DEACON UPDATE
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 | Are you Doris? |
March 2014
This is the second week I’ve taken a meal to my friend Doris' home. Her husband lost his job a few months ago, they have two small children, and Doris works a couple of part-time jobs. I know the family well enough to know that Doris is the one holding it all together—I'm sure you know someone like Doris.
And, if your Doris is like mine, it's not easy to get her to accept any kind of support other than a hug and a card. It took a lot for her to let me drop off a casserole and some brownies, but when she came down with the flu she finally agreed.
My question for you is this: might you be Doris, too? Deacons—and pastors—often are. Caregivers by nature, we often find it difficult to accept help from another, unless it's truly a crisis. But what does that say about us as congregational leaders, as models of discipleship, as Brethren, a people who are quick to affirm the importance of living and sharing and caring in community? Are we inadvertently sending the wrong message about discipleship, about following Jesus, by silently (or not!) declaring our own self-sufficiency?
Just as Jesus came to serve, not to be served (Mark 10:45), our role in a ministry of caregiving is first and foremost to be of service to others. But think of the way Jesus lived, graciously accepting food and drink and shelter from others, virtually every day of his life. Think about your own "Doris life." As the song goes, do you have the grace to let others serve you? Think about the blessings we receive when we minister to others—who are we to deny that blessing when someone asks how they might help us?
Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
~~Psalms 144:15 |
Church of the Brethren | 1451 Dundee Avenue, Elgin, Illinois 60120
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