But the Christian story knows much about serving. Christ came as the Servant-King to give his life for the world. We are called into the footsteps of Christ and are called to serve others.
What is remarkable in the Christian story, however, is that the stronger serve the weaker, not the other way round. This is a call to downward mobility for the sake of blessing the other. This is following the movement of Christ so clearly expressed in the great hymn of Philippians 2.
St. Benedict in writing about the role of an Abbot in a monastic community knows about this movement. He elaborates: “Let him recognize that his goal must be profit for the monks, not preeminence for himself.”30
So often those in positions of leadership and prominence think it is all about them. But it is all about others. It is not about the pastor but the community of faith. It is not about the teacher but the students. And so it goes on. This is the Christian way.
Reflection
To be prominent and yet to serve is a great grace.
Psalm 19:1
January 31
In Praise of Seeing
There are three books in the Christian tradition: the book of nature, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, and the Word of God—Holy Scripture. All need to be read. And all point in the one direction.
Life is about being, seeing and acting. What we see flows from who we are and this shapes our engagement with others and the world.
There are many ways of seeing and there is much to see. Seeing can be internal and reflective and external and evaluative. But amongst the many ways of seeing there is also appreciative seeing. It is seeing as feasting. Seeing as celebration. Seeing with the eyes of faith and love.
The theologian Bonaventure, reflecting a Franciscan spirituality, writes “open your eyes, alert the ears of your spirit, open your lips and apply your heart so that in all creatures you may see, hear, praise, love and worship, glorify and honor your God.”31
To see beauty in nature is to see the generous hand of God, is to see the great heart of God, is to see God as artist as well as sustainer. And
seeing thus we are to bestow dignity and care on all that has been made, for in all we see the traces of God’s hand of love.
And in seeing Christ we see the source of our healing and purpose, while in Scripture we discover the heart of God, and God’s way for us to live life to his glory and the blessing of others.
These many ways of seeing can give us a life of joy, a heart of purpose, and a way of being in the world that makes for forgiveness, healing, and shalom.
Reflection
With a contemplative spirit we can see and celebrate and act in healing ways.
Romans 8:35–39
February 1
A Bond of Love
There are many things that can bind a person to another.
Convention and fear are two such things. But love and friendship is the life-giving bond.
Peter Abelard wrote: “So we, through his grace, are joined to him [God] as closely as to our neighbor by an indissoluble bond of affection.”32
This beautiful vision of friendship and connectedness does not mean God is like a “buddy.” God is the sovereign Lord. But our relationship with God, while marked by awe and mystery, is also one of friendship. Ultimately within the framework of grace, the true bond is one of love. Such a bond is life-giving and life-sustaining.
This love is God-initiated. It is God’s love shed abroad in our hearts that moves us to wait and long for the fuller presence of the living God. This love is grounded in Christ’s self-giving love for humanity. And this love is painted into the fabric of our lives by the beautifying Spirit. Thus we are birthed in love, we are woven in love, and love sustains us. Love marks our identity and our way of life.
Possibly, we could turn Abelard’s phrase around: because of the grace and love of God in Christ we are loved into a love for neighbor, stranger, and even our enemy. Hence, true service becomes a place of deep gratitude and empowerment to do for others what has so graciously been given to us.
Thought
To be a friend of God is an act of grace and calls for great humility. And the bond of friendship moves us to extend this kind of friendship to others. Friendship making thus becomes a way of life.
Ephesians 3:1–6
February 2
A Way to Christ
One may know about Christ, but to know Christ by way of revelation and encounter can occur in strange and
wonderful ways, both in the sanctuary and in the street. In the final analysis, we need an existential encounter with Christ.
To experience the presence of Christ in the Spirit can occur anywhere and at any time. Both in the place of prayer and at work Christ may make
himself known. This encounter may confront us in our sin or in our goodness, but is always an invitation to forgiveness and homecoming.
This revelatory experience or encounter can come in a flash. It can also come through long seeking and searching. It may come at the end of one’s life.
Clement of Alexandria believed that things in the ordinary world can point us to Christ. He writes: “philosophy was a ‘schoolmaster’ to bring the Greek mind to Christ, as the Law brought the Hebrews.”33
To this we may add that the grappling scientist, the inspired artist, the searching philosopher, and the committed medical specialist in the midst of their work may be led stumblingly to Christ. So may the farmer and the factory worker. In the midst of the ordinary the light of Christ may break in. Christ dances in many ways to draw us into relationship with him.
Anything in the world of human experience and endeavor and dreams and aspirations may be a trigger to a spiritual search that leads to an encounter with the Christ of the gospel.
Reflection
While the church seeks to mediate Christ in particular ways, Christ may throw open doors and windows and come in any way to the seeking heart.
Psalm 119:81–82
February 3
Longing
Having come home to the love and grace of God in Christ does not mean that the journey has ended. In fact, it has merely begun. And while previously we may have been longing for all sorts of other things, we now long for the living God.
The heart of Christian spirituality is the longing and seeking heart. This longing never ends. Never in this life is it fully satisfied.
St. Anselm has expressed this well: “My consoler, for whom I wait, when will you come? O that I might seek the joy that I desire; that I might be satisfied with the appearing of your glory for which I hunger; that I might be satisfied with the riches of your house for which I sigh.”34
The longing heart for the presence of God, the seeking heart for the purposes of God, the praying heart for the will of God, is the heart throbbing with the life of the Spirit.
Having come home, we seek to be more deeply grounded. Having been forgiven, we seek to bring goodness to our world. Having been
inspired, we long to see more clearly. Having been befriended, we seek to grow in love. Having been well loved, we long to see others come into the goodness of God.
The longing heart is not the ungrateful