Michael Card on Community

In an upstairs room, a parable
is just about to come alive.
And while they bicker about who's best,
with a painful glance, He'll silently rise.

Their Savior Servant must show them how
through the will of the water
and the tenderness of the towel.

Chorus:
And the call is to community,
The impoverished power that sets the soul free.
In humility, to take the vow,
that day after day we must take up the basin and the towel.

In any ordinary place,
on any ordinary day,
the parable can live again
when one will kneel and one will yield.

Our Savior Servant must show us how
through the will of the water
and the tenderness of the towel.

Bridge:
And the space between ourselves sometimes
is more than the distance between the stars.
By the fragile bridge of the Servant's bow
we take up the basin and the towel.

(chorus)

Often we think of service in the sense of helping others. Card highlights the grace of receiving service, which can oftentimes be even more difficult, a point my friend humbly and eloquently makes here.

This time of year I hear many decry the "rampant materialism” and “commercialization of Christmas.” No doubt we have a serious problem, a subject for another post. However, I think amid all the craziness I find and feel a desire to celebrate the people I love, by giving (and receiving) gifts. The action is consistent with the Great Gift given by the Father, and humbly received by His children.