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Musings & Memories

Called to serve

By DOUG DEZOTELL
Posted 5/6/23

n my hometown up North, it seemed as if everyone was either Catholic or Lutheran.

I was both in a way; my father was a Catholic and my mother was a Lutheran.

When I was a little boy, my …

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Musings & Memories

Called to serve

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n my hometown up North, it seemed as if everyone was either Catholic or Lutheran.

I was both in a way; my father was a Catholic and my mother was a Lutheran.

When I was a little boy, my family lived several blocks from the home of the Roman Catholic nuns who taught at the Catholic schools and worked at the Catholic hospital in town.

The sisters would walk by our house throughout the week and I was eager to greet them as they strolled by.

I would stand on our front porch and wave and shout ‘Hi.’

They were always very friendly to this little boy, and sometimes my mother would let me walk with them for a little way.

I was always fascinated by the way they dressed, with the white coif and black veil and the long habit.

You could see them coming from several blocks away.

Years later, I started a ministry for drug addicts and street people in Louisville, Kentucky, which happens to be a very Catholic community.

A Catholic priest, whom we called Father Ted, served on our board of directors.

Father Ted’s parish allowed me to use some empty office space attached to their property to start our inter-denominational ministry.

There was a Catholic counseling service that shared the building with us, and that ministry was run by a Catholic nun, Sister Martha.

Sister Martha became a friend of mine and we shared a lot of fellowship, prayers, and laughter together.

I was fascinated by Sister Martha’s dedication to her church and her life of service.

She was a Roman Catholic nun, but she didn’t wear the habit and other apparel that I remembered from my childhood.

Martha wore regular street clothes and blended in with the other women in the community.

Those nuns that I have met over the years who served the Lord through their service to the church and helping people in a variety of ways were an inspiration to me.

I wanted to enter a life of service myself from an early age, and I have spent my adult life helping troubled people and serving in the church.

I have dedicated my life, similar to those sisters, serving the Lord, serving the church, and serving others.

In Mark 9:35 we read that Jesus challenged his disciples to be servants. He said, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

There are so many ways that we can be of service right here in our own community of Shelbyville and Bedford Country.

I know of a lot of people who serve the Lord and others in and through the local church.

People serve by donating money to local charities, or giving to someone in need.

People serve by volunteering their time serving others however they can, whenever they can.

People serve by visiting the elderly in their homes or at their bedside in the nursing home.

We can serve others by feeding the hungry, or giving clothes to those in need.

And people serve all the time in their own homes and to their families.

You don’t have to wear religious attire to be a servant.

You just have to be willing.

In Matthew 25:31-40 Jesus said: 31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it unto Me.”

We can all serve others.