Instilling a Love of Truth
For the Christian disciple, to love truth is to love Jesus. We learn this way by apprenticing ourselves to Jesus!
We should seek to instill into our people from their earliest years an intense love of truth, as opposed to a passion for argument; and along with this a deep reverence for God and sacred things.
F.P. Hatton, The Elements of the Spirit Life
As I prepare to teach a catechism class this fall to the students at my church, this quote from my commonplace journey hits me in a fresh way. I need to be remind that this isn’t a knowledge class; my goal isn’t just to teach a bunch of good information about God, the church , and tradition. This isn’t an apologetics glass; my goal isn’t to teach students how to defend or argue their faith against the scary world or something. This is a training in the life and living of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! Catechesis, as I am to guide students through it, is a kingdom course in being a disciple, an apprentice of Jesus!
Whenever I think about discipleship I think about that classic idea, first introduced to me by Dallas Williard, of being an apprentice to Jesus. In any apprenticeship, we commit ourselves to learning from a master of the particular craft we wish to be skilled in. In scriptures we come across Jesus and disciples. Twelve men who have apprentices themselves to their Rabbi, Jesus. And given the context we know that this group of disciples is actually larger than twelve and it includes women, families, the marginalized and overlooked, the uneducated and unwanted folks of Jesus’ day. He wasn’t just looking for the best and brightest but anyone willing to hear the call and follow him on his way as an apprentice.
Have you ever asked yourself what the disciples were hoping to learn as they apprenticed themselves to Jesus? Were they just wanting to learn about the scripture and religion? Where the disciples hoping Jesus would teach them how to do some of those cool miracles; who doesn’t want to turn water into wine and heal sick folks. No, those aren’t the skills they were hoping to learn as they apprenticed themselves to Jesus. That also wasn’t what Jesus was offering. Jesus was offering to teach the disciples then, and his disciples now now, how to live life, the kind of life God created humanity to live.
When we apprentice ourselves to Jesus we we are hoping to learn how to live the abundant life of the kingdom; the life Jesus exemplifies in the gospels. Maybe the miracles weren’t the most amazing things Jesus did. Jesus lived a life of faith, hope and love. He lived forgiveness, practiced hospitality, and walked faithfully even when he had questions and doubt. That’s pretty amazing! Living that life daily, over the course of a lifetime, at least for us modern folks, seems more impressive (maybe even miraculous) than just learning how to do a flashy, one-time miracle here or there.
Jesus showed us how to be authentically human; how to live the life God created us to live! This is why we apprentice our lives to him.
This is what I hope to instill in our students this fall as we set out on this catechism journey together!
And, as Fr. Hatton reminds me, well learn some reverence and sacred tradition along the way as well! We are Anglicans after all!