Let us pray: Good and loving God, bless us with the awareness of your presence here today, inhabit these words, speak to our hearts, in the name of your Son who came to serve. Amen.
Over the course of the past few weeks Mark’s Gospel has presented us with good insight into God’s operating system, the divine way of relating to and with humanity. And it is VERY different from what we’re used to, what we’ve learned, lived, and breathed in for most of our lives. Here are a few examples from previous gospel lessons, including todays:
Mark 9:35-7
35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. When you welcome a child, the lowest of low, without value in the society of Jesus’ time, you are actually welcoming the most valuable, the most high God their self! Jesus teaches and shows that we should aspire to be last, NOT first, and that we should serve others, NOT ourselves. By Jesus, we are called to serve. By society we are called to seek positions where others serve us. Again, two chapters later, Mark’s Gospel repeats this divine reversal SO counter to our society’s values and emphasis.
Mark 10:31
31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
God’s ways are not our ways, or I should say, not our world’s ways. When it comes to systems of power Jesus turns the tables, both literally and figuratively. Our society’s system of domination is counter to Jesus’ example of caring for the poor and neglected, feeding, healing, dignifying, and lifting up the lowly.
And from today’s Gospel: Mark 10:42-45
42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Just prior to this James and Jon had made this really sort of outrageous ask of Jesus. Before they even make their request, they ask him to “do for us whatever we ask of you.” This makes me think of when kids, or even us adults ask someone to promise not to get mad, or promise not to tell, before they’ve even asked or said anything. As it turns out, what James and John want is position, and power, to enjoy places of honor next to Jesus. Their thoughts are not in line with God’s thoughts, or God’s way of doing things. And Jesus explains that this kind of power seeking and focus on self, is NOT what they, as disciples, are supposed to be all about. That’s how it is in the power structure of the world, but it is not so among you. Do you want to be great? Then you’ve got to serve. Do you want to be first, the top dog? Then you’ve got to be willing to do the lowliest job. Look at me, says Jesus, I am God, and yet I didn’t come to have people serve me. No, I came to serve, even to the point of giving up my very life for others.
Leadership in Jesus’ community, the Christian community, means service.
This is where transformation happens. It happens through servanthood.
Here at Saint Mary’s our mission is to: Worship. Serve and Grow in faith.
We are called to follow Jesus’ example of servanthood. How do we do that here at St. Mary’s? We do it both subtly and overtly. We serve each other through maintaining our connections, knitting ourselves together in love. In love and care for one another, we serve. As simple as a call, an e-mail, text, a cup of coffee or tea, a walk, a hike, a few hundred stitches together on Wednesday morning as the quilt grows smaller and smaller on the frame. We do it through our many ministries of serving others in emulation of Jesus’ life and works of mercy, feeding, healing, dignifying those on the margins of society. Our Saturday Breakfast is legendary in the community and during this pandemic its tireless volunteers have not wavered even though they’ve been forced to change when, where and how they serve food, they continue to bring God’s love through feeding the hungry in our neighborhoods. Another of our feeding ministries is the Student Food Pantry, a partnership with Episcopal Campus Ministry, Grace Lutheran Church, Food for Lane County, and the University of Oregon’s Student Sustainability Center. The Student Food Pantry has yet to close during the pandemic, only altering its food distribution to pre-made food boxes when it was unsafe to meet in the one-car garage at the ECM house. And when we were able to move into Grace Lutheran’s MUCH larger space last summer students could once again do their own shopping. The Student Food Pantry regularly serves 150-200 students and their families and roommates each week during the academic term. Our Meals in Motion ministry brings food out to those parishioners and their families after surgeries or other life events that make it hard to focus on food. And these meals are such a blessing, taking away the burden of meal prep so people can focus on healing. These are very tangible ways that we at Saint Mary’s are following Jesus’ example of servanthood. We are also serving, connecting and sharing God’s love through all the time, energy, and care that goes into our Sunday School, Episcopal Church Women meetings, Spirited Women, Earth Stewards, and Liturgical, and Joyful Noise Choirs. SO much is going on, continues to go on during the pandemic and WILL most definitely go on, in new and resurgent ways as we look to the end of this pandemic. This is what we are about at St. Mary’s. A key part of our mission is to serve. To serve others in the pursuit of helping make God’s dream a reality in our time. Biblical scholar James Thompson contrasts James and Jon’s request for positions of power, with Jesus’ powerful acts of service for others.
“When we keep our minds on the unfolding reign of God, we lose the self-serving self and gain another, higher, better self. This higher, better self answers the call of Jesus Christ to be a disciple by serving others in the world.”
This is what Jesus calls us to do and to be. To serve others in God’s loving name. When you make a pledge of financial support to Saint Mary’s you are sustaining all of these important ministries, all of the ways that St. Mary’s seeks to serve others in our world today in response to Jesus’ call and example of servanthood. Some, but not all of us, can actively participate in these ministries and they are blessed by those they help, seeing Christ reflected in them, others participate through their generous gifts of money to sustain and grow these ministries, ALL of us join together in prayerful support, knitted together in love, doing our best to live out our baptismal covenant to seek and serve Christ in everyone we meet, to respect and honor the dignity of all, and to work for justice and peace in our world today. We at Saint Mary’s come not to be served, but to serve others. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your financial gift to St. Mary’s. Through your generosity we are able to follow Jesus’ example of servanthood, share God’s love for others, and work together for the inbreaking of God’s kingdom.
I’d like to close today with the collect for Social Service from the Book of Common Prayer:
22. For Social Service
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served
but to serve: Bless all who, following in his steps, give
themselves to the service of others; that with wisdom,
patience, and courage, they may minister in his Name to the
suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the love of him
who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus
Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
