A Time To Serve

By Rev. John Schmidt

"For even the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Mark 10:45

William Willimon is the Campus Pastor at Duke University. One day he got a call from a very angry parent. The father was angry because his daughter, who was supposed to be headed for graduate school, had just decided to "throw it all away" (as the father described it), and go do mission work with the Presbyterians in Haiti.

"I hold you personally responsible for this," he said. "She has a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and now she's going to dig ditches in Haiti. You are completely irresponsible to have encouraged her to do this. I hold you personally responsible."

"Me? What have I done?" asked Willimon.

"You. . . You ingratiated yourself with her. Filled her head with all that religion stuff. That's why she's doing this foolishness."

"Now look, buster," Willimon said as he struggled to keep his ministerial composure. "Weren't you the one who had her baptized?"

"Why, yes," he said.

"And then, didn't you read her Bible stories, take her to Sunday school, let her go with the Youth Group to ski in Vale?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Don't but me." Willimon said. "It's your fault that she believed all that stuff, that she's gone and thrown it all away on Jesus. Not mine. You're the one who introduced her to Jesus. Not me."

"But all we ever wanted her to be was a Presbyterian," the father said meekly.

"Sorry. You've messed up and made a disciple."

Disciples of Jesus Christ learn how to serve. If we are followers of Jesus, that means we need to follow him into times of service, times of sacrifice. Some of those sacrifices are large and some are small. I'd like to share with you an opportunity to make a small sacrifice to serve others this coming Easter. Please take a close look at the Pastor's Challenge inside this week's News and Views.