This past year, an adult education offering at our parish has explored wealth, poverty, and the Christian tradition through the lens of discipleship, which can be defined as a way of life in which a person seeks to live as Jesus both lived and taught. Discipleship costs everything – our lives, our resources, and potentially even our relationships. For example, Jesus tells his disciples to sell all they have (Luke 12:33), take up their crosses (Luke 14:27), and even leave their families to follow him (Matthew 19:27-29).

When thinking about how we are called to live as Christians, Episcopalians often turn to their baptism and the covenant contained within it. The Baptismal Covenant in the Episcopal Church first includes questions patterned after the Apostles’ Creed, followed by a series of five questions revealing the way that Christ ...