Discipleship is easy, if you do it wrong

"And then from the moment they met Jesus, they did exactly as he expected and never failed him..."

I think that's the way most of us in the clergy expect the gospels to end. Jesus calls his disciples, they meet him and they walk off into the sunset because the disciples have been instantly changed into little Christs.

But somehow, this is never the way it works in my church. And it wasn't the way it worked for me. It sure would be nice if it did.

I could just point my finger and, bam!, she no longer worries, he no longer offers excuses, she immediately follows through more and he suddenly cares about his spiritual life.

But, for some reason, it never works out that way.

I think we have settled for an already assembled version of spirituality when the bible teaches a certain level of "do it yourself." Most of us pull into church, order an increase in discipleship, and then drive off, ready to reap the rewards. But the way I see discipleship in the bible, it took the best (Jesus, in case you didn't know) 3+ years to form these vapid fishermen into some semblance of a church.

And most of the time I expect serious improvement next week.

The real tragedy of this line of thinking, is that most often it comes from a clergy who think we are already "spiritually formed." But the fact is, true discipleship demands that both the one being discipled and the one doing the discipling are constantly in motion, constantly examining their own relationship to God, constantly seeking more in themselves.

Hopefully I can remember these two things better, 1. I need to change as much as anyone else, 2. Real change takes days, weeks, months, even years.