Reflection

The importance of "place" in discipleship.

When i was a kid, I "belonged" at or to, depending on the perspective, a particular Mennonite congregation. When someone asked me where I belong, despite the simple answer the sense was of a large accountability.

By knowing where I belonged, the questioner could fill in a lot of blanks about me. How I was expected to behave, dress, what sort of theology and eschatology i was exposed to, a general presumption about my parents financial status, my education and likely who I was related to.

When I left where I belonged, there was a huge vaccum in identity. I found myself having to explain myself. At the same time there was a lot of liberty in that no one had an expectation above the most basic decency of an average American. Of course I delighted in pushing that expectation a little bit. After all, how was a man who had been perscribed almost every behavior and response to each situation supposed to know what to throw out and what to keep?

As a maturing adult, I have come to value a lot of the ideas that I was taught as a child. The question comes in about discipleship at this time. Am I discipled if I only choose to follow what I enjoy and appreciate. At this point in my life I have no one to whom to be accountable so I could potentially be an anabaptist/axmurderer and the irony would only be mine, since only I have the knowledge of the place I belong.