“What does discipleship look like?’’ This was a question we were asked again and again in theology studies. What does it look like? How do disciples act in the world? How does one show that he or she is a follower of Christ?
We can always look to the communion of saints and learn from them to some degree but not completely because we live in our own specific time and specific context and every life is different. What does discipleship look like in our world today?
I believe that one of the besetting sins of our day is a desire to escape the human condition and we see this manifested in so many ways. The recent horrific legislation passed in New York and Virginia – which basically gives a wink and nod to infanticide – is a bitter refusal of the reality of the gift of life. The abuse of drugs and opioids so prevalent in our society has at heart a desire to escape our human condition – its limits and its sufferings. The tendency to live more in the virtual reality of our iPhone than in the reality of our life seems a very common mode of escape. The confusion regarding gender identity that contains within it a denial of the role that our physical body itself plays in our identity. It is as if the body and the material does not really matter…
This desire to escape the human condition has even entered our Christian understanding. I will confess a pet peeve that I have and it regards a comment often said at the death of a loved one. I understand that the intent of the comment is to comfort and I have even said it myself but it is incorrect. Sometimes, in order to comfort, people might say upon a person’s death, “heaven now has a new angel.” No, heaven does not have a new angel. Angels are a different class of being. Angels are pure spirit. We do not become angels upon our deaths. How do we know this? Because Christ did not come back as an angel upon his resurrection! His was a resurrected body and he specifically points this out in his resurrection appearances. “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Lk. 24: 39) Our true identity is not solely spirit. Our true identity as human creatures is body, mind and spirit. This is the fullness of who we are and it is this fullness that will be raised on the great day of resurrection! We proclaim this every Sunday when we proclaim the creed. This temptation to over spiritualize our human nature finds root in numerous spiritualities and approaches to faith that denigrate the body and the material in favor of a view of the spiritual that does not seriously take account of the incarnation – that God became flesh and himself entered into the human condition.
In a world and a time so intent on trying to escape the human condition in so many ways what does discipleship look like? How are we to live as Christians? It is incarnational. It accepts the human condition and it recognizes that it is within our very human condition with all of its limits that we find a privileged place of encounter with Christ our Lord who is the Word made flesh.
Having a faith that is incarnational is neither a turning away from the path of discipleship nor a failure to strive after that which is better, but rather the opposite. It is learning to be amazed, just as Peter was, with how Christ is able to encounter us within the very limits of our human condition. “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” But Christ does not depart. He remains and it is in that ongoing encounter with Christ within the limits of his human condition that Peter is healed and is even made a fisher of men but Peter never escapes his human condition. He does not need to because Christ – the Lord of Life – is there. The disciple must always be where the Master is.
What does discipleship look like today? It must be unabashedly incarnational – not wanting to escape the human condition but willing to encounter Christ within the very limits of our human condition.
Earlier this week a priest at our diocesan priest study days in Gatlinburg shared what I thought was a powerful image of a faith that is incarnational. If you have ever been to Notre Dame Church in Greeneville, TN you know that the church sits at the top of a rise and that to get to the church you must ascend a pretty long driveway. A member of that church community had been trying for quite some time to get pregnant. She finally was able to get pregnant and one day in her gratitude to God for her pregnancy she dropped down on her knees at the bottom of the drive and crawled all the way up the drive on her knees and into the church to the altar as a show of gratitude for the blessing God had given her. That is an incarnational faith. That is what discipleship looks like.
I go to the YMCA to exercise and for anyone who has been there you know that once you enter the building and head down the main hall there is a lounge area on the left and on a table in this room there is always a puzzle being worked on. I have begun the practice of spending three to five minutes at this puzzle after I exercise and before I leave. My goal is to try to get at least one piece of the puzzle in place. (The last time I was there I got three pieces in … I was quite proud of myself!) I could easily spend hours at this table because I like puzzles but I am learning that there is something good about limiting myself to just one or a few pieces at a time and also seeing how the puzzle comes together as other people also work on it.
You may have noticed that Seth who oversees our parish maintenance has placed the animals in the stable scene outside in front of our church. I appreciated this as the day after he put the figures out I came across this quote from the author Evelyn Underhill,
As some of you know I recently went to Yellowstone National Park and led a retreat there. Before and after the retreat I had free days so I took advantage of those days and went on some hikes. The first day going in I stopped at the ranger station just to check on things and make sure there were no concerns about the trails I was considering. The ranger suggested that I download the Yellowstone Park app as it would be a help to me. I took his advice and downloaded the app. It was a great help. What they have done at Yellowstone (and I am not sure if this is at other parks or not) is that they have mapped out every trail in the park on this app. Not only that, but when you go out on the trail you take your phone with you, switch it to airplane mode so that it is not continually searching for coverage and draining your battery and with GPS the phone shows you via a little dot on the screen exactly where you are at on the trail. One phone in the vast expanse of Yellowstone communicating with some satellite in the sky telling you exactly where you are at and which way to turn when the trail splits. I just find that level of technology, connection and focus amazing!
A joke – an elderly couple were visiting the county fair. While wandering around they noticed that helicopter rides were being offered for fifty dollars. The wife turned to the husband and excitedly said, “Let’s go on a helicopter ride!” The old man just shook his head and replied, “Honey, that’s a lot of money. Fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” and they walked off. The next year the same couple was back at the fair and again helicopter rides were being offered for fifty dollars. The woman wanted to go for a ride but again her husband just shook his head and said, “Sorry, fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” The woman sighed and the old couple walked off. The next year, they were again back at the fair and again helicopter rides were being offered. Again the wife asked her husband to go up on a ride but again the man answered “Fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” This time though the pilot was nearby and overheard their conversation. He stopped the couple and said, “Listen, I will make you a deal. I will take you up and give you the best and most thrilling helicopter ride of your lives and if I hear not a single thing from you – no words, no laughing, no exclamations – your ride will be free!” The old man – always quick to get something for nothing – immediately said yes and up the three went in the helicopter! The pilot was true to his word – it was the best and most thrilling helicopter ride! The day was beautiful and you could see for miles! The pilot, to add a little excitement (and try to get some sound out of the two) even steeply banked the helicopter one way and then the other way throughout the ride. The pilot was amazed though because throughout the whole ride he heard not one sound from the elderly couple. Finally, after landing he turned around and realized that the old man was not in the helicopter. “Where is your husband?” he asked the woman. “Oh, he fell out about thirty minutes ago.” Shocked, the pilot asked, “Why didn’t you say something?!”. “Well,” she said, “fifty dollars is fifty dollars!”
I have been ordained for twenty-three years now and my entire priesthood has been lived under the shadow of the clergy abuse scandal. It began when I was in seminary in Chicago. I remember spending the days in prayer, class and formation for priesthood and then watching the six o’clock evening news as the latest wave of the scandal broke. Talk about a disconnect! But seminaries (by their nature) exist in a bubble. After ordination there was the news from Boston and other parts of the country but that was “out there” – still somewhat removed. It all came crashing home when the bishop who ordained me was accused of abuse and admitted to this abuse. He spent the remainder of his days praying and working in the laundry room of a monastery. A priest from my diocese (former pastor to the parish to which I now serve) was arrested and is currently in prison for abusing a child. A priest classmate was removed from ministry for inappropriate contact with a minor. And now it is all stirred up again with the recent report from Pennsylvania. My whole priesthood and the priesthood of now at least a couple of generations of priests has been lived under the shadow of this scandal.
Mary Lou was a woman I came to know in a previous assignment. She has since passed away. May she rest in peace. Mary Lou was one of those people who had the gift and (I think) the discipline of hospitality. Whether she was receiving one guest for a simple visit or a party of fifteen for a dinner, she knew how to welcome people, put them at ease and (in a good sense, never overbearing) see that their needs were met. I think that she saw hospitality as a holy act – a way of discovering and acknowledging the good in the other person. When you left Mary Lou’s house you were nourished on a multitude of levels.
(This homily is geared toward our parish “Growing in Faith Day”. It focuses on the gifts of community, faith and the Eucharist.)
On this Sunday we are given an invitation. After the feeding of the multitude and our Lord withdrawing for some solitude we are told that the crowds in today’s gospel (Jn. 6:24-35) come in search of Jesus but their intent is not the most sincere and our Lord is aware of this. “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”
For a couple of weeks now I have been leading a weekly discussion group on Pope Francis’ recent Apostolic Exhortation “Rejoice and Be Glad”. In this exhortation, the Holy Father is encouraging every member of the Church to recognize and embrace his or her own unique call to holiness. The exhortation is a wonderful document and, I believe, it shows forth Pope Francis’ training as a retreat director steeped in the Ignatian practice of discernment.
The Alternate Path 