Importance of Community -- Trying to Build a Toaster

Image via WikipediaI was reading over at Kruse Kronicle yesterday about a TED talk by Thomas Thwaites...a nice British-sounding name for, apparently, a nice British guy.   Here's a guy who looked at the world around him and, in a great moment of reflection, wondered how all of it came to be.

In particular, he looked at a toaster and pondered all the many pieces that have to come together to make that toaster that sits on your (or my) kitchen counter.  Think, for instance of all the parts and pieces.  Think of the molds that need to be made, the materials mixed, the wires pulled and tested, the coils.  Think of the regional and international trade that comes into play just to acquire the metals and plastics and everything.  I mean, really, this thing sitting on your kitchen counter is full of parts from all over the world that people had to make from some raw materials and fashion into this contraption that you can buy for $25 and pops up your Pop-Tart in the morning.  No more roasting it over an open fire to get at that Brown Sugar and Cinnamon goodness.

Here's the video in full:



Here's a shorter version if the 11 minutes seems too long:



But what I think is so great about this is what we can learn about community and discipleship.  As I think of the saints in my life, the great Christian disciples I have known, I have to realize that that completed body of work, their life, is the result of so many other persons and tasks and practices and influences over the years that have made them what they are.  For them to become the disciples they grew into being would be like one person trying to build a toaster...it really can't be done.  And, even if it could be done, it would probably be a poor imitation of what true discipleship, true sainthood, looks like.

In short, we need community.  We need it for discipleship.  We need it as we go about the process of making disciples in this world of ours.

It takes a whole economy to build a toaster.

It takes a village to raise a child.

It takes a community to make disciples.