Servanthood

Ministry has been the topic recently. The word ‘ministry’ itself is from the Latin ministerium meaning servant. I think too often we forget that ministry is all about service. Recently I attended a breakfast honoring ‘servant leaders’ in the community. Many of the men and women have dedicated their lives to making a difference simply by the way they live their lives.

According to the organization Servant Leadership: “may grow out of a calling to help those in need, to live out one's faith in day-to-day work, or to mentor and influence others to a life of leadership focused on outcomes that are above and beyond one's own self-interest.” Doesn’t that sound like the Golden Rule that we looked at earlier this fall? — “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Taking these two thoughts together, I think we can say that Christian Ministry is being a servant to one another out of love that comes first from God and then flows through us as we live in obedience to God’s call on our life and hearts. It is living what Christ modeled to his disciples at the Last Supper. “After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (Jn. 13:12-17)

Many people think of Advent as the ‘church’s new year.’ It’s when we start the cycle of church seasons again by focusing on Jesus birth and on the Second Coming. As we move toward Advent, how can we more fully live into the ministry we are called to? I hope you have found insight in these mediations that will encourage you to “let go and let God” be in control of your life.

Next Sunday we will be almost to Thanksgiving. I've taken on a Facebook challenge to post one thing I am grateful or thankful for from now until Thanksgiving. It's always good to find something to be thankful for because no matter how dark the day, there will be some glimmer of grace to be found.

After Thanksgiving we enter Advent on December 29. I invite you to join the Advent meditations here in an exploration of Mary’s story and the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. You can also be part of the Yahoo group study “Dancing in the Footsteps of God (with Miriam)” starting the beginning of December. (Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dancinginthefootprints/ to join--you do need a Yahoo account.)