Updated to add all of the fish prints in the slide show below!
Have you seen them on display around the church?
We hear a lot about disciples. Every time someone is baptized in church we all say together: “We will pray for them that they may be true disciples…” And every Sunday (at the 9:30 service) we sing the kids on their way to Sunday’s Cool: “Go ye, go ye into the world, and make disciples of all the nations…”
So what’s a disciple? How does one get to be a “disciple?”
- The word “disciple” means “student” or “learner.”
- A teacher has students/disciples.
- A student/disciple watches his teacher very closely, listening intently to everything he says. A student/disciple will even watch how his teacher ties his sandals!
- A student/disciple tries to emulate their teacher; their desire is to follow in his footsteps.
In Jesus’ day the cream-of-the-crop students could pursue their education by asking a scholarly teacher, known as a rabbi: “Could I please be one of your students?” I picture ambitious eager beavers literally burning the midnight oil memorizing the Jewish Bible (our Old Testament) to achieve entrance into just the right group. Only the brightest were chosen to be the disciples of a particular rabbi. (The run-of-the-mills took up a trade such as carpentry.)
Jesus followed a different path. The teacher Jesus, the rabbi Jesus, invited people to be his disciples. We say that he “called” them.
At least four of the people Jesus called, had made a living catching fish. In fact he told them…
Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!
Matthew 4:19
Jesus was asking lowly fishermen to be his students?
It proves you don’t have to be somebody important to be a disciple of Jesus.
You don’t have to be perfect.
You don’t have to be worthy-enough.
Or get straight A’s. Or live in a big house.
No midnight oil required.
In our Art Workshop for our current Rotation at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI, we are making fish prints using an ancient Japanese process called Gyotaku (pronounced gee-oh-TAH-koo). Long ago Gyotaku was a way of making a record of the size of a fish one caught.
Why make fish prints? It turns out that fishing has a lot of similarities to being a disciple.
- You need to have the right training and some basic supplies.
- It takes persistent practice.
- Sometimes you don’t catch anything. Yet you cast again and again.
- At times, being quiet helps.
Enjoy the slide show of the fish prints.
Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives.
Want to see the lesson we used? Visit here.
Family Faith Companion 
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