Ministry and Service

[beanielips]

I enjoy serving.  That is one of the reasons I chose teaching as a profession.  It is also the reason that I have choosen to become involved in ministry at my church.  However, in order to serve, I must be served.

 Think of a paper cup.  Fill it with water and notice how quickly it becomes full.  Now, empty it out and think about the ways you serve others: family, work, church, listening, friends, errands, hospice, etc.  Now, poke a hole in the bottom of the paper cup for the one that takes the most from you.  Not the most time, but weighs the heaviest on your heart.  On the sides add some more holes, for each thing that you do to serve.  Let the size of the hole represent how much it takes from you.  Begin to fill it with water.  You have to fill it faster now that it has hole in order to reach the top, right?  That is the kind of serving and service that we are now doing.  We ask people to work and work.  While from the outside it would seem that church is just one hole in the cup, it happens with so many others.  The cups are harder to fill! 

So many young families and people of today feel like this.  It isn't selfishness that makes them seem aloof and uncaring.  It is the sheer fact that they have nothing more to give.  And, yes, sometimes through service our cup can be filled.  But when the service becomes a burden, it just makes another hole.

Now, take that same cup and add some rocks to the bottom.  These are the things that we can depend on.  The things that we know will notice when our cup is getting empty and will stand up and help.  We don't have to go to these things and ask for help.  They just ARE.  They can be family members, minister, the Bible, God, friends.  It doesn't matter what they are, but they are what we can lean on.  Now the cup becomes easier to fill.  With that support in place, it is easierfor that person to serve. But, the rocks aren't glued in.  They are just take up the space that the water would otherwise have to fill.  What happens when those rocks are plucked out?  We go back to that holey cup that is so much harder to fill.

What happens when the water becomes a trickle?  Then the cup is never filled, yet still trying to give.  That is when the person is giving more than being replenished.  Unfortunately, for people with a serving heart, as it is a calling for them to serve, they continue to serve.  With little to no water present to give from, to pour forth from the holes, then they give completely of themselves.  Take the cup that is in your hands.  Tear a little off the top.  Give it away.  Continue to do this over and over again. What do you have left?  Nothing, shreds of paper.  The soul is torn.  Torn between self preservation and serving.  Serving is what God has asked us to do, but not at the expense of our well being.  God doesn't want to see us broken and lost.  Yet, that is where we are.  When we give so much that we have nothing but shreds of ourselves left, we are the ones that need to be served and ministered.

This is what serving feels like to many people.  A poor paper cup riddled with holes, trying to stay full, trying to stay together.

Now, imagine a beautiful vase.  Delicate and handcrafted.  It has a rainbow of colors that prism in the light.  This is the vessel that God has made for us.  Each one unique, made for just us and just what we need.  Some are small and it takes very little to fill.  Others are very large and take much more to fill.  Some have exquisite pebbles and stones in them.  They fill up the space even more.  And depending on the season of our life, those pebbles and stones can change.  As we grow, the water quickly fills the vessel.  Sometimes we have something happens that cacks our vessel just a little and the water needs to fill a little more quickly.  Other times, the whole thing gets toppled over and we have to begin again.  But eventually, the water begins to spill over the edges.  It is then that we serve.  Through the outpouring, the surplus that we have.  In that way, we are not overburdened and can serve without guilt and without loathing.

This is the ideal way to serve.

Let's look at the vase again and try and treat it like the paper cup.  Drill holes in it.  Just a few. The glass begins to fissure.  This is the reality of being human.  We are not whole.  Our souls have holes and cacks, we are broken, but still holding together.  Try and drill one more hole.  Suddenly, the vase cracks loudly and all that is left is shards of glass.

This is where I am headed.  It is not one thing, but many things.  I know that I am not alone in feeling like this.  Attending church should not be the "one more hole", but it is.

There are other ways to worship God.  Some of the times that I find myself closest to God is in churches where I am anonymous.  Why?  Because the sole purpose of my being there is to worship God and to be filled.  On the banks of a creek and in the shade of oaks trees, the vase that is my very being that is cracked and still beautiful and has some holes in being filled and I know that God is near.  It is then that I can again serve and the sevice speaks to me clearly.

Mark2:27:  Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (NIV)

©KDM

[irishcoffee]

Oct. 10, 2009 at 10:09 PM

This is enormously beautiful, I love this very much.  I hear exactly what you are saying, and I feel this in my life - ~ as I'm sure we all do. 

And the ending, it is a beautiful thing to be able to worship the Lord in the environment He created.  I went out and took pictures in it today (In the snow "gasp")

[tinkerbell76]

Oct. 11, 2009 at 1:36 PM

You are so right!  I can relate to how you are feeling.

Blessings,

~Tina