Lenten Reflection for March 18, 2014
These will seem a bit random.
The frivolous, foolish, debauched, tragic--I'm going downhill here--nature of our society was seen yesterday in the so-called celebration of St. Patrick's Day. From everything I have read, Patrick, who was actually English, was worthy of a day and the honorific (although we Protestants know all Christian believers are saints). So how is his "day" celebrated by most? Ugly green colors plastered everywhere and drunkenness. In fact, this seems one of the most racist of holidays--all Irish are drunkards, so we will honor that by getting drunk no matter our background. I am not Irish, but the stereotypes disturb me. They come from the fact that Celts (and Scots) don't metabolize alcohol like some do. Asians don't either, but we don't have a drunken Japanese person holiday.
For today, I am thinking about service, what it means. Perhaps it is a wide enough concept that we can all make it what we want. Is service about the outward behavior, the outcomes, the idea that money is not earned, or the heart and motivation behind it, or all of these or none? Because I get paid to "teach" (not really), do I not do service in my work? I am paid to fulfill the role of a full-time faculty member here, which includes creating conditions for learning, conducting classes, and assessing student work. Those are outward signs that teaching is or may be going on, but I often am reluctant to say I teach because I am not always sure I do. I did today; we had a good class in epublishing on polishing the manuscript. At other times, not so sure. But my heart is to help my students become more skilled and knowledgeable, in general. My main service is to build the kingdom of God, although I am not sure I do that either, and it might be pretentious to even imagine such a thing.
So I have to come back to it as motivation more than outcome. Other thoughts?
The frivolous, foolish, debauched, tragic--I'm going downhill here--nature of our society was seen yesterday in the so-called celebration of St. Patrick's Day. From everything I have read, Patrick, who was actually English, was worthy of a day and the honorific (although we Protestants know all Christian believers are saints). So how is his "day" celebrated by most? Ugly green colors plastered everywhere and drunkenness. In fact, this seems one of the most racist of holidays--all Irish are drunkards, so we will honor that by getting drunk no matter our background. I am not Irish, but the stereotypes disturb me. They come from the fact that Celts (and Scots) don't metabolize alcohol like some do. Asians don't either, but we don't have a drunken Japanese person holiday.
For today, I am thinking about service, what it means. Perhaps it is a wide enough concept that we can all make it what we want. Is service about the outward behavior, the outcomes, the idea that money is not earned, or the heart and motivation behind it, or all of these or none? Because I get paid to "teach" (not really), do I not do service in my work? I am paid to fulfill the role of a full-time faculty member here, which includes creating conditions for learning, conducting classes, and assessing student work. Those are outward signs that teaching is or may be going on, but I often am reluctant to say I teach because I am not always sure I do. I did today; we had a good class in epublishing on polishing the manuscript. At other times, not so sure. But my heart is to help my students become more skilled and knowledgeable, in general. My main service is to build the kingdom of God, although I am not sure I do that either, and it might be pretentious to even imagine such a thing.
So I have to come back to it as motivation more than outcome. Other thoughts?
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