the meta-game

Servant leadership gets such a bad rap sometimes. Submission skewed into a spineless acquiescence. At least in my experience, limited as that may be, serving goes awry when those who are served allow their perception of the relationship to devolve, to become an account of favors and accommodations due, while those who faithfully serve begin to feel the earth erode underneath them, washed away by apathetic responses. 

I forget the meta-game far too often. I must order my life according to my best interpretation of the will of God, avoiding this and embracing that, learning one, exemplifying another, all devoid of a reason beyond "I should". Sadly, the reason is usually painfully simple: I don't think about it. I don't invest the effort to remind myself that these individual steps are part of a larger plan. Today is not just about today, and it is most certainly not just about me. Today is not mine. My life crashes into everyone I meet; that interaction is not mine alone. 

We play Ultimate Frisbee every Saturday morning in the park. Terribly amateur, the hardest thing every week is honestly just remembering who belongs on which team. Yet every week, every game, there is evidence that people understand what it means to act contrary to self for the good of the team. Almost every scoring toss is built on multiple instances of diversion and teamwork, individual actions that in themselves don't address the need to score a point. Even we the amateurs understand that principle. One player frantically waving their arms, shouting and drawing attention as they streak toward the goal. Another player quietly drifts back the other way, ready to take advantage of it. Both are aware of the transaction; the high-fives and post-score chatter prove this. 

Yet the church seems to forget. Perhaps more likely, the church doesn't care enough to remember. Members coldly accept service from their pastoral leadership because that is their job, so entrenched in the view that the service is deserved that they become blind to the trade. Leaders fail equally. We let this numbness infect our hearts, convince ourselves that we must serve harder and greater to elicit response. 

Look up and know where you stand. Recognize your life, your service, for what it is. Find validation in the source and the calling, not in the response.