I was thinking this past month about the first time I was taught the phrase “duty, honor, country.’ I was taught that duty was what we did, honor was how we did it, and country was why we did it. So we did our duty with honor for our country. As I pondered that memory, I thought about our Christian life, and how we might consider what we do as followers of Jesus, how we do that, and why we do it and if it is possible to condense that down to three words. Of course the words “duty, honor, country” are quite expansive, so we can also use expansive words!

As I thought about it some phrases came to my mind, such as “covenant, community, Christ.” We “do,” or we live out, our baptismal convent, we do this in community, and because of our faith in Christ. Or how about “discipleship, vulnerability, grace.” Or perhaps “love, humility, salvation.”

Perhaps it is impossible to fully capture in three words what we do, how we do it, and why we do it, as followers of Jesus, but it is a good exercise to try! This exercise allows us to think about our daily life in Christ, our day to day actions, our feelings and approach to our actions, and the reasons behind them. The exercise helps us with naming our values that guide our actions, and our approach to living our life as followers of Jesus. As Episcopalians we often say that praying shapes believing, and in our prayer book we find our baptismal covenant, our focus on daily prayer both as individuals and as communities, the centrality of the Eucharist which both names the saving act of God and unites us with that saving act, and the reality that sin exists and so we are called to name that and turn from it. Our life of worship and action can help us consider how we might come up with a phrase with captures, even if imperfectly, our commitment to how we live as followers of Jesus with what we do, how we do it, and why.

This exercise is one that can be done by individuals, small groups, and congregations. As we finish the summer and head into fall, it might be useful for you to consider engaging in this process of finding what words speak to you, as your phrase, for following Jesus in your daily life.

Faithfully,
+Gretchen