“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Ephesians 5:1-2
“We are also united in our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord that have and will be made known to us.”
United Church of Acworth Faith and Covenant
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The Tourist
“there is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue...”
“religion in our time has been captured by the tourist mindset. religion is understood as a visit to an attractive site to be made when we have adequate leisure.... we go to see a new personality, to hear a new truth, to get a new experience and so somehow expand our otherwise humdrum lives.”
we have in the words of Gore Vidal, “passion for the immediate and the casual.”
people want religious “shortcuts”
“the Christian life cannot mature under such conditions and in such ways.”
The Pilgrim
a long obedience in the same direction --
“The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is… that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.” -- Nietzsche
“We are also united in our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord that have and will be made known to us.”
disciple - “we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master -- Jesus Christ. We are in a growing-learning relationship, always. A disciple is a learner, but not in the academic setting of a schoolroom, rather at the work site of a craftsman. We do not acquire information about God, but skills in faith.”
pilgrim - “tells us we are people who spend our lives going someplace, going to God, and whose path for getting there is the way, Jesus Christ. We realize that “this world is not my home” and set out for “the Father’s house.” Abraham, who “went out,” is our archetype. Jesus, answering Thomas’s question “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?” gives us directions: “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me” (Jn 14:5-6). the letter to the Hebrews defines our program: “Do you see what this means -- all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running -- and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in”
(Hebrews 12:1-2)
pilgrim, disciple are imitators of God, revealed in Jesus Christ -- the life of self-giving love. this means awkwardness, this means difficulty, this means confronting personal demons of selfishness, anger, hatred, resentment and learning from the forgiveness and love of God -- hard work.
But to become
long term
hardship
destination
commitment to the path
aka the disciple, one who is trained, who learns the craft,
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” -- St. Paul
“imitators of God” -- the greek word translated imitation here would bring to mind in the reader, the hard work of learning wisdom from a master. like learning an art by imitating an artist.
[quotes that aren't from scripture are from Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, 2nd Ed. (Downer's Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2000).]
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