Opus 2024-002: Servanthood Remains Unpopular

I think it was an army commercial that said, “Be all you can be.”  Then you had the hamburger that told you, “Have it your way.”  We have a generation of Cafeteria Catholics who have infected the Protestant into Beatific Buffet fans.  The concept of a business making a profit by giving the customer what they want has infiltrated all of our society.  It came to the church in the form of “seeker friendly” services.  Instead of “repent and be saved”, it became “Don’t worry, be happy.”

We want to be social workers not servants. The idea of being a pastor and a minister is being bypassed by a generation that wants personal fulfillment instead of fitting the mold of previous generations.  That could be progress but it doesn’t seem to be working that way.  Now they’re going for a specific and specialize ministries to the down-and-outers. They have forgotten that we are called to serve others, not to serve in positions that pay well and make us noble while we reach out to those less blessed than we think we are.

Part of this is a response to a “guest speaker” we had at church Sunday.  He had a ministry to college students that really sounded exciting.  One of his goals was to raise enough support so his wife could quit her job and spend more time working with the young women that were coming to them.  You got the impression that they were lined up out the doors.  What I heard was here is another guy who wants to do something noble and he is not above putting his wife to work to pay for it.

Have you wondered why your pastor’s sermons don’t seem to be that powerful?  Maybe it is because he is spending his time drinking coffee with “prospects” rather than in the study risking spilling coffee on his Bible.  It could also be that the congregation expects them to be hold their hands instead of holding them up in prayer.  It is hard to say.

People forget that the word “minister” means “servant” and in the Greek New Testament the word in the original actually refers to slave status.  That is not popular today.  Perhaps it is time to have a revival where we sing songs like “I Surrender All” and mean it.

Blessings.

homo unius libri