Our church’s vision statements say:  By the grace of God we are striving for daily discipleship to Jesus in a community on shared mission.  We can talk about discipleship but do we know what it means?  This sermon is the first in a summer series The Seven Marks of Discipleship.   At the outset, all of Jesus’ disciples are heading in the same direction…  In the language of Luke 15:  from the pig sty of self-rule to the loving arms of the Father.  Where one happens to be right now in one’s Christian walk does not matter as much as the direction one is headed.   And that direction is:  denying self, taking up one’s cross daily and following Jesus.