service

Extras: Read all about them!

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 5; 145, 1 Samuel 18:5-16 (17-27a) 27b-30, Acts 11:19-30, Mark 1:29-45

Shortly after Jesus recruited his first four disciples, they all stopped at the house of Simon (whom Jesus would later rename Peter). Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed, so Jesus healed her. When her fever passed, the Gospel of Mark tells us, she began serving them.

Who doesn’t appear in this story? Simon’s wife, that’s who. The presence of a mother-in-law tells us she existed, but Mark makes no mention of her. Nor do any of the other gospels. Was she busy caring for her mother? Was she the tiniest bit annoyed her mother was expected to jump from her sickbed right into hostess duties? In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions how she attended him in his ministry, yet he does not mention her name.

What must it have been like for her when her husband came home and said he’d quit his job to follow a revolutionary? That bombshell must have been unsettling at best. Given the station of women in the first century, her fate was sealed when her husband made this decision for their family.

No one’s journey unfolds in a vacuum. For good or ill, our decisions have repercussions for our loved ones. Our sacrifices become their sacrifices . While each of us is the star of his or her own life, there is no such thing as a supporting player: everyone is equally loved by God.

Simon’s wife had a name. And hopes for her future. And as full and rich an interior life as anyone. As we grow in our faith story, some characters will stand out, but most won’t. It’s how we treat the “background” characters that reveals our character. Do we think of them as mere functionaries, filling a role but without inherent value? Or are we looking for Christ among them, open to hearing their tales? There’s a rule of thumb that says how someone in a restaurant treats the servers is a better indicator of character than how they treat their friends. If in God’s kingdom the last are first, perhaps the extras have the real leading roles.

Additional Reading:
For additional readings from today’s passage from Mark, see Choose Your Own Adventure and Celebrity Gossip.
For more thoughts on today’s passage from Acts, see Lemonade.

Comfort: No life is too small to matter to God.

Challenge: Make a point of being respectful people whose business involves serving you, such as wait staff, tradespeople, etc. We are called to serve them also.

Prayer: Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, so that those who love your name may exult in you. (Psalm 5:11)

Discussion: Have you ever felt dismissed? How did you handle it?

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Use Me

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 96; 148, Jeremiah 31:15-22, Colossians 3:1-11, Luke 7:1-17

Today in Luke we read two short healing stories with particular lessons. Unlike the stories where a faithful woman touches Jesus’ garment or a blind beggar calls out to him, characters in today’s story are healed because of Jesus’ work through others.

A Roman centurion, whose beloved servant lay dying, was too humble to ask Jesus to travel out of his way. Instead, he sent Jewish elders and then friends to say he had faith that if Jesus willed it, the servant would be healed. When we pray or intercede for others, are we as wise and humble as the centurion? When we see an ailing co-worker, or a friend in a bad marriage, do we believe we need to pray or work hard enough to “convince” God to act, as though we are the deciding factor? The truth is none of us can fix anyone else, and God will act as God will. Like the centurion and his friends, often the best we can do is to stand ready to let God use us. This is not a passive state – it is a decision to trust and to be open to possibility.

On his travels, Jesus had compassion for a widow grieving her only son, and he commanded the son to rise from his funeral bier. Compassion is a powerful tool for God to use. Even in our greatest grief, God’s presence can spark new life. Consider John and Revé Walsh who, after the murder of their son Adam, founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Compassion both for and from the Walshes made such an endeavor possible.

We learn from the centurion and the widow that we may – intentionally or unintentionally – become God’s instruments.  God may use us even when we are unwilling or uncaring, but remaining alert to the needs around us gives God one more avenue for healing to reach the broken, one more vessel for pouring love into the world. Faith is always about more than our own salvation; it is also about learning to care about the things God cares about.

Comfort: God’s compassion is boundless.

Challenge: Pray for God to open your eyes to needs you might address.

Prayer: God of Freedom, thank you for the opportunity to serve. Amen.

Discussion: How difficult do you find it to let God be in charge?

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Dream of Service

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Daniel Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, Mattia Preti (1613-1699)

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 99; 147:1-11, Daniel 2:17-30, 1 John 2:12-17, John 17:20-26

Have you ever heard the advice to be good to people while you’re on your way up the ladder of success, because you’ll be running into them again on the way down? No matter how successful or powerful we are, no one is completely independent. Take King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon: when he was greatly troubled by a dream, he had to depend on others to interpret it. The self-proclaimed wise men of the kingdom were unable to do this for him – though they still pretended they might – and so he ordered the execution of them and others beside. Daniel heard what was about to happen, so he prayed with his friends that God might have mercy on them. When God revealed to Daniel (in another dream) the meaning of the king’s visions, he sought an audience with the king.

Daniel took no credit for knowing the dream or its interpretation. He said no person could do that, but that God could and had. It’s important to remember our gifts are not meant to exploit others for our own benefit (as the wise men would have exploited the king) or to abuse others (as the angry Nebuchadnezzar would have done to innocents). They exist for us to serve God and God’s kingdom. Daniel wisely presented himself as no one special. It was this very humility, the willingness to cast off his ego and get out of his own way to answer the call to service, that made him very special to the king.

We like to feel special. When other people recognize our talents and efforts, it feels good. There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging our abilities – false humility doesn’t serve much of a purpose – but we must always remember to give credit to God. Whether we are kings or captives, we are the same to God because all we have came from God. Whether we find that humbling or heartening reveals something to us about our own attitudes.

On our way up, down, or simply holding steady, we should remain focused on God. That’s the best way to keep our balance.

Comfort: You are special to God …

Challenge: … but no more special than anyone else.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for the time and talents you have given me. Teach me to use them well. Amen.

Discussion: What gift do you think you have faithfully put in service to God?

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Career Advice

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 5; 145, Isaiah 57:14-21, Galatians 6:11-18, Mark 9:30-41

If you’ve been on a job interview in the last fifteen years or so, there’s a good chance you’ve been asked: “Where do you see yourself five years from now?” Potential employers ask this question hoping to determine how well your goals and motivation fit the position. Imagine applying for the position of vice-president of a Fortune 500 company, and answering: “I’m hoping to be in an entry-level position in the mail room by then.”

That would be a pretty crazy answer – unless you were interviewing for the position of disciple. Jesus had some unorthodox recruiting techniques (“Hey, Peter and Andrew! Quit your jobs and follow me!”) so it’s no surprise his career advice was unconventional as well. When the disciples argued about which of them was the greatest, Jesus told them: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” When following Jesus, success means service.

This doesn’t mean we should suppress or hide our talents and contributions, or that we can’t be leaders. To the contrary, we should fully use all the gifts at our disposal to the glory of God. We can even apply for that CEO position, as long as in all things we are serving as Christ commanded. No matter how successful the world tells us we might be, God’s criteria for success include how welcoming we are to children or whether we give a thirsty person a cup of water. We can serve from a penthouse or a cardboard box, but we must serve.

Servant leadership costs us. Sometimes that cost is social standing and higher earning; other times it may be our safety. Paul bore the marks of servant leadership on his body in the form of scars from beatings he received for spreading the gospel. We don’t aspire to these hardships or offer them as proof of our superior humility, but if necessary we modestly accept them. They prepare us for a career of Christ-like leadership. If someone asks us where we want to be in five years, are we ready to say “last of all?”

Comfort: Serving in the spirit of the Gospel is pleasing to the Lord.

Challenge: Be sure to temper your ambition with your humility.

Prayer: Creator God, I will use the gifts you have entrusted to me to serve your people. Amen.

Discussion: What’s the difference between being humble and demeaning yourself?

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Your Humble Servant

/ JJS / 2 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 63; 149, Zechariah 14:12-21, Philippians 2:1-11, Luke 19:41-48

The media often portrays Christians as some sort of monolithic hive-mind, acting and reacting in unison. The truth is, we are all over the map on social and political issues, and understanding or representing anything deeper than a caricature of us takes more work and nuanced thought than the average broadcaster or viewer will invest.

The fault may be partially our own. We each have an assumption of what it means to be Christian, and by default tend to project it onto other Christians until they prove otherwise. Now that doesn’t mean we necessarily buy into the definition we are projecting; some of us assume other Christians will agree with us, and others assume we will be opposed on some issues. It can be tempting to say someone isn’t a “real” Christian if they think differently than we do, or to quickly make it clear we aren’t one of “those” Christians. Either way, too often we limit what it means to be Christian, making it that much easier to stereotype us.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul advises them to “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” In our diversity, have we betrayed that advice? Is it any longer possible for the diverse universe of Christians to be in “full accord?” It is if we look at how Paul defined it:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

There isn’t one word of dogma in there. No specific religious practice. It says to look out for others first. That means listening more than convincing. Learning more than preaching. Serving more than insisting. Loving more than condemning. If I’m putting you first, and you’re putting me first, we aren’t even agreeing on who is first – but we are acting in accord. Following Christ isn’t about insisting others believe exactly as we do, but on serving them exactly as we believe Christ would have us do.

Comfort: You can love and serve Christians who think differently than you do.

Challenge: You have to love and serve Christians who think differently than you do.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to be your humble servant to all people. Amen.

Discussion: Beyond accepting Jesus, do you think there is a minimum set of beliefs necessary to be a Christian?

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