Becoming a Community of Disciples

Introduction

3

his job and when he did come home, he took care of his family and his home. He also did those tasks without much complaint! Turns out my father’s lifestyle was somewhat monastic. That is, like monks and nuns who live in a monastery, he had a fairly predictable routine and followed that routine with due diligence. As well, as an employee at a large company he learned obedience to his superiors and as part of a team he learned to get along well with others. If my dad failed to do his job it affected others and vice versa. But my dad’s experience is not particularly unique. Many people around the globe work jobs where they must work hard and where they must work well with others. Unless someone is self-employed or is the person in charge, then all employees must learn how to be obedient workers and failure to do your job well often results in termination. In these ways, and in other ways too, most of us do a lot of things that monks and nuns do. But perhaps even more than this, all of us rub shoulders every day with other people—including family, friends, co-workers and even complete strangers. In other words, it is fairly impossible to navigate our daily lives without interacting with others. Now, I must confess, that I am not a big people person. That is, I rather enjoy being alone or, at best, with just my immediate family. I can often do without large crowds and I find most small talk uncomfortable so I tend not to be overly chatty with complete strangers or people that I hardly know. But my vocation as a professor and pastor means that I must interact with people every day, so I have had to learn how to be in relationship with others. And is this not true