The Mo Hire
Volume IX, Number I
dent Voice
XT t?
xNl Jl/
57 September 27, 2007
Montreat vs. Dunder-Miffiin
by the REVEREND Steve Woodworth
Tonight “The Office” will
begin its long anticipated
fourth season with an hour-
long episode dedicated
to the hilarious and often
irreverent antics of the staff
of Dunder-Miffiin, and I
have a confession. In the
three brief years it has been
running, I have become a
deeply obsessed fan.
For those of you who
share my obsession for the
funniest show in television
history, this confession
makes complete sense. For
those of you who stand on
the periphery and can only
managed to be baffled or
annoyed by the antics of
Michael Scott and his gang,
I only hope that this article
may be a form of “Office
Evangelism.”
And I have a second
confession. Most of the
time I get my weekly
dose of “The Office” by
downloading each episode
from iTunes, but there were
occasions this summer when
in desperation I watched it
for free on some obscure
website with Chinese
subtitles. I did so without
apology and often with my
wife, because “The Office”
is not only funny, it is
therapeutic.
In fact, the bond I began
to develop with each of the
predominantly unknown
actors caused me, at times
this summer, to reflect on
the similarities between
a small paper company
named Dunder-Miffiin and
our own little place called
Montreat College. So by
“And he that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make
all things new. 'And he said unto me, ‘Write: for these
words are true andfaithful. ’ ”
Revelation 21:5 (KJV)
way of welcoming everyone
back to campus this year, I
thought I might pose this (to
be asked in my best Dwight
Schrute voice)—“Question:
What are three similarities
between Dunder-Miffiin
and Montreat College?”
Here are a handful of my
conclusions.
Community: Whatever else
Dunder-Miffiin (DM) and
Montreat College (MC)
are, they are communities.
They are a little messy, a
little dysfunctional, and
almost always deal with
drama—but they exist
entirely as communities of
people coming together to
share life in all its mystery.
Like DM, the folks at MC
have come here for many
different reasons, but each
of us is becoming part of the
same big family.
Grace: Like most genuine
communities that I have
ever been a part of, DM
(like MC) is full of people .
with issues. Every character
on the show and every
person on our campus tends
to have a unique quirk that
makes them simultaneously
annoying and hilarious. The
beauty of the show is that
the people of DM, while
pretending to be miffed
by this point, actually
demonstrate an incredible
level of grace with one
another. At the heart of
the MC family are people
learning to love each other
despite our failings, despite
our issues, despite our sin.
Belonging: With the
exception of Ryan and
possibly Stanley, everyone
at DM wants to be at DM.
The employees at DM keep
coming to work because, I
believe, no matter what they
say with their mouths, deep
down inside DM is home to
each of them. I first came
to MC over ten years ago.
I met my wife here, I met
my life-long friends here, I
found my calling, and I fell
deeply in love with Jesus
Christ. In four short years
MC became, quite simply,
a place where I finally
belonged. My prayer for
our community this year
is that each and every one
of us—with all our quirks.
with all our mess, with all
our issues, even with all th
baggage you drove through
the gate with—would find
a place to finally belong;
because at Montreat Colleg
I pray you’ll come to find
the one thing that I have
never managed to find
among my fictitious heroes
at Dunder-Miffiin: the
unconditional love of Jesus
Christ and his disciples. So
from your fellow brother oi
the journey—welcome for
the first time, and welcome
back. I love you guys.