Prayer: Lord, help me to see the one who comes into my life as more important than me. Amen
Reading: Philippians 2:5-11 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: “Obedient selflessness” are the words used to describe Jesus in a commentary on this passage. This hymn celebrates Jesus’ obedience to God in His emptying himself which led to His death. I doubt that Jesus knew what would happen at the end of the week in which he entered Jerusalem for the last time. He did know, I think, that it would something tumultuous. He also knew that he needed to see it through. God demanded His obedience. God promised to see it through with His Son. In the end, Jesus was not in control. God was. How empty are we willing to be? How selfless is healthy—for us, for others? How obedient can we be? How well do we trust God? I don’t know the answer to those questions. Not for you or for myself. But, the idea of a commitment to the God we can trust is something that keeps resurfacing. That commitment, I think, is lived out in human community. And one way to live it out is to understand the other person as one who to be served. That means that the other is first. Doesn’t that mean emptying oneself? Isn’t that that selflessness? Rotary International has a motto: Service Above Self. Doesn’t that about sum it up? --Jim Bricker
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