Advent and Servant Leaders

Advent and Christmas. Lots of expectations this time of year. I remember as a young teenager one Christmas, hoping for some nice presents and some cold weather, and not getting either (West Texas, where I grew up, can be pretty warm in December).  But what was worse, my parents decided to invite a Hispanic family who had recently immigrated and were struggling to make a go of it. They had a son just about my age, who came to visit us in the only nice clothes he probably had, and I brushed him off. I pale now at the thought of my sin that day, behaving in a completely opposite way than what the celebration should mean:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Cor. 8:9, NIV)

My excuse is that I didn't yet know Jesus personally, I was a non-Christian behaving like non-Christians do on a Christian holiday. A different attitude is evident in a recent communication of one of our workers (we'll call him 'Mike'), who is serving in one of the most needy places on earth, helping in a community health project. Mike describes the comments of some of his Muslim neighbors about the attitude he displays, and some of his own musings about it:

“'We want to put you on a pedestal, but you jump down off of it, and make yourself into a servant.' So--should I be Superman-spirit (according to local superstition), or shall I try to be a servant leader? That’s pretty simple to answer—I can’t try to be anything different but what I am—I can’t deny myself. I can’t sit at a desk all the time, then take part in opening ceremonies with great pomp, let myself be spoiled with fruit juice, water, and sometimes even cake, let my name be connected up with all kinds of good deeds without really doing anything."

The reference is to local officials who are usually invited to special days of celebration connected with the project. Mike goes on:

We waited over an hour on the dignitary, who then pranced in and did his part in the ‘dance’, spoke two empty words, and zoomed back out again. Everyone ‘dances around’ the authorities, and make sure they stay happy. Who knows, maybe the Bigshot will even let a crumb or two roll off of his table of advantaged position—perhaps even close enough that one can take one’s own advantage of it. If everyone who is wrangling there for nothing would put into practice just one new bright idea—then the world would be a paradise. But we left that Brightness a long time ago.

'Wrangling there for nothing'--that sounds like a good expression for a lot that goes on this time of year, or for most times of the year, for that matter, West or East. For sure, Muslims do not have a corner on attitudes of superiority, though admittedly the fact that Islam rejects the Incarnation robs Muslims of a basis for being truly transformed. 

May we who know Jesus display His heart, on festival days, and throughout the year.

"We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you." (1 Thess. 2:6-9)