"Will You Let Me Be Your Servant?"
April 17, 2010
Meditation given at the Annual Volunteer Appreciation Event
By James R. Martin
Greetings! To each of you as Landis Homes Volunteers, and to everyone as "Servants of Christ".
It may seem odd to ask you as a group of servant / volunteers the question, "Will You Let Me Be Your Servant?" I know you are joyfully serving others, but I sincerely ask you to think today about this question, "Will YOU Let Me Be YOUR Servant?
In the book, A Christian View of Hospitality: Expecting Surprises, written by Michele Hershberger, there's recorded a beautiful story of the ministry of serving and being served as told by Nelson Kraybill, President of Associated Biblical Seminary, in Elkhart, IN.
Nelson writes, "A couple in our church has foster children. At a church retreat weekend, I had the opportunity to meet a six-year-old boy who had just come to their home. Little Steve came from a rough background. He had suffered abuse of various kinds. His new foster parents told me, he at first ate his food fast and held it close to his face - apparently because he had been tormented by having food taken away.
"At breakfast I sat with Steve, just the two of us. I asked him questions, and he mumbled answers in monosyllables. After breakfast, the church group gathered for communion and foot washing. I washed feet with another adult, and returned to my seat. Then I noticed little Steve craning his neck to see beyond the circle to the foot-washing activity. 'Would you like to see what they are doing?' I whispered to him. He nodded. Together we slipped out of the circle of chairs, and sat cross-legged on the floor to watch the people with basins and towels.
"I asked Steve if he wanted me to wash his feet. Again, he nodded. He sat on a chair, with his feet barely reaching down to the basin. I washed his feet, and he giggled when the towel rubbed his toes. It is customary in our church for people who have washed feet to embrace afterwards. But I was a stranger to Steve, and couldn't embrace a boy who had been abused. So I put both my hands on his shoulders and said, 'I'm really glad that you are part of this church.'
"Just as I was heading back to my seat, Steve tugged at my sleeve. He was saying something I couldn't understand. I leaned down to hear his small voice:
'I want to wash your feet.' My feet already had been washed, and in our church nobody is 'done' twice! Yet, some divine nudging told me to say yes. A little boy who had been abused, who scarcely knew me, washed my feet. I won't forget that moment of grace for the rest of my life."
The Landis Homes logo of a towel and basin aptly illustrates our stated mission, "......to serve aging adults and their families by honoring and enriching their lives, in a community of Christ-like love."
I once wrote a paper on 'Foot Washing as an Ordinance' or religious rite of the Christian Church practiced along-with communion. In reality, some of the early Anabaptists embraced the practice of foot washing with their communion services and others did not. I also wrote a companion paper entitled, "Foot Washing as 'Sitz-im-Laben". The German word 'Sitz-im-Laben' means 'situations in life', or serving others in the menial activities of daily life as Jesus did in washing the disciples' feet.
All of us have many opportunities in daily life to serve others in Christ-like love. One of my most memorable foot washing experiences was with my own father. Dad had done so much for me and my sister and two brothers throughout our lives. He was a wonderful caring Christ-like father; a great example, and a model to follow.
Dad & Mother were living at Landis Homes in the southwest corner, second floor apartment in what is now Westfield. Dad had successful knee replacement surgery and was home recuperating when I stopped by to visit. Mother mentioned that she finds it very difficult to help Dad remove the 'stretch stocking' and replace it with a clean one. A change was much overdue so I offered to do it.
As I carefully removed the stocking and bathed Dad's leg, I noticed the skin seemed very dry, especially his foot. I asked for lotion and massaged Dad's leg and foot. He said it felt so good, so I continued massaging his foot for an extended period of time. It was a very rewarding experience for both of us. As volunteers here today, I believe the loving work you are doing for others in the 'Spirit and attitude of Jesus', is the most important aspect of Jesus' teaching on foot-washing, and is very honoring and pleasing to God.
Your service as volunteers is an expression of "Jesus Christ in Street Clothes", our core values of joy, compassion, integrity, stewardship, and community.
The description of our Stewardship Core Value is: "devoting ourselves to faithful and responsible use of resources entrusted to our care, upholding high standards of performance and quality, striving for excellence, and serving beyond expectations."
I think the 300+ resident volunteers of Landis Homes and the 175+ volunteers from the community who served 50,000+ hours for the benefit of Landis Homes residents are "serving beyond expectations". I personally commend each one of you for your service, and on behalf of the Landis Homes Board, read the following from our Mar. 23 minutes: "The LH Board was in full agreement for James to extend their sincere thanks for the many hours volunteered at Landis Homes."
The LH Board understands the significance of your contribution, for they too are volunteers, giving untold amounts of time in Board meetings, committee work, assignments, educational events, and countless e-mail correspondence. Many of our staff also give time and service beyond our expectations, and all of us together create "our wonderful community of Christ-like love".
But now let me return to our question, "Will YOU Let Me Be YOUR Servant?"
Pakisa Tshimika and Tim Lind of Mennonite World Conference in their book "Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith", raise a very important question.
Is there a difference between giving and sharing? They suggest, "Sharing is different than simply giving. It is possible to give a gift anonymously. Particularly in Western culture, anonymous giving is considered by many to be of high merit. There is a place for giving, even anonymous giving. But anonymous sharing is impossible."
Sharing is about relationship and holistic personal caring for one another. It is more than simply the strong ministering to the weak. While sharing does build up the other, true sharing also receives from the other and is strengthened. The focus is not on equality of sharing, but on sharing according to one's abilities and capabilities.
Let me illustrate. While serving as the Interim Pastor at Red Run Mennonite Church in the 90's, a mother responded to an altar call in the Sunday morning worship service. She was born into a Jewish home, married, and the Mother of three children.
In the prayer room, she confessed, "I am coming to Jesus all that I know and all that I understand."
At the woman's request and the ministry's discernment, it was arranged for a mature woman in the congregation to meet with her regularly to mentor and disciple her in spiritual growth. My wife, Betty met regularly with her, giving her much volunteer time and support. On Monday, June 1 of that year, I stopped by her house on an errand and she asked me to take a large beautiful bouquet of flowers along for Betty. I knew they had a very meager cash flow and my first impulse was to think, I must pay her. I believe the Spirit of God nudged me to be silent.
She then said, "Betty has done so much for me, and you know on Friday is her birthday." I wilted inside and thought, I know Betty's birthday is June 5, but I've not really thought about it yet, I've still got four days. I responded by saying, "Oh, thank you very much. I know Betty will be very pleased with such beautiful flowers."
Years later, as we openly discussed this incident together, she told me that if I had offered and then insisted on paying for the flowers, it would have been very crushing to her. She would have felt worthless, and would have thought she has nothing of any value worth sharing.
My act of graciously receiving a gift from her for my wife was a very significant blessing she needed.
It reminds me of Jesus taking the initiative, and even asking the woman at the well to meet his need; "Give me a drink"? Receiving from the Samaritan woman opened the door for deep sharing, and the woman in turn received "Living Water" from Jesus!
I ask you today, are you able to receive gratefully from others?
In my ministry for Lancaster Conference the past fifteen years, I've spent a significant amount of time in study and reflection, teaching and preaching on the subject of stewardship. I've reached the conclusion that the first act of stewardship is not giving, but it is receiving. I'm convinced that believers ought to gratefully receive all of life as a gift from a generous God.
All of our material blessings, all of our spiritual blessings, and life itself are gifts from God to us. When we "Receive Gratefully" from the Lord, each new day is a gift of grace. We are then best prepared to "Share Generously", and to "Manage Faithfully", and to "Live Trustfully".
I sometimes say, "All I know about stewardship can fit into these four summary phrases in this order":
1) Receive Gratefully,
2) Share Generously,
3) Manage Faithfully, and
4) Live Trustfully
Please remember, receiving gratefully from God and others is a godly characteristic.
Biblical hospitality is usually a "shared experience" of both "giving and receiving".
Abraham hosted three visitors sharing food with them, and Abraham received the good news that a son would be born. Martha showed her hospitality to Jesus by making many preparations, but Jesus preferred Mary's relational hospitality of sitting with Him and receiving the things he wanted to tell her. Some times, we find it difficult to cease doing and to simply be present to receive from the other.
I think many of us find it a challenge to receive from the other because we have been conditioned to serve and share and volunteer. Think about it, many of us have been taught much more about "giving generously" than "receiving gratefully". When someone expresses appreciation for your volunteering and serving, do you feel ill at ease, drop your head, or squirm, or discredit your service, and not really accept their affirmation?
Or can you accept a sincere compliment and respond by saying, "Thank You"!
Are we vulnerable enough to admit a small need, and are we humble enough to graciously allow others to supply our need? If we have learned the grace of receiving small things from others, it will help us when we are the ones with a significant need. We will then be able to graciously receive from those who are stronger than we are or have more capabilities than we do?
The Bible does say, "From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another." And as we share with others, it is also true that we have all received many blessings from the other. My call to all of us today is,
Let us continue to grow in the grace of sharing, both in continued giving and especially in the Christian grace of receiving gratefully.
In 1977, Richard Gillard wrote the beautiful song with these words:
Will YOU let me be YOUR servant, let me be as Christ to YOU;
Pray that I may have the grace to let YOU be MY servant too.
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