Whoever wants to be first
must be last of all and servant of all.
—Mark 9.35
Come be the servant of the least.
The child, without status, power or place.
The addict, hopeless and broken.
Be the servant of the child molester,
the insane, the unnoticeable.
Be the the last among the unacceptable,
the forgotten, the wrong.
Not to shame yourself,
not to out-humble the humiliated,
but to love them,
to serve them for their sake
purely because you want them to be served.
And having imagined the grimy stranger
under the bridge don’t forget
the co-worker, the spouse,
even the scared little voice inside you.
It’s not expert self-abashment.
It’s love.
—September 18, 2018