stories: A counter top helps people see Christ
This post is part of my “stories” series. In this series, I share stories of how people live their lives in response to the gospel and as a demonstration of God’s love in order to teach us and to provide an example to provoke us to love and good works. (See “stories: A New Series” for more information about this series.)
A reader named Jim (“Journaling for Growth“) sent me this story:
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My wife, Vicki sold an annuity product to a minister and his wife. They are ministers to the Mattaponi American Indian Reservation here in Central Virginia. Vicki stated how nice it would be to have a purpose to visit the Mattaponi.
The minister said there was a woman who needs a lot of help. She is the daughter of May who was (she has since past) unable to get out of bed. May’s daughter never left the trailer they live in on the reservation while May was ill.
The daughter of May ( I am unable to recall her name) had a full time job that did not earn an income. The trailer they live in had no skirting around it to keep the pipes from freezing and the heat from escaping through the floor. The kitchen sink was being held up by cinder block because of water damage to the counter top around the opening for the sink. There was a need to repair the handicap ramp, the water heater was falling through the floor because it had been leaking at the joints and the window mounted air conditioner had stopped working.
My wife, Vicki and I went to the reservation to see what needed repaired and how we would make the repairs. We took measurements for a new counter top. We measured for skirting to put around the trailer. And I inspected to discover what I needed to do to repair the floor under the water heater and fix the leak on the water heater. I observed the hot water line to the kitchen sink had been completely disconnected because it had frozen and the brother of this woman did not know how to fix it. A poor excuse for disconnecting the water line but that is what he had done.
I attended our weekly small group meeting and took the opportunity to ask if I could get their help in making these repairs. Vicki and I paid for the material and the group was willing to meet us and help throughout the day. The ladies from the group volunteered to clean the small Baptist church building that was on the reservation while we men worked on the repairs. Behind my back, a few of the ladies organized a food drive to give food to this family. It was amazing! We accomplished all that needed to be done. And even further, we paid for a booth at our churches annual craft show on behalf of the Mattaponi Reservation so that the people of the reservation could sell their crafts there.
There was a problem in knowing how we would be able to afford a new counter top for this trailer. Vicki and I had already spent quite a bit and just could not do any more. We did not feel right in asking the people of our small group to contribute any money since we were already benefiting from their willingness to help with the work and their creative thinking in how they themselves could do more for the reservation than we had planned. So, we committed it to prayer.
In church, the Sunday prior to going to the reservation, my wife and I were talking to Ray and Thelma. We were discussing their recent move into a home they had purchased. Ray began discussing the remodeling of the house. He was complaining that he has been repeatedly put off by the cabinet maker and finally, that week, Ray and Thelma would be getting their new counter top and sink!
I said, “Ray. You are part of God’s plan to help these people see Christ. Can I have your old sink and counter top?â€
Ray could not believe that he was complaining when he realized what I needed his old counter top and sink for. He even gave us the faucet with the sink. The counter top was too long. But, that was better than being too short. We cut it to cover the cabinets and tied the new plumbing in.
At the end of our day of work, Don Stewart, the minister to the Mattaponi read from his Bible to May and her daughter. We’re not certain May ever understood. We hope that her daughter did and that she would have spoken to May, giving her an opportunity to accept the Lord. After May had passed, Don Stewart said the daughter had attended a church service at the Baptist church on the reservation. Don retired this past year as a minister as he has a neurological illness. We don’t know if May or her daughter accepted the Lord. But, I know the Lord is proud of the work we did that day. I had been back a few times to tie some loose ends on the projects we did.
Romans and Worship
This post continues the discussion of worship – see my post “Worship again“. In Romans chapters 1-11, Paul tells his readers, among other things, that both Jews and Gentiles alike are justified, sanctified, and glorified by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Beginning in Romans 12:1, we find that Paul uses several “priestly” words in association with followers of Jesus – “present/offer”, “sacrifice”, “worship/service”:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1 ESV)
These followers of Jesus are now priests of God. The word “worship/service” (λατÏεία – latreia) along with the verb form is especially interesting because that word group is used to indicate the work of priests in the Old Testament.
There is another cluster of “priestly” words found towards the end of the book of Romans:
But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:15-16 ESV)
In this passage, Paul explains that he is a priest of God as well. Just the Roman believers were to work as priests of God, so did Paul. But, what does this “priestly service” look like? I think we find this described in the passages between Romans 12:1 and Romans 15:15-16.
What does “priestly service” look like for a follower of Jesus? It begins by recognizing the grace of God, and serving others through the gifts that he gives to all his followers through the Spirit. (Romans 12:3-8) “Priestly service” continues through the way we interact with one another – beginning with genuine love, but including hospitality, blessing and rejoicing, etc. (Romans 12:9-21)
“Priestly service” for the follower of Jesus also includes responding correctly to government authorities. (Romans 13:1-7) To emphasize the importance of love, Paul again instructs us to love one another – this is not just a feeling, but a manner of living. (Romans 13:8-14) Our worship/service also includes accepting one another and not judging one another – even concerning “religious” concepts. (Romans 14:1-15:7)
How do we “worship” God? We worship God in the way that we serve, submit to, love, and accept one another. When do we worship? Well, we worship when we serve, submit to, love, and accept one another. What if we’re not doing these things? Then we’re not worshiping.
What if we’re singing and listening to preaching, but we not demonstrating love to those around us? Then we’re not worshiping. What if we’re demonstrating God’s love to those around us, but we’re not singing nor listening to preaching. Then, we’re worshiping.
Looking at Romans 12-15, we see how worship to Paul has very little to do with what Christians often call worship today. Can singing and listening to preaching be beneficial. Sure. But, we should not confuse these with worship.
If we wish to express worship/service to God in ways that he finds pleasing and acceptable, then we will take Paul’s instructions to the Romans seriously: we will demonstrate genuine love, submit to governmental authorities, love through the way that we live, and accept people just as they are – the way that Christ accepts them. Of course, its easier to attend a “worship service”.
Everyday Missional
As most of my readers know, our family serves people in various ways. We spend time with people in a local nursing home and government assisted housing project. But, in reality, these opportunities to serve God by serving other people are the tip of the iceberg.
What do I mean by that? I mean that primarily God uses us to serve people in simple, everday ways. Grace at “Kingdom Grace” has written an excellent post about this type of serving in a post called “Missional in the Moment“.
Grace expresses how she has learned to serve people moment by moment:
- The main thing that I learned about myself is that in order to love others, I usually have to go one step beyond what I am culturally comfortable with. I was raised to respect other people’s privacy, to be non-intrusive, to be non-demonstrative, and to be somewhat introverted about approaching others. Not that I am now obnoxious, but in order to express care to others, I have to step outside of my comfort zone and risk stepping into theirs.
- I have also discovered that I have to stay present in the moment and present to the people around me. Most missional moments appear fairly insignificant.
- Missional moments look like an opportunity to let someone know that I care about them and what they are going through, sometimes just with words, sometimes with specific actions.
- Remembering I carry within me the light, power, and life of Jesus Christ, the choice is always available to me to share that love with others or to withhold it. I try to be generous with His abundant love.
- I am sharpening my awareness that everywhere around me are people who need words of life and sharpening my sensitivity to where God is at work.
- From a kingdom perspective, every act of love and care is an investment in eternity. I remind myself of the eternal significance of even the smallest opportunities to love.
- That’s it. Learning moment by moment to hear from the Father, to follow the Spirit, and to share the love of Jesus in every imaginable opportunity that presents itself during my day.
There is alot of wisdom is what Grace has to say. We’ve found that God gives amazing opportunities to serve and demonstrate his love to others when we are aware of the people that he puts in our lives, and when we are willing to go beyond our comfort zone. What do you think about Grace’s list?
stories: Mrs. Jennie
This post is part of my “stories” series. In this series, I share stories of how people live their lives in response to the gospel and as a demonstration of God’s love in order to teach us and to provide an example to provoke us to love and good works. (See “stories: A New Series” for more information about this series.)
My friends go to the nursing home almost every week to read the Bible and sing songs. Before they begin to read and after they sing, my friends (along with their four boys) make their way from resident to resident and pass out hugs and listen to their stories. Since I was not teaching last summer, I went with them a few times. On my first visit, I met Mrs. Jennie.
Mrs. Jennie is in her mid-eighties and rides around in a motorized wheelchair because her legs are very weak. I sat beside her the day that I met her, and I held the song book open for her when we sang. She later told me that she couldn’t see the words, but she appreciated me holding the book for her.
After my friend read from Matthew’s gospel about “the least of these”, Mrs. Jennie leaned over to me. In her New York City accent she said, “I’m not an atheist, but all this religion stuff is new to me. I only come to Story Time because of him”. She pointed at the three year old son who was passing out song books to the residents with a big smile on his face. When he got to us, he handed me a song book and grinned at Mrs. Jennie. She touch his hair and beamed back at him.
We made a connection that day, and my family has fallen in love with Mrs. Jennie. We visit her in the nursing home every week. As we got to know her, she started telling us more about herself and her family. We found out that she has a daughter that she doesn’t talk to, and that there was even a restraining order once. She told us that she had two sons (“Both of them were good boys”), and they both died in traffic accidents when they were 21. Each one left a wife and child behind – and a mother who wondered why they were taken from her.
Mrs. Jennie talks about how she’s different now than she once was. She talks about how she was once mean and angry and sad, but now she feels “blessed”. One day, when we were visiting with us, she pulled out an evangelistic tract that a well-meaning person had given her. She said, “He wanted to push me to make a decision. I told him that I couldn’t pray something that I didn’t mean in my heart. Plus, I told him that if I needed to talk to someone, I have you and your family.”
In December and January, we were out of town for several weeks, both because we were travelling for Christmas and New Years, and because my wife’s father had open heart surgery. We sent word to Mrs. Jennie through our friends, so that she would know what was going on and why we were not visiting her.
Later, the kids and I came back home and left Margaret in Alabama for a few more weeks to take care of her father. We went to see Mrs. Jennie not long after we got back home. The first thing she did as ask about Margaret’s father. Then she said, “Tell Margaret that I’m praying for him. I don’t know how to pray, so I look out my window and talk to God like he’s here with me. I think he hears me.”
Last week, for Valentine’s Day, we gave Mrs. Jennie a bouquet of roses. She barely talked for our whole visit. Finally she said, “I don’t know what to say. No one has ever given me flowers before. Not even my husband.” She half-smiled and half-cried for the remainder of our visit.
On one visit, Mrs. Jennie surprised us with a gift. She had painted a picture of a cross and had it framed for us. When she gave it to me, she pointed to the cross and said, “I’m very close”. Mrs. Jennie still struggles with the death of her sons. She still wonders why God would take them away from her. But, God is changing her. I’m glad that God has allowed our family to be part of her life and part of the process that he’s using to draw her to himself.
Interaction with Lost and Found
Several weeks ago, the publishers sent me a review copy of Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them (Nashville: B&H, 2009) by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes. While this post will not be a review, I would like to interact with some of the content in this book.
Lost and Found is the result of several polls of 20-29 year olds offered and compiled by the authors. The results are compared to data for 30-39 year olds as well, but the primary target group was 20-somethings. The book is divided into 3 parts: “Polling”, “Listening”, and “Reaching”.
In the first part, “Polling”, the authors describe the research methodology and report the raw research data. In the second part, “Listening”, the authors suggest four “markers” that indicate what 20-somethings value: community, depth, responsibility, and cross-generational connection. In the last part, “Reaching”, the authors give examples of churches that are “reaching” 20-somethings.
For me, the most beneficial part of this book is the second part: “Listening”. As the authors point out community, depth, responsibility, and cross-generational connection are very important to 20-somethings. Also, the authors point out that these four “markers” are biblical concepts that should be important to the church as well (more on this later).
When the authors talk about “community” they mean “life is meant to be experienced together. Community is about intimately journeying through life with those who surround you.” (76) But, they also recognize that, “The church has, for generations, spoken of community. However, most of us would agree that community has been more of an aspiration than a reality”. (69)
The authors share an interesting anecdote about Starbucks to demonstrate the importance of community to 20-somethings:
Maybe the only thing that young adults desire as much as community is coffee. They are the men and women who not only like coffee, but they know everything about it… Perhaps that’s why Starbucks has the appeal it does. Most young adults have Starbucks as part of their experience… But interestingly enough, many young adults will say that Starbucks isn’t the best coffee they’ve ever had… Starbucks is successful because it sells more than coffee. It sells community. In their stores they intentionally create environments by design and acoustics that encourage conversations, comfort, and accessibility. (77)
Twenty-somethings are willing to pay $4 for coffee that’s not their favorite because they go to Starbucks to foster community. (An interesting question would be, does the church foster community? But, more on that later.)
According to the authors, 20-somethings also value “depth”. What do they mean? They mean that young adults do not want to wade in the shallow end. They want to deal with the tough issues of life. And, they want to be part of that process. As one person said, “It’s not one person with all the answers. Rather, it’s about all the people with their combined knowledge and experience.” And, this is the other part of depth: for young adults, depth is about real life, not theories or -ologies. If it doesn’t affect their life, then its a waste of time. The young people indicated that they learn through discussion and hands-on experience.
The third marker of 20-somethings is “responsibility”. By responsibility, the authors mean service and social responsibility. The authors point out that for these young adults, service was not something that was just talked about, or something that was left for others (professionals) to do. For example, they write:
Young adults believe in global responsibility; they know their choices make a difference. And they are living their lives in a manner that reflects this belief. (111)
The final marker for this group of young adults was a desire for “cross-generational connection”. One of the authors shared part of a conversation that drives this point home:
She said, “I’m twenty-four years old. I’d like to know how to cook, but I’ve never met my mother. Who can teach me?” (124)
The authors say that 20-somethings are looking for people who will “walk alongside them and give advice here and there. They’re looking for mentors who are willing to invest in their lives and teach them some things along the way.” (129)
The authors present a fictional narrative which runs throughout the book. The story follows the lives of a group of 20-somethings that they live out these four values. This narrative may be the most important part of the book, because it demonstrates how community, depth, responsibility, and cross-generational connection can play a part in the lives of 20-somethings.
However, I’m afraid this book will be used to create another church program designed to attract 20-somethings to a certain church organization. Consider this statement by the authors concerning community:
You can’t buy community, program community, or fake community. It’s the reality of the relationships that makes Christ believable to an unbelieving society. The person far from God will not come to Christ until the love of Christ annihilates the opposing worldview upon which they depend. Community is the love of God manifesting itself in and through the people of God. (76)
This statement could be repeated for the values of depth, responsibility, and cross-generational connection. In fact, concerning cross-generational connections, the authors say:
When people from an older generation invite young adults into their lives, they have that chance. Whether eating a meal, going to the movies, or having a conversation, the natural circumstances emerge to see and seize teaching opportunities through sharing life together. Though some specific direction can be emphasized in those relationships, the greatest learning moments will surface during everyday occurrences as they live life together – funerals, weddings, meals, baseball games, and family events. (134)
Yes! I agree completely! But, this is so foreign to the majority of churches, who rely on staff and programs, measurements and control. “Sharing life together” (I term that I like to use as well) cannot be programmed, measured, or controlled. However, several statements in the book even indicate that programs are in the mind of the authors:
Knowing this [that young adults are interested in social action], we must focus our efforts toward establishing social action as a major element in the strategies and programs of our churches. (117)
While the unchurched have a reduced interest in traditional “front door” approaches, we should now consider using service as a primary entry point into the lives of nonbelievers. Rather than initially inviting the unchurched to a traditional church program, perhaps we should invite them to help serve at a rescue mission or to attend a benefit dinner for a local charity. (119)
Note that I’m not opposed to inviting unbelievers to help us serve. The question is: Why are we serving? Are we serving because we desire to serve people out of the love of God, or are we serving people in order to attract young adults? If we are serving to attract young adults, they will eventually recognize our hypocrisy and steer clear – as they have been doing.
Unfortunately, just as surveys from a previous generation led to a plethora of “youth programs”, I think many will use this book to create additional “young adult programs”. These programs will serve the right music, offer the right buzz words, have plenty of coffee, and do service projects, but soon, the majority of 20-somethings – those who even try the program – will see the efforts as just another form of commercialization – a way to gain their trust in order to sell them a product or service. Those who are successful creating a “young adult community” will then wonder why those same 20-somethings are not participating in the other programs of the church.
Why? Like the authors said, “You can’t buy community, program community, or fake community” (76). And, those who appreciate community the most, can more easily sense a fake or inauthentic “community”.
I do not think we should be asking, “What can the church do to attract or reach 20-somethings?” Instead, we should use this very important research to ask two different questions: 1) Why are 20-somethings not finding community, depth, responsibility, or cross-generational connection among the church? (according to the authors, most of the people surveyed had been part of churches) and 2) Why are 30+ year olds not as interested in community, depth, responsibility, or cross-generational connection as they should be, at least, as Scripture indicates God’s people will be interested?
If we start addressing these questions, and seeking real community, depth, responsibility, and cross-generational connection, others will notice.
Playing with Blocks
Last year, I published a post called “Playing with Blocks“. The post was inspired by watching one of my friends play with his infant son one Sunday morning. I wonder how infantile we look when we attempt to follow Jesus… but I also wonder at how much our Father appreciates our infantile attempts.
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Sunday morning, during our weekly church meeting, my friend Maël taught from Matthew 4. Part of the teaching concerned Jesus’ call for Andrew, Peter, James, and John to follow him.
I watched one of the brothers sitting on the floor in the back of the room with his infant son. They were playing with a box of wooden blocks which were scattered on the floor around them. The father was picking up the blocks one by one and placing them in the box.
I watched as the son clumsily picked up a block and almost tossed it at the box. Somehow the block managed to go into the box. The boy then reached for another block, seemingly forcing his hand and arm to go places and do things that they did not want to do. Finally, the child grasped the block and forced his arm again to move toward the box, where he released the block.
This played out over several minutes. The father expertly picking up the blocks and smoothly and silently placing them into the box. The young boy tried to mimic his father, but his motions were less than perfect, not quite smooth, and rarely silent. But, the boy was able to put the wooden blocks into the box.
I realized that this was a picture of what it must look like to God when we attempt to follow Jesus. From the most mature believers to the newest follower, how clumsy and awkward and imperfect we must look to him! It would be so much cleaner if God did everything himself without involving us at all. But, God did not choose to work that way. Instead, he called us to follow him as he works in the world.
When we follow Jesus, we will usually find ourselves in the position of the infant child. We may serve, but it will be clumsy, messy service. We may speak, but our words will be awkward and imprecise. We may love, but our love will be less than genuine. We may follow, but we follow with the unsure steps of an infant son – wobbly, unstable, distracted, selfish, wandering. We will follow imperfectly.
So, does this mean that we should not attempt to follow at all? No! When someone is in need, do hesitate because of our imperfections? No! When someone needs a work of instruction or correction or comfort, do we remain silent because our words are often clumsy? No! Do we allow those more capable than us to serve or to speak? No!
Why? Because we have been called to follow; so, follow we must. As Jesus’ hands cared for the hurting, we must care for the hurting. As Jesus called people to repent, we must call people to repent. We recognize that our efforts are feeble and our words are awkward, but this should not drive us to inaction and silence! Instead, this recognition must drive us to complete reliance upon the Holy Spirit to work any good thing through our actions or our words. This recognition removes any source of boasting on our part, and shifts all glory and honor to God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
The one who clumsily helps those in need is following Jesus Christ. The one who refuses to help because their efforts may fall short is not following Jesus Christ. The one speaks awkwardly in an effort to encourage and build up others is following Jesus Christ. The one who refuses to speak because their words are not as refined as others is not following Jesus Christ.
By the way, I found out later from the father in my story that this was the first time that his son has attempted to put away the wooden blocks. I’m sure that this father was very proud of his son for his attempt, however clumsy and imprecise it may have been. Perhaps, our Father would be just as proud of those who decided for the first time to actually serve others or speak to others in spite of their own clumsy efforts. We know from 1 Peter 4:10-11 that God receives glory when we serve and speak to others.
stories: Serving the homeless in Phoenix despite struggles
This post is part of my “stories” series. In this series, I share stories of how people live their lives in response to the gospel and as a demonstration of God’s love in order to teach us and to provide an example to provoke us to love and good works. (See “stories: A New Series” for more information about this series.)
This story was sent to me by a reader named George. What happens when a group of people begin serving the homeless in their city? Ups and downs, organization and disorganization, politics and struggles… and those who care about the homeless continue to serve them through all the mess.
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Many years ago a man attending a well to do suburban bible church decided he needed to help the homeless. He cooked lunch for them once a month and served it to them, using volunteers from the church, in a municipal garage in downtown Phoenix. After a while the man passed the baton to others, and the ministry continued, moving from the garage – which was scheduled for demolition – to an overpass in an industrial area on the outskirts of downtown. (Note that no one now connected with the ministry recalls the man’s name, but we are confident that the One Who matters has it written down.)
Originally the man collected donations on the church patio in a coffee can. The church preferred that donations flow thru it, tho off-budget. People could write checks made to the church and indicated for the homeless ministry, and the church would disburse them at a rate of X dollars per month. In practice, the church made up shortfalls and accumulated overages, but the ministry was not a part of the official budget.
After one leadership change in the ministry, some people decided that the group deserved to be an official ministry of the church. About the same time, the new associate pastor responsible for the church’s outreach decided that the reason homelessness existed was because of rich suburbanites’ sucking the money out of the inner city, and efforts by them to alleviate homelessness was just self-indulgence. And the city decided that public, on-street feeding of the homeless simply attracted more homeless into the downtown area, which scared away shoppers and tourists. So the city passed an ordinance strictly limiting public serving.
First there was a confrontation with police. Now, the confrontation was made by a couple of women not from the church but who were regular participants. But it did make the newspaper, which the church’s senior pastor read. Then the ministry’s leaders – some of them, anyway, confronted the church about being on-budget. It wasn’t long before the church leadership decided the ministry should be dis-associated from the church, although it would be allowed to continue to solicit volunteers and in-kind donations on Sundays. But no more pulpit announcements, and no more storage space, and no more financial assistance. Any donations made thru the church would be kept by the church. The associate pastor suggested that, in keeping with the church’s motto of “come, grow, and go,†it was time for the ministry to go. Away.
All of this sounds very political. And it is. But this is not the real story.
There were among the ministry people who wanted to live out, at least some of the time, Jesus’ teaching to love one another and to support those who cannot repay. Those people looked for ways to improve the monthly meals – chicken BBQs, stroganoff, Mexican – and to ensure with music, bibles, and prayer that the guests knew Jesus was the motivation of the ministry. Politics and recognition, in themselves, were unimportant. What mattered was maintaining a connection to volunteers.
The ministry was only partly one of serving the homeless. Another part of the ministry was connecting suburbanite Christians with opportunities to follow Christ outside of their normal environments. So, while the ministry has never “ended homelessness,†it has succeeded in facilitating Christians in serving in ways they would not have done without the infrastructure provided by the ministry.
One “poster child†for the ministry was a former church secretary. While she’d administered church outreach programs, she’d never participated. Then one Saturday she decided to attend and at least watch what the group did. She quickly saw that she could fit in, that she could reach out to non-suburbanites, that she could share Christ’s love with them in tangible ways. She today attributes this experience to her move to a mission field in Alaska.
When the ministry was booted from its home church, the advice given was to disband and join an established ministry. After some attempts, the group was unable to find a group that shared its enthusiasm for making meals special. So the group formed its own non-profit corporation and volunteered its monthly meal service to existing homeless shelters that relied on donations. That was in 2000.
Today, the ministry has grown and stabilized at a monthly outreach to 570 homeless people in five overnight and transitional shelters. Including core volunteers, each month about 50 Christians serve as Christ has called them. In addition to building a solid relationship with another suburban church, fellowship with the original church has been restored. The disruptive people from all sides have moved on. While politics is ever-present, the Spirit typically wins the day.
Just as the ministry cannot claim to have overcome poverty, neither can its members claim to be like Mother Teresa, either. It is, after all, a once a month ministry. Even so, it is a very special mechanism for moving and connecting Christians in a special way for the service of our Lord.
Content with being a servant?
Are you content with being a servant? That’s the question that I asked myself after reading Steven’s latest post at “Biblically Speaking” called “Be a Servant! Someone has to do it!” Steven concludes with this:
So how are you doing when it comes to serving the body of Christ? We are saved and washed by the blood of the ultimate servant Jesus Christ. So we should have a great hunger to serve others within the body.
I keep thinking about the story that Aussie John has told in the comments on this blog about a “deacon” who once proudly told him, “I am no man’s servant”. I have never said those words, but have I demonstrated it with my actions?
stories: Bill was hungry
This post is part of my “stories” series. In this series, I share stories of how people live their lives in response to the gospel and as a demonstration of God’s love in order to teach us and to provide an example to provoke us to love and good works. (See “stories: A New Series” for more information about this series.)
Last month, on a Sunday, as we were getting ready to eat lunch together, one of our brothers walked in with a young man named Bill. Bill was riding his bicycle in the sleet, looking for food for himself and his sister. Bill told me that he was sixteen – I’m not sure how old his sister is. He told me that his mother was a drug addict and had left the house looking for drugs. Bill didn’t have any food for himself or his sister.
I talked to Bill for few minutes, then I fixed him some lunch – a meatball hoagie and some chips. It wasn’t much, but he was very appreciative. We asked if we could give him anything else, and he said, “No.” We asked him if we could give him a ride somewhere, and he said, “No.” We invited him to come have lunch with us anytime he wants to.
Since we’ve been meeting together as the church in the downtown area, I’ve been surprised at how many people we have run across who said they were hungry. We have always had enough food to share with them. Sometimes, the people will eat with us, and we are able to talk with them more – get to know them – find out about them and their situation – learn how we can serve them better. Sometimes, the people take the food we offer them and leave. For the most part, the people have always been appreciative.
I don’t know if Bill really needed food. I don’t know if his sister was really at home asleep. I don’t know if his mother was really a drug addict who had left her children alone in order to find drugs.
What do I know? I know that Bill (and others) told us that they were hungry. I know that we had food available. I know that we met their needs as we were able. I know that we offered to help them more.
Can we solve the world’s hunger problem? No. Can we help people who are hungry? Yes.
Good Reads
wow… there have been so many good blog posts written lately. Here are a few that I’ve enjoyed:
Lew at “The Pursuit” tricked me into filling out a sermon outline in his post “Sermon Outlines – A Better Idea“. I agree with him – the sermon would be more interesting if we could fill in the blanks ourselves.
Jeff at “Losing My Religion: Re-Thinking Church” marks several points in his life when “moments of truth” changed his life in his post “Life-Altering Moments of Truth“. I’ve come to some of the same conclusions. What were those “moments of truth”? Well, check out his post.
Chris at “Filtering Life Through the Cross” made the mistake of reading Roland Allen, and writes about it in “What are we so afraid of“. Read Chris’s post, then read Roland Allen.
Alan at “spermologos” questions “The Professional Church“. He asks some very powerful and provocative questions, and realizes that the church doesn’t really serve people.
Dustin at “Grace in the Triad” talks about “Pastors leaving church” – especially rural churches. I agree with Dustin that this is simply one symptom of a much bigger problem.