Servanthood

Photo by alevision.co on Unsplash 

“Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You’d rather eat and be served, right? But I’ve taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin. Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God’s people."

Luke 22:27‭-‬30 MSG

My starword this year is servanthood.  I haven't written about it yet because I haven't been writing blogs this year until now, but also because I wasn't inspired by this word. It's such a basic part of our Christian theology that I felt like I already talk about it enough. 

But today I was inspired by the context of the verses above.  They're from Luke's telling of the Last Supper.  They reminded me of one of the first things I changed at my first call. Their tradition had been to serve communion to the pastor first, and then to the rest of the congregation.  I didn't ask why, which I probably should have. I just changed it so that I was served last instead of first. Jesus calls us to be servants, and the symbolism of being served last fits with servanthood better, in my mind. It was a little thing, but it was important to me. 

It's funny how we get in our heads how something is "supposed to be" and it's very hard to change it. And we are less gracious with other people about their "supposed to be"s if they don't align with ours. 

What are your "supposed to be"s?

One aspect of servanthood is being willing to change. I suppose wisdom is knowing when and how, since it's impossible to make everyone happy. Maybe that's why I didn't want to write about this starword.  But God gives us grace that helps cover the gaps.

Thanks, God.