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A New Paradigm on Serving
Since we all understand “serving” differently, my goal in this post is to re-envision or redefine our understanding of serving. In a way, if our understanding of serving is a box, then instead of thinking outside of the box, I want to grab an eraser and give you a blank canvas.
So I want you take a moment and indicate where you are personally at in regards to serving and where your group is at in regards to serving on this diagram.
The fact is, our lives are filled with opportunities to serve in every moment, and most of us are serving on a regular basis, without even knowing it.
- i.e. When you choose to do those dishes, that’s an act of service.
- i.e. When you choose to shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk as you do your own, that’s an act of service.
- i.e. When you wave “thank you” while you are driving, rather than giving people another gesture, that’s an act of service.
However, especially in group life, serving has become a task, rather than a regular rhythm of our groups. Serving has become a task because we myopically view serving merely as a project that we do together, in a concerted effort, rather than something that we would do ourselves. It’s unnatural for us.
Now, I’m not saying, “Don’t get together to serve.” What I am suggesting is that we admit that there are some inherent problems in service projects as we’ve come to know them.
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Desensitized: Perspectives on Death – Part 1/6
Over the next while, I am going to explore the various perspectives on death that our culture holds by examining news articles, blog postings, and various social media outlets.
After all, death is one of the hardest things to deal with, as it really is one of the only final things that we have to deal with these days, especially since through the Internet it is very easy to stay connected with pretty much anyone. However, what makes death even more difficult is when it is not expected and very tragic. We hear of these stories very frequently on the news.
What makes this such a close topic for me is because I am still processing the death of my seven year old niece who passed away last year so suddenly. As a result, through these next six postings, my hope is to learn as much as I can on this topic. After all, are we not all most open to questioning our views on life when we encounter such tragic deaths?
Here’s the first perspective on death that I will explore – the desensitized perspective.
As I was driving home from work last week, I was listening to the 5:00 newscast on CBC Radio-Canada. Just before the news ended and the reporters were going to report on traffic and weather, there was a brief 15 second mention of how a 38 year old roofer died falling off of a roof in one of the new developments in Edmonton. They said that he was wearing a safety harness, but that the rope was too long. That was it – there was no mention of his family or any other detail. When looking on the Internet, the following news articles were the only ones that I found, and each only had a mere paragraph or few sentences about the situation. There has been no other news report on the situation following the incident.
The brevity of the reporting on this situation, or the lack of information thereof indicates how our culture has become desensitized to tragic death. There was no commentary given on the news to this situation and the number of social media shares recorded on those news sites numbers less than 15. On the CBC article, nearly half of the words were given to the job site, occupational, health, and safety concerns, which sends the message that those issues are more important than this single man dying.
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Living as a Missional Community
One of the things that fascinates me about Jesus was that he was a masterful communicator. One of the ways that he loved to communicate was via word pictures.
Jesus loved to paint word pictures.
He did this because he knew that, through word pictures, we would be able to intrinsically understand and connect the truths that he was teaching us with our real lives today.
Two of the most powerful word pictures that he used to describe you and I were salt and light.
Matt. 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
Matt. 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
When we read these verses, we, in our western individualistic world views, think that he’s talking about you and I individually – that we are individually the salt of the earth and the light of the world. However, when you look at the original language, the word “you” is actually plural.
You (the community together) are the salt of the earth.
You (the community together) are the light of the world – a city on a hill.
You (the community together) are the body of Christ, and each of us is a part of it (1 Cor 12:27).
Jesus never intended any of us to journey through life alone. Faith is not a private thing, it’s a community thing. We each have our own relationship with God, but it is in the context of community that we live it out and grow.
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Rhythms of Receptivity and Activity
“Growing in faith is not just about disciplines of study and withdrawal, as vital as these are. Certainly there needs to be disciplines of passive receptivity to hear from God and to know him in prayerful stilness. But there must also be rhythms of activity if we are to be mature followers of the Messiah.”
- Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost
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Did you Deny the Resurrection Today?
Watch this Peter Rollins clip to explore what it looks like when our every day actions deny the resurrection and affirm the resurrection.
Peter Rollins is a widely sought after writer, lecturer, storyteller and public speaker. Peter gained his higher education from Queens University, Belfast and has earned degrees (with distinction) in Scholastic Philosophy (BA Hons), Political Theory (MA) and Post-Structural thought (PhD). He is currently a research associate with the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College, Dublin and is the author of the much talked about How (Not) to Speak of God.
Click here to see a list of the works he has published.
What are your thoughts on his rant?
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