"The greatest among you will be your servant." -Matthew 23:11-12

   
In the middle of a Cookeville, Tennessee night a young mother piles her small children into her car and heads off to help a dying patient. She is not paid for this work. She is a hospice volunteer. She has opened her heart to Love and it is Love that has taken her to the beside of a stranger in need.

 
   The world measures us in so many ways that don't matter to Love. Jesus (through Matthew) reminds us of one of the few "measures" that are meaningful – loving service to others.

   Society reveres the rich and the famous. They are encased in castles. We seek their autographs.

   The anonymous caregivers of our lives are often ignored and are never paid enough. Yet, their light shines in the lonely dark like a yellow leaf on dark ground. Those who are privileged to lead large hospitals are often paid too well (as I once was) while first line caregivers are never paid enough.

   Jesus also said, "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. Very few of us (including me) are willing to surrender much of our hard won worldly "gains." Not surprisingly, we want to live our lives with as much comfort as possible. A lot of us are unwilling to do much to help those who suffer with too little.

   Now come the legions of "servants" bringing God's energy into this world. In Radical Loving Care, we exalt and promote those who have a Servant's Heart. These are the ones who come forward in times of our need. These are the ones who sacrifice so that we may be healed. 

   Of course, all of us have the potential to open our hearts even more so that we become, increasingly and each day, more the servants and less the waited upon.

   Most of all, true servants do not help in order to be exalted. They serve because they have opened their hearts to Love.

-Reverend Erie Chapman