Serve

To serve with love. Loving neighbor as self. This is the fruit of discipleship, the visible and outward sign of an inward and spiritual grace (our lostness in the wonder, love, and grace of the divine). Spiritual practitioners use words like Mission and Outreach, which encompass acts of loving service that nourish and heal both body and soul, sharing faith, hope, love, and sustenance. Jesus sent his disciples to do three things: heal the sick, cast out demons, and announce God’s reign. We might say that to serve in this sense is to live this good news for and with others.

Service includes the notions of healing and helping, or acts of charity (which the King James Version of the Bible uses to translate the Greek word agape). But it also embraces practices of justice and restoration of justice in all aspects of life – so for some, service may be an expression of repentance. Dallas Willard defined God’s Kingdom as that place where God’s will is perfectly done. To serve is to live in this divine realm and reign, both bringing it about and recognizing its presence all around us.

Here are the topics I’ve brainstormed so far:

  1. Spiritual Gifts and the fruit of the Spirit

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  2. Wesleyan Covenant Prayer
  3. The Worship-Mission reciprocation
  4. Matthew 25 encountering Jesus
  5. The poor you will always have with you
  6. Micah 6:8 – Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with Our God
  7. The Call of Moses
  8. 1 John 4:20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
  9. Faith and works – James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
  10. Who is my neighbor? The Good Samaritan
  11. As the Father sent me, so I send you (John 20:21)
  12. The sending of the 12 and the 70 – heal, cast out demons, proclaim the Kingdom
  13. You give them something – a child’s lunch offering
  14. Luke 4 the Spirit is upon me
  15. The Beatitudes
  16. Don’t expect thanks – just do your duty (Luke 17:7-10)
  17. Acts Community – no one had need
  18. Missional Second Wind
  19. Serving With (not For)
  20. Zacchaeus: repentance and restoration
  21. Respect and Relationship in Mission
  22. Dealing with Moral Fatigue
  23. Paul’s Gentile collection for Jerusalem
  24. Acts – Deacons and the distribution of food to the widows
  25. Jesus’ response nose to John’s question: Are you the one?
  26. Prophetic call to justice and mercy
  27. Christ’s preference for the poor
  28. Esther – for such a time as this
  29. Hospitality and welcoming the stranger
  30. Measure for measure
  31. Gen. 12 – blessed to be a blessing
  32. Grace – unconditional gifts and love
  33. Greatest love – laying down one’s life for one’s friends
  34. Breaking away from codependency – early morning Prayer and the call to other towns
  35. Helping, hearing, and honoring the story and the person
  36. Empathetic Listening – being with in community and communion – what help is needed?
  37. Working together – the blitz build
  38. Mission and Missionaries – cultural communication
  39. Mission and Evangelism – sharing the Good News
  40. Solidarity with those who suffer
  41. Sharing in Christ’s sufferings