A selfless servant died last week, and today I had the privilege to preach at his funeral.
I have a
confession to make. A few years ago,
Randy and I were building sets for the Immaculate Conception School production
of Beauty and the Beast. For those
who may not have seen a Frey Family production at ICS, the set consisted of a
raised platform supporting plywood panels that served as the canvas for the
various scenes. Scenes were changed by
removing or flipping the panels. We had
just finished hanging the last two panels when we noticed a small gap – maybe 2
inches wide – at the very bottom of the middle panels. To fix it, we would have to take down the entire
backdrop and reassemble it slightly off-kilter to make the panels fall together
evenly. Randy suggested that he send a
picture to Carole to see what she thinks.
I said, “Are you out of your mind?
It will drive her crazy, and we’ll have to fix it. Let’s just leave it and see if she
notices.” Randy sent the picture, and we
spent the next two hours reassembling the backdrop. Randy Frey was a far better servant than I
will ever be. He was a selfless servant,
a light of the world, the kind of servant Jesus calls us to be.
Our
readings this afternoon present two characteristics of Christian discipleship
that seem to contradict each other. On
the one hand, Saint Paul exhorts the Philippians to be selfless, to humbly
regard others as more important than themselves in the model of Jesus Christ. On the other hand,
Jesus encourages his disciples to be the light of the world so that all may see
their good deeds and glorify God. Humility versus the spotlight – how do we
reconcile them?
Let’s start with humility. “The great characteristics of Jesus’
life were humility, obedience, and self -renunciation.”[1] Jesus emptied himself to become human, to
dwell among us, to serve us, and to serve God selflessly and obediently to the
point of humbly accepting death on a cross.
We Christians are called to live our lives with Jesus as our model. We’re called to live as humble, selfless
servants, looking out not for our own interests, but for the interests of
others. “If we live only for ourselves,
we shrivel up and die. . . . Our true meaning is found in a loving gift of
self.”[2] We are all called by God to serve our sisters
and brothers in such a way that people will ask, “If such is the servant, what must the master be like.”
That brings us to the
spotlight. Jesus told us that he is the
light of the world, so what does he mean when he says that we are the
light of the world? Well, Christianity
is meant to be seen. There’s no such thing as secret discipleship: either the
secrecy destroys the discipleship, or the discipleship destroys the secrecy.[3] People who humbly serve with Jesus as their model
radiate the light of Christ in their hearts.
Just as a spotlight draws our attention to the star on the stage, our
humble, selfless good works draw people not to us, but to “the one Morning star
that never sets,” Jesus Christ.
It isn’t easy to balance these seemingly contradictory characteristics
of discipleship. We can’t be so humble that
we feel unworthy or become embarrassed by serving others, and we can’t shine so
brightly that we braggadociously draw attention to ourselves and away from
Christ. It’s a balance, but a balance
well worth the effort, because the reward for modeling our lives after Jesus is
nothing less than eternal happiness, peace, and love.
Fortunately for us, we were blessed with a beautiful example of this
balance in Randy Frey. Randy was a
humble, selfless servant. He never did
anything out of selfishness or vainglory that I know of; he always seemed to
put the interests of others before his own.
Interestingly, Carole, Kyle, and Brett each separately shared with me
that they worried that Randy didn’t think that people noticed him. Well, Randy, we noticed.
+ We noticed Randy the roadie setting up and taking down all of the
equipment at every gig, recital, concert, and performance.
+ We noticed Randy the stage manager making sure that every detail of
every performance was tended to, down to a lousy two-inch gap in the scenery
panels.
+ We noticed Randy the House that Rocks concierge, who always greeted
us with a smile, a kind word, and a genuine interest in how we were doing.
+We noticed Randy the proud and devoted husband, father, son, brother,
and son-in-law, who found his meaning as a loving self-gift of tireless
support, encouragement, and comfort to his family.
+We noticed Randy the faithful, selfless servant, the light of the
world, never directing our attention to himself, but to Jesus.
Now it’s time for us to show that we noticed. If we really noticed, then we, too, will live
our lives as humble, selfless servants, letting our lights shine brightly for
the glory of God the Father as we serve our brothers and sisters. There’s no better time than now. As we mourn Randy’s death, we can either hide
under a bushel basket, feeling sorry for ourselves, or set our lamps on a lamp stand, showing our faith in the Resurrection we celebrate today and leading
others to Christ through selfless service.
Randy wasn’t perfect, and he suffered his share of hardships, but he chose
to serve selflessly and to set his lamp on the lamp stand anyway. Let’s show Randy that we noticed.
I have
another confession to make. I have no
idea why Randy kept asking me to help him with the sets: I have no carpentry
skills to speak of; I clearly have a terrible work ethic; and, notwithstanding
my physical appearance, I have no upper body strength. If he asked me only because I had a pulse and
was a willing volunteer, I don’t mind at all, because working with Randy allowed
me to spend time with a guy who was easy to spend time with, and even easier to
call my friend. More importantly, working with Randy allowed me to see a
humble, selfless servant at work, to see Christ’s light shining in him, and to
learn, through Randy’s excellent example, to follow Jesus.
In honor of our brother, Randy, please
join me in extending your hands, as I offer Randy the ancient priestly blessing
from our first reading:
The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace! Amen!
[1] William Barclay, The Letters to the
Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians (Louisville, Westminster John
Knox Press, 2003), p. 45.
[2] Stephen
J. Rosetti, “Finding Life in Self-Giving,” Living Faith, Terence
Hegarty, ed., vol. 35, no. 2 (July-September 2019), August 10.
[3] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew,
vol. 1 (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), p. 142.
A beautiful tribute to a man we all loved so deeply and will miss so very much.
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