July 26, 2023

 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 to 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.” – Mark 10:42-45

 

The church needed to provide a funeral meal. This is the Deep South and such a thing is expected when a church member dies. In this case, it was the husband of a faithful worker.

 

We no longer are members of this church. When the church voted several months ago to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, we moved our membership. So did most of the Sunday school class. In fact, we restarted that class at our new church. The new widow remained at the old church and, presumably, joined another class.

 

You can imagine my shock when the call came wanting us to help provide food for the meal. In addition, one class member was asked to decorate the tables. We all politely declined. Another class member had responded to a request for a previous funeral meal and been treated badly by some who had stayed at the disaffiliated church. The new request was just inappropriate.

 

It was sad that the funeral meal coordinator was worried about having enough food and decorating tables. Did she even have enough workers? It was also appalling that the coordinator was doing it from the hospital. Just a few days earlier, her husband had open heart surgery. Why in the world didn’t someone step up and relieve her of this duty? It was the last thing she needed to be dealing with.

 

The sad truth about this church is that no one wants to work. Being a church member, isn’t about running things. Nor is about how large your check might be. Churches are families who show up, roll up their sleeves and help. Even those who are physically unable to do much can usually make phone calls.

 

Jesus said the above passage after James and John, the sons of Zebedee, had asked for one of them to be at Jesus’ right hand and the other at His left when they all got to heaven. In other words, they wanted to be above the other disciples. You can imagine how that request went over.

 

The Kingdom of God is about being servants. It’s about doing for others. When we lose sight of that, we lose sight of Jesus. We are to be His hands and feet.

 

Should we have stepped up and helped with the funeral meal? No. There are consequences when you choose to split a church over control issues. There are literally hundreds of people who are members of that church. It’s past time for them to get off their collective pedestal and get to work.