Defining Christianity
“Defining Christianity is portrayed not in the first mile of service, but in the second.” – Oswald Chambers
Tag: Service
Meeting Angst
Last week we had a meeting of the Young Adult Commission. At these meetings we go over the current Young Adult initiatives in the Diocese and plan the new events for the months ahead.
Highs
At these meetings I’m often inspired. It’s encouraging to be with other Young Adult leaders who are passionate about what they’re doing. It’s great to feed off one another’s energy and catch a vision of “what could be…”.
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
At last week’s meeting we came up with some superb ideas. Let me tell you, there’s some really good stuff in the pipeline for this summer…
Every Member Ministry
As I was driving home last night I was thinking about the parable of the talents which we heard at Mass, where Jesus teaches us about using our God-given gifts in service of His Kingdom.
This parable’s message was certainly taken to heart by my former Protestant communities. In fact, I think this is one of the many things which we Catholics can really learn from our separated brethren. In those churches the question isn’t “Will you serve?” but “How will you serve?”.
In those congregations, the various ministries were regularly advertised and they were often mentioned in the pastors’ Sunday sermons. There was a very clear understanding that to be a part of the faith community meant to be joined with others in service. I remember in one parish’s bulletin, in the section listing the Church Staff, under the final entry of “Ministers” it simply read “Everyone!”
Service is also a really powerful evangelistic witness. Seeing people live out their faith by serving others stirs up far more interest and questions in unbelievers than any car fish sticker ever has. Service is also a great way to grow in your faith, grow in holiness and to encounter Jesus Christ in a really concrete way. As we will hear in next week’s Gospel:
“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” – Matthew 25:36
End of a long day
It has been a very long day…
Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve :
to give, and not to count the cost,
to fight, and not to heed the wounds,
to toil, and not to seek for rest,
to labor, and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do your will.
– Ignatius of Loyola
Please pray for my friend who is going through a tough time.
Servant Leadership
The notion of leadership recently came up in discussion and the question was asked: What qualities make for a good leader?
If you go into a secular bookshop today you will find a large number of books which attempt to explain what it is you have to do in order to become a great leader.
In recent years, Christian bookshop shelves too have started to be filled with an increasingly large number of books which try to turn their readers into leaders by explaining the “eight key leadership principles” or the “five simple steps”, etc.
Like Father, Like Son…
The first passage of Scripture which comes to my mind when someone mentions to me the word “leadership” is from the Old Testament book of 1st Kings. In this passage, King Solomon has just died and his son Rehoboam has ascended to the Throne of David.
Daughters Of The King
The regularity of my posts in recent times has been pretty lamentable, but at least I can now finally explain why. Much of my time over the last couple of months has been taken up with preparations for “Daughters Of The King”…
Genesis
The whole idea began back in August at Dan’s bachelor weekend. Together with eight other guys, I spent the weekend hiking and camping a few hour’s drive from San Diego. While we were catching our breath halfway up a mountain, one of our number, Mike, shared with us an idea he had…
Mike wanted to put together some sort of event for all the ladies in our lives: friends, girlfriends, wives, sisters and mothers. He wanted an evening for the guys to gather together specifically to honour all of the ladies. Quite an extraordinary idea to come out of a bachelor weekend, hey?
Planning
Towards the end of September we began preparations. I sent out an email to all the men on the JP2 mailing list, inviting them to join us in this unique enterprise. Twenty men stepped up to the challenge…
We initially met at my apartment, drank some beer and discussed what kind of event we might organize. We were not short of ideas! (In later meetings we would institute the “Don’t suggest an idea unless you’re willing to take it on yourself” rule!) After much discussion, the idea we settled upon was to throw a classy gala evening in the parish hall of Our Lady of the Rosary. We decided that the event would be completely free to the ladies and that the men would cook and serve all of the food.
We had wanted to hold the event on the same date as some Marian Feast, but we ended up choosing November 21st, the Feast of Christ the King. From the title of this feast, we quickly settled upon the name of our event, since we would be spending the evening honouring the daughters of our aforementioned King. Only later would we realise that this date is, in fact, actually also a minor Marian Feast, The Presentation of Mary, the commemoration of Our Lady’s presentation as a child in the Temple.