April 3, 2011
Ephesians 5:8-14
Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A
1 Samuel 16:7
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-15
“….the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” ~Albert Schweitzer
This is a busy Sunday morning. We are celebrating the reception of two new members, the Sacrament of Holy Communion, one of our Six Sunday offerings, “One Great Hour of Sharing” and, in addition, the lectionary readings as they should have been, are extremely long. Given all that, I have had a difficult time deciding what to speak about in my Reflections. And then I ran across the quote from Albert Schweitzer that I put on the top of your bulletin. It caused me to look up its original source. It comes from a speech that Dr. Albert Schweitzer delivered to the students of Silcoates School in Yorkshire, England, on “The Meaning of Ideals in Life” on December 3, 1935. In his address, he told the students of the many letters he received from people seeking his advice on how to live good lives. He said he often tells those who ask such a question that they can live good lives by doing good for humanity. And then he went on to say:
Albert Schweitzer in Aspen “And when I answer such letters I add something else: ‘Seek a humble sort of thing.’ Our hearts often look for something very big, something wanting a lot of sacrifice, and often our heart does not see the humble things. At first you must learn to do the humble things and often they are the most difficult to do. In those humble things, be busy about helping someone who has need of you. You see somebody alone—try to be with him, try to give him some of the hours which you might take for yourself and in that way learn to serve: and then only will you begin to find true happiness. I don’t know what your destiny will be. Some of you will perhaps occupy remarkable positions. Perhaps some of you will become famous by your pens, or as artists. But I know one thing: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”1
The Apostle Paul says much the same thing when he writes to the Ephesians about how they are to live as Christians. He writes:
“For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." [Ephesians 5:8-11 NRSV]
Verse 16 of chapter 5 of Ephesians sums up this passage for today with some excellent advice. From Eugene H. Peterson’s translation/paraphrase in The Message, Paul warns the Ephesian Christians: “So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!”
And indeed they are desperate times in which we live. And in desperate times, people either pull together or pull apart. They either choose the good or the evil. As we view the events on the world scene, it often seems like we can do little or nothing to affect them – to change them. What we can do is what Paul commended to the Ephesians – to live as children of the light, doing what is good and right and true in the places where we are. We can do what John Wesley commended to the people who responded to his teachings, the people disparagingly called “Methodists” – we can “do all the good we can in all the ways we can to all the people we can as often as ever we can.” As we are reminded by the words of Albert Schweitzer, “the only ones among us [sic] who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Schweitzer also wrote:
“Our greatest mistake, as individuals, is that we walk through out life with closed eyes and do not notice our chances. As soon as we open our eyes and deliberately search we see many who need help, not in big things but in the littlest things. Wherever we turn we can find someone who needs us.”2
That is what we are called to be and to do as Christians in this desperate world: people who do good where we can and who find ways to be of service to others. People who live as children of the Light.
So may we be and do.
Amen!
Endnotes:
1 “Visit of Dr. Albert Schweitzer"” (as translated from the French of the address by Dr. Schweitzer’s interpreter), The Silcoatian, New Series No. 25 (December, 1935): 784-785 (781-786 with 771-772 -“Things in General”)
Photo of Albert Schweitzer in Aspen from http://home.pcisys.net/~jnf/
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© Carol J. Borland, Pastor Emeritus, Interim Pastor, West Danville United Methodist Church, West Danville, VT. Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A. April 3, 2011
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