It's Way Past Time To Reclaim Some Terms

One of the things I've learned over the years is how much heavy baggage words like "Christian" and "disciple" carry. Many of the people who I'd like to help find a vibrant faith in Jesus hear these words and the first image that comes to mind is not Thomas Merton's thoughtful writings, St. Teresa's passionate love for God or St. Francis' compassion.

Rather, it's Pat Robertson making scary pronouncements about assassination of foreign leaders, the followers of Fred Phelps choosing funerals as the time to savage families of loved ones who have died from AIDS, or protesters screaming at young women approaching abortion clinics around the country. It's men and women unwilling or unable to see complexity in life's issues but aggressive and smart enough to be politically organized (and thus, really frightening).

Given those images are the first to come up, no wonder so many otherwise thoughtful, kind people -- people searching for God -- hear the word "Christian" and immediately have a powerfully negative, almost allergic reaction. It's not until later, if at all, that they think of the many thoughtful, compassionate people who have called themselves Christians, the brilliant theologians and philosophers and those who have sacrificed so much (and still do) to create a more compassionate, loving world.

The same is true for the words "disciple" and "discipline." I've recently begun teaching that the purpose of the church is "to make disciples." This isn't my own creation, of course. It's simply what Matthew tells us Jesus commanded and promised. ("Go and make disciples of all nations...and I will be with you always." Matt 28:19-20) But do people ever get nervous when I use that phrase!

Again, I think it's because many of us associate a certain set of characteristics, or a certain kind of person -- certainly not one they want to be -- with the phrase "disciple" (or especially "disciple of Jesus Christ"). I've seen this happen. I have experienced it myself.

This is unfortunate and unnecessary. Those of us who would immediately say "of course" to the idea that to learn a new language or musical instrument (or any skill, for that matter) requires discipline suddenly freeze up when the idea surfaces of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. "No thanks," we say in the first case. "I don't want to be like them." And because we freeze up, we deny ourselves important resources for improving our lives. It's even true that our natural resistance to following Jesus' teachings can use this objection as camouflage.

The evidence of countless people over the centuries -- people in every imaginable spiritual and/or religious path tells us that all spiritual growth involves discipline. If we're unwilling to practice prayer, study, service and worship, we're simply not going to have much of a relationship with God -- however we understand God.

If we allow others to define what these words mean for us, or allow subconscious resistance to throw up a smokescreen, we will be spiritually poorer as a result. And we forget that the great figures that do inspire us -- the Martin Luther Kings or Gandhis of the world, for instance -- had powerful, lifelong disciplines of spiritual practice.

The outcome of our automatic rejection of the word "disciple" is bad for the individual, and it's bad for the church. It keeps people who would really benefit from regular, yes, disciplined, Christian practices from taking advantage of language that is powerful, and meaningful, and helpful for creating the kind of vibrant faith that the word "discipline" implies. But it's also unhealthy for the church. If thoughtful, kind, tolerant, flexible and open people are unwilling to take on these disciplines, who will be left?