Service

Archive for the ‘Service’ Category

Arguing

June 5, 2024

We must love arguing over doctrinal differences. For we do it enough. Doctrines are a dime a dozen. Almost anyone can dive into their Scriptures, find some fitting sentences, and build a doctrine. Then, they can argue about it.

What would Jesus say about that?

Perhaps to get off your “I’m holier than you” platform and go out and serve others.

The Gospel of Mark (chapter 10) records how two of the most intimate friends of Jesus asked for special privileges in the Kingdom. Then the other 10 heard about it (it’s hard to keep secrets in a small group). They all began arguing with Jesus.

He stopped them. “Whoever wants to be great in the Kingdom,” he said, “must be the servant of others. For even the Son of Man came to serve others and to die for them.”

Maybe we should take a hint.

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My Day; My Week

April 26, 2024

I write this on a Friday morning. As I sit in my study in the early dawn staring at the green of the spring grass and flowers bursting forth on trees, I wonder

What will I do with this day God has granted me?
What good did I do yesterday?
What good did I do this week?
Was I a good carrier of the blessings God has granted me to be able to be up and around and thinking and feeling?
What can I do to make the most good in the next week?

Maybe I encouraged several people?
Maybe I calmed a few others?
Maybe I can encourage new perspectives?

Posted in Attitude, Awareness, Service | Leave a Comment »

Leave the Library

April 17, 2024

When Jesus invited people to follow him, he never led them to a library.

I watch the society of various birds from my study window. How the robins bicker over territory and the geese in formation and the blackbirds swarm. A true ornithologist cannot sit in a library and read books all day. She must go out into the woods and fields and observe and note and think.

Yet, how many Christians think that following Jesus can be done from a library filled with books or at a conference room table discussing books? How many theologians spend too much time in the library and not enough time with God?

Jesus took his followers out amongst people. And he taught his new message. And healed. And advised. And ate and drank with a variety of people. And associated not only with his own kind—Jewish males—but with Romans and women and Samaritans and Syrians and common people.

Study is a spiritual discipline. But so is service. And worship. Getting out from the library and meeting people.

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Sacrifice

April 15, 2024

Arnold Schwarzenegger told of a time when he was Governor of California attending the funeral of a war hero. Also attending was the local State Senator, who spoke eloquently of the sacrifice of the young man for the greater good.

Following the service, Arnold spoke to the legislator. “We have an important piece of environmental legislation coming up for vote. We need your support.”

“I cannot vote to support the bill even though I think it’s right,” came the reply. “It would be political suicide.”

On the one side he praised the courage of a war hero; on the other side he intentionally rejected the courageous act of his own.

We can sit here in judgement of that legislator.

Or…

We can reflect on the story. Place ourselves in the protagonist role. When have we chosen not to do the right thing because we might suffer an embarrassment or hurt or loss of stature or job?

Pointing fingers at others does no good. Jumping on social media to berate another human does nothing but instigate hurt. Being convicted of our own shortcomings and vowing to change our life’s pattern toward doing the right thing—priceless.

Posted in discernment, Disciplines, Service | Leave a Comment »

Heroism

February 19, 2024

Historian Heather Cox Richardson writing in her newsletter Letters from an American on January 14, 2024 had this to say about heroism:

When I was writing a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, where heroism was pretty thin on the ground, I gave that a lot of thought. And I came to believe that heroism is neither being perfect, nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it’s just the opposite: it’s regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost, even if no one will ever know, even as they realize the walls might be closing in around them.

When I was but a lad we were given many stories from World War II about men who performed heroic deeds. Those stories resembled the insight that Richardson expresses.

Heroism is not limited to war. Stories about regarding people who have put others before their own health and welfare. The Jesus Movement grew exponentially in the early days of the Roman Empire when a plague struck the city. Officials and leading business men fled to the hills. Christians crept from their hiding places in order to minister to the health and souls of the stricken. The courage and selflessness of these Jesus-followers served as inspiration to a generation.

In our own times, we can look to Mother Theresa who served the poorest of the poor in India.

Or think of the many women you may know who give up time and energy to serve food and clothing to the poor and homeless of your city.

What can I do today to put others before me in service? And you?

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The Knights of St. John in Rhodes, Greece

February 6, 2024

We toured Rhodes, an island in Greece just off the western shore of Turkey, on our recent vacation. The focus of the tour was a palace/fortress built by the Knights of St. John to protect the island from Ottoman invaders about 1,000 years ago.

We met our tour guide. As we entered the old city:

We heard a priest conducting Mass at a Greek Orthodox church;
Then walked along nearby synagogue;
Passing by a Roman Catholic church,
We heard the call to prayer by the local Imam to the Mosque

Noting these different religions, the guide noted, “We have learned to get along together.”

By the way, the St. John in the order’s name is John the Baptist. They were initially a healing order commissioned by the Pope during the first Crusades. They became a military order with soldiers and naval fleets. They still exist today in a different format.

Their healing practice is informative. They carefully screened incoming patients admitting those who would be amenable to their therapy. The assigned an assistant to each patient. The first therapy was sleep. They provided private rooms. At night, they induced opium smoke into the room to help with sleep. The assistant would stand outside the room and whisper positive affirmations through a small window. They would encourage the patients to get up and walk around during the day. Supposedly they had a 100% success rate of healing.

Speaking as someone with a number of health and fitness certifications, I don’t recommend the opium. However, rest, positive affirmations, and exercise as much as one is capable are excellent therapies for many ailments.

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When Today Is Done

January 22, 2024

When you begin a day, preferably with reading and meditation, where do expect the day to end? How will you spend the next precious 15 hours? Where will your focus and attention take you?

I hope that you don’t have a calendar filled with what to do every 15-minute time block of the day. That is stifling. It fails to allow for thinking and serendipity.

I do hope for you and for me that we place our attention on what good we can do as we travel through the day. That we are aware of what surrounds us and meets us such that we can show kindness and service.

And when we perform our evening Examen we can say that today we have done some good for the world.

Posted in Awareness, focus, Service | Leave a Comment »

January 4, 2024

If, instead of working on making more money, we spend some time each day contemplating how to serve others better and more creatively, everyone is richer for it.
Earl Nightingale

We can preach, cajole, persuade, argue, scream, and so forth as much as we want, but

Our kids will still misbehave
People will still think of us as obnoxious humans
People close to us will not become fellow disciples of Jesus

People watch who we are which speaks more loudly than our words. Just think if we all worked on serving others better. Building products that help rather than addict. Providing a smile and a meal or a coat. Providing a ride to the doctor. Buying a coffee for the person next in line.

Add your own thoughts. Then go and do.

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Many Nice People

November 28, 2023

Need to know what’s going on in the world? It’s easy to know enough without immersing yourself in the news-media-advertising-complex.

As side benefit you stop noticing so much the bad side of people (like my post yesterday about people whose behavior belies their stated beliefs).

This morning during meditation the number of good people I come across every day came into focus. We moved during Covid shutdown to a new city in a different state. We don’t know many people—even now. It’s not easy.

Several women I know volunteer at food banks and/or serve meals to those who need a good hot meal.

I had met a woman who at first glance looks like one of those girls you knew in high school who is pretty, knows it, and is a bit stand-offish. I recently had a chance to talk with her as she is one of the owners of the coffee house where I work once a week or so (writing, not making cappuccinos). Several people came through the shop who knew her and were happy to see her. She turned out to be nice to everyone.

There are people who reach out to those around who are hurting. Many people help out just with random acts of kindness, even small tokens like opening a door for someone or carrying a load.

None of these people rate headlines in the news-media-advertising-complex. But they form the backbone of the community or church or organization.

Be one of those. It is as good for your health as for those being served. And when you meet these people, say Thank You.

Posted in Doing, Service | Leave a Comment »

What would you pack?

November 14, 2023

Jon Swanson puts sticky ideas into my awareness. He asked once, If you were leaving to follow Jesus, what would you pack?

I have a small pile of things on my office floor. We are leaving for a hiking and relaxation trip to southern Ohio hills and forests. As I remember items that I should bring I grab them and stack them in the corner—small rucksack for water and snacks, week’s supply of medicines and supplements, beef jerky, toiletries.

I’m sure that Jesus looking upon this if I were to respond to his ever-present invitation to “Follow me” would smile and wonder how long it would take me to realize I was over-packing!

I would call it a thought experiment although I’ve been there:

It’s a meeting. A dozen, more or less, people are gathered in a room. The leader states the purpose of the meeting. “Jesus had a persistent invitation when he met people. He asked them to follow him. Now, what did he really mean? Did he really expect them to get up from their business place and move? I know that Matthew and Peter and Andrew and James and John all immediately left their businesses to literally follow him. But us?”

And they discussed the meaning of following Jesus for hours. Weeks. Sermons were preached. Classes were taught.

Did Jesus ask us to discuss following? Did he ask us to dissect the meaning of following?

I have this funny quirk when I study Jesus’s words. I think he meant what he said. I think he meant literally following.

We can find a way to serve others. And we should do it. We don’t need a committee meeting or group discussion. Jesus has a funny way of putting opportunities before us that we may not recognize at first. Just being kind and helpful is a start.

Posted in Service, Work | Leave a Comment »

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