Just a tad of salt. How many times have you walked through the kitchen and someone cooking stops you and asked you to taste a dish and tell them what ingredient is missing? I am not the person you want to ask. I can tell something is missing, but what and how much is usually beyond my culinary skills. We know the taste we are looking for but can’t figure out what is missing. We know we are called to be servants of Jesus Christ in this world. We are called to be what is often referred to as servant leaders. But that can be easier said than done. Even when we are hard at work doing what we believe God is asking of us, it is hard to get our own ego, wants or needs out of the way. Francis of Assisi wrote a prayer that helps to define servant leadership in the service of Jesus. Like a list of ingredients in a pie or soup this prayer of Francis works as a good list to guide us in our service to God in a world of great need.

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 despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
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. as to love
For it’s in giving that we receive
And it’s in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born…
To eternal life. Amen!

This is also a beautiful prayer that I’m almost afraid to pray. Why? Because I know I’m not always up to putting my personal concerns and needs to the side. But we are looking at serving God in Christ, and the Lord takes care of his servants. This Sunday, we will look at letting the Holy Spirit guide us in our service to God and wonder at how good the food of Christ taste when the ingredients come together.

May the Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! 

Pastor Rick