Being Prepared to Serve

Any time there is a disaster such as the tornadoes that struck Oklahoma recently or hurricanes like Sandy there follows an outpouring of sympathy and volunteers to help with the clean ups. Churches and volunteer organizations send groups to assist in myriads of ways, which is unquestionably a good thing. But I find myself wishing more people would do the same closer to home at all times, rather than just during a highly publicized catastrophe.

This is a thought that I’ve been pondering for some time. However, recent events big and small have brought it to the fore in a nagging way. I believe we are here on Earth to learn to love one another and that the only real way we can do this is to serve each other. Being a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, lessons on serving others are repeatedly taught in sermons and Sunday school. Service is emphasized for every member through our callings (volunteer jobs) in the church or helping out in the community.

Still, we all have our agency that applies to members and nonmembers alike. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he wrote, “For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Gal 5:13. That scripture implies that we are expected to choose whether or not to serve one another and that we should do so out of love. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

There is a lot more to it, of course. Application of an idea is always more educational than reading the concept and often seems to come from the school of hard knocks.

From my experiences and watching others, serving others is a call to depart from one’s comfort zone. It has been easier for many to serve far off strangers rather than those they see on a regular basis. That’s a strange observation at first glance, isn’t it? After all, don’t we love those closest to us more?

I suspect that it is easier to serve a stranger because odds are we won’t see them again on any kind of regular basis and there are no lingering feelings of being obligated to follow up. In other words, we get all the emotional benefits without any continuing responsibilities. There is no fear of having people ask for more help and no danger of being seen as hopelessly square in a popular culture of fading morals.

Another factor can be found in an argument that I’ve run into that goes something like this: the only way to give true charity is by giving money anonymously so that nobody will be grateful to you. This also demonstrates how humble you are by seeking no recognition.

Frankly, that’s a load of horse hockey, to quote Colonel Potter from M.A.S.H. To me, that’s a shallow form or charity based on giving money without giving of one’s self. The spiritual benefits are virtually nil, but hey you get to feel good about yourself while somebody else does the actual work.

Real charity involves getting your hands dirty, finding out what really is needed, and getting hurt by directly dealing with those in need. Yes, helping others often involves pain other than that of a lighter wallet or loss of time. Often people will disappoint you and that can be very painful. The real pain comes from sharing the sufferings of those you have gotten to know and love while helping them. Practicing real charity will change you deeply for you are exposed to situations and events often outside your experience – with some being horrifying.

Okay, enough with comfort zone issues. It’s time to finally write about the title of the post.

Being prepared to serve isn’t just looking for opportunities to help others whenever you happen to feel like it. In my personal experience, I have found that being willing to help at a moment’s notice has changed my views on service and charity considerably. Somewhere along the line it stopped being a duty and I really can’t say when that occurred. Rather than having to think about it, my first impulse is to render aid, trivial or more substantial, without hesitation. This is absolutely necessary for rendering service or charity because you never know when you’ll be called to serve.

I’ll use a trivial example from last month. We had a baptism come together on short notice (as they often do) and the member of my local congregation in charge of this had to be out of town for Memorial Day weekend. With a couple of days warning, I was asked to conduct the baptism since I had prior experience with doing it. Fortunately, the car was free that day and I was able to say yes in a relatively short amount of time.

The baptism went well and the next day I was asked to say the benediction at our main service just before it began. Of course, I said I would and did. Mere minutes went by before the next request for help was made. This one was a tad more unusual. Our Sunday school teacher, a doctor, had to leave to attend to a medical emergency just as class began. He asked that I take over the lesson and you can probably guess what my answer was by now.

This was the class for new members and nonmembers investigating the Church, so it isn’t something you can bluff your way through. While I wasn’t prepared to teach the specific lesson, I was prepared to serve and I credit the Holy Ghost for getting me through it. Best of all, we got active participation from a member of a different denomination for some interesting theological comparisons.

It was just one weekend and I’d had others like it in the past, if not even more demanding. I didn’t feel put upon at all by any of this despite being disabled and consider it to have been a very good weekend. All of this happened without much warning and none in the last case.

Willingness to serve is the secret to being prepared to serve in my opinion. Attitude determines altitude in spiritual matters with service being the pinnacle of spirituality. The ultimate example of this is the life, ministry, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He was always ready to serve anyone at any time.

Of course the example out of my life is miniscule compared to that or even other opportunities to serve that I’ve experienced. It simply triggered the chain of thought that led to this post.

A last thought on the subject is that when we serve others, we serve God. No matter our place in society, we need to remember this and show that we do love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We will be rewarded for this, but I’d argue that we shouldn’t do it for that reward, but out of love as Paul exhorted.

The Book of Mormon has many examples of service, but I’ll pick out one that seems very timely given the events going on in the world. King Benjamin in his farewell address to his subjects taught them to care for each other with a simple plea:

Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God.

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?Mosiah 2:16-18

While I’m no prophet or king, I have to ask the question: How can we best serve one another if we aren’t prepared to serve in the first place?