What is Apprentice Deo?
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What is Apprentice Deo?
Maybe it’s easiest to begin by examining each piece before attending to the whole. First then, what is an apprentice? I work in the trades(HVAC). Literal apprenticeship is part of my daily life. An apprentice is a learner under a master or journeyman; someone in the process of becoming skilled in a certain profession. Apprenticing involves a unique blend of following instructions, paying attention, exploring, learning, practicing, failing, confessing, listening, evaluating, understanding, and practicing again. At its core, apprenticing is always towards development of a specific vocation and under the guidance of a specific master. These two elements are critical for understanding apprenticeship. It must be to something and under someone.
So, to what is our apprenticeship? Under whom do we apprentice? “Deo” may be vaguely familiar to you from the Christmas song, “Angels we have Heard on High,” but not many of us are in the habit of dropping Latin words in our English conversations. Deo in this context is simply the Latin word for God. This answers one of the questions implicit in “Apprentice.” This blog is about apprenticing under God, specifically Jesus Christ, the God-Man. So then, if our apprenticeship is under Jesus, what is the vocation to which we aspire? To what are we apprenticing? Life. The life of God Himself. That is an enormous idea; easily misunderstood, often distorted, and woefully underexplored.
Apprentice Deo seeks to become a base camp for that much needed exploration. It is the “talking-out-loud” of one apprentice to another while learning under the Master. If successful, this blog will help equip you with tools and companions for navigating your own apprenticeship. It will include interactions with journeymen- those who have long apprenticed to the same Master and even with some who have apprenticed to different masters and vocations. Every month, we will be asking big questions, learning to cultivate attention, identifying boundaries and common ground between different perspectives, exploring the Christian Scriptures, seeking ways to put truth into embodied practice, imagining what is and could be, and occasionally, poking the bear of volatile subjects. This blog makes no claims to mastery. The goal is small steps, a humble attitude, and steady progress as we learn from Jesus. So, if you’re interested in learning together, you’re welcome to come along as we apprentice under Jesus to Life.