(Each Saturday, a faith leader offers a personal perspective in this space. To become part of this series, email religion@recorder.com)
Many years ago, I served in AmeriCorps in Worcester at the Goddard School. One of the teachers I was assigned to asked me why I signed up. I told her about my drive to help others, and she replied that she couldn’t understand why anyone would sign up to serve.
I had thought that apathetic attitude was an isolated incident, in those days before YouTube. But I can see now that apathy, entitlement and self-absorption is more common than I thought, though I realize that negative things get more clicks and views than the positive.
Times of crisis can reveal our true nature, priorities and central guiding principles, be it a minor inconvenience on one side of the spectrum, to a global pandemic on the other. To paraphrase the Apostle James: Talk is cheap, true faith is shown in your actions that help others.
There are the videos of “Karens” and other entitled people harming others, and then some invoke God or claim to be a Christian, while behaving in a manner that would make Jesus flip a table.
Then there are countless examples of people only caring about themselves during the pandemic. The “I’m fine, so why should I care about you?” type of people. Or the community leaders, who advocate apathy toward others and putting them at risk.
That drive I felt to help others, that I mentioned above, in more Christian terms, is agape — the selfless love that is the opposite of apathy. And as Jesus tells us, whenever we do something for someone else, we are doing the same to Him (Mt. 25:40).
Jesus gives us an unconditional commandment: to love, to show agape, to our neighbor and even to our enemies. In the Gospel of Luke, immediately after “The Greatest Commandment” that we all know, He says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” He continues to say that we must love our enemies and do good, expecting nothing in return (Lk 6:31-35).
Congregational pastors and theologians Jonathan Edwards, Joseph Bellamy and Samuel Hopkins worked together to form a practical, “New England Theology” based on agape and Jesus’ teachings about it. Edwards wrote Religious Affections, about how agape can show the legitimacy of one’s faith and actions; while Hopkins coined the term, “Disinterested Benevolence” to apply agape to one’s everyday life.
For example, they used the same type of reasoning as Jesus. That anyone can do good things for someone they love, or for others for their own benefit, even indirectly. Even though that good act did good, the motivation was not agape, but self-love. An act of true agape must be done without any rewards expected; and it would be even better if no one, besides God, knows it was you who did it.
That’s a really difficult standard to meet, but it is possible, even in a self-absorbed society. I challenge you try to do this, starting with maybe once a week, and then more frequently as you are so moved, until it is like second nature. Perhaps doing this will inspire others to do the same, and hopefully make positive change in our communities.
Here’s an example: Again, while in AmeriCorps, our team was in Boston for an event, and the organizers provided grinders for lunch. After everyone else had been fed, I saw a teammate fill their backpack with the leftovers, without any explanation. We then had to make our way across Boston, and I saw this teammate, without any fanfare, hand out those grinders to every needy person we passed.
In a society based on selfishness, churches and believers must exemplify agape that Jesus teaches in their everyday life and challenge any insular tendencies. Because agape is not just the foundation, not just the cornerstone, but every single brick in the building of the Christian faith.
Orthodox Congregational Church is a small but very active church and meetinghouse, with a ministry based on agape and serving our community, however we are able. We host adult education ministry consisting of Bible Study and Discussion Groups, Teen Ministry, frequent community meals, and local organizations. We host the Interfaith Memorial Day Service and support those of the other churches. We also hold special services to honor Congregational history, local firefighters and first responders, and Blessing of the Animals. We are a member church of The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.