Thursday, December 21, 2023

“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food,

or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you,

or naked and gave you clothing?

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”

Matthew 25:37

These questions are found in the Gospel lesson that I selected for my ordination service. Subsequently, I have selected this same Gospel lesson for each and every installation service that I have had for my various ministry positions since my ordination. I am challenged by these questions. I am inspired by these questions. I am in constant wonder as to what these questions might look like if Jesus were to ask similar ones in the 21st century.

In the context of the lesson itself, they are future oriented questions. Jesus, in teaching his followers, speaks of a time in the future when people will be separated – the righteous from the unrighteous. And one of the many things that I find interesting in this scripture is that neither the righteous nor the unrighteous are aware of how they have fulfilled or how they have not fulfilled their call to care for Christ in this world. But it turns out that the righteous did fulfill the call of Christ to serve him by responding to those who are considered the least in the world. The unrighteous did not fulfill the call of Christ to serve him when they did not respond to those who are considered the least in the world.

For me, the questions raised in this scripture are critical questions, and they inspire within me a constant need for vigilance to refocus energy on service to others. With the demands of life and ministry, it is easy to get pulled in many directions. And, it seems true for me, at least, that when things are too demanding, when life is more than a little overwhelming, my go to place is deep within myself in a desperate desire to shut out everything in the world, the least included. I know that is the wrong place for me to go. That’s not where I find joy and happiness – deep within myself. But I can’t always pull myself out of such a selfish spot on my own. So, I often need and therefore look to these questions to remind me of where it is that we truly find Christ – in and among the ones that the world considers “the least.”

Although I have certainly found people who might be identified as “the least” by worldly standards in all kinds of contexts, including my professional contexts, for me the places where these challenging questions truly come alive have been in places where I have had the privilege to volunteer to help others without the expectation of receiving something in return.

I have come to take the role of volunteer very seriously over the years. Volunteering was an expectation in many of the organizations that I joined in high school and college. And, even when the requirement to volunteer disappeared from my life, the desire to volunteer and the need to spend time with others outside of work, education, and family have remained part of my core.

Over the years, I have volunteered in schools, nursing homes, food pantries, meal programs, and churches outside of the one I was serving at any given time – just to name a few of the locations. The places have varied. The responsibilities have varied. But what hasn’t varied much is the joy that I receive when I have helped someone in need, when I have challenged myself to do something that I initially thought was outside of my comfort zone, and when I have thought less about myself and more about others. In the work that I have done and in the people that I have met in such spaces, I have, honestly, often felt closer to Christ in ways that have been surprising and inspiring.

When I graduated from college and began the process of moving on to my seminary days, three pastors with whom I had worked with closely during my college years – Pastor Oelke, Pastor Meyer, and Pastor Preisinger – gave me the gift of a cross. The images placed on the cross were inspired by the questions found in Matthew 25. And when I was given this cross, there was a note explaining the reason why these three pillars of inspiration in my life and ministry selected this particular gift. Apparently, they saw in me someone who had demonstrated a care for the least in my younger years, and they had encouraged me to continue to keep this passion in the years to come. I continue to be inspired by that cross and by their challenge to make that a focus in my life to this day.

Scripture challenges me to care for the ones that the world identifies as “the least.” The gift of the cross that I got as a college graduate from some of the most inspiring pastors in my life is a visual reminder for me of this challenge. And the places where I believe that I have found the opportunity to live out this challenge, more often than not, are the places where I have stepped outside of my comfort zone and volunteered with the expectation of receiving nothing in return.