A SPIRIT OF SERVANTHOOD

 Reading: Matthew 25:31-46

Lynn Byers is a member of my congregation working as nurse in Haiti on short-term mission assignment.  Last week she sent this Facebook message.

'This week I hit a wall, a burn out wall at work. While the same problems & stresses are still here, I had an instance today which reminds me why I do love Haiti. One example was today when we were walking on the unpaved roads when it was raining, our feet got drenched in the mud. We were walking around with mud all over our legs (which of course the Haitians thought was hilarious)

I knew we couldn't enter into the store like that, so we asked a young Haitian male where we could find water to clean our feet. He ran and bought some water for us. Then he bent down while it was still raining in the middle of the street and cleaned our shoes & feet. An older man came over and gave us more water and made sure the young man cleaned our shoes & feet well. then dried our feet off with a washcloth he had. Neither would accept money (and they were not being creepers either, just very giving). While I might feel taken advantage of sometimes, the Haitians are very giving and serving people in general."

I wonder how many of us would have reacted to this situation as this young Haitian male.  Or would we have simply passed by on the other side?  Was is the recognition of his own neediness that made him alert to the need of another?  Was it the realization that he had something to offer to help if he was willing to take a risk?

Most of us are secretive about our own neediness and embarrassed (or perhaps, annoyed) by the neediness of others.  Thus, we want to help ourselves without the help of others lest someone else recognize our neediness and be embarrassed or annoyed by it.  And when it comes to the neediness of others, we'd prefer to be beyond its reach and impact.
 
Jesus has reminded us to be aware of others needs and to respond to them.  Servanthood is at the heart of Christlikeness.  Servanthood is at the heart of our loving Christ.

"Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ... Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." 

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES

 Reading: Philemon 1:7

We had spent a long, intense week on the Rez conducting Bible School for our sister Navajo congregation at Tsaile AZ.  It was at times both challenging and exhilarating.  It stretched as individual and drew us together as a team.  The first two days we wondered if most of the kids were even paying attention.  The third day we saw our first young person ask Jesus into their heart. There were to be seven more the next day.  It had rained often and made a muddy mess of our afternoons and evenings. The dorms were too cold for some and too hot for others.

But now it was the last minutes of the closing for our VBS.  I was going to share some parting words and then we would serve the kids before sending them home, and then getting ourselves loaded into vans heading for Albuquerque where we would catch a flight home to Pennsylvania.  We had asked the children to pray for the meal and only yesterday had the first child (about ten years old) done so.  And she needed a lot of prompting to overcome her sudden stage fright.  

Maria brought little six-year old Shane, a sweet little Navajo girl dressed in a pink top. Shane had volunteered to pray.  She took the microphone began – quietly, a bit more focused. She thanked God for the week, for what we had learned, for God himself, and for the meal.  And then she added, “And watch over Steve and his team as they travel back to their homes.   Make them safe. Amen.”

I lost it.  I gave her a squeeze and sent her off to eat.  Then I turned away towards the altar with tears flowing from my eyes.  When I turned back I saw almost a dozen of my team members wiping their eyes as well.  We had been blessed by the thoughtful, insightful prayer of a little girl mature beyond her years.  If we had still wondered why we made the journey, all questions were at an end.

In the earliest days of the church, Paul wrote to a man named Philemon and he paid Philemon the ultimate compliment.  These those words: "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." (Philemon 1:7)    

ASSUMPTIONS

Reading: I Samuel 16:7

Last weekend as we readied to leave for the Navajo Reservation, our VBS Team received word that we had no linens at the college where were staying.  This was just a few hours before departure, so Dianne and I rounded up all the towels we could locate, washed them, and packed them in a large suitcase. Since we knew that people’s luggage was already packed and probably tightly, we planned on checking that extra bag and taking it with us on the plane.  Fortunately, others brought towels and we packed all we needed into the suitcases. We were able to avoid paying another baggage charge.  But since the bus was arriving, we stuck the suitcase in a classroom.

En route Dianne received a cell phone call from a well-meaning Good Samaritan.  “Pastor Steve left his luggage. What do we need to do?” Di reassured her that we didn’t need it.  Then later on Sunday, Maria was talking to someone at home who said it had been announced in church that “Pastor Steve left his clothes in Landisville.”  She assured them that I had not. I was not walking around naked or anything.

I called Pastor Barry the next morning and indicated that was a piece of misinformation.  He said, “Oh!  I guess nobody looked inside the bag. They just assumed.”  (Of course, they assumed and then repeated their assumption.)  I said, “Well you know what they say about people who make assumptions.  They make ---- out of themselves.” (I let him fill in the blanks.) We had a good laugh.

I learned early in ministry that assumptions can be very dangerous, even hurtful—especially the assumptions people make about other people.  We see someone who looks differently from us. They sport a nose ring or ear ring and we would never pierce anything.  They are old and wear a frown and we are young and bubbly.  They have long hair or it’s a pony tail and our hair management is impeccable (or very retro).  They are Catholic and we are Protestant.  Their kids seem out of control and when we were parents we kept ours on a leash.

The worst part about assumptions is that they deal only with the surface. Or they reflect a pre-judgment about their values that seems to give us permission to devalue them in some way.  Or they create an excuse for us to stand at a distance and inspect them instead or engaging them and learning the truth.

The Word says two things that should convict those of us who make assumptions of the basic sinfulness of our behavior.

Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.” – Acts 10:34

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." – I Samuel 16:7

People who make assumptions usually make ----- out of themselves. They rarely do the work of the Lord.

© 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

BRONCHITIS

Reading: Psalm 103:13-18

“Bronchitis”

    For the past several weeks I have been wrestling with bronchitis.  At first I simply thought it was allergies (Pennsylvania is not a good place for people with allergies) and treated this with over the counter remedies.  When that did not succeed, I went to my physician and received the true diagnosis along with the proper antibiotics.  He promised noticeable results in three days, admonishing me to return if those results did not develop on schedule.

     The meds appear to be working.  I am now no longer coughing incessantly, which has vastly improved my ability to sleep and begun to restore my energy level.  The coughing needed to stop. It’s tough to preach or teach or counsel when you launch into a five-minute coughing fit at a teachable moment.  Plus people become more concerned about “catching something” than hearing the Spirit through you.  The energy level needed to improve because I don’t get a lot accomplished working 3-4 hour days.

     My energy level is not returning as quickly as I desired, which I am told is to be expected given the nature of bronchitis and my age.  Nonetheless, it is frustrating because in ministry you cannot always say, “Say two prayers and call me in a week for an appointment.”  Even ten days later, I’m still in lower gear.  And just when I thought I was at 90%, two Sunday morning sermons pretty much wore me out.  I am scheduled to lead a mission trip beginning Saturday.  I have already designated someone to fill my role on the field if my energy level remains low.  At the “nagging” of some prayer partners, I’ve cancelled an evening class or two this week to be sure I stop in the day when my body says, “STOP!”

     I am not a particularly good patient because I fret over what I’m not doing when I am forced to the sidelines and because I tell myself I am better even before I am.  And at age 60, I wrestle a bit more with my mortality and limits that have to be adjusted since I am not 45 anymore.  And although I know I am not indispensable, I tend to act is if I am.  It’s an occupational hazard of more than one leader or clergy type.

     Yet God is the first to remind us of our mortality.  " ... for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more."

      If we recognized our mortality, we would all be better stewards of the bodies and the lives the Lord has given us. We would also accept the seasons of life that are part of God’s plan and live in keeping with that season instead of acting like we can sprint from birth to the grave.

     And if we recognized our mortality, we would not treat our eternity so casually.  We would understand that we don’t have forever to turn our lives over to God.  We would recognize that we need to redeem the days of this life instead of putting off to tomorrow what God intends to be done today.  Eternity has a troubling way of arriving sooner than we anticipate and that tomorrow sometimes is not available to us to get things right with God.

© 2011 by Stephen L. Dunn

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