The Spirit of Service
I wonder….when you think of the story of Jesus as it is illustrated in these two scriptures, what is it that strikes you? What is it that you see in these descriptions of who Jesus was that might shape the way you move in the world?
Take a moment to reflect on that.
And let me repeat:
When you think of the story of Jesus as it is told in these two scriptures, what is it that strikes you? What is it that you see in these descriptions of who Jesus was that might shape the way you move in the world?
(Allow a few breaths for thinking)
This week, we are focused on how the Holy Spirit draws us into serving others. Author Brian McLaren uses the language of being drawn downward by the Spirit. Downward into relationships with folks that we might see as “the other,” down into places that draw us away from material gain and safety.
I think in a society dominated by hierarchical expectations of climbing the ladder, that language of being drawn down might be useful.
I understand “drawn down,” and also in both of these scriptures, I feel like there is a story shaped about being poured out. Being poured out in love… poured out in bravely loving people in spite of what the power structures say.
Jesus loved those he met to the point that it was a threat to the power structures and norms around him. And even then, he kept loving people…sitting with sinners, healing the lame, touching the untouchable.
As I was working with these scriptures this week, I turned to a daily exercise that grounds me in emotional intelligence, and the focus for the day framed two primal forces that make life possible – fear and love.
Fear is defined as the emotions caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous.
In an earlier message in this series, we talked about love as that power or emotion that draws us closer to people.
For me, in those two words – fear and love – forces that create opposite actions - in those to words, the idea of how we serve by the power of the Spirit clicked differently.
I started thinking about all the places it feels hard to commit myself to service, and where in my body or my gut I experience the feelings that keep me from taking action.
Using some of McLaren’s examples from We Make the Road by Walking, I feel a certain clench in my system about going into a prison, for example. I know that sometimes when I am walking somewhere and pass a person who is experiencing homelessness, I get just a tingle of doubt about whether I am safe. When someone comes at me with a criticism about a decision I’ve made or something I’ve said, I often feel that prickly moment of needing to be right OR being desperately afraid of being wrong and needing to make amends for that.
Because I am human. I feel those things.
Maybe you do too?
But what might love do in those same moments?
When faced with the idea of visiting someone in prison?
When faced with the idea of encountering a person experiencing homelessness?
When faced with someone who disagrees with me?
Fear is natural. We are going to feel it. Fear is part of the way humans have survived as a species. But shame research Brené Brown would tell us that we can be afraid but not controlled by fear; fear is a choice. When we are afraid, we armor up OR we get vulnerable and curious, giving us a chance to figure out whether to and how to love instead.
A few weeks ago, exploring the Holy Spirit, we remembered Paul’s letter to the Galatians that describes our life in the Spirit bearing fruits like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And I am aware of the laundry list of “opposite” behaviors and feelings, opposites that are the fruit of NOT being fully connected to the Holy Spirit in my life. Those fruits look more like fear, anger, conflict, impatience, meanness, scarcity, infidelity, violence, and indulgence.
So beginning to be aware of the places where fear is guiding our actions and our movement in the world helps us tune in instead to how we are called to love. And in doing so we nurture those fruits of the Spirit.
Beloved, you have done some great work choosing love over fear recently. And that work will continue to bear fruit.
Today, I want to celebrate some of the ways that this community of Faith has chosen move through fear and vulnerably act with love. I want to celebrate some brave steps toward others, which can sometimes seem daunting.
Along the way, I want to acknowledge that all of this is a work in progress. A couple of steps forward, assessing and checking our fear. Sometimes a step back. And then maybe a step forward again. And we do it individually and collectively.
Here are some of the ways I have seen love (and not fear) in action at Faith:
In late 2019, this community made a commitment to growing our tithes and offerings so that we are able to support community organizations with about 10% of our total giving. A brave commitment to tithe our own gifts helps us serve our Rockville community differently. And when things got tough due to COVID, we found ways to be true to that effort, choosing love over fear, generosity over scarcity.
In the hardest parts of the season of shut down last summer, Barbara Wege challenged our congregation and our neighbors in the surrounding community to collect food for Manna...to get out of our houses and get food and drop it off in safe ways. And so many rose to the challenge, choosing love over fear.
In the midst of sharp divides and much unrest in our US and global society, our outreach team began to hear a call to a more active role in the work of justice and inclusion. At a time when it might have been easier to not “rock the boat,” they stepped out of the boat…trusting Jesus would meet them there. Launching the Love One Another Ministry, they have rallied people, conversations and resources around topics that include anti-racism and the full inclusion of our LGBTQ siblings in Christ, choosing love over fear.
We as a congregation have entered into two commitments related to this work of loving one another – we have committed as a congregation to becoming anti-racist and we have committed to the work of reconciliation, seeking to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. That means that in a divided country and a divided denomination and sometimes right here in a divided congregation, we are leaning into love and not fear, working hard to exercise peace and patience over conflict and impatience.
Last summer our youth pivoted from their traditional plan of work trips to other parts of the country and instead chose to SERVE multiple organizations right here in Maryland. It worked so well and was so much fun that they are making it happen again this year, choosing love over fear, faithfulness in action.
We have chosen to invest time and money and real effort into making our worship available online. That work meets the needs of our most vulnerable members AND reaches people we will never reach in other ways. Technology can be scary. Commitments to do it well can be scary. But as a congregation, we are leaning into love and not fear, abundance over scarcity, patience over impatience.
It is true that leaning into love is slow work at times and it draws us into places we did not expect to go. As McLaren puts it:
You used to strive to be cool, but the Spirit makes you warm. You used to strive to climb over others, but the Spirit leads you to wash their feet. You used to strive to fit in among the inner circle, but the Spirit dares you to be different on behalf of the outcasts and outsiders. (234)
Or, looking at 2 Timothy 1: 7:
…God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control.
As we lean into love, we find we are nearer and nearer to God and our movement is more and more aligned with God's action in the world. We are part of the flow of God in the world when we follow the Spirit’s lead.
Let’s go.
May it be so.
Amen.
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