I am continuing to examine the 7-step discipleship process that was originally published in 1934 by Forward Movement, and today we arrive at Step 5. As a reminder, the first four steps in this process were Turn, Follow, Learn, and Pray.
Today we examine Serve.
This seems like a natural progression from the first four. We have turned back to Christ, and we have committed to following Christ. In that following we learn about discipleship and our relationship with God. As we learn about those things, we pray daily (which also may develop over time as we may first pray for an easing of our circumstances, we begin to develop prayers for personal strength).
As we choose to Turn and Follow Christ, Learning to become better disciples, never forget that daily Prayer will help keep us grounded in our relationship with God. And as we develop in our relationship with God, we (hopefully) will come to an understanding that that relationship is not just a quiet, spiritual experience between ourselves and God, but that that relationship is meant to actively involve God and others; which is one way of saying that our relationship with God requires us to Serve.
This thing we call discipleship is not a passive, indifferent, or uninvolved undertaking. Discipleship calls us into some kind of action. It calls us to be responsive. It calls us to be involved. It calls us to be those things in response to, or on behalf of, both God and those around us.
Discipleship in response to God is found in answering a call. What is God calling you to do and be in the life of the Church? How is God calling you to serve in the life of the Church? Sometimes that's answering a call to ordained ministry, but we fall short if that's the only way we see to serve. And we fall short if we only see the process of discernment as the process to ordained ministry. Are you good with plants? Maybe God is calling you to work with the Gardening Angels? Are you good with numbers? Myrna has hinted that it might be time for her to retire as treasurer, so a time of discernment to explore how your skills could serve the Church in that capacity would be helpful. Singing, reading, quilting, and so many others are ways that you can serve God and the Church with the gifts you have been given.
Another way of serving is in relation to others. This could be done in a myriad of ways – volunteering at the library, helping to serve lunches at St. Vincent de Paul's, running errands for parishioners who are confined to home, or helping your Senior Warden organize activities in the parish hall for the senior citizens of our town. One of our biggest and longest running service projects has been our connection to FVES in providing snack packs and clothing. When was the last time you helped fill up the food basket, or dropped off clothes in either the “New” or “Used” bin?
When we Turn back to God, when we Follow the ways and examples of Christ, when we Learn what Christ has to say about God and others, when we deepen our relationship with God through Daily Prayer, then it should come as no surprise that you are being called by God to Serve.
The question is this: How are you answering that call?
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment