My mom played the violin in her high school orchestra at Amarillo High School. Some years ago, as we were helping her go through her stuff, we saw she had kept her violin all of those years. Last year one of my favorite books was written by a luthier in Germany who described the process of making violins as an analogy to God’s work in our lives. Not long ago a Stradivarius Violin sold for $3.6 million. Scientists still study these violins to understand how they were made.
In ancient Israel, God gave Bezalel and Oholiab special artistic gifts to help create the place where the people worshiped God. Meanwhile, Moses would go every day to the tent of meeting to meet with God. As he walked toward the tent, all of the Israelites emerged from their tents and worshiped God. They knew Moses met with God face to face. Moses came and went from the tent. But Joshua stayed right there, watching, learning, preparing for what God had for him.
Whatever we do or don’t do for God today, we may be sure the audience is watching and listening. The more public our faith is, the more likely others are watching to see what that is like. We are making disciples like Antoni Stradivari made violins. He left no blueprints. Instead, he trained the artisans to sit at his elbow for elbow training. Sitting at his elbow, they watched the master work, felt with him the grain of the wood and shared with him in the work of creating fine instruments.
Just so, God makes disciples. There is no discernible three step process. Our efforts to describe discipleship are almost always reductionist. Pray this prayer and you will go to heaven. There must be more. There is more. As Joshua chose to stay close to learn from his leader Moses, so we must choose to stay close to Jesus. We invite others to join us in the elbow training. How will we make disciples at Tallowood. Come and see. Every time we worship together, others are watching and worshiping with us. Every time we teach our children and students the scriptures in class or in a choir, we are training the next “Joshua” or “Josie.” Some day it will be their turn. Today is ours!
