Dear Friends
As you know yesterday was Remembrance Day, a day when we pause to honour those who laid down their lives for our freedom. We remember soldiers, sailors, airmen and women who did not count their lives too dear, but offered them up so that others might live in peace. It is right that we remember. Scripture itself commands us to remember, to call to mind acts of courage, sacrifice, and love. But remembrance should do more than stir our emotions. It should shape our hearts and our actions.
In the Gospel of Mark, (chapter 10 and verses 35-45), James and John wanted to sit at Jesus’ right hand in glory and be seen to be “the best”, the chosen ones.
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus had already predicted His death three times. He had clearly taught that the road to glory runs through the cross. James and John didn’t understand that positions in the kingdom are not awarded by ambition, but by the sovereign plan of God. Jesus himself was and is the ultimate picture of humility, born to a virgin, in humble surroundings, not in a palace or on a throne, lived as a man, died a horrific death with two other men that were thieves and yet that was God’s plan of rescue.
Jesus said the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Those who we remembered yesterday, and still go on remembering and honouring, served their country by sacrificing their lives for our freedom.
Some of us may be in a position of authority, but not dominance or wanting to be the greatest, in fact many of us no doubt will cringe at the thought of being in the limelight or at the forefront of things, we may prefer to be in the background. But our calling to our roles is one of service.
We have been called to serve our churches, to serve the people who attend our churches, to honour them by going the extra mile or by spending precious time with them when they need it, even if we are stretched or to just greet people with a smile when they knock on the door with a load of photocopying to do, two minutes before you need to join a zoom call (which of course they want right now because that’s the only thing on their minds)! But we should smile and be gracious knowing we are called to serve - easier said than done and I am not very good at it most days.
We have been called to serve our Vicars, our PCCs, our trustees, our senior leaders and our gifts of administration enable them to do the work they have been called to do, to teach and admonish, to rebuke and to train, to care pastorally and to shepherd. We have been called to serve our community and so when people stop by “for a chat”, or they ring you to tell you the banner has fallen down off the railings or the clock chimes aren’t working (yes I have had those phone calls!), then taking 5 minutes out of what you are doing serves them with humility and grace and a good witness.
Ultimately, we have been called to serve the Lord Jesus and I want to encourage you today that there is nothing greater than serving a God who loves you and was willing to sacrifice himself for you. The world defines greatness by authority, dominance, and recognition. But in the Kingdom of God, greatness is measured by service, humility, and sacrifice. In the world today, people rise by climbing over others but in Christ’s kingdom, we rise by stooping to lift others up. We love and serve others because HE first loved us.
May your day today, your week ahead, be one of service, knowing that CHRIST came to serve and die for you because He loves you and that He will sustain you and give you all that you need for the work that you do. Thank you for your service in the roles that you have and may you remember that you are loved, honoured and respected and that every act of service, every moment we put others first, every time we forgive, love, or give sacrificially, we walk in the footsteps of the Servant King.
God Bless
Janet Sutherland
UCAN Manager Member
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