As we move into Pride Month and the Summer season, I find myself thinking about the spiritual practice of discipleship. Granted, this is a ‘churchy’ word. It comes from Greek origin by way of Latin and means something akin to: a student or apprentice to a teacher or craftsperson. I really like the idea of being an apprentice to the craftsperson of all Creation. There is a purpose, dignity and organic wholeness conferred upon anyone who says ‘Yes’ to a life of daily listening and working with the Spirit in the ways of life-giving Love.
This can be the ‘Yes’ of a lifetime, what the Old Timers used to call a conversion experience. Through receiving Divine Love deep into our souls as Christ offers, we have the opportunity to become partners with the Holy Other in wonderful, life enhancing ways. And that, for me, is a key dimension of what we both celebrate and offer during Pridetide. Inclusivity is only the beginning, discipleship is the journey.
We have been called to be no less than an apprentice to the Creator, people who have decided to trust the Spirit of a loving God to instruct us beyond the limitations of our age into the extraordinary vision of a just and unitive existence in the Light of God. As the Gospel of John so beautifully put this premise in its prologue about the Creator in Christ:
“In the beginning God spoke. This is just like God – part of the way God is. Everything there is comes from God speaking; otherwise there would be nothing at all. God speaking brought into being the life and intelligence we all share. These have kept on shining like Light in the darkness and have never been defeated by the darkness.” (from Good as New: A Radical Retelling of the Scriptures. John Henson.)
May you apprentice with the Christ-Light within and without throughout this Pridetide and beyond. Pray to become disciples working with Divine Love to bless the world beyond our own limitations. We were born for no less than this, just as we are.