Open to the Spirit
Today’s word: “Volunteer”
This has been a week to celebrate volunteers here in the Townships. We thought we would share these thoughts from a few years ago.
1) It is said that when Moses and the Jewish community were ready to receive the Torah and build the future of the Jewish people, they could only move ahead when they recognized that Moses could not act alone, that other worthy members of the community were capable of assisting with the leadership of the people. Having everyone help with the community made it able to sustain itself, and allowed each individual to find meaning and purpose in the work that they did. We could even say that one of the greatest lessons of the Revelation was why it was important to volunteer!
In fact even the Hebrew verb “to volunteer, “l’hitnadev”, highlights the way that volunteering serves the needs of both the people being helped and the person doing the helping. Volunteer is a reflexive verb (like the Hebrew word “to pray”) reminding us that when we step up to help others, it makes the greatest difference when we are changed in the process.
Of course we all know that it is common to volunteer, and that helping others can take on many forms, all with different levels of commitment and purpose gained from the process. High school students help out at soup kitchens and nursing homes to get the required “service points” to graduate. People help out at concerts and road races or serve meals at a church or place of worship. Some devote their life, and their time, to a cause, while others serve primarily for the photoop or the Instagram post. All forms of helping are good, yet in the long term, it is sometimes important to realize how volunteering, how helping others changes us. It is not just about the “points”, the photos or the good feelings, it is also how we are helped by helping others. When we can recognize our role in the healing of the world, and do God’s work through our acts of compassion and caring, then the spiritual strength we gain will give us the power to do more good in the future. Volunteering even has been shown to improve our physical health, including lowering our blood pressure!
As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the UK once said, “Volunteering helps change the world because it changes us.”
The world needs us to step up and volunteer to help others. And we need to help others to help ourselves.
2) Is a volunteer someone who is carrying out a job without receiving monetary compensation or is a volunteer someone who offers to do something without being asked? I once met a person who had taken many volunteer positions at high levels in our national church structure, none of which he had actually volunteered for. His theory was that most people don’t volunteer, they have to be asked, maybe even persuaded.
Often we find reasons why we can’t volunteer. We are inexperienced, too shy or not smart enough. Someone else could surely do a better job. Yet when shown that their participation is really needed, many will pitch in and do their best. Is that not what we find so inspiring in the midst of tragedy and chaos? I think of all the uplifting virtual choirs and other acts of generosity in the midst of the pandemic. I think of volunteers who pack sand bags when water levels rise and volunteers who search for lost children in the woods. I think of Canadian families who took in Syrian refugees and Ukrainian grandmothers defending their country. When we stop to look we see many acts carried out because the need presents itself and human hearts respond regardless the danger or the expense.
When these acts reach a certain intensity, we call folks heroes but more often than not they go unheralded and unreported; neighbour helping neighbour, stranger helping stranger. By the standards of our consumer world, success is based on material wealth and power. Volunteerism falls within the category of foolishness. Alternatively we can look at the world’s religions and see a totally different version of success, where giving is more important than receiving, and where kindness, generosity and walking a mile in the shoes of another are important spiritual practices. To liberally paraphrase St Paul: “selfgiving or volunteerism is foolishness in the eyes of the world, wisdom in the eyes of God.”
3) Growing up on a farm with a dad who loved to work meant that I was always busy with chores. Sometimes we argued with him because we wanted more play time. He often said, “There’s no difference between work and play, just you how you look at it.” This did not sit well with us, so to make us volunteer more often for jobs he would use a Bible quote. Why don’t you say, like Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me”. My father loved to volunteer for anything and hoped to instill that quality in us. I think it worked in my case. I deliver Meals on Wheels each week and am known to say yes to any almost opportunity to help the community.
There’s much more to that quote if you do a Bible study. In Isaiah, chapter 6, he has a mystical encounter in the temple. His first reaction is quite different from the famous quote. He feels he is not worthy of God’s notice. He says “Woe is me. I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and an impure heart .... ”. He then experiences a profound sense of God’s forgiveness and blessing. His self-doubt disappears. Then comes the question “Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?” At that moment he answers joyfully “Here am I send me!”
In our society there is a huge need of volunteers. Society has changed over the decades, and there are few stay-at-home parents looking for something to do in the daytime hours. Most people can’t take early retirement anymore. Church committees, as well, struggle for members. People don’t want to commit the time. National Volunteer Week is an attempt to address this problem. Since 1977 they have chosen a yearly theme. This time they chose “Volunteering is Empathy in Action”. Empathy is at the heart of healthier individuals and stronger communities. We have also seen, especially since the pandemic began, a new appreciation for volunteers in the news and on social media.
It occurs to me, however, that perhaps there is more to the problem of getting volunteers than recognizing that people are just too tired. Perhaps many people feel inadequate. Perhaps they don’t think they have the necessary skills for the job. Like Isaiah, they have self-doubt. Maybe, when deep down, we can accept God’s promise that we are accepted, loved, forgiven, and gifted, we too can say joyfully “Here am I, send me.
All forms of helping are good, yet in the long term, it is sometimes important to realize how volunteering, how helping others changes us. It is not just about the “points”, the photos or the good feelings, it is also how we are helped by helping
others.
Our word today has 3 voices. Enjoy , and remember to volunteer sometimes
Rev. Mead Baldwin pastors the Waterville and North Hatley Pastoral Charge; Rabbi Boris Dolin leads the Congregation Dorshei Emet in Montreal; Rev. Carole Martignacco, Unitarian Universalist is retired from ministry with Uuestrie and now resides in St-andrew’s-by-the-sea , but keeps one foot in the Townships by contributing to this column.