The Power of Service

Several weeks ago I was asked if I would deliver the sermon at church one Sunday in July. Our minister would be having a hip replaced and needed folks to fill in. While I've given many speeches and sat on several panels, I've never tried to talk about something that would impact the whole room.

It was a little nerve-wracking thinking people might go to brunch and discuss what I had to say - would it matter, would it be bad. In coming up with a topic, I remembered what I was told in high school when preparing for a speech competition - talk about what you know. So I asked myself - what do I know about that the church congregation would find interesting? And then it came to me...United Methodists are a service-oriented group of people and I have done my fair share of service.

Below is the sermon I delivered...

THE POWER OF SERVICE
Delivered by Stacie L. Oliver
12 July 2009

What is service and why should we serve others? Throughout the bible, God calls upon us to serve those in need and informs us that our service, if given selflessly and joyfully, will be rewarded in great measure. That service can take many shapes – as well illustrated by the many types of service performed by members of our own congregation – you can provide a service to someone in need by donating to a charity organization that teaches less fortunate families sustainable agriculture such as Heifer International, you can serve a meal in a local homeless shelter such as the Prince Georges Men’s Shelter, the Lighthouse Shelter in Annapolis or here in our own church during Warm Nights at Christmas, you can provide a service by pitching in to repair houses like our high school youth will be doing in another week at the Appalachian Service Project or when our congregation participates in Christmas in April, you can provide a service by teaching children in a developing country, the list is endless.

Early in my own life, thanks to my mother, my church, my school, I learned the importance and joy of serving others which has afforded me the opportunity to observe and understand the power of service in my own life and the lives around me. I recently returned from a trip to four nations in Africa to observe the work of organizations and individuals working with those who have HIV/AIDS, those living in remote villages, and those suffering in conflict zones. So today, though I could come up with as many or more examples from within our own community, I’d like to talk about some of the impacts of service I witnessed and found to be powerful experiences in those four African nations.

Service has the power to change the individual being served. Kenya is a nation in east Africa that is slightly smaller than the size of Texas. While economically the country is considered a reasonable success, social policy has left many people behind. One group that suffers greatly, and often silently, is orphaned children that are HIV positive. In particular, I met a young 12 year old boy named Reagan. Reagan’s mother died several months earlier of AIDS leaving him and his 5 year old sister with no known family, nowhere to go and both HIV-positive. Reagan was so malnourished and ravaged by disease that he was close to death when Sister Mary Owens, of the Institute of the Blessed Mary and the executive director of Nyumbani Orphanage, found him and his sister scavenging for food on a dump.

Sister Mary took Reagan and his sister to the Nyumbani orphanage – which only serves orphaned children that are HIV positive and is largely funded by the generosity of Americans – and provided Reagan with food, medical care, and most importantly, the insurance that someone cares about him. (Incidentally, Nyumbani means “home” in Swahili.) Three weeks after he was first brought to the orphanage is when I met him. He was still weak, and in fact resembled a 6 or 7 year old boy more than the 12 years old that he was, but Reagan would live….most importantly, Reagan was able to do something he felt impossible just weeks earlier – smile knowing someone finally cared about what happened to him.

Service has the power to change a community. In Tanzania, another coastal nation in East Africa roughly the size of Texas and New Mexico combined, we visited a village in the Bunju administrative district. Bunju is merely an hour outside of the capitol city of Dar Es Salaam, yet the village we visited in Bunju has no electricity, no running water, and certainly no sanitation system. Employment is not readily available, so needless to say the average person in Bunju lives on less than a dollar a day. At least they used to until Access Africa entered the village.

Access Africa is a program of CARE International that focuses on teaching mostly female populations how to operate a village savings and loan system (called a VSNL) to lift themselves out of poverty. In addition to helping women access markets with their handi-crafts and services, Access Africa professionals and volunteers taught a small number of women in Bunju to build a small scale cooperative “bank” that requires the purchasing of “shares” with a small weekly contribution. When a member needs a loan one is provided and paid back with low interest. The program has generated unexpected savings rates in areas where previously families had no savings. In fact, one entrepreneurial woman – who took full advantage of the training to access markets and participate in the VSNL – elevated her family savings from $0 in a year to a few hundred, which meant they could buy better food or school uniforms for their children. The village now operates five VSNL groups for women.

Service has the power to change a nation. Rwanda is a small, green, mountainous African country roughly the size of our own state of Maryland. Landing in the capitol city of Kigali today, you would be hard pressed to believe that just fifteen years ago, nearly one million people were murdered in a one hundred day period in a horrible genocide. Kigali and the surrounding villages are litter-free, and shows pride of community. Even more difficult to believe is that a nation that experiences this type of affront to our basic humanity could somehow turn around and become a relatively peaceful nation. Multiple factors are certainly at play here, but one of the more powerful is a concept called Umuganda Day.

Once a month, on the third Saturday of the month, all Rwandas are called (required) to perform service in their communities aimed to contribute to the improvement of those communities and to rebuild sense of community. Businesses close and tourist operations shut down as whole families stand side-by-side with their neighbors – those that were victims and those that perpetrated crimes in the genocide – to paint communal fences, dig ditches, aide invalids, construct roads, and so on. Following the half day of work, the whole community meets together to discuss topics that will help improve their community ranging from environmental stewardship to community security watch programs.

In planning recent work travel, my colleague and I discovered that we would be in Rwanda on Umuganda Day and we asked our embassy to arrange for our participation in a project. We wanted to experience first-hand how the basic act of community service has served as a tool for reconciliation in a country. So on Umuganda Saturday, we loaded up into vans and climbed the uneven dirt roads up Mount Kigali to a small village that was widening a road and digging new ditches. My boss, who started his professional life sweating daily as a construction worker, was the hero of the day when he worked diligently side-by-side with a small group of Rwandan men who were digging a rather pesky tree stump out of the middle of the road. And, let me tell you, though watching me wield a pick ax to dig out a ditch is quite an amusing site, the experience was life changing. As I stated earlier, Umuganda day exempts no one and a rape victim or the single survivor of a large family was often digging with a shovel peacefully alongside a genocidaire – the man that may have murdered a member of their family or their neighbor. This is a powerful image and true testament that you can overcome adversity and rebuild your community together.

On our way to the community meeting, we had the opportunity to speak with some of the villagers. Americans, let alone white people, just don’t show up for Umuganda Saturday. In fact it was the first time our embassy personnel had ever participated. With this knowledge as the backdrop, I came to understand the impact of our own contribution that day. A young man, probably in his late 20s or early 30s walked down the hill with me. He was rather unique in that he spoke English – very few average Rwandans do. He turned to me and asked “did you come from the United States?” My response was yes. He expanded “did you come from the United States to help us today?” Again, my response was “yes, we really wanted to work with you.” What really touched me personally and forever was what he next said “thank you, thank you for helping us, it is very important.”

Perhaps as important as changing an individual, community or a nation, service has the power to change and reward the individual serving others. The bible has some interesting things to say about the personal rewards of service. In 2 Corinthians 9:6-13 the bible tells us 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

While I can speak for no one but myself, I can say with certainty that my life is made richer by each person I serve. From little Reagan at the Nyumbani Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya to the families that we serve during Warm Nights, that many would wrongly say that we are the ones who “help” those individuals, I truly feel that they have helped me. That said, I have no doubt that we could spend several hours sharing stories within this sanctuary of the profound impact community service has had on each of our lives. In fact, let’s have a show of hands. How many of you perform regular service to a population in need or have participated in a community service project at some point in the past five years? Now keep your hands up if you felt personally impacted or rewarded by performing that act of service? Keep your hands up and look around. God bless each of your for opening your hearts to the power of service.

I’d like to close with a prayer offered by St. Francis of Assissi:
Dear Lord, make me an instrument of your peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not
So much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved;
For it is in giving that we receive;
And, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. Amen.