We Serve

Jesus, in the gospel of Mark, laid out what his disciples could expect as a follower of his. The way was not going to be one of power and glamor "43 It's not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. 44 Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. 45 That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served-and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage." Mark 10: 43-45, from the Message translation of the Bible.

Jesus was not the kind of leader his people were expecting. The people of the time expected the savior to be a great military leader, a great speaker, a power broker without compare. Instead, what they got was a leader who served all. Someone who thought that the only path to true leadership was to serve.

That's the kind of life I am trying to lead. It is, I pray daily, the life I am modeling for my kids. Almost every day, daily is a little too ambitious for me, but I am working on it, I utter a prayer asking God to make me God's servant. Not make me rich, make me powerful, make we wise, help me save the world, etc.

The word the guides me on this path is from Japan. Translated to English, it means literally "We Serve". However, if you don't know Japanese, you could be forgiven for thinking that "Samurai" refers to a group of sword swinging warriors from Japan, and believe me, they were. But the Samurai's job was to protect the peace and safety of the kingdom and serve the Empire by doing so. That meant that when needed they were cops, ditch diggers, diplomats, and yes, sword wielding warriors.

So, as you begin to think about your journey, and as we begin ours as the Village, think of "We Serve", because that is one of our main things around here. We are a community of servants. By the way, if you need a visual symbol, that's the symbol at the start of this post.