Serving God - a Homily

3 Oct

NB. Sermon preached at Normanton Parish Church mid-week service 23 January 2002

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Serving

Setting the Scene
It is useful to set up this passage with a bit of background to this letter to the Romans. It would seem (Rom 15:24) Paul is writing to The Vians in Rome (never met) before embarking on a mission to Spain & here he is asking them for support and spelling out the gospel message he will be taking to Spain,. Explaining the principles of Christina living which he would be taking to the world in his missionary journeys . Paul w/h/known that his letter w/h/bn read and re-read in many house churches in Rome in those early risky days of following Christ (25 yrs after death/Res).

Isnt it exciting that these early Christians, read, digested, taught, copied and kept these letters and handed them down from one generation to the next? Here we are today embarking and engaging on our own journeys in mission and spiritual devotion and service to our Lord… ventures and adventures eg…searching for a new incumbent, Young Peoples ministry, even the Parish Weekend coming up and the Holy Spirit through this letter of St Paul is speaking to us today saying in Christ we can be [v6]‘people who use the gifts God has given us’ - Preaching, Serving, Teaching, encouraging, Sharing, Authority, kindness. Through St Paul God is speaking to us today with words like [v 9] ‘Love must be sincere, love one another warmly at Christians… show respect… not being lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion…let hope keep you joyful… being patient in your troubles…..praying at all times [let us read that again].’
As I read and re-read Romans 12. I began to see within the passage that Paul was laying down the ground rules for living in a loving Christian community…loving and serving, being joyful and patient in troubles and praying at all times.
How often do we fall short of the mark in our Christian communities?…
But these are the things that will distinguish us from the world around us.
These are the things which will ‘show we are Christians by our love’, by our serving, by our enduring in troubles, by seeing prayer (personal prayer and corporate) as the lifeblood of our spiritual journey. If this is your only prayer time in the week or even the day it’s not enough!

One of the people who comes to mind when I think of these bottom-line spiritual qualities we seek for ourselves is someone who died on 5/9/97.

She was born in 1910 in Macedonia. Her family belonged to the Albanian community. At the age of 18 she decided she wanted to be a missionary in India and joined ‘Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto’. She learned to speak English in Dublin and took the name Sister Teresa after St Teresa of Avila, the patroness of missionaries. The next year 1929, she arrived in India to become a teacher. Sister Teresa felt she was receiving a second call, to leave the convent and live with the poorest of the poor. After a long wait [20 years later…there’s patience for you] in 1948 she received permission to leave the Loreto community provided that she kept her vows. She wore a cheap white and blue sari…..working in Calcutta in the slums on the streets, to serve the poor and help them.

During this time she was staying with the Sisters of the Poor. The following year, 1949, seven girls joined her in her work. During that year also, Sr Teresa received Indian nationality. In 1950 she got approval for the foundation of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Charity. There were 12 sisters then. She needed a house for her work and bought a house which has become the mother house of her congregation.

She won many awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. On 5t/ /9/97 Mother Teresa died. Now 54 years after the work started there are 3000 Sisters working in over 500 missions in 100 countries.

Because of her work serving the poorest of the poor she was called the “Saint of the Gutters.” She would see Jesus in everyone she met. She served the Lord with a heart full of devotion [v11] It didn’t matter whether they were dying of AIDS or Leprosy. She wanted to love them, to serve them, to value them so they may be able to die in peace and with dignity. She served the Lord with a heart full of devotion

Mother Teresa said, love begins at home, love your family and your neighbours. Share with the poor and needy around you your smile, your word, your time, your belongings. See God’s presence in the people you meet daily and treat them as children of God. Serve and love one person at a time. God does not want us to love crowds of people, that is an impossibility. He wants us to love Him in every single person we meet, when we meet that person……

Mother Teresa is a perfect example of someone who lived as St Paul calls us to live in today’s epistle Love must be sincere, love one another warmly at Christians… show respect… not being lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion…let hope keep you joyful… being patient in your troubles…..praying at all times . If you are not doing anything to serve the Church or the community think about it, let the Holy Spirit prompt you this morning. Something of service the Church…. when we do serve we receive something that money can never buy.

Mother Teresa gives an example of this: …..One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition. I told the Sisters: “You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worse.”
So I did for her all that my love can do. I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face.
She took hold of my hand, as she said one word only: “Thank you” - and she died.
I could not help but examine my conscience before her. And I asked: “What would I say if I were in her place?”
And my answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself.
I would have said: “I am hungry, I am dying, I am cold, I am in pain,” or something.
But she gave me much more, she gave me her grateful love. And she died with a smile on her face.

As I said, when we give when we serve we actually receive, we receive something that money can’t buy… ‘a hope that keeps us joyful’ [v12]. With the example of Jesus and Mother Teresa before us we can ask ourselves what is our attitude to others. Do we always consider others worth serving, worth encouraging, worth loving? If we do not, why? Is it because we have been hurt and we have not yet forgiven, is it because we do not respect them a worth it [10] Is it because we have allowed our possessions to posses us and [v13] to share your belongings with the needy and to open your homes to them makes us want to squirm or switch off. The challenge is too great…well that’s the Lord challenging you…. I will conclude with the prayer of St Francis: