James 1:22-25 and 2 Corinthians 3:18: Two Mirrors

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago a drunk walked into a Venice, California, ballroom and smashed a big full-length mirror. When he was arrested, he protested angrily: “I saw that other guy looking at me very nasty!”

The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote a poem in which the narrator tells about sitting behind a fine, high-class lady in church and watching a louse roving around her bonnet. In his poem he scolds the louse for not realizing how important the lady is—and then he realizes that, to a louse, we are all equal.

He imagines how humiliated the fine lady would have been to know that she had a louse in her bonnet.

The last line of the poem is famous, and translated from the Scottish dialect, it goes like this:

“O would that God,

 the gift would give us

To see ourselves as others see us!”

William James, the great psychologist and philosopher wrote that when two men meet, it is really six people: each man as he sees himself (that’s 2), each man as the other sees him (that’s 4), and each man as he really is (that’s 6).

Socrates, the Greek philosopher used to like to quote this bit of advice: “Know thyself.”

But none of us can truly know ourselves as we really are—and probably we wouldn’t want to.

Someone commented: “Know myself!  If I knew myself I’d run away!”

Some of us—especially as we grow older—don’t spend much time looking into mirrors. It’s not much pleasure to see ourselves as others see us.

It is said that Queen Elizabeth I—who was reputed to be a beauty in her youth—when she grew old, she had all the mirrors removed from her rooms.

I found mentions of mirrors in the Bible that can instruct us.

I. The first one is in James 1:22-25: “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.”

A. James tells us here that God’s Word is a mirror that shows us ourselves. In that way the Bible helps us to see sins that we would otherwise overlook.

I will tell you a way that God’s word has been a mirror for me.

Jesus told a story in Luke 18 about the Pharisee who went up to the Temple to pray, and as he stood praying he said, “God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers….I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.”

See how full of himself that Pharisee was, and how superior to other men he felt himself to be!

In that story Jesus compares the proud Pharisee to a penitent tax collector who was also praying in the Temple that day. The tax collector went into a corner, smote his chest and cried out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Sometimes I see myself in that Pharisee, because, although I am not so blatant about it, sometimes I catch myself looking down on other people.

When I read that story I see myself as in a mirror, and I see that I am that Pharisee.

B. In 2 Samuel 11 and 12 we read of a terrible sin David committed. He had stolen another man’s wife, and when she became pregnant, David arranged for her husband to be murdered. Than he married the woman.

David was not aware of his sin. His conscience was clear, because he was blinded by his pride.

But God sent David a “mirror” into which he could see himself as he really was.

God sent his prophet Nathan. Nathan told David a story about a rich man who had very many flocks and herds and a poor man who had nothing but one little ewe lamb. The poor man loved his little ewe lamb; she was like one of his children. But when a traveler came to visit the rich man, the rich man was unwilling to take one of his own flock to prepare dinner for the traveler. So he took the poor man’s little ewe lamb and butchered it.

David was furious when he heard of this injustice and he said, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!”

Then the prophet pointed his finger at David and said, “You are the man! Why have you despised the word of the Lord and done this thing?”

In his little story about the poor man and his little ewe lamb, the prophet held up a mirror to David, which forced King David to confront his wickedness.

And to his credit, David did repent and confess his sin.

God forgave him, but that sin left a blot on David’s character forever.

That’s the kind of book the Bible is. It is a book of stories of people doing well and of people doing badly, and we can see ourselves in those stories.

The Bible holds up a mirror to ourselves so that we can see ourselves as we really are.

But James reminds us how hard it is for us to see ourselves. Sometimes we read the Bible and think, I’m okay because I read the Bible.

I knew a man who did an evil thing. He tried to deprive some people the privilege of hearing the Word of God. He attacked the messenger God had sent.

That same man boasted to me that he read his Bible every day.

He was the man who was a hearer and not a doer. He looked into the mirror and then forgot what he should have seen there.

Whenever we open our Bibles, we should ask God to show us ourselves—to show us our sin and lead us to repentance and faith.

We do not read the Bible to feel holy, but to see ourselves and to see Jesus.

II. So the purpose of the Bible isn’t only to show us ourselves. It is also to help us look beyond ourselves and see the mercy and grace of God.

A. Here is another word from God about a looking glass. St. Paul wrote this:

“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3.18).

To see “the glory of God” is to see Jesus.

According to St. Paul when we read of Jesus and think about what we are reading, we see the glory of God as though reflected in a mirror.

And to fix our gaze on Jesus is to be changed into his likeness.

B. This is why God has given us the Communion Service, the Lord’s Supper, the Mass—or whatever you call it in your church.

As we gather in worship to pray and sing praises to Jesus, and, as we see the bread and wine and take them, we are confronted with the vision of Jesus. We are seeing Jesus as in a mirror—the mirror or our mind’s eye.

And if we really see him--and consider what his life, death, and resurrection means to him and to us—we can’t help but love and believe and be changed.

C. When we read and meditate on the gospels, we see Jesus and we share the experience of those who knew and loved him.

A great theologian wrote, “Our reading of the Gospel story can be and should be an act of personal communion with the living God” (William Temple).

Just to read the gospels thoughtfully and prayerfully is to worship Jesus.

D. Some people find it helpful to put up crosses, or crucifixes, or pictures of Jesus on their walls to bring their thoughts often to the Christ who loves them and gave himself to them.

E. Some people memorize hymns or Bible verses and repeat them to themselves.

I remember one of my grandmothers singing hymns to herself as she went about her housework.

My other grandmother had a large framed Bible verse in a prominent place. On it was this Bible verse, in shining mother-of-pearl letters: “Even Christ pleased not himself” (Romans 15:3). When she looked at that scripture she remembered that she wasn’t put on earth to please herself but to please her Savior and other people. And that’s the kind of person she was.

III. St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia that he was in pain for them—like the pains of childbirth—until Christ would be formed in them.

A. I have a prayer that ends like this—

Let Christ be formed in me,

and let me learn of him all lowliness of heart,

all gentleness of bearing,

all modesty of speech,

all helpfulness of action,

and promptness in the doing of my Father’s will.

(John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, 26th Day, Morning).

B. This is what we want—that Christ be formed in us, and Christ will be formed in us if we occupy our minds with him—if in our mind’s eye we see him lying in the manger, on the roads of Galilee…sitting down to dinner with sinners…in the Temple teaching…in the Garden praying…on the Cross dying…and risen in the company of his disciples.  

God’s purpose for all of us is that Christ will be formed in us—so that we can be his presence in the world.

That is one way that Jesus is still alive in our world. He is alive in people who are like him—in their kindness and generosity.

CONCLUSION

Florence Nightingale was the greatest nurse who ever lived. She nursed the wounded and dying soldiers during the Crimean War and organized the nursing service in that war.

She inspired all the nurses who came after her.

I read a biography of her. I learned that she was a woman of God.

The story is told once when she was making her rounds, a dying soldier looked up at her and murmured, “You are Christ to me.”

Martin Luther said, “It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor.”

It is through us that Jesus visits the world. It is through us that Jesus serves suffering and struggling people. We are the channels through which God’s love reaches our lost and sorrowful world.

And that will happen only when we are so occupied with Christ that we are transformed into his likeness—not his physical likeness, but that his kindness, holiness, and mercy may shine through us.

Here is a hymn I like and repeat to myself often:

May the mind of Christ my Savior

Live in me from day to day,

By his love and power controlling

All I do and say.

The last verse goes like this—

May his beauty rest upon me

As I seek the lost to win,

And may they forget the channel,

seeing only him.

 (Kate Wilkinson, 1925)

John 6:66-68: Keeping Your Faith Strong to the End

INTRODUCTION

One of the leading industries of my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, is Jayhawk Box Factory. They make corrugated cardboard boxes and ship them all over the country.

On every truck that leaves the factory is written in bold letters: “Jayhawk Boxes— Carry the Load to the End of the Road.”

I take that as a parable of faithfulness. I think about my faith: can “I carry the load to the end of the road”?

Will I be faithful to the end? Or will I maybe drop out of the faith journey as I have seen others do?

The Christian life is not a sprint. It is a Marathon race. It is a long, and sometimes hard, slog.

The story is told of a famous Christian leader who was approached by someone who wanted to write his biography. He refused to have his biography written while he was still alive. He said, “I have seen too many men fall out on the last lap of the race.”

Let me read a few lines from John’s gospel about some disciples of Jesus who dropped out early on. This is John 6:66-68:

After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, “Will you also go away?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

I. All of the five gospels tell the story of how Jesus fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, with five small loaves of barley bread and two small fishes. But only John tells what happened next.

A. People were mighty impressed—so much so that they decided then and there to make Jesus king.

But then Jesus explained the meaning of his miracle. He pointed to himself as the Bread of Life. He told the crowd that he himself was the source of life and to be connected to Jesus by faith and obedience was to share his life.

As we take nourishing bread into our bodies and it sustains life, so we take Jesus into our lives and he gives us the life of God—the life eternal.

This was a hard saying. Many of his hearers were turned off by Jesus’s claims.

Many had followed Jesus with a misunderstanding. This wasn’t what they had bargained for. They had joined the Jesus movement with the understanding that would he would take over the world.

The Old Testament contained prophecies that someday God would send his Messiah to rule over all the earth. He would subjugate the world to the rule of the God of Israel. All the kings of the earth would bring tribute to Jerusalem.

This was what they thought Jesus intended to do for them. The Messiah would oust the Romans, and establish the Jewish nation as rulers of the world, and so fulfill Israel’s destiny.

But Jesus didn’t buy into this vision. He talked about a new birth, faith as obedience to God. He called his followers to deny themselves, to take up their crosses and follow him—even to death.

This vision was much too harsh—too difficult—not at all what they expected.

So they dropped out.

Probably there was never again so great a multitude following Jesus.

B. Jesus had prepared his faithful disciples for this disappointment.

He warned his disciples that many would appear to believe and get excited about the salvation Jesus offered—and then drop out.

He compared the gospel to seed that a farmer cast on the ground.

Some of the seed would fall on the pathways and be trodden underfoot. This would be like those who heard the gospel but weren’t interested.

Some of the seed would be cast on thin soil underlain with rock. The tender plants would spring up and flourish, and then, when the hot sun beat down on it, they would wither away. These, Jesus said, represented those who would eagerly receive the gospel but would lose interest when trouble came—and drop out.

Other seed would fall on soil full of weeds. The seed would germinate and struggle for a while, but then the young plants would perish, smothered by the thorny weeds. These, Jesus said, would be like believers that go on for a while as disciples—good church members—but would finally be distracted by pleasures, cares, and the riches of the world. And they would drop out.

C. A friend learned that we conduct church services at Village Ridge and he asked, “Have you had any conversions?”

I told him, “No, I can’t point to any, but the people who come to our services are mostly people who are already serious about their faith.”

I told my friend that my main concern in conducting church services is to help believers hold onto their faith to the end of their lives on earth.

II. I am saddened that so many who in times past used to be church goers—and maybe were even serious about their faith lose interest later in life.

A. I know people who were active in church—who maybe even served as deacons or elders or Sunday school teachers, but have lost their connection with their old churches, and with that, they seem to have lost interest in living out their faith.

The Bible warns us of the danger of drifting away from God.

This is what we read in Hebrews 2:1: “We must pay the closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it.”

It’s possible to just drift away from God.

B. Here are some reasons I have known why people drift away or turn away from God.

People are disappointed with God. Sometimes they have prayed earnestly, and God has not obliged them by answering their prayers. I have a friend whose wife left him. He prayed that she would return, and when she didn’t, he gave up on God.

Sometimes other interests take the place of God in a life—a hobby, or making money, or some pleasure. Gradually God becomes less and less real. God gets crowded out.

Sometimes people become so weary with life that nothing seems to matter any more. Physical weakness or constant pain can wear people down and cause them give up.

Sometimes people become disappointed with other Christians. They are stumbled by people who claim to be believers, but do not live loving, righteous lives. People say, “Well, if he’s a Christian, I want nothing to do with religion.”

Sometimes, I’m afraid, people lose their hold on Christ because they have a sense of false security. They say, “I’ve been baptized. I’ve been a church member. I used to go to Sunday school and church. So I’m all right with God.” And they don’t realize that they aren’t trusting in Jesus but only in their Christian heritage.

These people remind me of the miser who put all of his gold into a bag and tied it up securely. Every night he would take out his bag and hug it and think about how rich he was—and be happy.

One night thieves crept into his house, took all the gold out of his bag and replaced it with rocks. Every night the miser would take out his bag and hug it and think about how rich he was—and be happy.

It is possible to hold onto the form of religion and be satisfied—not realizing that we have lost the reality of faith.

CONCLUSION

In 2 Corinthians 13:5, St. Paul writes,

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Keep your faith alive by prayer. Pray for yourself. Pray for your friends. Pray for your neighbors. Pray for those who irritate you. And especially, pray for those who you know are struggling with hard battles.

Pray when you go to bed, when you get up, during the day. Make a list of things and people to pray for, and pray through it each day.

And make sure to thank God for the good things. Psychologists tell us that gratitude is an important way to greater happiness in life. Thankfulness also helps us keep connected to God.

Don’t dwell on what you have lost, but on what you still have.

Read something from the Bible every day—especially the stories of Jesus and the letters in the New Testament. Read the Psalms and mark your favorite parts, and go back to them over and over.

Some people read devotional booklets—a page a day. Prayer books and hymn books are also good.

Find something to do for someone, something to give, someone to help. Put your faith to work.

Read Christian books. If you can find a TV program that inspires you, watch it.

Some people hang a picture or a cross or a crucifix or a Bible verse on the wall to remind them always that God is always with them and that they are always with God.

Make use of opportunities for Christian fellowship. Come to our church services, to the hymn sings, to Bible studies as they are available. Talk about your faith with others who believe.

CONCLUSION

When many of Jesus’s disciples drew back and no longer followed him, Jesus asked his twelve disciples: “Will you also go away?” And Peter answered, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Jesus told his would-be disciples to count the cost of following him. Peter counted the cost of following, but he also counted the cost of leaving. And he decided there was no comparison. He would follow the one who had the words of eternal life.

A pastor lost his wife suddenly. And after her death he preached an unusually personal sermon. He admitted that he did not understand this life of ours. But still less could he understand how people facing loss could abandon faith. “Abandon it for what?!” He said. “You people in the sunshine may believe the faith, but we in the shadow must believe it. We have nothing else.”

Troubles may make us want to give up on God. But our troubles can also make us cling even tighter to him. Because in that dark valley God is all we have. We have nothing else!

Our pastor told about a man who was very ill. He had a chair put by his bed and imagined that Jesus was in that chair with him. That chair reminded him that Jesus was always with him.

So day after day he would glance at that chair and remember that Jesus was with him all the time.

One night he slipped away to glory, and they found him in the morning with his hand resting on that chair.

One of my favorite hymns is a translation of an old Latin hymn from the Middle Ages by St. Bernard of Clairvaux:

What thou, my Lord, hast suffered

Was all for sinners’ gain;

Mine, mine was the transgression,

But thine the deadly pain.

Lo, here I fall my Savior!

‘Tis I deserve Thy place;

Look on me with Thy favor,

Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

What Language can I borrow

To thank thee dearest Friend,

For this thy dying sorrow,

Thy pity without end?

O make me thine for ever;

And should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never

Outlive my love to thee

Mark 9:33-37: How to Be Great

INTRODUCTON

A man was receiving an honorary degree at some great university. In introducing him, the president said, “The man we are honoring today is a great man. You might say he’s a very great man. I would even say he is a very, very great man.”

Driving home after the ceremony, the man turned to his wife and said, “Dear, how many very, very great men do you think there are in the world?”

Her reply: “One less than you think, dear.”

Wives are good at giving us perspective for our lives.

We may think that greatness is beyond the reach of us, for we have led quiet lives, out of sight of the public square.

When I was young I used to read Time Magazine every week. Each week the magazine displayed a picture of a prominent newsworthy figure—a man or woman who was by the world’s standards “great.”

These were “great” people—politicians, authors, scientists, scholars. Their accomplishments affected the lives of many.

I used to think it would be really cool to have my picture on the cover of Time Magazine. But it never happened.

But the longer I live the less desire I have to be important in that way. As we approach this election season we are treated to the images and words of something like 25 men and women who are going around the country extolling their virtues and wisdom and fitness to become our next president. And most of them are making fools of themselves.

God must be either laughing or crying—because—even though almost all of them are claiming to be devout Christian believers—they have missed the point as far as God has concerned.

Jesus said several things about how to be great. And what Jesus said about being great is within the reach of every one of us.

Here is something Jesus said about greatness in Mark 9:33-37:

And they came to Capernaum; and when Jesus was in the house he asked his disciples, “What were you discussing on the way?”

But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives no me but him who sent me.”

I. Let’s take ourselves in our imagination to that scene.

A. The disciples were on the road. In those days people walked wherever they went.

We never read that Jesus rode in a carriage, or on a horse, and only once on a donkey. Jesus and his band of disciples walked from place to place. As was the custom of the time Jesus—as the teacher—walked ahead and the disciples followed behind.

I should think that generally Jesus conversed with one or another of his friends as they journeyed from place to place, and this was one way that he could instruct his followers, one or two at a time.

But on this day Jesus seems to have been walking alone, while the disciples followed at a little distance.

I do some of my best thinking and praying while I am taking a walk, and I suspect that the same was true of Jesus.

B. When the little group arrived at their destination and went into the house, Jesus suddenly asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”

And they were silent. They were embarrassed—because they had discussed which one was the greatest.

Now I have always wondered just what form this discussion took. I can hardly imagine it went like this:

One says, “I’m greater than you are.”

Another pipes up, “No, I’m greater than you are!”

And a third one says, “Well, I’m greater than any of you!”

What I think was happening was that they were boasting of their accomplishments.

Maybe one talked about what he had given up to follow Jesus.

Another talked about the grand things he intended to do for God.

Maybe they compared their successes in bringing others to Jesus.

Maybe they compared their deep insights into scripture truth.

Whatever it was, Jesus saw them comparing themselves with each other—each trying to make himself look good.

And isn’t it common for us—I include myself—to talk about ourselves in ways that make us look good?

We want to make sure that others think well of us, so we show them our best side. Maybe we tell them of our accomplishments. Maybe we tell them about our children’s accomplishments. Maybe we tell them about our grandchildren’s accomplishments. Some of this is fine, but sometimes our motive could be to make ourselves look good.

I have a friend whose husband was a superintendent of schools. She and her husband used to take vacations with a group of friends who were as successful as they were. Some may have been bankers; others, businessmen, others college professors. My friend’s husband was a superintendent of schools.

They camped together and had a good time, sharing experiences. But my friend said that they made it a rule never to talk about their careers. The adopted this rule to keep down the bragging. People who are successful—as these people were—are tempted to let other people know. But these friends realized the danger and avoided it by refusing to talk about their careers.

II. Jesus has a different idea about greatness than what the world counts as greatness.

A. Jesus said, “If any one would be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all.”

Being last of all and servant of all is not a recipe for getting yourself on the cover of Time Magazine.

The one who thinks of himself as last of all and servant of all is unlikely to become president of the United States.

Later in the Book of Mark, Jesus brought this theme up again. He said, “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man also came, not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42b-45).

B. Jesus used himself as an example.

Jesus said, “The Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve…”

Jesus’s came to be the Servant of God and Servant of men and women. He took servanthood so far that he gave his life for all humankind.

Do you remember the story about how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet? It was the evening of the Last Supper.

Everyone’s feet were dusty and dirty. But no one thought of doing the lowly task of washing feet. That was a slave’s job, and there were no slaves at the last supper. So Jesus, seeing this as a teachable moment, took a basin of water and girded himself with a towel and went from one to another and washed their feet.

I can imagine there were some red faces, but they learned their lesson. They remembered the incident, and included it in the Gospel of John—so that we would never forget that the greatest in the kingdom is the servant of all.

C. This idea that the greatest among us are the servants of all, turns the world’s values upside down.

Those who are greatest in God’s eyes may be nursing assistants at Village Ridge or at nursing homes. They may be housekeepers or dining room servers—people who don’t get paid much for their work—people who are not high achievers, according to the world’s standards.

They may be daycare workers, trash collectors, checkout clerks, construction workers, school teachers, nurses, farm hands.

When we get to heaven we are going to have big surprises.

In that day, Jesus tells us, we will see who is really great. They will be sitting in the most honored places, right next to Jesus.

III. Now I’d like to talk about the last part of the story: “And Jesus took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.’”

Now this may seem to us an odd way to illustrate the idea of servanthood because we think children are pretty special. We get sentimental about children. We don’t think of serving children as demeaning. But this wasn’t the attitude of the people of Jesus’s time.

In those days children were among the least important people in society.

I recently read an article in The Week magazine entitled, “How Christianity Invented Children” (Pascal-Emmanuel Gorby, April 23, 2015).

The article says that today we simply take it for granted that the innocence and vulnerability of children makes them beings of particular value, and entitled to particular care. We romanticize children—their beauty, their joy, their liveliness. Our culture encourages us to let ourselves fall prey to our gooey feelings whenever we look at baby pictures. What could be more natural?

But, according to the article, in ancient Greece and Rome, children were considered nonpersons.

Ancient society was organized in concentric circles, with the circle at the center containing the highest value people and the people on the outside circle having little value.

At the center was the freeborn, adult male. Other persons were valued according to how similar they were to the freeborn adult males. The people on the outside of the circle were the foreigners, slaves, women…and children.

Children could be thrown away if they were not wanted.

In wealthy families, children were raised by slaves.

The usual method of discipline was to beat them.

Many children were used as sexual playthings.

Jewish families had a higher regard for children than did their pagan neighbors, but it was Christ who taught the world that children were people of infinite worth.

That is why the author of the article I read entitled his article, “How Christianity Invented Children.”

What Jesus was doing when he took a child into his arms, was to make the point that to serve those whom society least esteemed was to serve the Father in heaven.

In other words, the road to greatness was to serve those the world counts as least.

Jesus took that child into his arms because that child was handy. He could have made the same point with a poor beggar, a prostitute, or a special-needs adult, a Samaritan, an immigrant, or anyone else who was thought to be of no-account.

So who would that be for us? We don’t have any fallen women, or immigrants, or beggars at Village Place, but we do have lonely people, people who can’t cope very well, people who are left out. And to serve them is what we are here for.

Some of us may have opportunity to serve people at a distance.

One of the causes Charlotte and I support is a mission to the Untouchables in India. These are people who have been oppressed for thousands of years. Their lives are cursed by their social class that excludes them from any but the most disgusting ways of earning a living. Most of them do not get an education. They are not allowed to enter the Hindu Temples. They cannot drink from the same wells as higher caste people can. They are often assaulted and abused. They are called Dalits.

Every day the news media in India reports atrocities against the Dalits—rapes and murders and mutilations. They are the poorest of the poor—some of the most oppressed people in the world.

We are able to pay for the education of several of these children—give them an opportunity to become teachers, nurses, pastors, useful workers, good parents, and faithful Christians. We have adopted several.

CONCLUSION

Some of you can look back over your lives and remember times when you have extended Christ’s love to his “little ones”—the friendless, the disadvantaged, the poor. Jesus remembers them too, and someday he will say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

The church you have been a part of was involved in such ministries. And you supported them by your offerings. Maybe you still do.

This is one reason it is so important to belong to a church.

The way to be great in God’s kingdom is to be a servant.

I have often suggested ways we can serve our neighbors.

You serve when you encourage someone.

You can serve when you give sincere compliments, when you tell another person what you see that is praiseworthy in her life.

You can serve one another when you express gratitude for favors and comment on work well done.

You serve by your generous gifts.

You serve one another when you pray. No one else knows who you pray for—but you know, and God knows. And good comes into other lives when we pray earnestly and with faith.

This is so. I believe it. Prayer is one of the best ministries for old people like us. And we can pray as long as we live.

One Sunday our pastor mentioned a high school girl who prays each day, “Lord, I would appreciate it if you would send me today someone I can serve.”

First, give yourself to God, and then give yourself to the work God gives you to do.

“We can do no great things for God, but we can do little things with great love” (Mother Teresa).

A STORY

Long ago in the early days of our faith, not long after the time of the terrible persecutions of Christian believers, holy men in the east used go up and live on the top of pillars—to pray and lament their sins and the sins of the world.

One of these pillar saints was St. Basil.

St. Basil lived day and night on top of a pillar 40 feet high. He stood there day and night for a sign and a warning to all people that our earthly life is short and that the gladness and splendor of the world are fleeting.

It was a wonderful sight to see this man living day and night on a pillar so narrow that he had not enough space to lie down to sleep—in the wind and rain and frost, with only a coat of sheepskin.

About his neck was a chain of iron, signifying that he was the Lord’s bondservant. On his head he wore a crown of thorns, in memory of Christ’s suffering for his sins. Once a day he ate a bite of rye bread and drank a little water.

One morning, an hour before dawn, as he was praying, an angel came to him and gave Basil his hand and drew Basil from the pillar and placed him on the ground and said, “Follow this road until you reach the third milestone, and there in the early light, you will meet him who can instruct you. For a sign, you will know the man by the little maid, seven years old, who is helping drive some geese. This man may teach you, for he is one who is greatly pleasing in God’s eyes.”

When Basil reached the third milestone he saw that the road in front of him was crowded for near a quarter of a mile with a great gathering of geese, feeding in the grass, honking, and waddling toward the city.

Among the geese walked a little maiden of seven, clad in a green woolen tunic, with bright flaxen hair and innocent blue eyes. In her hand she carried a wand of hazel with which she guided the geese.

The little girl looked up at the holy man with awe and fear, for she had never seen a face so gaunt and disfigured as this. But he smiled at her and blessed her and the child ceased to fear.

In the rear of the great multitude of geese came a peasant, tall and young, with unkempt hair and poor clothes. He was using his staff to keep his geese on the move.

When they drew nigh to each other, Basil bowed low to the Goose-herd and said to him, “Give me leave to speak a little with you, good brother; for an Angel of heaven has told me of you, and I would converse with you. Twenty-three years I have served the King of Glory in supplication, with fasting and tribulation of spirit, and yet I lack that which you can teach me. Now tell me, what has made you so acceptable to God.”

The goose-herd was taken back by these words and didn’t know what to make of them. He thought the holy man was mocking him.

But Basil said, “In truth, I was told of you by an Angel in the night just now gone to question you and learn from you.

The poor goose-herd shook his head. “All my work has been tending and rearing of geese and driving them to market. And all my prayer has been that I might get them safe to market without losing any.”

“And who is the little maiden I met just now?” asked the saint. “Is she your sister…your daughter?”

“Neither sister or daughter,” said the goose-herd. Her family lived in a little house by the roadside. Robbers came and slew her mother and father but they did not find the tiny baby. I found her crying and forlorn. Since she had no mother or father or kin, I took her with me and have cared for her and taught her what I know, and she has been with me ever since.

As the goose-herd spoke, the tears rose in Basil’s eyes and he said, “Now I know why you are pleasing in God’s eyes. Early you have learned the love that gives all and asks nothing, which suffers long and is kind—and this I have not learned. May God be tender and kind to me as you have been to a little child.”

That is all the story. And that was the man from whom the holy St. Basil learned the secret of pleasing God.