It is not all about me! Be a servant.

Here is an excerpt from last Sunday's sermon (Sept. 23) by the Rev. Joe Hensley. To read the entire sermon, click here.

Serving one another in the Eucharist. This is
practice for serving one another in the world.
Picture from our recent Eucharist on the lawn.

"If you want to be first, be last?  If you want to be a master, become a servant?  It makes no sense because it’s not what we’re taught.  We live in a competitive society.  We live in a world where you rise to the top, where you strive to be best.  The disciples were arguing about who was the greatest.  They were probably saying, “Who’s the best of us?  Who’s the one who can cast out the most demons or cure the most sick people?  Who does Jesus like best?”  We know a lot about arguing about who is the greatest.  Is it my candidate or your candidate?  Is it my team or your team?  Is it the person with the nicest, most complete resume or the person with the biggest heart?   Who’s the greatest?  We spend time in our minds arguing, “How can I be the greatest?  How can I be like those great ones out there somewhere?”  We know a lot about arguing about the greatest.  I think we live under what I would call a tyranny of the greatest because it’s all about the greatest.  It’s the greatest generation, it’s the greatest society, it’s the greatest country on earth.   Greatest, greatest, greatest and we are held prisoner....

And that is the power of  servanthood; the power to interrupt the tyranny of war; the power to interrupt the tyranny of the greatest.

That power begins when we in our own hearts can accept a simple truth.  If you can remember one thing from the sermon, maybe this will be it.  It is not all about me.  It is not all about me, and when we can begin to believe that in our hearts, when we can begin to believe that the world does not revolve around our ambitions and goals -- even though those goals may be noble and mighty, goals as noble as holding together a country, holding together a family, holding together our very selves -- when we can begin to see that it is not all about me, then we are going to be just that much closer to the something that Jesus offers us; to the ability to connect with one  another and with God.  When it is not all about me, then we are set free, we are emancipated to see and to serve one another, to be free to make someone else’s day before waiting for them to make ours."