Serve. Service. Servile. Servant. Server. Servitude. Serving.
[Take just two or three minutes to collect reactions to these different words.]
It’s odd, really, the wide variety of ideas and reactions to these very similar
words. The first seems somehow positive and noble, at least usually. “How may I
serve you?” Or it might be a tennis or volleyball term. The last one might be a
description of an action, or a description of a certain amount of food. A
recent story tells of a housekeeper who was deeply offended and angered when
someone referred to her as a servant, but I am sure she would have been pleased by a mention of her
years of faithful service to the family who employed her. Why do some of these words carry
such negative connotations? Today we use the word “server” for those who wait
on tables, as being somehow less or degrading. Yet we sing, “Make me a servant,
humble and meek.”
Then there’s “wait staff;” certainly much more imposing a term
than servants or even than waitress or waiter. Has it occurred to you that “wait
on the Lord” means “serve the Lord,” not just “be patient until He accomplishes
His design.” Can you possibly be seen, or see yourself, as one of God’s
personal servants, standing by, waiting for a request, then moving swiftly to
fulfill it? What is it that we mean, when we exhort each other to serve God and
humanity? More to the point, what is God looking for?
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