What I Learned in Serving Sunday Morning

This past Sunday morning, we got out of the routine of our comfort zone in our Sunday morning services and instead during that time, we served in the community with Discover Doylestown in a street cleanup project in which we walked, armed with gloves and trash bags, through the streets of Doylestown picking up litter. We did this because we believe that Church is not just about Sunday morning services, rather it's about engaging in biblical community Monday through Saturday through small group bible studies and fellowship, and of course, serving our community. We still did "church", just another expression of what church really is. For a few minutes, I just wanted to share a few things I learned...
I learned how powerful it is for our older kids who served to see their parent(s) serving, as well as they themselves serving alongside their parent(s). What a powerful statement we're making to our kids. Having 4.5 year old and 2.5 year old daughters, I can personally attest to their daily mentality that their life is all about them - It is their world and we just live in it. And to put them in a situation where it is not about them at all, is powerful, it was for my oldest. But this is also something we as adults can learn from. It's not about them and it's not about us. It's about our Father God, and his Son Jesus, and their life, power, vitality and peace working in and through us, stirring each other up to love and good works.
I learned that there is something inherently unnatural about serving in a way that doesn't benefit "me" in any way. And the more sacrifice serving requires, the less we feel like it. The mentality is familiar to me, "What's the most I need to sacrifice to feel good about myself, while not being too uncomfortable?" In all honesty, as much as I wanted to serve Sunday morning, I also didn't want to for what were many stupid, selfish reasons. I had as many excuses not to serve as I did for the reasons why I wanted to serve. I could have easily talked myself out of serving. My own personal excuses were...
- I didn't get much sleep last night.
- I had to wake up earlier than normal, because my wife had to work and left early in the morning...
- Consequently, by myself I had to feed our girls breakfast earlier than normal, get them dressed and ready for the day earlier than normal, and these daily tasks are no small feat.
- I had to drop off my youngest daughter at my parents house which is out of the way of Doylestown.
- It was going to be hot, I had to walk a lot. I don't like sweating if I'm not working out at the gym.
- My bad back was going to hurt a little from bending over all the time picking up litter.
- It was 50-50 whether or not my 4.5 year old daughter would embrace this or go into meltdown mode on me midway through the project.
- What if my daughter had to go to the bathroom and we're not close to a place with a bathroom, am I going to knock on some random persons door?
- There was a slight chance of rain, what if it rains, I don't want to get caught in the rain.
I'm glad none of these excuses stopped me from serving. I believe the greatest barrier to living out our faith is ourselves. God blessed the time, He blessed the community through those who participated, Christian or not. My daughter loved it and didn't meltdown, she didn't have to go to the bathroom, I didn't have to knock on a random persons door. It rained for maybe two minutes. The worse thing that happened to me was my hands got hot and sweaty from wearing the gloves, my back did hurt a little, and I did sweat a lot. But we were The Church that morning, and my daughter got a powerful example of Jesus' self-sacrificial love working in and through her and her dad.
At the end of the day, that's what it's about, Jesus' love. He served humanity ultimately on the cross, giving his life for the forgiveness of our sins, giving his life for the renewal of our lives. Jesus knew he had to go to the cross, he wanted to do it. But he knew the cost of salvation to himself. Before he went to the cross, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked his Heavenly Father, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." But on the cross, I wonder if he ever thought that this act of service was more than he bargained for. The innocent Jesus could have made a lot of excuses to not serve humanity on the cross. The pain of the cuts, the crown, the nails, the embarrassment from his nakedness on the cross, all the people watching him be humiliated, the momentary descension into hell, not to mention does mankind even deserve this sacrifice? No. But such was/is his love for the the world. In one fale swoop on the cross was the embodiment of the heart and character of God. The cross was/is the way to exaltation, to glory, to God. And it is for us, not necessarily a literal cross, unless that be our fate one day, but to lose ourselves wherever we are, to die to our sin, to give ourselves, to relinquish "power", to love at all cost to ourselves...to not be served, but to serve.
- Pastor B.
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