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The famed violinist Niccolo Paganini willed his violin to the city of Genoa on condition that it would never be played. The wood of such an instrument, while used and handled, wears slightly, but set aside, begins to decay. Pagamni's lovely violin has become worm-eaten and worthless except as a relic.
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Luke 22.25-27 (CEV)
25So Jesus told them:
Foreign kings order their people around, and powerful rulers call themselves everyone's friends. 26But don't be like them. The most important one of you should be like the least important, and your leader should be like a servant. 27Who do people think is the greatest, a person who is served or one who serves? Isn't it the one who is served? But I have been with you as a servant.
St. Macarius the Great
Humble Service: For the Lord wishes and admonishes this when He said, 'He who wishes to be first and great among you, let him be the last and the minister and servant of all.' Therefore it is necessary that service before others be without a reward, nor should it bestow on the server any honor or glory, so as not to contradict Scripture by appearing 'pleasing to men' or 'serving to the eyes.' Not serving men, but the Lord alone, let him keep to the narrow path. Let him submit promptly to the single yoke of the Lord and carry it patiently in order to be brought with pleasure to his end with positive love.
· myCopticChurch.com
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A temptation of the contemplative could be to become so inward as to lose vital touch with the love of the material world and of sacrificial service to others. Rather, a seasoned contemplative has made God his love so intensely and been pulled into the Heart of Christ, Who Serves, that even in the midst of arduous trial and sore temptation he can lose himself in service to others as an expression of positive Love. He serves, but more, his very humbleness, even a joyful brokenness, opens his heart for Christ to serve, and he, indeed, himself serves as Christ and for Christ. In this he finds himself, and that which could have pulled him from God and others draws him more strongly to lose himself for them from the pure motive that transcends self-interest. He realizes even more that his very death is his resurrection, and he discovers in this the Mystery of Christ.
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his two beloved dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Southwest Florida. He serves the Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and inspires others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ. He advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and the renewal of the focus of the Church on addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons and empathic relating with diverse spiritual traditions, East and West. Brian has an independent writing, workshop, and retreat ministry, for all spiritual seekers.
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