9 October 2006

We begin this week continuing with Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writing on "Discipleship."

So the call to discipleship is a commitment solely to the person of Jesus Christ, a breaking through all legalisms by the grace of him who calls. It is a gracious call, a gracious commandment. It is beyond enmity between law and gospel. Christ calls; the disciple follows. That is grace and commandment in one. "I walk joyfully, for I seek your command" (Psalm 119:45).

I like to use the language of a new reality. This call by the person of Jesus is a call to us to enter into the new reality that is "following Jesus" or discipleship. There are many other ways of living that pull us and demand our attention and attempt to convince us of their importance and necessity. And yet, when Jesus calls us to follow, everything about is is taken up and graciously lifted into a whole new way of living. I may remain a teacher or a business person, but I am a follower of Jesus. I will live within the joy and freedom of that reality as I teach and interact with others through the business I do. Following Jesus shapes our lives. It is not a path that has marks we must reach in order to follow...marks by which we are to be judged and scored along the way. Rather, the reality of following Jesus brings into all the events of our lives a vision that is shaped by the gracious call of Jesus. There is no coercion. There is no threat. This is invitation and then the one who invites goes before us showing us the way - we follow.

Connection: When Jesus goes before us, it is so that our going out into all that we do will have the flavor of his leading. Fresh in his tracks of doing the will of God, we continue on through the day within the realm of that same will. By following Jesus today, we stayed focused on the will that make this day a new reality.

When you lead us, O God, take us through this day and remind us of the many ways your Reign unfolds for us. Too often we do not look up and see that you go before us and therefore, our day does not reflect the new life you have promised for all your followers. Amen.