The Fifth Sunday After Easter

On Sunday, we listen in as Jesus says to his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”(John 13:34-35)  Discipleship is the name we give to the process of our becoming, of how, in spending time with Christ we become more like Christ and reflect Christ’s will and way in the world.  As Eugene Peterson points out, “Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in Christ’s way, steadily and firmly, and then finding that Christ’s way integrates all our interests, passions, and gifts, our human needs and eternal aspirations.  Discipleship involves our coming to see more clearly the way of life for which we were created, and that way is love.  Indeed, the world will know that we belong to Christ by how we love.