Saturday was Sunset’s “Serves Up” day. The worship and creative arts department headed up the Vernonia, OR location. I kind of organized our day in Vernonia, so it was great to see that we had between 60 and 70 people there throughout the day. Vernonia was hit hard by one of those “100 year floods” in December. It is incredible to me that even 6 months later you can tell that the city was flooded, and I am grateful that we were all able to lend a hand in various ways. Even 6 months later they still have a FEMA village in full working order.
Every week the worship department at Sunset does a ministry update. This week I wrote something for it regarding our upcoming Serves Up day (below).
Reading that inspired this writing: Philippians 2:3-4
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Something about this statement screams naïve to me. I automatically wonder, what was Paul thinking as I say to myself: “That is impossible in my world; I have to value myself over others.” At the same time I remind myself of how un-Christ like I can be in the way I live and in my thinking. There is no contextualizing we can do with these verses to turn them around so we aren’t called to serve others.
I think we should define others as this: those like and unlike us, with a strong emphasis on those unlike us. Karl Barth, a famous theologian, calls the other here, “the subjective aspect of my neighbor.” Essentially he is saying that the other is the part of people that drives us crazy. I can tell you right away that I do not serve that kind of person (the one unlike me) very often, if ever. I avoid those people almost all the time.
I’ve heard from various people about how pointless “Serves Up” day is. That doing something for one day doesn’t change a thing. Part of me concedes that doing something for “the other” is much more than going out and doing something for one day. But I wonder what Paul had in mind when he tells us to care more about others than ourselves. I wonder how I get over my intense love of self and begin to think about others first.
Here is my conclusion: I think it takes doing deliberate things that force us to love the other. It does not come natural for us. We are totally selfish beings. So I think “Serves Up”, and many other opportunities this summer, are a chance for us to force ourselves into doing things for the other. And hopefully those things slowly change our mindset towards caring for those unlike us.
What do you think: are we inherently selfish or is serving others something natural in us?
Tyler-
The following link [http://jthelmsdeep.blogspot.com/2008/06/celebrating-overflow-of.html] is to blog about this idea. The pastor, for whom the blog belongs, is a man that has my deepest respect. He has been very close to me/my family and He is a former associate pastor from New Life, but now has his own church in Orlando, FL.(little background information)
Last wknd- they hosted an event where they gave stuff away, to church goers and non church people alike, they even provided “scholarships” for people who needed a bill paid here or there. They asked NOTHING in return. I spoke with him after the wknd…they loved what they accomplished b/c it blessed OTHERS.
Thought you might be interested in reading some of his thoughts…and his wife’s thoughts..
[http://solathompson.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/holler-from-the-atl/]
we are definitely innerantly selfish. And I think that serving others may not change the world or solve the problems we see but I do think it changes us…….which may change the world in an even more significant way. Staying home on our rears doesn’t help, now does it?
obviously i cannot spell this early - excuse please!
INHERENTLY SELFISH!!!! I think until our hearts start to be transformed by the Spirit, most of our serving is selfishly movtivated, so we can feel good about ourselves. I think any serving done with a pure heart (one day or six years) is good before God.
Interestingly, I was thinking about this topic on my way to work this morning. Loving others (unconditionally) is not natural to human beings, especially those who are ‘unlike’ us. It takes more energy to be nice than to be mean to others. It takes more energy to be thoughtful than to be selfish. I learned in my sociology class also that more than the ‘like vs unlike’, people naturally drawn to those who they rate are ‘equal’ in attractiveness or likeable scale to themselves. Harsh…but that is the reality.
I hope we do this soon. We had planned to do this last fall and had to take a left turn because of some weird schedules.
“Here is my conclusion: I think it takes doing deliberate things that force us to love the other. It does not come natural for us. We are totally selfish beings.”\
There is a lot of wisdom in this!
Thanks Brent. I’ve never been told I was anything “wise” to say. I’ll take it though
So can I get paid now