8-8-19 - With, Not For

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

We're not often rewarded just for showing up – but that’s what Jesus suggests happens to those who are ready for God: "Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them."

This is like a boss finding a clerical worker in the middle of an all-nighter of copying, collating, and stapling, saying, “Wow! You’re doing your work! Hey, sit down – I’ll take it from here. In fact, let me order you some dinner.” It’s like the Earl of Grantham making breakfast for Mrs. Patmore or a farm-hand (if you’re a follower of Downton Abbey).

We tend to hear a word like “servant” or “slave” and file it with everything we know about human servanthood and hierarchies. But the Kingdom of God is always upside-down from the way human affairs work. (Maybe even “Downstairs/Upstairs,” if you remember PBS before Downton Abbey…)

We think being a servant means working for someone. The way Jesus describes it, it’s more like working with. In this analogy about the master serving dinner to the tired servant; in his invitation to “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will refresh you”; in his parables, Jesus tells us again and again that we don’t have to work to please God. We are invited to be open to what God is doing in, around and through us.

I often receive this message from God – “It is my work. I am doing it through you, through my people, but it is my work. Come and be a part of it.” One day in prayer, I heard simply, “Instrument.” Instruments don’t play themselves – the music-maker plays them. They need to be tuned and in good shape, but they don’t make the music. Neither does the music-maker make music without them.

God has songs that can only be heard through you. Are you in tune? That’s what time in confession and praise, prayer and contemplation does – tunes us up so we’re ready to play. The time we spend opening ourselves to the presence of God is how we receive the power and passion and purpose and peace to participate in what God is inviting us into. Taking care of ourselves through eating well, resting, exercising and being creative we might call “instrument maintenance.”

Today, spend a little time just getting quiet in yourself. Maybe ask God, 

“What are we going to do today? Who are you bringing into my path who needs your blessing through me? What in me needs tuning? What’s the new song you want to teach me? How can I be more open?” An idea might form then and there, or you may notice something through the day. Be alert. 

Don’t rush away – wait a little longer; let some stillness gather; see what you hear. The rests in a song are as important as the notes.

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