Here we are again. Another Lent. Another wilderness wandering. Another start to reflecting on the world via my very sporadic writings. It seems Lent has been the time I feel most compelled to write. Perhaps because of the introspective nature of the season. Maybe it’s just the experience of taking the United Methodist Photo-A-Day challenge and turning it into a post. All I know is here we are again and here I go again.
Day 24: Served
For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10:45
What an unexpected surprise! Slogging through my midafternoon slump (somewhere around 2:30pm like clockwork), one of the teachers from the Child Development Center at the church I serve, popped in to let us know we were invited to check out the “trail mix bar” she had created for her colleagues.
I am still relatively new in my role as pastor of this church, but I have had several interactions with this staff member. So, when she walked past again shortly after letting us know about her gift, I asked about the motivation behind the sharing.
I should add this staff member is exploring and deepening her practice of Isalm. For example, in just the past several months she decided to wear a niqab. Now, I am largely ignorant of the tenets of her faith, but her grace has been such I stumble through my questions and if I offend she has not held it against me.
“Is this [the sharing of the treats] part of your Ramadan celebrations?”
She let me know that it was. She has just completed observing Ramadan and Eid and this sharing is a way of blessing others she wanted to share.
Friends, I have to tell you there are some that may question why a practicing Muslim, covered in a niqab and found kneeling in prayer at the prescribed times, is teaching in a preschool in a Christian church. Today’s act of blessing is the latest reason I will give.
In the scripture shared at the top of this post, two of Jesus’ apprentices have requested special treatment, to be recognized as important and powerful. Jesus tells them true greatness is to serve.
One of my favorite Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes picks up this idea…
Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
I was served today and the experience has me thinking about the joy, the beauty (do you see the flowers she added to the table?), the complete surprise of the whole thing. Some will reject Islam believing it is anti-Christian. Today I saw the love of a young woman responding to the grace they have received. She was not trying to jockey for position, nor was she clamoring for power. In the purist possible way she wanted to share her blessings. She may not follow the Jesus I know, but she showed me what following him is meant to be.
Life is better together,
Shawn
Big Rubber Band Ball 