Growing Disciples

Here is the first of two Bible studies that I presented to the Synod of SA last week. The verbal version was slightly different.

Two Poems
There are two poems that I know by heart. The first is by the South Australian poet CJ Dennis who grew up at Auburn. There’s a statue of him in Laura. It won me the Grade 5 recitation competition at Wellers Hill State Primary School. It is about an insect – a remarkable, peculiar kind of thing that is very shy.

There’s a very funny insect that you do not often spy,
And it isn’t quite a spider, and it isn’t quite a fly;
It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a woolly grub that climbs upon a tree.
Its name is quite a hard one, but you’ll learn it soon, I hope.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.

[Full poem here.]

The Triantiwontigongolope. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d never see one. Of course, children understand that MAYBE there really is one out there to be discovered – hiding at the bottom of the garden with the fairies and elves. But to see it, you’d have to be quiet and still, or it would never come out.

The other poem is by the famous American poet Robert Frost. You’ll probably recognise it.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear…

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

[The original poem is slightly longer and it is here.]

Two paths. One obvious. One overgrown. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d miss it and stay on the main track. A less-travelled way – a choice to step off the familiar, well-worn route for an adventure into the unknown.

In the Gospels, particularly Matthew, Mark and Luke, the call to follow Jesus, to become his disciples, is presented as a clear choice. “Leave your fish and chip shop and follow me, Pauline. Kerrigan, forget your Castle. And let Uncle Harry bury himself.”

While many listen to Jesus’ invitation, not everyone hears the call. Some people, though, see this untrodden path that could be leading anywhere, and step onto it. The Gospel of John, however, has a different emphasis alongside this immediate response to call. What does it mean for us to stay with Jesus?

Today and tomorrow we’re focusing on discipleship, particularly on making disciples. If making or growing or nurturing disciples is a genuine process, then it will also be about who we are as followers of Jesus.

This morning is more about being disciples and tomorrow is about what disciples do.Continue Reading