The Rev. Rob Courtney & Mtr. Liz Embler-BeazleyFr. Rob & Mtr. Liz are the fabulous clergy at St. Paul's Episcopal Church & School We are screening the first season of The Chosen during this Season after the Epiphany. On Jan. 18 a group of us gathered to watch the third episode, "Jesus Loves The Little Children."
**SPOILERS BELOW** While "Murphy's Law" wasn't done with us yet, Fr. Rob found a creative solution to make the sound much easier to hear. Don't worry! The projector and sound system connection issue will be fixed soon and it certainly does not interfere with the great discussions we've come to know and love with this class. And this episode was the shortest we've watched so far, clocking in at 30:29 minutes, so we had ample time for discussion. This week, the third episode shifts from focusing on the people around Jesus, those who he will call to follow him and be his disciples, and centers on Jesus and a group of children. The episode opens with a young girl and her doll wandering around a campsite, playing with the tools and food she finds, and quickly sneaking away when she hears the camp's occupant approaching. We the viewers clearly recognize the occupant as Jesus, though the young girl has no idea who he is and runs away. The next day, she brings her young friend Joshua, and Jesus speaks to them, inviting them to eat and ask questions of him. The next day, Abigail and Joshua bring a whole group of their friends and they all descend upon Jesus's camp asking him questions, helping him in his work, and learning from him. And woven throughout this episode are shots of Jesus alone at his camp, praying to and seeming to have intense discussions with God. Watching the children come and be wholly welcomed by Jesus made this episode the favorite of several viewers. His interactions with them are kind, patient, and supportive, which is exactly what many of us would expect from a man who tells the crowds "Allow the children to come to me...because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children." (Matthew 19:14 CEB) And it is through his patient answering of questions that we begin to see Jesus's future ministry of leading and teaching the disciples take form. One of the children asks Jesus, "What is your favorite food?" And there was some laughter from the viewers, when the Bread of Life responded, "I love bread!" Another child brings to Jesus the issue of fighting with his friend at school, and Jesus counsels him to be kind and peaceful - blessed are the peacemakers. As Jesus and the children pose questions back and forth, one hand keeps raising above the others. Abigail, a headstrong and assertive young girl, knows all the answers and is eager to answer them. In a culture that did not educate girls in the temple, Jesus encourages her and lifts up her among her peers as someone to emulate. At the end of the episode, Jesus leaves the campsite without saying good bye to the children. Abigail alone goes back to the campsite and finds gift that Jesus left for her, a little house with two horses, a ladder, and a note that says "Abigail, I know you can read. You are very special. This is for you. I did not only come for the wealthy." While there was very little in this episode that was scriptural, our group spent a good bit of time reflecting on how this episode imagines how Jesus prepared for his public ministry. Like we hear in scripture, he goes away to a quiet place to pray and commune with God. And while he is there, a group of children help him articulate the teachings that he will later share with the disciples and the crowds who follow him. We hear him quote from the Hebrew scriptures, especially from Isaiah 61:1-2 "The spirit of the Lord is upon me..." and seems to tear up when he asks them to recite the Shema. In every interaction with this group of children, he is lovingly teaching and encouraging them, helping them to feel valued and cared for. Isn't this how all of us want to feel when we approach Jesus? Was it meaningful for you to watch Jesus interact with children in this way? Have you ever imagined how Jesus prepared to begin his public ministry? Does seeing this relational side of Jesus expand your perspective of our Lord and Savoir? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and let's have a conversation! Next Wednesday, we'll be back for episode 4. Maybe you can join us! Learn more about our Wednesdays at Church (W@tCh) program here. Hope to see you!
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The Rev. Rob CourtneyFr. Rob is the Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church & School "What is a disciple?" Maybe that's an easy one for you, but if you're like a lot of people I bet you have to stop and think for a second before you give an answer. One answer might be that "a disciple is one of the original followers of Jesus. Guys like Peter, James, and John." That's true, but there's more to it than that. Aren't there still disciples today, or is the term frozen in time with those 12? And have you ever thought of yourself as disciple? That's right! If you are a baptized Christian, then you are a disciple. "You are a disciple." I find some people can't really think of themselves as disciple for a couple of reasons. First, we tend to put the disciples--the original 12--on a pedestal. Since they're up there on that pedestal it's hard to imagine ourselves being on the same footing as them. I get it, but here's what you've got to do: Take the original 12 disciples off of the pedestal They were, after all, just people! Yes, I get that we call them saints--Saint Matthew, Saint Peter, Saint John, etc. Regardless of this, they still were just people, and messy people at that. Saint Peter, for example, was an uneducated fisherman. Throughout the gospels he's shown as impulsive, cowardly, on one occasion violent, and sometimes just flat out wrong. Again, he was just a person and people are messy. You know who else is a people? You. And you're not perfect. And that's okay. The good news is about grace for imperfect people. Lord knows the original 12 disciples were imperfect. Jesus knew this, and he picked them anyway! Seek to emulate their better moments, venerate them as saints, but take them off of the pedestal that makes discipleship unattainable. Here's something else you have to do to recover this idea of being a disciple: Remember that the word disciple means student That's it. That's what it means. Disciples are students. All those 12 guys (and the many other referred to as disciples in the gospel stories) were learners. They had placed themselves under the instruction of a teacher, and they were learning. When we frame ourselves as learners then it becomes much easier to allow ourselves to make some mistakes--which, as we've already seen, is what disciples seem to do best! It's what students do. When we are students of something one of the main ways we learn is by failing. Grace, again, is the operative word here. Jesus, our teacher, never ceases to be our teacher. We will always be learning from him. He's a loving teacher, too, and offers us the room and the grace to fall, and reaches out to help us get up for the next challenge. Okay, so we're recovering the idea of our own discipleship by taking "the disciples" off their pedestals, and letting them stand on level ground with us. We're remembering that it means "student," and looking at ourselves as learners. The last thing is this: Remember that Christian disciples never. Stop. Learning. Over the years I've seen many, many Christians, especially as we grow older, begin to believe they do not have anything else to learn. Maybe that's one of the problems with the word student. Our school at St. Paul's is filled with students. They are all the kids. The adults are the teachers. But even those adult teachers don't know it all. They have to earn continuing education units. It's expected that they will continue to grow in their craft. Life is also like this. There is always more to learn in life, and the same is true of the Christian life. As one of my mentors used to say, "There are no spiritual blackbelts." Not even your clergy. I wear a literal black belt, but that's just because it matches the rest of the ensemble. It certainly ain't that I've spiritual arrived. "There are no spiritual blackbelts." What, then, do we think a disciple really is? The student of a teacher. Our teacher is Jesus. The Rev. Winnie Varghese, Rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, says that “The life of a Christian person (aka a disciple) is to find practices that take us closer and closer to union with God." Notice that she says the Christian life. Christian Discipleship means being a life-long student of Jesus. "Christian discipleship means being a life-long student of Jesus." What would it be like if we recovered and truly embraced this word "disciple" as our fundamental Christian identity in today's world? What would that mean for our lives? What would it mean for our relationships? What would it mean for our current priorities?
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