“But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” From Mark 10:35-45
When I made the switch from working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in public service to seminary, some people were shocked. It seemed to them a huge change and a radical realignment of my life. It never seemed to be that big a shift to me. After all, I got my master’s in public policy because I wanted to make the world a better place. Seminary was just a shift in location. I still wanted to make the world a better place, I just wanted to be more connected from a relational perspective. I was hoping to see a more direct impact from these efforts.
While these were honestly held values, which still in many ways apply to my basic orientation, there was a missing element. At the time, my service was about what I was going to do and be. I had yet to make the theological and spiritual connection that God had already initiated something in me and only God would fully be able to support me in those efforts. To serve in a way that would be most fulfilling required a sense that I was following Jesus, not just making it on my own. I was responding to something that started long before I was aware of it or could name it.
Frederick Buechner defined our vocation as the place where, “our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” I heard someone also describe this as God’s efficiency. In our serving, we are served and find deep joy in that relationship. It’s not selfish. We are still called to serve and serve sacrificially and generously, but when we serve with gladness, we discover the gratefulness that comes from what we are offering and what we are learning about ourselves in the process.
As we seek to follow God, deep discernment has both an element of meeting the needs of the world and energizing us to continue the work. It is not about seeing what place we will have relative to power and privilege, but rather finding the satisfaction that comes from being aligned with God’s purposes. To be clear, this is not an easy solve. Often the way I discover I am not fully living in that kind of alignment comes not through gladness, but frustration and questioning. I don’t imagine Buechner offered that definition with the notion that vocation is a steady state or easy to stay in once we think we have it. I do think what it means is that we need to look at our service as something that is meant to help us find purpose.
It is a good feeling to discover that we can move towards the needs of the world and find hope in those places. It is good to have the perspective that when our problems seem overwhelming, we still have gifts to offer. Where might God be inviting you to serve?
Peace, Beth +