Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.

2 The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow.

3 Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: "O Lord, I pray you, save my life."

10 How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me?

11 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.

12 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

13 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his servants.

14 O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant and the child of your handmaid; you have freed me from my bonds.

15 I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the Name of the Lord.

16 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,

17 In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen.

Be of service

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received…whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. - I Peter 4:10-11

The psalm for this week describes deep gratitude to the Holy One for deliverance from the entanglement of the cords of death. In response, the psalmist repeats: O Lord, I am your servant.

What does it mean to be the Lord’s servant? How do we think about that, as a dynamic in our own spiritual lives?

As I thought about those questions, I recalled hearing church leaders describe themselves as servants of the servants of God. Diving a bit more deeply, it turns out that is a phrase used by popes over the centuries to describe their ministry (In Latin, Servus Servorum Dei). All that was intriguing to me, given the way that Pope Leo has been in the news of late, boldly proclaiming the gospel. I’m thankful for the courageous way he regards his service. But the phrase began with Pope Gregory I in the sixth century. It has been a guiding vision of servant leadership ever since.

We can look further back in time and find that St. Paul had a similar vision for his ministry. As a priest, I was always taken with his job description for Christian leadership. He described himself as a servant of Christ and steward of the mysteries (I Corinthians 4).

Going even farther back, we can look at Mark’s gospel, the earliest of the four, in which Jesus interrupts the disciples' hissy fit about which one of them was the greatest by sharing this vision for his own ministry. He said that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.

Lest we think that this vision of servant leadership is just for pontiffs or apostles or the Messiah, one of the things we promise in baptism is that we will each seek and serve Christ in all people, loving neighbor as self. That promise gets at this interesting dynamic: There is deep connection between being a servant of the Lord and being a servant of those around us. So how do we develop this kind of servant attitude?

We start by admitting that our default is to look for as many ways as possible for folks to serve us. Signing up for discipleship of Jesus means we shift from that default position and regard our place in the world differently.

Then, following the psalmist’s lead, we let our service grow out of a sense of gratitude. Maybe we join the psalmist in asking how we can repay the Lord for all God’s benefits (see Psalm 116:10). That act of rendering is itself a kind of service. It grows out of mindfulness of the ways we have been blessed. When we forget those blessings, we may easily drift into a swelled-head expectation that we must be served.

Then, as we recognize that we seek and serve Christ in others, we open our eyes, we open our hearts to the need around us. I’ve mentioned before that my father in law who passed away at age 97, used to phone us many mornings and ask: What can I do for you today? He did that up until the very end. He modeled a servant’s heart, and provided an accessible practice for those wishing to grow in servanthood. Try it out with the people around you this week. Make that phone call.

And if you’re not exactly sure of how you can be of service, ask God’s Holy Spirit to show you where you can be of service. One of the great joys in my ministry in parishes was discovering the great variety of ways that people offered service to others. Some did it in their professions. Others volunteered for ministries. Some offered service in notable ways. Others offered quiet unsung service. Some who were completely limited in mobility offered service of prayer.

We had a food drive at our church, asking folks to bring in canned goods for our pantry. We came up with the slogan: Everybody can. (Get it? Cans of food. I thought it was clever). We quickly realized that it had a broader meaning. Everyone can do something. Reflect this week on what it means to be the Lord’s servant, and how you can live into that role by serving those around you. Everybody can.

-Jay Sidebotham