Plow
Creek Mennonite Church
Sunday
Meditations
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Serving Others
Louise Stahnke
May 29, 2005
As I thought about how to teach on this subject, I decided to go to this generation’s expert on how to serve — a small biography of Mother Theresa and her work, by Christian Feldman. So much of what I have to share comes from this.
As human beings, we all serve someone, whether it is self, the forces of evil, or our Lord Jesus. As Christians we seek to serve our Lord, and that inevitably means serving other people. But the needs of the world, and even of our own families and community, are huge. If we try to speak to every need we become aware of, we will soon be exhausted.
A clear sense of the Lord calling us to one or a few specific areas of service is vital. This becomes an inner knowing of God’s will for us. “He has chosen us. We didn’t choose Him first…We are sent; we haven’t picked out the place we are going. We have been sent, exactly as Jesus was sent to us. We haven’t been sent to teach, but to learn. Learn to be meek and humble of heart. This is just what Jesus has demanded of us. We have been sent to serve, not to be served. …. Share what you have received with a humble heart. Go with great tenderness, with tender, sympathetic love. Say yes to peace; hold your tongue rather than saying a word that might wound someone. Give of your self generously, unconditionally.” “Jesus would like to live his life in you. He would like to see with your eyes, walk with your feet, love with your heart. He will coax the good out of a person. That’s the beautiful thing about God, isn’t it? That he can stoop down and let you feel that he depends on you. That He is almighty, and yet He doesn’t force himself on you.”
So the first step in thinking about how we are to serve our Lord, is to spend enough time with Him that we can feel a clear sense of direction for our lives. And then to respond to that direction with all that we have.
Near the beginning of her work in Calcutta, Mother Theresa found herself dealing with depression, knowing that there was so little she could truly accomplish in her world of needs. She emerged from this time with a deep sense of humility, seeing herself as a small instrument in God’s hand. “Very often I feel like a little pen in his hands. He’s the One who thinks, writes, and acts. I am to be just a pencil, nothing more. The work is His work; we are all just his tools that do their little bit and go away.” This kind of humility is wondrously freeing. It gives the freedom to ask advice, and keeps the focus of attention on the other person.
In the religious Order that Mother Theresa founded, there were 2 full hours of prayer and worship included in each day. This is crucial to their work and to the work of anyone who would seek to serve the Lord so unconditionally. We cannot give of our own strength. “We should cling to Jesus, press around him, seize hold of him, and never let him get away for anything in the world. We have to fall in love with Him. By living the love of God in prayer and service, in a life marked by the simplicity and humility of the Gospel. By serving him in the wretched disguise of the materially and mentally poor, by recognizing and reviving in them the image of God and their lost resemblance to him.”
On another occasion, speaking to a group of people as she was awarded one of the many honors that came to her, Mother Theresa told them, “You people in the world may not have the time and the leisure to pray. It’s a beautiful gift from God that he lets us have so much time.” The reality of being a Sister of Charity is living very full and busy days. But not too busy to find the nourishment they need for their work. “If we pray, we believe. If we will believe, we will love. If we love, we will serve. Only then can our love for God be transformed into living action through service for Christ.”
The time spent with Jesus in prayer and worship is what enables us to get past our self, to have His eyes and heart for those we are to serve. So much that has been done in the name of Christian service has been accompanied by sins like pride, irritability, and selfish interests. Those who are served are not blind to the spirit in which service is given. If we serve in a spirit of judging, we are not serving the Christ. Rather we are building walls that may make it more difficult for the one being served to ever come to know Him.
“There is only one God, and he is the God of everyone. So it’s important that all men and women be looked upon as equal in the sight of God.” “It is the same Christ” whether Jesus himself or a person in need. The perspective helps us be really concerned with the other rather than looking for the satisfaction one gets from doing good deeds or appeasing a guilty conscience. This matter of course identification of every suffering person with Christ is also the best guarantee that help and care won’t depend on the appeal or good behavior of those being helped. We need prayer for a “seeing faith” which recognizes the crucified Lord in the unhandsome disguise of the irritating, the demanding, and the unreasonable.” It is a gift to be able to put oneself in the place of fellow human beings without immediately drawing up a plan for their complete alteration. As we know ourselves to be truly loved, we will have less need to judge and/or be critical of another.
Our giving is important, but it needs to be done with joy. “Joy generally comes from a heart that is burning with love. Don’t ever let anything fill you with so much care that you forget the risen Christ.” The point is not just to perform services, but to be attentive. “Consideration of others is the beginning of holiness. I you learn to be considerate, you will become more and more like Christ, who had a kindly heart and always devoted himself to other people’s needs. Your life will be beautiful as you care about others.”
Joy is the spontaneous outcome of love. It is always ready with a smile. It is also always ready to join with another as they grieve and struggle, and to share their pain for a while. Joy says, “I am glad to be with you, whatever the circumstances.”
“What can we learn from the example of Mother Theresa’s life? Perhaps this: to deal mercifully with oneself and attentively, respectfully and lovingly with others, especially the weaker ones, who not infrequently reveal themselves to be the really strong ones and richly benefit those who have decided to cast their lot with them.” Serving our Lord may lead us to interesting places and people around the world. But for most of us, we find ourselves sufficiently challenged in our own homes, work and community. If these are the places the Lord has led us, these are the people we are to serve. Arenas of service become all encompassing. Each one of us has a deep need to be respected, loved, listened to, touched gently, prayed for. Whether we are a child who lives with little real power, a young adult trying to find his or her way, a parent who is overtired and struggling with demands that exceed his/her ability to meet them, an adult who looks and seems powerful but lives with a myriad of questions and self doubt. Jim Wilder, in the Thrive material, speaks of the need of an infant to be seen “through the eyes of heaven”, so that the child and developing adult can see him or her self in the same way that our Lord sees them. But many of us have been hindered by events in living that leave us seeing ourselves through critical, judgmental glasses instead. As we find ourselves in relationships throughout life where we are respected, loved, listened to, touched gently, and prayed for, we grow in our ability to see ourselves as God sees us. And each of us can give this precious gift to each other and all who we come in contact with.
There is a call to specific areas of service for each one of us, and a call to truly love all people. As we stay connected with Jesus and walk with him, He will enable us to do both. Loving is not sentimental or naive. We cannot put our own agenda on other people, trying to shape them into what we think they should be. And we need to remember it is far easier to see another’s weakness than it is our own. Humility and gentleness will take us a long way on our journey.
Break into small groups and spend 5 to 10 minutes writing down all the things you are currently doing to serve the Lord. Then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you things in your life that hinder that service, and write those down. This is followed by a time of sharing in the small group.
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Serving Others
Louise Stahnke
May 29, 2005
As I thought about how to teach on this subject, I decided to go to this generation’s expert on how to serve — a small biography of Mother Theresa and her work, by Christian Feldman. So much of what I have to share comes from this.
As human beings, we all serve someone, whether it is self, the forces of evil, or our Lord Jesus. As Christians we seek to serve our Lord, and that inevitably means serving other people. But the needs of the world, and even of our own families and community, are huge. If we try to speak to every need we become aware of, we will soon be exhausted.
A clear sense of the Lord calling us to one or a few specific areas of service is vital. This becomes an inner knowing of God’s will for us. “He has chosen us. We didn’t choose Him first…We are sent; we haven’t picked out the place we are going. We have been sent, exactly as Jesus was sent to us. We haven’t been sent to teach, but to learn. Learn to be meek and humble of heart. This is just what Jesus has demanded of us. We have been sent to serve, not to be served. …. Share what you have received with a humble heart. Go with great tenderness, with tender, sympathetic love. Say yes to peace; hold your tongue rather than saying a word that might wound someone. Give of your self generously, unconditionally.” “Jesus would like to live his life in you. He would like to see with your eyes, walk with your feet, love with your heart. He will coax the good out of a person. That’s the beautiful thing about God, isn’t it? That he can stoop down and let you feel that he depends on you. That He is almighty, and yet He doesn’t force himself on you.”
So the first step in thinking about how we are to serve our Lord, is to spend enough time with Him that we can feel a clear sense of direction for our lives. And then to respond to that direction with all that we have.
Near the beginning of her work in Calcutta, Mother Theresa found herself dealing with depression, knowing that there was so little she could truly accomplish in her world of needs. She emerged from this time with a deep sense of humility, seeing herself as a small instrument in God’s hand. “Very often I feel like a little pen in his hands. He’s the One who thinks, writes, and acts. I am to be just a pencil, nothing more. The work is His work; we are all just his tools that do their little bit and go away.” This kind of humility is wondrously freeing. It gives the freedom to ask advice, and keeps the focus of attention on the other person.
In the religious Order that Mother Theresa founded, there were 2 full hours of prayer and worship included in each day. This is crucial to their work and to the work of anyone who would seek to serve the Lord so unconditionally. We cannot give of our own strength. “We should cling to Jesus, press around him, seize hold of him, and never let him get away for anything in the world. We have to fall in love with Him. By living the love of God in prayer and service, in a life marked by the simplicity and humility of the Gospel. By serving him in the wretched disguise of the materially and mentally poor, by recognizing and reviving in them the image of God and their lost resemblance to him.”
On another occasion, speaking to a group of people as she was awarded one of the many honors that came to her, Mother Theresa told them, “You people in the world may not have the time and the leisure to pray. It’s a beautiful gift from God that he lets us have so much time.” The reality of being a Sister of Charity is living very full and busy days. But not too busy to find the nourishment they need for their work. “If we pray, we believe. If we will believe, we will love. If we love, we will serve. Only then can our love for God be transformed into living action through service for Christ.”
The time spent with Jesus in prayer and worship is what enables us to get past our self, to have His eyes and heart for those we are to serve. So much that has been done in the name of Christian service has been accompanied by sins like pride, irritability, and selfish interests. Those who are served are not blind to the spirit in which service is given. If we serve in a spirit of judging, we are not serving the Christ. Rather we are building walls that may make it more difficult for the one being served to ever come to know Him.
“There is only one God, and he is the God of everyone. So it’s important that all men and women be looked upon as equal in the sight of God.” “It is the same Christ” whether Jesus himself or a person in need. The perspective helps us be really concerned with the other rather than looking for the satisfaction one gets from doing good deeds or appeasing a guilty conscience. This matter of course identification of every suffering person with Christ is also the best guarantee that help and care won’t depend on the appeal or good behavior of those being helped. We need prayer for a “seeing faith” which recognizes the crucified Lord in the unhandsome disguise of the irritating, the demanding, and the unreasonable.” It is a gift to be able to put oneself in the place of fellow human beings without immediately drawing up a plan for their complete alteration. As we know ourselves to be truly loved, we will have less need to judge and/or be critical of another.
Our giving is important, but it needs to be done with joy. “Joy generally comes from a heart that is burning with love. Don’t ever let anything fill you with so much care that you forget the risen Christ.” The point is not just to perform services, but to be attentive. “Consideration of others is the beginning of holiness. I you learn to be considerate, you will become more and more like Christ, who had a kindly heart and always devoted himself to other people’s needs. Your life will be beautiful as you care about others.”
Joy is the spontaneous outcome of love. It is always ready with a smile. It is also always ready to join with another as they grieve and struggle, and to share their pain for a while. Joy says, “I am glad to be with you, whatever the circumstances.”
“What can we learn from the example of Mother Theresa’s life? Perhaps this: to deal mercifully with oneself and attentively, respectfully and lovingly with others, especially the weaker ones, who not infrequently reveal themselves to be the really strong ones and richly benefit those who have decided to cast their lot with them.” Serving our Lord may lead us to interesting places and people around the world. But for most of us, we find ourselves sufficiently challenged in our own homes, work and community. If these are the places the Lord has led us, these are the people we are to serve. Arenas of service become all encompassing. Each one of us has a deep need to be respected, loved, listened to, touched gently, prayed for. Whether we are a child who lives with little real power, a young adult trying to find his or her way, a parent who is overtired and struggling with demands that exceed his/her ability to meet them, an adult who looks and seems powerful but lives with a myriad of questions and self doubt. Jim Wilder, in the Thrive material, speaks of the need of an infant to be seen “through the eyes of heaven”, so that the child and developing adult can see him or her self in the same way that our Lord sees them. But many of us have been hindered by events in living that leave us seeing ourselves through critical, judgmental glasses instead. As we find ourselves in relationships throughout life where we are respected, loved, listened to, touched gently, and prayed for, we grow in our ability to see ourselves as God sees us. And each of us can give this precious gift to each other and all who we come in contact with.
There is a call to specific areas of service for each one of us, and a call to truly love all people. As we stay connected with Jesus and walk with him, He will enable us to do both. Loving is not sentimental or naive. We cannot put our own agenda on other people, trying to shape them into what we think they should be. And we need to remember it is far easier to see another’s weakness than it is our own. Humility and gentleness will take us a long way on our journey.
Break into small groups and spend 5 to 10 minutes writing down all the things you are currently doing to serve the Lord. Then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you things in your life that hinder that service, and write those down. This is followed by a time of sharing in the small group.