of being apprentices. We do this not for our own personal benefit alone, but that we continue becoming a congregation that gives blessing to our community and through whom God releases healing to the wounded and freedom to the captive.
[1] Williams, Rowan. Being Disciples p. 2
The Apprentice Priest 
Indeed. I like that term “apprentice.” I’ve also long appreciated Eugene Peterson’s phrase “a long obedience in the same direction.” (Though maybe it originated with Nietcsche?!)
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