Creating Heartfelt Disciples

Dear Friends,

Several months into 2023, the world’s population is 8 billion. Of all of us earthlings, 1.4 billion are Roman Catholic, and 2.6 billion are Christians of various traditions.

That’s a lot of disciples of Christ! Beginning with the 120 who were together for the first Pentecost (Acts 1.15), followers of Christ have multiplied greatly in one way or another over the centuries. How has that happened?

The obvious, expected answer is through baptism, when a person is welcomed into the community of believers and sets a course of faithfulness throughout life. It may be that we were baptized as infants and nobody asked us if we wanted to be. It’s also true that not every adult’s reasons for becoming Christian are pure. It might be the thing to do in order to marry or leave one’s country of origin or be accepted in a desirable lifestyle.

But how does one grow in heart-membership? That’s the most important question.

Here’s a story that can give us a sense of how it happens and what we must do to become even more heartfelt disciples.

“When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that her child was missing. Suddenly the curtains parted, and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage.

“In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking our ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.’

“At that moment the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy’s ear, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’

“Then, leaning over, Ignacy Jan Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon, his right arm reached around the other side of the child, and he added a running obbligato.

“Together, the old master and the young novice transformed what could have been a frightening experience into something wonderfully creative.

“The audience was so mesmerized that it couldn’t recall what else the great master played. Only the classic ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.’”

What does this charming story have to do with discipleship?

In our church, there are many people who have become masterful in serving the community or addressing issues of justice and peace. They are recognized for their giftedness. But the truly visionary ones find successors – fledglings or disciples who have not yet awakened to the possibilities of their service to God and to others. The true master, like Paderewski, plays on one side of the newcomer’s melody, and then puts his/her arms around the newbie and offers considerable depth to what the melody-bearer has begun.

That’s the point for each of us in ministry – ordained or voluntary. To welcome, instruct, bolster by our own practices the potential in the next generation.

Paderewski accepted the unplanned presence, eagerness, and talent of a fledgling, untested before the public. He made this child’s performance soar. All the child had to do was to keep playing. And the people remembered the child, the piano master, and their song together.

Paderewski’s actions were an example of what contemporary sociologists beginning with Erik Ericson, call “generativity” – passing on to the next generation the desire and taste for, competence in, staying power to create the next phase of what is important in life.

After we are gone, there will be no one to fill the void left by our absence if we do not encourage the disciple at the piano bench.

~Sister Joan Sobala