Your serve

Ah, this serving thing becomes real.

Today I head to a little place called Woodworth, which is not Wollworth's, which is the first place I learned any lessons about giving. I remember to this moment being dropped at the little store as an eight-year-old with money in my pocket.

I was there for Christmas shopping for my aunts (Blannie and Nita) and my parents. I had some ridiculously small sum of money and time on my hands. I began slowly, for all the things I saw were things I wanted and the temptation was so very real to spend it all on the person I loved most (even then) -- me.

But that wasn't the goal, and I figured (rightly) that someone would notice when I didn't come back with more than one package and none of my money.

But the day built, and before too very long, I was terribly involved with the notion of buying for others. It felt, strangely, GOOD. I enjoyed it, much to my surprise and a bit of my dismay.

I never forgot that. Never. It is still the thing I love most about Christmas, though I'm not particularly good at it as my wife and children will attest. But I love buying for others. I've discovered over time that it is the spending part that motivates me the most, but that's a lesson for another time.

But the trip to Woodworth is about something different. Without going into strange and surprising details that shall remain secret let I have to come through your computer and kill you all, suffice it to say I'm serving others. Intentionally. For long hours. Without pay or without benefit.

Let me remind you of how this is supposed to go in a way that I can discuss, from the 13th chapter of John's Gospel:

2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

7Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

8"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

9"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

10Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

The key line in there for me is the 15th verse: I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Mow, I have never washed feet, but I'm not at all sure that's the point. I have served, and that is the point. I have done so unwillingly, I have done so poorly, and I have done so so that I would be blessed.

But each time I, the spoiled only child that I am, serve, the chip of self is being knocked away from the good heart that God created.

I'm trying Lord. I'm trying.

For the next four or five days, I might be out of touch. But why not in the interim you practice your own serving.

If you can't find a spiritual retreat in which to help others, maybe, just maybe you can serve the neighbor who lives next door. Maybe, just maybe, you could ask if they needed anything when you went to the store. Maybe, just maybe, you could see if that person of need down the street would like to have a visitor who cares.

This notion that only the pastor can visit is hogwash, to use a theological term.

Serve.

You truly will feel better about yourself, and I absolutely know others will feel better that you did.