April 21, 2008
Volunteer Appreciation Event Meditation
Loving Deeds Linked With Loving Intentions

In the musical, “Fiddler On The Roof,” Tevye and his wife, Golde, sing a song to each other, with Tevye asking the question, “Do You Love Me?” After first accusing her husband of having indigestion, she sings the immortal words, “Do I love you? For twenty-five years I've washed your clothes, Cooked your meals, cleaned your house, Given you children, milked the cow.  After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?”

Golde is right in that love spoken is nice, but until it is realized in actions and deeds, it is really empty promises. Much like our Matthew text read earlier in the service, God is looking for us to live out the great commandment, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” and, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”” in tangible ways. Clothe the naked, house the homeless, visit those in prison, and most certainly feed the hungry.

Each of you gathered here tonight individually, and together as a whole, ensures that this community does not offer its neighbors platitudes of care and compassion, but concrete deeds of love. And you do so quietly, without any need for fanfare. In the food pantries and the meals programs, you answer the questions of the Tevye’s of this neighborhood and city, “After 30-odd years of cooking your meals, serving you delicious dinners and stocking your cupboards, why talk of love right now?”

But Golde is not completely right. Words mean something, at least the meaning behind the words have importance. We have our second text, the equally famous “Love” chapter from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Here, we are reminded that loving actions without loving intentions are equally hollow. We could rewrite the chapter quite easily, “If I fill the shelves of all the poor with abundant non-perishable food items, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I prepare and serve the finest meals for the most hungry and destitute among us, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

Intentions and actions go together, like a hand in glove. And this you do faithfully. You don’t talk about it a lot, because most, if not all of you, are quite humble and prefer to avoid the spotlight. You see what needs to be done, and you do it. But it doesn’t take long in a conversation to understand that you do not do this amazing volunteer work out of a sense of obligation or duty. Nor do you do this because of the fame or fortune you get from it. God knows there’s precious little of either!

You do this hard work, week in and week out, month by month, over many years, because you have linked Matthew 25 and 1 Corinthians 13 inseparably: loving deeds linked with loving intentions. This is sacred service at its best.

The song Golde and Tevye sing, ends in words that I, Judy, Fr. Mark, and so many in WSEM and the Founding and Sponsoring Churches and Institutions hear from you, our devoted volunteers.

(Tevye)
Then you love me?

(Golde)
I suppose I do

(Tevye)
And I suppose I love you too

(Both)
It doesn't change a thing
But even so
After twenty-five years
It's nice to know

Volunteers of the WSEM Food Centers: we love you for what you do, why you do it, what it means to the people of our neighborhoods. Thank you. We love you.

Amen.




Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2008 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096