Todays theme in the liturgical sense is Serve Humbly. In preparation for the service I was thinking about what it means to be humble. Humility/humble is more than serving others with little fanfare, it is also has to do with serving with a state of loving acceptance. It can be hard to do. Humble service involves an unspoken element between two people, it says I do this because I love and care for you, not because the world can see me as above or better than you are. I confess one of my weaknesses is my unforgiving fury with people who profess to serve the poor, but complain behind their backs of the burden to society, or their personbal lives. It get that twitchy eye muscle thingy going on when people stereotypicaly lump attributes of poor people as all being dependent and welfare vacuums who have no respect for other people. I should forgive, but it is one of those things in life that I need to work on..my thoughts are if you are going to gripe about it, stop doing it because your motivation has become misplaced. If we are serving as God has called us to, our service to individuals does not come with a cost to the recipients state of worth. EVER. That means that we heed the words of counsel given to us that state that the welfare of others lies in our own. That means that we heed the words as recorded to have been shared by Jesus, that when we serve, fast, pray, ect... we dont get to moan and groan about the cost, the time, or ways that we suffer for others, because then our serving has become about US, and not those that we are supposed to be taking care of. Many of the habits and things that happen in low income families happen because of a vicious cycle that happens in society. It takes love and compassionate teaching to help break that cycle. Other times people are in poverty because of pure circumstance, those are the people who have it the hardest, because they have to learn the ways to creatively manage resources and find their way back to independence. However they are also lumped in with chronic system abusers and life long dependency folks when being served in community agencies. My husband and I lived in numeric poverty for a long time, rather than social poverty. Lee and I have always worked, either for an employer or for ourselves. We have always tried to give and support others, with time and our money when it was available to give.. so it was an odd place to be. People would sometimes be shocked that Lee and I struggled because we didnt dress baldy or act like poor people.. Often I was made to feel shamed by some of the people who were supposed to be serving my family at food pantries or resource centers. There were times I wanted to shake the helpers and say the light has left your eyes, so why do you do this?? Just to say you do? To make yourself feel better, Why? The reason I felt that way is because I know how people in faith communities, and other groups look when they serve out of joy. They have a light in their eyes, happy to be there, and glad that they could do something for you, and you know that they give their service without worry for themselves. They dont march around and complain about the cost and the set back to them personally, because they know the value of humble service, and the worth of all people. Those servants are the true back bone of community and Gods kingdom. I give thanks for their presence, and pray everyday that the example they have set continues to thrive. In this moment I express my gratitude for the ones in the trenches who uplift others, and bring grace to the poor, and serve humbly.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 13:07:36 +0000
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