Good and Faithful Servant

I went to a memorial service today that was held in honor of the husband of a friend of mine. I didn’t actually know the gentleman (I attended in support of my friend), but I was surprised to hear a long list of generous and thoughtful activities he had pursued in his long life to aid other people, especially people “on the fringe.” These activities were sometimes in his own community, sometimes in other countries.

On the front of the service bulletin was a picture of a cross adorned with three verses (Matthew 25:21, Philippians 2:17, and Hebrews 6:10) run together so that the message read: Well done, good and faithful servant … your faithful service is an offering to God. He will not forget  … how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers.”

It was an artful reminder of the two great commandments given in Matthew 22, instructing that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourself. Today all of us attending the memorial service had the blessing of seeing how those commandments might look in an ordinary contemporary life. It made me spend some time considering how they should look in mine.