Five Rules to Keep from Being the Agent of the Devil in the Middle of the Church

Each day brings new surprises around Broadway Church. There are hard things...families going through difficult times with relationships, others with financial struggles, others grieving the death of a friend -- and yet in the midst of these we find many signs of resurrection. Don't ask me why. Some say we are simply nuts.

Today, Carmen and I were talking about the summer program (known as JCAMP -- The Jubilee of Community Arts for Multi-Talented People). Carmen, who lives here and grew up in this neighborhood, is going to direct it this year. As we have talked about the program we have followed some basic rules they are these:

1) Never do for others what they can do for themselves.

2) Find another's gifts, contributions, capacities. Use them. Give them a place in the community.

3) Whenever a service is proposed, fight to get it converted into income.

4) If those in power are hell-bent on giving poor people services rather than income, then fight for those services to come in the form of vouchers. That way the person who must be served has a choice as to who will serve them. And there may be some competition.

5) Develop hospitality.

These rules appeared in an article in the Other Side magazine entitled "Why Servanthood is Bad." Ever since I read that article these rules have played around in my head -- and they've often accompanied me as I've struggled to discern my call in the congregations in which I've been blessed to serve.

So, what do they mean in practice? In JCAMP I guess we'll find out this summer. Some of it means that Brandon will be teaching photography, Yusef will be teaching Tae Kwon Do (as he did last year), Mrs. Kimbrough will be doing storytelling. There are artists in our congregation and community who we hope will be blessing us with visual arts and dance classes and music lessons and poetry classes and theatrical opportunities. The question is how do we identify and strengthen the gifts of those around us -- and then give those gifts a chance to bloom through this and other opportunities. The opportunities abound...can we take advantage of them when they come?

We are -- but it is a challenge each and every day. It is easy to fall back into patterns of doing for others what they can do for themselves. It is MORE THAN EASY to fall back into looking for needs, rather than another's gifts, talents, capacities and dreams. It takes real commitment to find ways to provide income rather than services. At the heart of it all is our commitment to hospitality. The mission of our congregation is "to seek, welcome and value all people." These rules seem like some good guidance in living upto and into that statement.