Input, Stephanie!

[qos]

I'm writing in haste this morning, and don't have time to get my thoughts down in a coherent fashion, so I'm going to shamelessly ask all of you for your thoughts and observations, so I can read my email and get more grist* for my inner mill/black box:

What does it mean to you to "serve"? Does rephrasing to "serve in a spiritual sense" make a difference in your answer?

How do you use your gifts to serve?

What does servant leadership look like to you?

Given what you know of me, in what ways can you imagine me using my gifts to serve? (If you can imagine such a thing at all. . . )


* Yes, poliphilo, I do hope you will contribute your wisdom. ;-)

Comments

[athenian-abroad.livejournal.com]

What does it mean to you to "serve"?

For me, the definitive statement is the "Glass Tubes Speech" given by William H. Macy in an episode of Sports Night (season 2, episode 3: "Cliff Gardner"). I recommend seeing it in the original (available via Netflix; the episode in question appears on Disk 4). (If you're unfamiliar with the series, watching the preceding episode "Something Wicked This Way Comes" might be a good idea, to get a little context; episodes are about 23 minutes long, so it's not a big investment of time.)

I suppose it boils down simply to "Make yourself useful," but it loses a great deal in translation.

Does rephrasing to "serve in a spiritual sense" make a difference

I think it may be a distraction to spend too much time thinking about different spheres and types of service. When you make lunch for The Child, are you being of service "in a spiritual sense?" Sure. Or not. What difference does it make? Isn't all service spiritual?

in what ways can you imagine me using my gifts to serve?

Ripley: I feel like kind of a fifth wheel around here, is there anything I can do?
Apone: I dunno, is there anything you can do?

[qos.livejournal.com]

I suppose it boils down simply to "Make yourself useful," but it loses a great deal in translation.

Interesting that you should invoke the word "uses." For Emanuel Swedenborg, "uses" were a central ehtical concept. He urged people to be aware of their "uses" -- what they did in the world. Good "uses" were motivated by love, and led to the increase of love and the welfare of others. Someone who was of no "use" was clearly lacking in love, and thus not an authentic Christian.

Isn't all service spiritual?
Perhaps. . . I'm coming to these thoughts embarrassingly late in life. I can say with reasonable assurance that I've tried for most of my life to have "good uses" -- but I've always been mostly self-centered. Polite, considerate, but self-centered. Trying to sort out the different meanings of "service" -- separating a higher level of uses from my "be a nice person" attitude, and that from becoming a follower or martyr (not likely, but that, unfortunately, is part of my gut reaction to "serving") is proving more complicated than I would have expected. It's also entirely possible that I am thinking too much and making it too complicated.