{"id":27544,"date":"2026-09-02T09:59:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27544"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:34:08","slug":"27544","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27544","title":{"rendered":"A Discipleship of Equals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Patti Smith - People Have the Power (Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j3av73YbS4Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Wednesday, September 2, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>If I am a child of God, a sister-in-Christ, and belong with all of you to the priesthood of all believers, then <strong>my job is to love, not hate, to be creative, not destructive, to follow Christ\u2019s cross<\/strong>.<br>\u2014Pauli Murray,&nbsp;<em>To Speak a Defiant Word<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Speaking to the network Women\u2019s Ordination Worldwide, Sister Joan Chittister evokes a vision of Christian discipleship that requires great courage:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christian discipleship is by nature a very dangerous thing. It has put every person who ever accepted it at risk. <strong>It made every follower who ever took it seriously on alert for rejection,<\/strong> from Martin of Tours to John Henry Newman, from Mary Ward to Dorothy Day. Discipleship <strong>casts every fragile new Christian community in tension with the times in which it grows. <\/strong>In the early church to be a Christian community meant to defy Roman imperialism, to stretch Judaism itself, to counter pagan values with Christian ones. It demanded very concrete presence; it took great courage, unending fortitude and clear public posture. <strong>Real discipleship meant the rejection of real things\u2026. It was not easy then and it will not be easy now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem with Christian discipleship is that instead of simply requiring a kind of academic or ascetic exercise \u2026 Christian discipleship requires <strong>a kind of living that is sure, eventually, to tumble a person from the banquet tables \u2026 to the most suspect margins of both church and society<\/strong>. To follow Jesus, in other words, is to <strong>follow the one who turns the world upside down, even the religious world<\/strong>. Real discipleship is a tipsy arrangement at the very least. <strong>People with high need for approval, social status, and public respectability need not apply.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following Jesus is a circuitous route that leads always and everywhere to places where a \u2018nice\u2019 person would not go, to moments of integrity we would so much rather do without.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Chittister counts the cost of discipleship for those who choose to follow Jesus:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christian discipleship is about living in this world the way that Jesus the Christ lived in his\u2014touching lepers, raising donkeys from ditches on Sabbath days, questioning the unquestionable and\u2014consorting with women! <strong>Discipleship implies a commitment to leave nets and homes, positions and securities, lordship and legalities to be now\u2014in our own world\u2014what the Christ was for his\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Discipleship is prepared to fly in the face of a world bent only on maintaining its own ends whatever the cost. If discipleship is what you\u2019re here for, <strong>be not fooled! The price is a high one and history has recorded it faithfully<\/strong>\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>True discipleship is \u2026 a way of living that is <strong>not political but which has serious political implications\u2026.<\/strong> The disciple <strong>takes public issue with the values of a world that advantages only those who are already advantaged\u2026<\/strong>. It takes umbrage at systems that are more bent on keeping improper people out of them than they are in welcoming all people into them. T<strong>rue discipleship takes the side always, always, always of the poor, the minority, the out<\/strong>cast, the reviled, the rejected, the other, despite the power of the rich and powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>====================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/5e843a2b282d46a03df86254c\/images\/72aa7c9c-578f-a6f0-8ee1-bfbdbcf82aad.jpg\" width=\"360.96\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Hello!<br><br>According to Gallup research, there has been a steady decline in our society\u2019s trust in many institutions over the last 25 years. You may have had your own experience of doubt about the trustworthiness of one or more of these systems.<br><br>Of significance, one sector of society in which public trust has not declined is in that of small businesses. I am not personally familiar with the details of this research, but I do wonder about the relative degree of embodied, personal connection that exists in such entities\u2014and therefore the greater potential for being more deeply known in those settings compared to those in which people are generally more disconnected personally.<br>&nbsp;<br><strong>What does any of this have to do with interpersonal neurobiology and being formed in the image of Jesus?<\/strong>&nbsp;As it turns out, a great deal.<br>&nbsp;<br>Part of everyone\u2019s growth in all aspects of their life includes the fact that&nbsp;<strong>we are each shaped in systems.<\/strong>We are born into and reared in particular families.&nbsp;We are shaped by worshipping communities and schools and eventually are formed by communities in which we live out our work, be that as stay at home parents, in an office, on a farm or drive a delivery truck.&nbsp;These systems are crucial for our development.<br><br>We are made to flourish as part of systems, and will find ourselves organizing ourselves into them\u2014no matter what we report to Mr. Gallup\u2019s poll.&nbsp;<strong>But the small business context stands out, and it draws my attention to what the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">biblical narrative and interpersonal neurobiology point to<\/span>: that we are more likely to be formed in systems in which there is a greater chance\u2014think, relatively small in number\u2014for us to be more deeply known, such that the system itself can create a structure that more likely leads to integration and wholeness.<\/strong>&nbsp;Yes, we can think we are part of social media systems, and to a degree we are; but by definition, not ones that are primarily embodied, and usually only those with whom we have a great deal in common and very few people are ruffling our feathers. In other words, not the kind of system that God was envisioning in Genesis 2, nor the system that St. Paul is describing in 1 Corinthians 12.<br>&nbsp;<br>This does not mean that large institutions cannot form us well, nor that they cannot be trusted. Quite the opposite can be true. But to create and maintain that trustworthiness requires a great deal of work that <strong>our current world of cell phone addiction makes more challenging. <\/strong>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br>The crucial question is not, therefore, \u201cDo I trust institutions?\u201d Rather, the crucial question is \u201cWhat institutions am I becoming part of and creating who will form me into the person God is calling all of us to be?\u201d Which brings me to Tabor College\u2019s&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/us.list-manage.com\/_ho55J1wuaR?e=9c852305ea&amp;c2id=eefa8a12a756a2f7df85a97a619db30d\" target=\"_blank\">Master of Education in Neuroscience and Trauma<\/a>.<br>&nbsp;<br>I have been privileged to work with this program and its director, Dr. David Stevens, over the past several years, and it is providing outstanding training for people who work with and are interested in developing awareness and skills to respond to those with a history of trauma. I am particularly struck by breadth of people who find a place to study here, including pastors, teachers, first-responders, those who work in the foster and adoption settings and more.<br>&nbsp;<br>But beyond what any one individual might gain from studying at Tabor, what is also significant is the role it plays as an institution. Individuals do not merely study there to obtain information. They are also being formed by the institution itself. Moreover, I am persuaded that no small part of why Tabor\u2019s academic community trusts the College is because of the intentionality and attunement with which Dr. Stevens and his colleagues approach each student and the community as a whole, even and especially in the online context of the program. Students report a felt sense of connection, even in a virtual setting.<br><br>All of this points to how the benefits of this program are&nbsp;<strong>not just about the information that people are acquiring; it is about the durable connections that are being made.<\/strong>&nbsp;And given the trend in our cultural distrust in systems, it is a hopeful sign that there are those like Tabor College that are moving the needle in the other direction.<br>&nbsp;<br><strong>What institutions do you occupy that you trust?<br>What systems are you creating that are providing trusted places for others?<\/strong><br><br>Given that these systems are no small part of God\u2019s plan for human flourishing, let us, just like&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/us.list-manage.com\/oQsFOq3AUTb?e=9c852305ea&amp;c2id=eefa8a12a756a2f7df85a97a619db30d\" target=\"_blank\">Tabor College\u2019s<\/a>&nbsp;program, <strong>be about the business of being known deeply in order to become stewards of systems of deep hospitality to others on the way to creating outposts of beauty and goodness in our world.<\/strong>&nbsp;<br><br>Warmly,<br>Curt<a class=\"\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/us.list-manage.com\/qM07UNasCvd?e=9c852305ea&amp;c2id=eefa8a12a756a2f7df85a97a619db30d\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To Think About:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What kind of community or system am I helping to create\u2014and who is becoming more whole, more known, and more welcomed because I am part of it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, September 2, 2026 If I am a child of God, a sister-in-Christ, and belong with all of you to the priesthood of all believers, then my job is to love, not hate, to be creative, not destructive, to follow Christ\u2019s cross.\u2014Pauli Murray,&nbsp;To Speak a Defiant Word Speaking to the network Women\u2019s Ordination Worldwide, Sister [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27544"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27551,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27544\/revisions\/27551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}