America the Servant (Reflections on Pentecost 21)

"So Jesus called them and said to them, 'You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their leaders lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 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.'"

                                                                                   Mark 10:42-45

Service?

Funny, but of all the words that have been thrown around during this American election season, "service" isn't one I've heard that frequently. I mean, whatever happened to "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?" In all three of the candidate debates so far there has been much mention of the middle class, jobs, and taxes. That's all well and good, but I'm waiting to be inspired. I'm waiting to be told that, recession or no recession, it's time for me to get off my self-pitying middle class butt and extend a hand of mercy to the poor and helpless.

I'm a pastor in Philadelphia. I look at North Philly and near-by Camden and I see acre after acre, block after block of desolate, wasted slumlands. I see a wide, polluted ocean of poverty, filth, neglect, and drugs. Just once I'd like to hear a government leader raise a prophetic voice and scream, "This condition is an abomination unto the Lord! It is an affront to the very notion of mercy and charity! It is unworthy of a nation with a Christian majority and unworthy of America on general principle! It is our duty to pool our talents and resources and abolish these deplorable circumstances!"

In short, it is our responsibility to be servants to each other.

How can we help? Perhaps the first step would be to embrace a vision of improved society. To serve our neighborhoods, we first have to make them safe. This means that we will need more men and women willing to serve as safeguards, and more citizens willing to bear the tax burden for police, firefighters, paramedics, etc. We will need buildings which are safe and fit for human habitation, streetlights that work, streets without potholes, and sidewalks free of garbage and hazards to those with mobility challenges. We will need servants willing to do this work.

We will need to be better servants to our children. We will need local schools which are safe, clean, and spacious. We will need to recognize the duty to serve all of our children, not just the ones who win the charter school lotteries or whose parents can afford nonpublic education. I would love it if the term "school choice" meant that we, the public, chose to make every school effective and are willing to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to bring this about. We need more young people willing to serve in the classroom, and more retired folks willing to volunteer as mentors and classroom aids.

We will need to serve our elderly by insuring there is dignity in their declining years.

In the fifty-third chapter of the book of Isaiah, the author draws a vivid picture of a servant who suffers because of the wrongdoings of others. The early church always associated this portrait with Jesus, but it is possible that the original intention was to create an image of Israel as a servant nation. Israel, whose glory had been lost to Assyria, Babylon, and a host of other client states, was still blessed by God to be a blessing to the nations. I wonder if this is an image we could cultivate in America?

What if "American Exceptionalism" referred to our willingness to offer disaster relief wherever it is needed in the world? What if we exported education and encouraged cultural exchange? What if our military might was used to protect innocent victims of oppression or natural disaster? What if our foreign policy was the alleviation of hunger and disease? What if the developing world knew Americans more through the Peace Corp than through Hollywood? What if we gave up the desire to be the biggest badass in the world and decided that our greatness would lie in servanthood rather than intimidation?

Am I asking for too much? Let me know, and thanks for reading.