Unlearning

Last week, as I was preparing for Christ the King Sunday, I was talking with a seminary friend. She and I were talking with each other about what we were going to preach on. We got on to the topic of service and that God wants us to serve out of joy rather than out of obligation. So we asked ourselves, what's joyful about serving other people? It's easy to respond with answers like "You feel good knowing you helped someone." or "You get joy out of bringing joy to others." And those answers are true but let's be honest about this, not all service we are called to is joyful, even if you know you are bring joy to others. And it can be even less joyfilled when the actions seem unnoticed or unappreciated.

What's joyful about scrubbing a toilet? What's joyful about patching your own sneakers to wear them a little longer so you can spend that money on a pair of shoes for someone else? My friend and I thought to ourselves wouldn't it be alot more fun, alot more joyful that is, to buy that extra pair of shoes for yourself?

We came to the conclusion that these acts of service would be joyful if it weren't for our selfishness. We realized we all have a need to unlearn selfishness. This service is not joyful because we have learned that selfishness and the "It's all about Me" mentality is what brings us happiness. So we have to unlearn that selfishness and remind ourselves that ultimately our true joy comes from a life of mutuality, where we help one another.

Some are farther along on this lesson than others but we all need to work at unlearning selfishness. And how do you do that? How do you learn that lesson? By serving even when you don't feel like it because you know it's how God calls us to act. By putting other people first when you really do want that new pair of shoes, or a new t.v., or you really want to spend that time watching your favorite show instead of helping someone you know could really use it. We need to reverse the conditioning that got us into our current mentality. Slowly, as we serve, our awareness will be opened to the great need of those around us. Slowly, we will learn that "It's NOT all about me!" As we see that the things we do are bringing joy to others, as we see how God is able to move and work in those actions, we will find that service does become joyful after all. But in the mean time, we have to work a little hard at unlearning our selfishness.

Nothing to do

Do you ever find yourself wishing that you just had even five minutes in your day when you didn't have anything to do? I often find myself wishing there were more hours in the day, more time to get things done. But it seems like when I'm wishing that, really I'm wishing that I could have just a few minutes in the day when I didn't have anything to do. Many of us feel this way even during the "regular" time of the year, and the holidays just seem to escalate that feeling.

The month of December finds more people in a complete frenzy. You don't need me to list all the chaos that consumes our lives during December, you're living it, and listing it just makes all of us feel that much more exhausted. The point is that Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, is a hectic and chaotic time for all of us. But Advent is intended to be a period of preparation, much like Lent is supposed to prepare us for Easter. Advent is supposed to involve waiting and anticipation. Ha! Waiting and anticipation so often seem like the exact opposite of our advent experience. And yes, pastors often find their advents are chaotic and hectic as well. So this Advent season, I'm going to try an experiment. I'm going to schedule 10 minutes each day to be more intentional about my advent preparation. And no, I'm not going to add one more thing to do during this busy season. Instead I'm going to take those ten minutes and do absolutely nothing. That's right, Nothing! I'm not going to read, or write, or listen to music, or talk with people, nothing. I'm gonna just sit there and enjoy having ten minutes to do absolutely nothing.

I'll let you know how it goes.