A small confession: I am not sure what the word discipleship means. It is a word used frequently by people whom I know and respect, but I don’t quite know how I am supposed to respond to it.
When I hear that I am going to “be discipled” –the word sounds like disciplined– I am uneasy. It sounds like something that is going to happen to me, something that is going to be done to me.
Probably by a priest. Perhaps not a priest of my choosing. And quite possibly not one who recognizes that, like many adult lay people who are involved in their churches, I’m under the impression that I am already doing the best I can to follow Jesus as closely as possible.
So as you can see, I am not eager to enter into the parent/child, master/student type of relationship that the word discipleship, in most usages, seems to imply.
Can somebody help me see the word discipleship in a more positive light?