Riverview Methodist

The writer of the Old Testament book Ecclesiastes, admitted that “There is nothing new under the sun.” Few things are new. If you are patiently observant, you realize that most things in life don’t need to be. The roots of a happy life are not found in new things: toys, money, philosophies. Rather, they are found in very old things we’ve always known we needed: community, virtue, mutual love, and a sense of meaning. In our modern world, these things are less easy to obtain. We have become too busy and divided to easily have community and love. We have become too fractured to agree on what a virtuous or good life is like. We have become too confused or distracted to agree on what gives our life meaning. And yet, the Christian faith has always looked to discipleship as an answer to these needs. Discipleship provides community, mutual love, it encourages us to live a life of virtue, and it helps to recenter us on what gives our life the greatest meaning. There is nothing new under the sun, and discipleship is the very ancient practice of being “a church.”  This next several weeks we are going to talk about discipleship and how we practice it today. The further we go, the more we will realize that discipleship is not just a feature of Christianity it is at the heart of it. Our DNA as Christians is meant to be as disciples.