Keawala'i Congregational Church, Kahu's Mana'o

Kahu's Manao

Keawala‘i Congregational Church
United Church of Christ (USA)

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika

“Serving Others”
Hebrews 5:1-10 & Mark 10:35-45

Beth and I were seminary classmates over thirty years ago. She was born and raised to haole missionary parents in what was known at the time of her birth as Southern Rhodesia on the continent of Africa. I was born and raised to a mother who was Hawaiian-Portuguese and a father who was Japanese in Kealakekua on the island of Hawaiʻi.

While it would seem that our life experiences were islands, continents, and oceans apart, we did share a common interest in hula. And so for a period of about six years we were both members of Leianuenue, a hula halau based in Oakland, California.

After we graduated from seminary Beth served as the pastor of the Kapaʻa United Church of Christ on the island of Kauaʻi for many years before being called to serve New Brighton, United Church of Christ in Minnesota. Over the years we have had occasion to talk about our hula days together but more and more our conversation began to turn to the deteriorating conditions in the place where she was born that is now known as the independent nation of Zimbabwe.

In one of our last conversations while she was still serving the church in Kapaʻa she talked about the downward spiral of the country’s economy, oil and food shortages, massive displacement of people within the country, and the massive exodus of many who have simply packed up and left. There was a time when there was great hope for Zimbabwe.

When Robert Mugabe, a former political prisoner, won the general election of 1980 to serve as the country’s first Prime Minister many welcomed the end of British colonial rule. That Mugabe was raised a Roman Catholic gave some pause to think that better days were to come.

Mugabe was elected as President in 1987 and has served in that position for over two decades. In more recent years Mugabe’s polices have been domestically and internationally condemned. Yet even so there are some who characterize him as someone who stands strong against what they perceive as the meddling of outside Western forces.

Mugabe’s achievements and failings are posted on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that is accessible through the internet. It is interesting that the article concludes with Mugabe’s retirement plans.

In June 2008 Mugabe purchased a high-end residential property in Hong Kong said to be worth $5.8 million dollars. It is said that he and his wife, Grace, have extensive financial interests in Hong Kong.

I imagine Mugabe fashions himself to be a servant of the people even if that means the people have suffered from his economic mismanagement, corruption, and brutal repression. (htt://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe, page 10). In 2007 he was ranked by Parade magazine as the 7th worst dictator in the world. (Op. cit.)

I know that my conversations with Beth have affected my views of Mugabe but I also know that there is evidence enough that Mugabe has lost his way. We know that as a young man he spent years of study at Marist Brothers and Jesuit schools. It is very likely that the passage from our reading from The Gospel According to Mark is one with which he is familiar.

It is said that every form of greatness within the Christian community finds its origins in Jesus’ call to serve. “Greatness comes when power is used in the service of the common good.” (Seasons of the Spirit, Congregational Life/Pentecost 2, Woodlake Publishing Inc., Kelowna, BC, Canada, 2009, page 70)

On that basis it would seem that Mugabe has missed the mark. Far from serving the common good, it appears that Mugabe has done just the opposite.

While we may never fully understand Mugabe’s actions, our reading may provide us with hints of what may have compelled him to act as he did. For the third time Jesus tells the disciples of the suffering that awaited him in Jerusalem.

We are told that when Jesus spoke to them the disciples “were afraid.” (Mark 10:32) He attempts to reassure them by offering images that have a strong association in Israel’s traditions. When he talks about “baptism” he uses an image for God’s saving presence in the face of suffering and death that goes back to the deliverances from Egypt in the story of the exodus (Exodus 15:1) and later from the exile. (Isaiah 43:2)

When he talks about “the cup” he uses an image that is often connected in the Hebrew Scriptures to judgment and suffering (Jeremiah 25:15). So when James and John call on Jesus to do for them whatever they ask, Jesus responds by asking them but “are you able” to do what it takes to sit next to me.

The other disciples become angry when they hear James and John asking Jesus to place them in positions of power. It would seem they are not the first, nor are they the last to want to be in such positions of power.

Jesus quickly draws a contrast between power exercised in the community of those who follow him and by “the powers that be.” The basis of power and greatness is serving others.

When Jesus mentions tyrants, we know that that is the basis of power in the world by those who “lord it over” others. The word tyrant may be translated as “exercising privilege over.” It is a power that is self-serving and meant to dominate others. The basis of such a power is what Mugabe has come to know well and it may be his fear of losing that power that has compelled him to act as he has.

Jesus offers the disciples – and us – a different model. It is a power that is self-giving and meant to benefit others. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43). The word servant is diakonos and it refers to a servant whose chief duty was to wait on the family table.

Down through the centuries it has become the most common term for “ministry” in the church. Power and greatness in the Christian community comes in the exercise of ministry that engages all of us and that ministry takes form in doing what is good for others and for the community as a whole.

But whether in the Christian community or in the wider community, greatness comes from serving others. Throughout the week there have been numerous articles in celebration of the canonization of Father Damien as a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Those who lived and died at Kalawao and Kalaupapa already knew him as a saint whether they were Roman Catholic or not.

Some say he was a bit of an ornery person; that he had a harsh edge to his personality. That may be so but it would seem that that was essential if the world outside Kalaupapa was ever going to understand what was needed in order to meet the needs of the patients who were exiled on the peninsula.

As we look at Mugabe we may be inclined to conclude, “Thank God, we are not a tyrant like him.” But many of us may also look at Saint Damien and see ourselves as wanting in our claim to be servants serving others.

“Damien the Blessed” was written by Patrick Downes in 1994. The choral arrangement by Robert Mondoy was done that same year. In stories that were coming out of Rome during the canonization of Damien, Robert Mondoy’s name was mentioned in a number of articles. He was there to direct a choir.

The words from Patrick Downes remind us of what it means to be servants in the service of others:

Damien the Blessed, hope for the forsaken,

Comfort of the broken, servant of the poor.

From a distant country, to a land forgotten,

You took an outcast’s cross to suffer and endure.

In a desolate place, filled with anguished cries

You found Jesus, our brother, in distressing disguise.

Servant of the Father, Servant of his people,

May we, like you, be gifts of God’s abiding love.

Damien the Blessed, you saw desolation,

You brought liberation with your gentle touch.

Imitating Jesus, with your heart wide open,

You gave away your life to those you loved so much.

Like a shepherd you served, you sought souls who were lost.

With strong arms you embraced them, without counting the cost.

Servant of his people, may we like you be gifts of God’s abiding love.

Damien the Blessed, in a land of rainbows,

To a place of shadows they call Kalawao.

In your master’s footsteps, bearing hope and comfort,

You brought new life beneath the Pali’s furrowed brow.

You found solace and peace, with the Lord by your side,

And the source of all healing as your comfort and guide.

Servant of the Father, Servant of his people,

May we, like you, be gifts of God’s abiding love.

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