A good word from Brother Francis:
"'I came not to be served but to serve' (Mt. 20:28) says the Lord. Those who are appointed to rule over others may not boast of their position any more than if they were to be assigned to the duty of washing their brothers' feet. And if they are more disturbed about the possibility of losing their position than they would be about losing the duty of foot-washing, they will expose their souls to great danger."
5 comments:
Wow! How's that for a challenge! Somebody read the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi in the service on Sunday. Hadn't thought about it in ages, but it too is very heart-searching and challenging. I need a dose of it from time to time!
Yeah, and I imagine that for those churches (like yours) that actually practice foot-washing his challenge is more vivid!
I love the picture of St. Francis with all the animals around. If you think about this a bit differently, God put us in charge of the animals...to "lead them" per se... so that gives us the responsibility of caring for them and meeting their needs. Not turning them into people but meeting the instinctual needs they have as animals that God has given them when he made them. Crazy? Perhaps. But just because we have the job of ruling over animals doesn't mean we should gloat about it and take advantage by treating them inhumanely or disregarding their needs.
Oh yeah, I just took your whole Servant Leadership blog and commented on your picture. Ha ha!
Yeah, apparently Francis took "proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" (Mk. 16:15) very literally. There are numerous records of him literally preaching to animals...
... I'm not quite sure what to make of that, but there's no doubt that when God told mankind that one of our primary roles as humans was to rule over animal life (Gen. 1:28) we are to do so responsibly.
I don't preach to my dogs...that's crazy! I just bring them to church. :)
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