Vows: Service

Welcome to the weekly Dulin Podcast, a ministry of Dulin United Methodist Church in Falls Church, Virginia. Each week, we share a short reflection on faith and life in community, exploring how God's grace moves among us and through us. We're glad you're here.

Hello, Dulin Church. It's me, James Henry, your pastor, and I'm here with another weekly moment. If you've been following along, you know that we are working on the five vows we make when we become members of the church. We make a vow to support the congregation to which we belong with our prayers, presents, gifts, service and witness. We've talked about the first three.

This week, we're here to talk about service. What does service look like when we vow to support the church with our service? Now, if you're a part of a congregation, in this case, if you're a part of Dulin or any other congregation, certainly some of that service may be very specific to the congregation to which you belong. Things like singing in the choir, playing the bells, running tech on Sunday morning so that there is a live stream. It might include volunteering for Ministry of Hope, one of our monthly outreaches to folks in the community who are hungry and in need.

It might be through volunteering to teach a Sunday school class or to be a part of youth group. These are all ways to serve. But it struck me as I was preparing to speak about this that one of the things that John Wesley said was the world is our parish. And so service is not just something you do for the church to which you belong. Our vow to serve is a vow to serve God.

It's to serve God in the midst of the congregation and outside the congregation as an extension of our work in the world. So for instance, when you are kind to a stranger, when you're out in the world, you are serving, you are living into that vow. When you serve someone you know, when you're caring for someone you know, when you buy somebody a cup of coffee who might be needing a cup of coffee in that moment. When you speak a kind word, these are opportunities to serve. Now, it might be something like Appalachia Service Project, where you go out in to Appalachia and help families in need through that wonderful organization.

Or it might be rebuilding together. We just had a team who engaged here in the greater Northern Virginia area over in Alexandria, helping to repair a person's house. These are ways to serve. There are services that happen in and through the church and there are services that you provide as the church out in the world by being you. When you do the things that you're called to do and you do them in the best possible way you know how to do them, those are opportunities to serve.

So I want you to take a moment to just step back for yourself and think, where are the places that I provide service in the world? Where are the places that I can help someone else? Are there places I'm already involved in that maybe I could step up? Is there a way I could step up at Doolin? If you're a member of Doolin, if you're watching this from somewhere else, whatever church you might be a part of, is there a way you might serve that congregation?

Do you sing and do you want to sing as a part of the choir? You know, if you sing in the congregation, even if you don't join the choir, if you serve as a person in the congregation singing with joy and gusto, that's a service to us all. Maybe you want to volunteer to help lead worship on a given Sunday or any of those things. There are ways you can engage that are in the church. But then look in other places that you find yourself.

Maybe some of your, if you have children, you have children that are involved in sports. How can you help other families on the sports team? How can you help your child learn to be the best person they can be? That's a form of service. Where are you called to serve?

Service is always about trying to do something with another that helps them further their lives. So what are some places where you might more fully serve that you aren't already serving? Or some places where you already serve where maybe you might want to step up your game, so to speak. If the world is our parish, there is no place that you can't serve. In the office.

Now, I'm not talking about so often when we think about service of some kind, we think that we have to stand up on our desktop and say things, celebrate our faith and the like, preach a good sermon from our desktop. That might likely get some of you fired. Even though there's freedom of speech. But there are ways that you can be kind and serve, you know, the other people you work with in a way that will impact them, you can make a difference right where you are. I've come to realize that we keep thinking faith is something that calls us to be extraordinary.

And maybe it does. And maybe there are moments when you are, when I am extraordinary. But the truth is even when we're being our most ordinary selves, when we're showing up for somebody else and really showing up, being there, When we are showing up for somebody else and offering the service of who we are, when we are serving those who are in need in our community, when we are serving the wider world, when we are providing care for those who might not be able to care for themselves, these are opportunities, opportunities to live out this calling, this vow. You might not remember when I was growing up, it was the last vow. Prayers, presence, gifts, service.

Now we've added witness. We'll talk about that next week. But service, we live in a society that probably needs more people willing to serve. And there are a variety of ways to do that. So look around you.

Where do you see your greatest gift and the greatest need in the community? And where can those two meet? Where can you bring together your greatest gifts with the world's greatest needs? Because those are places where you might be called to serve. Sometimes it's a big thing.

Sometimes it's a very ordinary thing. But no matter which one it is, it is service at its very best. And it's what we're called to do. When I look at the life of Jesus, I see someone who served selflessly again and again and again. And he didn't do that to model what divinity is all about.

He did that, well, maybe he did. Maybe it was partially about divinity. But he modeled that because that's what it's possible for human beings to do, to truly serve, to serve the community, to choose to live in such a way that your life touches other lives in a positive way. Certainly, there is enough negative touching in our world. We are called and we have made a vow that we will serve the world, that we will serve the church, but most importantly that we will serve God.

And I think we serve God best by serving the world and our church and our community in the ways that we are called to. So perhaps this is a week for you to ponder. How can I serve? What is my passion? What are my gifts?

And how can they be put to use by you, oh God? Traditionally, in the United Methodist Church at the very end of the year on New Year's Eve, we used to have what was called a watch night service. And part of the watch night service is a very traditional prayer by John Wesley. I'm not going to repeat the whole thing for you right now. But essentially, one of the things in John Wesley's English that he prayed for was he invited God to put me to what you will.

It's like perhaps in the Lord's prayer, and we'll talk about this in a sermon series starting in January, but your will be done, your heart's desire be done. How can I be a part of that? So look around you and see where God is doing something where you have a passion for and the gifts for and the opportunity to change the world in little ways wherever you are. That's what I think service is all about. Yes, serve the church.

Most importantly, serve God and the community and the world in which you live. Remember that and keep that in mind. Until our next time together, remember that you are precious. You are a gift and you are loved. Until that next time.