Today, I want to pause and ask you to pray for our spiritual leaders at Union! Union’s current and previously serving Elders and Deacons are invited to participate in a workshop in the Fellowship Hall from 10-2 PM on Saturday, August 24. Our topic for the Retreat will be "Letting Christ Be the Source of Your Service." We have all heard that you have to put on your own oxygen mask before you can help others. In the same way, we need to be well-rooted in Christ to make an impact in His kingdom. As you pray for our Spiritual Leaders this week, please pray that this workshop will offer nourishment to them. Please pray that each one will abide in Christ, trusting him as their source for service.
This week, I also invite you to pray for all who serve in our life and ministry together no matter their role. Serving others is a beautiful gift, but it’s also hard work. We sometimes need encouragement to carry on and continue serving faithfully, especially when the work is daunting and difficult. Thankfully, the more our roots in Christ deepen, the more he becomes our source for service that sustains us and propels us forward together.
Below is a word of blessing for those who serve others by Kate Bowler that is particularly authentic and meaningful. I pray that these thoughtful words bless all who serve in the Body of Christ!
A Blessing for those who Serve Others*
So bless you all in these beautiful, terrible contradictions.
You who serve others,
knowing it comes at a steep cost.
That time you’ll never get back.
Those people who won’t ever be as grateful as you hope.
The paycheck or PTO or benefits that will never add up to enough.
May you be reminded
that maybe you were called for such a time as this.
To pour out your great, great gifts for the sake of the other.
To work toward this beautiful, terrible interdependence.
(Even if community is much easier in theory than in practice.)
And on the days where you feel
like your work is just a drop in the ocean.
Or you want to throw in the towel
Because you are far beyond burnout.
May joy and delight be yours, my dears,
and may it fuel the hard, beautiful work you do.
And hey, if you are just beginning a move toward service,
may you have the eyes to see the needs in front of you,
the places where your gifts and passions and resources
meet your community’s deep needs.
Or if you’re just starting to ask for help yourself, bless you.
May your courage be met with kindness.
You are all my favorite kinds of people and I love you. Bless you.
*A Blessings on All Who Serve by Kate Bowler. Inspired by her conversation with Angela Williams on the Everything Happens Podcast