The Life of Service

William Temple wrote that “Christianity is the most avowedly materialistic of all the great religions.”  What he meant was that the Christian faith is never satisfied with, nor is it about just some inner state of personal spiritualism—it is concerned with and is all about caring for people.  The Christian faith may include a sense of personal salvation, but it also includes being aware of every person as the object of God’s care.  As Elton Trueblood wrote, “I cannot be wholly saved unless my brother (my sister) is saved because, in the unforgettable words of John Donne, ‘I am involved in mankind.’” Christianity, while it is spiritual, must always be more than spiritual.  To paraphrase the oft-quoted words of Paul in I Corinthians 13, If I speak with the tongues of men or of angels, or have the gift of prophecy, and know all hidden truths and have a faith strong enough to move mountains, or dole out all that I possess, but have no love, I am nothing.

In other words, a religious faith is about loving and serving our brothers and sisters everywhere, regardless of creed, race, gender, nationality, etc.,  because this faith is representative of, and is rooted in, the “Love at the Heart of Things:—a God who loves.  Everyone who serves is a minister, a priest, a rabbi, an imam, caring, loving, and serving his or her fellow human beings.

Since the color of our personal world in recent days has turned to Teal (the color for ovarian cancer awareness) we have witnessed this life of service (this faith—whether professed or not) exercised and  demonstrated in the healthcare professionals we have encountered, including physicians, nurses, aids, technicians, and receptionists.  They have ministered to us in both spirit, mind, and body, and we will be forever grateful for their care (which we have felt to be genuine and sincere and not merely professional).  We have also observed this ministry being given not just to us, but to each and every person under their care.

The response to the people devastated by Hurricane Dorian, in the Bahamas and elsewhere, is an example of this ministry, emphasizing in our time Lincoln’s words:  “Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows.”  When we get hold of this reality (Love at the Heart of Things) there is never such a being as an illegal alien, a refugee, or an infidel.  When we get hold of this and begin to exercise our own ministry, “Behold,” says the God of Love, “I am doing a new thing (through you), can you not perceive it?”