A few years ago I was leading a preaching workshop when one of the participants, a plain spoken Methodist preacher from south Georgia, brought the house down with laughter when she told us she had recently preached a sermon about the “Duh”-ciples. She said, “That’s how we pronounce d-i-s-c-i-p-l-e-s in south Georgia and every time I hear it I think, ‘That’s about right – whenever Jesus said something important, the disciples looked at him all slack-jawed and said, “Duuuuh? What do you mean, Jesus? ”

When I stopped laughing, I started thinking. “Am I a “duh-ciple?” “Do I only pretend to understand what Jesus is calling us to be and do? Do I nod, all the while both not understanding the message and not caring enough to figure it out? Or am I a disciple? One who both learns and practices what Jesus taught.”

The words “disciple” and “discipline” come from the same root and have similar and overlapping meanings. They both derive from the Latin “discipulus” which means learner or pupil. Eventually in English, disciple came to mean someone who was a pupil of a particular teacher or system of thought and discipline came to mean first the subject studied (“the discipline of mathematics”) and only later the methods used to teach the subject. Finally, discipline came to mean the measures by which authority figures instill obedience in others – be they soldiers drilling, or football players practicing, or first graders learning to stand in line – all need to be taught discipline.

It seems to me that the surest route to not being a “duh-ciple” is a bit of creative self-discipline. No adult likes to be told what to think or do by another person, even if, or maybe especially if, that other person claims to speak for God. Rather, we need to be both students of Jesus and followers of Jesus. We are called to study over and pray about the words and deeds of Jesus. Rather than dully nodding our heads and muttering “duh,” we must think deeply about what is said and make every effort to understand it. Just as importantly, we need to create for ourselves a “discipline” of prayer and actions that follows the example of Jesus.

For example, rather than just thinking about and talking about world hunger; we must also actively engage in the feeding of people who are hungry. It is only through the discipline of acting out our faith that we truly come to understand it.

Peace,
Your fellow “duh”- ciple, Delmer