Just the Help--June 16, 2022

Just The Help--June 16, 2022

"Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy." [1 Corinthians 4:1-2]

Sometimes I think about the fact that it's somebody's job to walk through the halls of an art museum, taking in all the beauty, and to get to share it with visitors to the museum so that they can appreciate the works of art on display there more fully.  And I think to myself--that's a pretty good gig.  In an alternate timeline, or maybe some day down the road when I'm looking for something to do with my time, I could be a museum docent.

Of course, it's not just at the art museum:  there are guides at the zoo and the botanical gardens, at the aviary and the aquarium, and at the science center and at our local Underground Railroad Museum, too.  And all of them have the same basic job, really: to appreciate things that are good and wondrous, to look after them for the sake of sharing them, and to find ways to let others appreciate them more fully.  Whether it's a collection of Van Goghs, an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, a rare tropical bird, or a working model of a lunar lander, the docent's job is to enable others to fall in love with the artifacts (or animals) that have captivated them in the first place.  When you are a docent, you realize pretty quickly that, unlike Billy Joel's "piano man" character, it's not you they're coming to see--but you get to be a part of bringing forth wonder in other people.  In a sense, to be a museum docent or zoo guide is to be "just the help"--the hired hands who know they are not the reason people have come.  But in another sense, you are a steward of mysteries, a guardian of treasures, and a sharer of wonders.

And in all honesty, maybe that's the best way to think about the people usually regarded as "leaders" in the community of Jesus.  Because of who Jesus is, Jesus-shaped leaders are going to be in the mold of servants, like Jesus himself.  They know (at least if they are honest) that they themselves are not the center of attention, nor should they be; but instead, Christ-formed leaders are ones who point beyond themselves to the good stuff: to the compelling beauty of grace, to the faces of neighbors in whom Christ is present, to the sheer goodness of God's creation, and to the adventure of kingdom-work waiting for us to pick up.  In other words, Christ-formed leaders are, at their best, freed from the need for ego-stroking and attention-grabbing, and they can find their deepest fulfillment as, well, docents in the hands-on gallery of God's treasures.  To use Paul's language for it, they are "servants of Christ" who are also "stewards of the mysteries of God."  Or, in a lesser-known image of Jesus, they are like the head of a household "who brings out of his treasure what is old and what is new."  To be a leader among the followers of Jesus is simply to be the local zoo guide for the menagerie of God's Reign, helping everyone else to get to see the pandas more clearly, to learn about the zebra's stripes, and to be drawn in wonder to the fluid motion of the octopi.  It is the calling to serve others so that they will be drawn more deeply into the goodness of God and want to share it even further and wider.

In a culture like 21st-century America, that tends to praise the ones who draw the biggest crowds at their rallies (or who praise themselves and claim they have the biggest crowds at rallies), this Christ-formed kind of leadership that serves is surprising--maybe even seen as foolish.  In an age where authoritarian dictators are praised for being "strong leaders," it's counter-cultural to see a different kind of leadership modeled that doesn't depend on shouting, intimidating, threatening, or saber-rattling, but only inviting others to deeper participation in wonder.  Our society tends to assume good leaders will want their own image carved into a monument to honor their greatness, while Paul pictures the genuinely good leaders as tour guides helping others to see the God who is really worth honoring, but who think it would be ridiculous to have their names or faces carved in stone or brick or bronze.  

To the rest of the world that might seem absurd, but to people who know the way of Jesus it makes perfect sense: we are the stewards of mysteries that do not belong to us, but which we have the privilege not only of seeing but also of sharing.  We are not the featured exhibit--we are the docents who show the real treasures to others.  We don't need to make ourselves the center of attention--we're just the help.  And that's exactly right.  After all, if you're in a gallery hall with Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," you know that people have come to the masterpiece of pointillism, not to hear you talk about what you ate for lunch.  The most you can do is to help others experience the beauty and the wonder of what is in front of them--to help them stop and notice the tiny dots, the multiplicity of color, and the surprising depth of its composition.  You know you're "the help" in that circumstance, and yet you are fulfilled in being exactly that because that is what allows you both to enjoy the masterpiece for yourself and to find the joy of letting others enjoy it, too.

That's one of the beautiful ways that Christian community is so different from the dog-eat-dog competition of the world's order of things.  In a time when everyone else seems to be vying for the top billing, the followers of Jesus find their deepest fulfillment pointing others to Jesus because they know already they are deeply beloved and do not need to do a thing to earn anybody's praise.  When you are a docent, you are free just to help people fall in love with the animals at the zoo or the Rodins in the sculpture garden.  And when you are a leader among the community of Christ, you are free simply to let people be pulled by God's grace to fall in love more deeply with the One who laid down his life for them in love first.

That's a pretty good way to spend a life, it turns out.  And it is held out to each of us right now to be our way of life today.

Now, pay attention to the next masterpiece through the next door on your left...

Lord God, give us the joy of looking after your Gospel of grace, and give us the wonder of sharing it with everyone we meet--make us trustworthy stewards of your good gifts.