One of my most cherished books is A Testament of Hope which contains a collection of sermons and letters written by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In one of those sermons, delivered in 1968, Dr. King spoke about the desire to be out front, to lead the parade, to be first. He called it the drum major instinct.

That is what we hear from James and John in today’s gospel. “Jesus – we want to be out front, on the lead float, sitting right next to you, one of us on each side of you. We want to lead the parade…wave to people who cheer and applaud as we come by. Maybe they had even been practicing their parade wave.

And then, then, the other ten disciples got mad at James and John. Can’t you imagine them saying to themselves, “Rats, why didn’t we think to ask him about the seating arrangement so we could be in the place of glory?”

So NONE of them really got what Jesus had been trying to teach them. He used visual aids – children – be like children open and eager to learn. He spoke directly. Share the ministry. Get rid of all your stuff. Follow me. But they just didn’t seem to be able to take in what he was saying. He was talking about serving and doing ministry. They were talking about …well…themselves. It’s all about me!

We’ve probably all been like those disciples from time to time…wanting to share the limelight…be recognized for our accomplishments…be given the top award out of a field of many. It’s a tricky thing…this wanting to be out front. And we do live in a ‘it’s all about me’ time.

Jesus, as far as I know, never said “you disciples are better than anyone else. You disciples are going to be rolling in money. You disciples are going to have lots of fans -disciple wannabees – following you all over creation.

He kept telling them that to follow him meant putting themselves last, not first.

Following him meant service to others not being waited upon hand and foot. Following him meant standing a chance of being alienated, isolated, and exterminated by friends, neighbors and maybe even family. Oh, and by the way, this following involves how you use your money and your energy.

Who among us would want to hear that kind of recruitment call?

But here is the truth about following Jesus – for us – today. And it’s the same truth he told the disciples all those years ago – we need to be servants to all –that is what discipleship is all about.

Several years ago, about six months after Hurricane Katrina had devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area, the diocese of Louisiana sent out a message. We need help. If you come help us we can give you a place to sleep. There is wonderful food here in New Orleans but we wont’ be serving it to you. You will have to ‘make groceries’ for yourselves. We have nothing to offer but an opportunity for you to be servants for Christ.

Charles Jenkins, Bishop of Louisiana said, “When our lives were in the ditch by the Jericho Road, when we had been robbed of life's dignity and much of the material of life, our Samaritan was the Anglican Communion. Rich and poor, orthodox or whatever, conservative and liberal, they came to us. ‘ I would add that people from all over the United States, of many religions, answered that call to servanthood.

My oldest daughter lives in New Orleans. She doesn’t drive so if someone had not picked her up and taken her to Baton Rouge for a while, she would have been stuck at the convention center. She moved back into New Orleans as soon as the authorities let people back in. Everything of hers was gone so she had to start over. She rented an apartment in someone’s house. The whole back part of the house was missing. So it was an unstable building – like many of them at that time. There was no hot water for six months. There were no street cars running. I tell you all this because I never pictured her as a person who could endure six months without hot water (she, like me, thinks that camping out is a night at the Hilton) but she was determined to be a person who contributed to well-being of the city and that meant living in it. She would never describe herself as being a servant but she truly was.

The diocese of Louisiana issued a call for help. I told the congregation at the cathedral in Florida that I was going to New Orleans – did anyone want to go with me? Eleven people said yes. They paid their own airfare. We rented a van. We bought our food. We slept on pieces of foam on top of cots. We used showers in a trailer that occasionally had hot water. We washed our clothes in the Wash-a-teria with day laborers who had come up from Mexico.

Going to New Orleans to work was the hardest physical labor I’ve ever done in my life – gutting – pulling out walls, floors, carrying out wet furniture – putting people’s lives out on the sidewalk. Imagine a household of furniture and clothes that after six months is still sopping wet. We took everything out – the furniture, the appliances, and the clothes. We pulled down the walls and pulled up the carpet and took it all to the sidewalk. (There is something extremely satisfying about taking a sledge hammer and or crow bar and knocking down a wall). Here we were – middle-aged successful folk – business owners – clergy – ex-military – social worker – special ed teacher – former UN employee – computer guru - such knowledge and expertise – and yet we knew nothing about gutting. We were placed with two college ‘kids’ one male and one female. They were our bosses. We reported for work and they told us what to do (they had also worked with a group of bishops – what a great image – young adults telling bishops what to do). There were teams of the college-age group – all camping out together in a church building. They started out by taking a semester off but ended up staying two to three years…serving the diaspera of Louisiana people, restoring hope to those who felt lost, and teaching others…like us…to be servants. And to always remember that what we were putting out on the sidewalk was not trash, it was someone’s life…they helped to remember the sacredness of human lives.

This decision to be servants was a stewardship decision. There was no thought about "what's in it for me?"– which is the way of the world. But rather stewardship decisions based on the question "what can I do for them?”

Max DePree, son of the founder of Hermon Miller, Inc. and himself a CEO of the company – (Hermon Miller Inc., produced the Eames chair) - wrote a wonderful little book called Leadership is an Art. He spoke of leaders as servants and said in this role there is no room for arrogance or superficiality.’ Places grow, he stated, when these elements are present: the opportunity to serve, the gift of challenge: we don’t grow unless we’re tested; and the gift of meaning: not superfluous, but worthy; not superficial, but integral; not disposable, but permanent. Furthermore, he said, “we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.”

Jesus was constantly telling his disciples to put others first – to be servants to one another. That no one person is above another. He challenged them to become more than they already were. Someone recently told me what they liked about Woodstock was the fact that because people are dressed mostly in jeans – it is hard to tell who has what or who is who.

There exists sometimes, in business and in churches, what I call the Captain Pickard syndrome. Captain Pickard of Star Trek – who would say to his underlings – “Make it so.” But he himself would have no idea what it took for someone else to make it so. How can we ever a person to do something if we are not willing to first experience it ourselves?

Again, Jesus was saying to his disciples, there is no place for people to be above or below – we all make it so together. And he willingly chose to experience a life where he experienced the ultimate way to ‘make it so.’

And at St. Gregory’s we work side by side, doing whatever is necessary to bring about God’s reconciling work in the world. This is what the church is called to do. We are a servant church. There is no above and below. We are in this ministry together. Yet we cannot become complacent and pat ourselves on the back, ‘saying servant, well done.’ There is much yet to be accomplished and as DePree stated, “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining who we are.” How we choose to use our resources whether those resources are money or our very selves – is the way we show our friends, our families, our community, what is important to us as followers of Jesus and models for others what being church, being Christian, is really about.

Martin Luther King ended his sermon with these words: “Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition - I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.”

Therefore, let us, in our individual lives and in our faith community, be servants of God, be leaders, drum majors for our time, always giving thanks to God for the abundance of love which has been given to us.