Service - what it is, what it isn't

Q: I'm having a conflict about the word "service."  It may stem from the "services" I attended as a child, where I learned that Jesus would send me to hell if I didn't accept him and join the church.  I think "service" is a great concept, but at the same time it sounds too much like slavery.  Comment?  M.S.

A: What a great question!  This would be a good theme for an entire book.  I will note just a few hints on the surface of the issue of service, what it means, and what it doesn't mean.

True service is subservient to no one.  True service is adherence to the inner voice, to the divine within.  Many equate service to Jesus' words before his crucifixion, "Not my will but thine be done."  True service leaves no gap between "my" will and "thine."  True service is the full and complete alliance of the personal will with the divine, where no distinction exists between the two.  True service is lived vitally, vibrantly, and in accord with the natural flow.  True service aligns head, heart, and gut feeling.

True service rules out the dichotomy between the ruling class and the servant class.  When ALL live in true service, all needs are met, and joy and harmony flow flawlessly.

I once heard a story that goes something like this, and perhaps illustrates best the difference between false and true service.  The source was a wonderful woman by the name of Bea VanDeCar:

A gentleman died and got on the elevator, where St. Peter met him.  St. Peter asked where he wanted to go, and the man replied, "Of course I want to go to heaven, but I'd like to have a quick peek at hell, too."  The elevator went down, down, down, and the doors opened.  The man looked into a huge room, full of tables laden with sumptuous feasts.  People sat around the tables, crying and starving to death, because they had splints on their arms and could not feed themselves.  The elevator doors closed and the man was taken up, up, up.  The doors opened, and the same scene appeared - tables laden with sumptuous feasts, with people sitting around the tables, all with splints on their arms.  The difference was that these people were laughing and happy, because they were feeding each other.