Service

Service comes in many different forms.  We often think of service as doing some kind of manual labor for the benefit of others, and such things are - often enough - acts of service.  Many service learning trips involve that kind of service because it is needed in the particular culture or locale where a team is serving - disaster relief in New Orleans, medical care in Hondurus, picking tea in China, providing food in Jamaica, and so forth.  We only have one project that focuses on phycial service here - cleaning up in and around the church and in the neighborhood around the church.  But service is much broader than manual labor.  Yesterday at Auschwitz was a different kind of service - hearing the voices of those who were murdered and oppressed so that the world will not forget.  Listening to the voices of those whose suffering was hidden and even celebrated is a difficult and even incarnational experience yesterday.  We also had some other non-physical - but very incarnational - ways of serving yesterday.  The women spent the evening at a women's group, Poles and Malone students together celebrating International Women's Day and honoring women who have shaped their lives.  The men went to an English school where we helped middle school students and adult students practice conversational English.  Again, there is an incarnational element to this serving - encountering the lives and stories of others.  It is interesting to think about how often Jesus did this - he shared a ministry of presence, as well as one of teaching and healing.  He served others in sharing his life with them, and sharing in their lives.  He became one of us.

This is the only day of the trip that the team gets to sleep in.  I am headed off to breakfast with some Polish friends, and then I will join up with the rest of the team later in the day.  They will all go to the English language school late this morning, and then the teacher will take us to a castle here in Dabrowa Gornicza that was built in the 12th Century as a defense against bandits and thieves.  We will visit a neglected Jewish cemetary that lies in the shaddow of the castle, where once again, we will engage in a service of remembrance.  The history of prejudice, discrimination, hatred, and persecution of Jews, gypsies, Poles, and so many others is painful, but it is also a reminder that these things still exist in every corner of the world today.  We, too, need to look at our lives, our culture, and our nation, because we have seen the immense evils that can spring from the smallest of seeds.

Blessings to you all,

Dr. E. and the rest of the Poland Service Learning Team