This morning I read an offering by William Temple. It was helpful, in these early days of the Lenten season. His words call for caution, as we embark upon one of the Lenten Disciplines - service.
We are to humbly serve others. We serve, as Christians, because we have first received. Christ, the one who deserves our service, comes to serve us. It is as the recipients of his service that we are empowered to serve.
Humility, true humility, begins with an ability to receive. It starts with a realization that we are dependent.
We are supremely dependent upon God. We are also dependant upon our Christian forebears, and upon the community of Christ's followers. To pretend otherwise is to reap the benefits of those who have gone before us, without ever understanding our interdependence.
The Lenten pilgrimage is a time to engage in acts of service, of humble service to others. This is but one of the Lenten disciplines. There is also prayer, confession, and fasting. These disciplines position us so as to allow our service to be of the kind offered by Christ. It is service with no ulterior motive; it is service offered out of love and compassion for the other, not out of pity or arrogance.
it isn't easy to serve. Particularly in our striated society. We leave our plush environs for a short foray into the places where the poor and neglected live. As we return to our couches of ivory, do we feel the burden of our wealth, or do we think prideful thoughts of what we have done?
It is costly to serve. Remember what it cost Jesus.
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