'The Key to Mission'

A piece of advice for people who are struggling to change bad habits is to create an objective distance, while keeping it very personal. What does that mean? Let’s take the example of someone who isn’t getting enough sleep and knows it. However, that person isn’t making any changes but remains caught in the feelings, emotions, and cycles that perpetuate the thing they want to eliminate. The whole situation could change around if the person asked themselves, “What advice would I give a younger sister who was doing these very same things? What if my younger brother was caught in this trap?” What that does is take the person outside themselves giving them some objective difference. Then, the person can give personally specific advice that can help them get a handle on their situation, giving themselves a concrete path forward. It really is a brilliant twist. What would you tell yourself if you were responsible for yourself? 

Jesus was using this kind of shift in thinking when He said that the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself. The question isn't about how much you feel good about yourself and would treat yourself to extra good things. The question is how would you treat that person in need if that person were you. How would you like someone to treat you if you were in that very same situation? This gives us a bit of objective distance, while keeping it very personal about what you can do to alleviate “your own suffering”.

This past Sunday, a dozen Munhollanders went to the New Orleans Mission to begin to learn this lesson. We set tables, put out desserts and water, and served food to our friends who were hungry. We talked with people who are in the Disciples’ Program and work at the New Orleans Mission in various capacities. People often go to places like the New Orleans Mission to do a good deed. They come away learning a bit more about what it truly means to love your neighbor as yourself. They begin to consider how they would want people to treat them if they were in that situation themselves. 

Serving at the New Orleans Mission is transformative because it helps us to not only fulfill the commandment to love our neighbors but to understand more of what it means. I hope that you will join Munholland on Saturday, July 27 at 10:00 AM. We’ll meet in our parking lot then caravan from there. We will make 100 lunches then go to a few places where there are homeless people in need. The New Orleans Mission people will be with us the whole time to lead us. We will be completely safe. I hope you will come, so that we can continue to learn together what it means to love our neighbors as ourselves, if we were in that situation.

Blessings,

Jonathan