Discipleship

After John 17:26

Discipleship begins with

Remembering who you are.

Discipleship means leaving 

this world, leaving

this culture, ignoring

the voices (print, digital, real)

that counsel us, cajole us, 

advise us, intimidate us, 

bully us, threaten us

to follow them.

Discipleship means

to understand how little

the world offers us,

the transient flash, as

it whispers to ignore

the eternal.

Discipleship means

community, because it

happens as we gather

together, teach each other,

speak with each other,

break the bread and

drink the wine 

with each other, love

each other. Discipleship

is what we share 

in common.

Photograph by Kevin Gent via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Who is prayer for?

After John 17:26

Who was the prayer for?

A prayer that those

who followed would be

like him, a prayer

that those unborn

who followed would be

like him, a prayer

that those who abide

in him would be

like him. He didn’t pray

for fans or superstars

or great speakers or

stadium fillers or 

bestselling writers.

He prayed for those

who would follow, that

his life might shape them,

shape us.

Photograph by Nathan Dumlao via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Asteroid

After John 17:26

It was the asteroid, coming

seemingly from nowhere,

hitting or landing in an out-of-the-way

place with tremendous force

and impact, but almost unnoticed 

farther away, until the shock waves

and the wind and the waves

radiating from the center

embraced everything it their path,

and everything was in their path,

until nothing was untouched,

nothing left the same,

nothing left unchanged, fundamentally,

even the rocks and mountains,

the columned palaces and temples,

everything, everything was engulfed

in a wave of love,

everything, to the point that

the force could be resisted but

it could not be denied,

it could not be stopped.

Photograph by Bryan Goff via Unsplash. Used with permission.

An odd gift

After John 17:26

It’s a gift, to be sure,

but an odd one for all that.

It’s a gift that, as soon

as you receive it, you are

to give it away. And yet

it remains, even as 

you give it away;

it doesn’t disappear,

it doesn’t diminish as 

it’s handed away; even 

more oddly, the gift grows

as it’s given away, and 

the more it’s given away,

the more it grows for the giver.

It may be love.

It may be light.

It may be both and likely is.

But the point is the giving,

the whole point, and

nothing but the point.

This sounds like a riddle.

Photograph by Joanna Kosinka via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The reason

After John 17:26

You are filled with light

for a reason. The light

shines; they can see it

even if they do not

understand it. They see it

and are filled with desire

for it. This love I have

for you, this love you have 

for me, shines to touch 

them, shines to envelop

them, shines to embrace

them. Whenever that light

shines, especially at darkest

times, darkest places,

they see it.

Photograph by Maxime Valcarce via Unsplash. Used with permission.