Why We Serve

It's been a week of service. On Wednesday, I was with a group out at the Food Bank packing the food backpacks. It truly is an incredible experience. We brought Riley and Wesley with us and they had a great time too. They and two other kids took the plastic off of the juice boxes and then put them into crates so they were ready to go on the line when the crates got empty. Then this Friday Hillcrest served at the banquet which was also a great time. Reflecting on these two experiences in the same week reminds me of several reasons why it is good to serve:

• It's fun- we laughed a lot in the Food Bank's wearhouse and in the banquet's kitchen. It is simply a good time to serve.
• It's memorable- the laughter has something to do with it, but when you serve with someone (or some group), you create a shared experience that connects you with them over a common project or concern.
• It changes the server- we can debate how much effect serving has on the person receiving the service, but there isn't much debate that serving changes the one doing the serving. When I serve, I am changed, and at least for a glimpse, am better living out the calling of Jesus in my life.
• Communities need it- in our world, time is probably more precious than money. Scores of non-profits are doing good work, and while many are strectched for dollars these days, many are always in need of volunteer hours. When we serve, when we give of our time, we serve in a way that you can't put a price tag on.
• It changes our kids- if our children see us serve, and our children participate in service, there's a good chance that they will group up with an ethic of service. Who doesn't want that?
• It is the great equalizer- this past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. As several churches were holding services, we were serving at the Food Bank with another group. There were young (as young as 3) and old, men and women, politically liberbal and politically conservative, and evangelicals and mainliners. Despite these vast differences, 2,100 backpacks were packed that night, because serving others doesn't care about those differences. If we can agree that serving others is a good thing, what else might we agree on?

What other reasons are missing from this list? Why do you serve?

God of this City

One of the newer songs that Hillcrest's worship team has been teaching us is the song "God of this City" (and they do an excellent job with it!). It's also being played some on Christian radio as well. It's a great song whose lyrics really challenge those who follow Christ to follow the God of this city into seeking good and blessing for the city.

The fact that the song is getting airplay and now being used as a worship anthem across many churches is interesting to me because the song's implications are somewhat controversial. To follow the God of this city is to seek good for the city, to engage it, to believe that God wants to use his followers to impact it. And yet there seems to be an ongoing tension within Christendom between those who seek the good of a city and those who are still fearful of the negative outcomes of what they call the 'culture war'.

In Understanding Leadership, the author Tom Marshall cites John Greenleaf who says that the problem with our society today is that nobody loves the institutions. Marshall continues his argument by saying "(that Greenleaf) is right, and this I fear, is particularly true of Christians. We fear and dislike the structural powers; we are both overawed and repelled by them. We submit to them and sometimes realize we are being seduced by them and bought by them. We rail against their evil and we criticize and condemn their failings, but we do not care for them, and care is nothing than love in action" (209).

I resonate with this passage because of its truth that as a Christ-follower I an be pretty quick to judge and condemn- such an oxymoron (judgmental Christ-follower) but unfortunately an image that is all too common today. And when I do this, when I judge the system, the structure, the culture, the city, I in essence overlook the responsibilities I have in serving the city, and more importantly, loving the people of the city. I think this is further proof of the truth that issues such as advocacy, education, and community organization are much more difficult than those of referral or direct service.

Organizations and institutions are not perfect. Following the God of this city does not mean that we always ought to go along with what they advocate or say; far from it. But if we hope to have some level of influence or change on a school, on a neighborhood, on a city, that change will generate not from a fear or a disdain of the city, but rather a care and a love for it, and more specifically, for its people.

Harder then I thought

I had my first Genesis meeting with our team’s family and it is difficult work. The idea of trying to educate and pass down some knowledge to a family who’s starting out with so little is daunting. The cultural barrier isn’t simply racial, though that exists, but also one of economics. Trying to impart some of the rules of the middle class culture into a working poor situation can be just as much of a culture shock. I think sometimes I can be guilty of a messiah complex or the white horse syndrome where myself or our church will ride into a situation and simply through our presence or initial work or effort or whatever that we’ll have immediate results. The projects that have most the immediate results seem to concern either funds or buildings. I mean, the backpack program that Hillcrest regularly supports is such an exciting project by and large because of how tangible it is- one pack for the year, one child, $125, an amount that stretches but that most middle class folks can pull off, even if it requires a little adjusting. The same is true, I would assume, for a building project. When you give to a something like a new building, you see the results- a new clinic, a new afterschool facility, a new sanctuary, etc.

But when ones gives the gift of time, whether it’s through the Genesis project, mentoring, listening to a child read, etc, how does one measure success? The projects that seem to be of the most struggle, at least in terms of capturing people’s attention and efforts, are these projects where the work is messier and the results less clear. It doesn’t diminish the importance of the work, in fact, it probably raises just how important this work is, and yet it’s more difficult and complex then just getting someone to follow a written budget. For someone to budget, there must be funds coming in. And for funds coming in, there must be someone working. And for someone working, there must be a person who has a marketable skill. You probably see where this is going. Our church has some incredible people who are making these seemingly unnoticed investments- the ones who mentor a child over a lunch hour, the ones who listen to a child who needs a few extra minutes of help with reading, the ones who pour into a family on a weekly basis in an attempt to provide a Genesis or a new beginning, and the efforts of these folks is laying the groundwork for more of what our community will need from those who follow Jesus.