Service
Service is a way to transform our minds and rediscover the best part of who we are: neighbors. Obviously, today is a time of distraction. There are so many things competing for our attention. Mostly, and I really hate to say this, the concern for our attention involves monetary gain. Now before we had these connected computers in our pockets the way advertisers got our attention was via billboards, radio ads, newspapers, and television. There was also a time, if you had cable T.V., when you could watch without advertisements.
I thought we might be getting back to that with streaming services. For a moment we were there. But the lure of money put a quick and dirty end to it. Now it is a super-premium to be able to stream without ads. If you don’t pay the super-premium you have to go a level below which means not only are you paying for the streaming services, but you also must sit through ads. It is enough to make me go back to the antenna services.
Do you see what I did just then? I got completely distracted by the problem of distractions. Back to the message about service. (With no commercial interruption…)
Now when you volunteer and serve in a ministry you don’t have to worry about being distracted by ads. Instead of your energy being taken up by sitting on a couch watching super-premium mediocracy, you are giving away another type of monetary exchange: worth. You are assigning worth to the people you are serving, and at the same time, demonstrating your own value in sacrificing your time and attention to something real. You assign worth by giving your attention to those neighbors you serve.
Service is a part of being a disciple. It gives us the opportunity to notice who and what we give our attention to and why we do this work. Jesus places a super-premium on serving others as he taught his disciples in the many feedings, and healings, and especially in the foot washing as he demonstrated what true leadership looks like: service. (Where he even washed Judas’ feet!) Jesus gave people his time and energy and attention. And he gave that commodity freely to the undeserving and the unloved. Jesus thus focused his love on serving others. In fact, Jesus came to serve and save the whole world.
As followers of Christ, we are called to do the same in our own context. Without distraction. Maybe not the whole world. Let’s just continue and start with our neighbors.
Fr. Mitch+