Adult Service Requirements (01/29/2026)

Yesterday, as I was teaching a Confirmation class to teens and their parents and sponsors, we were speaking about demonstrating one’s openness and willingness to contribute time and talent out of love for the LORD and one another. The tradition of teens needing to document 15 hours of service to satisfy the “service requirement” came up. And I let it slip that my position for years has been that if those seeking confirmation must demonstrate this openness and willingness, the confirmed adults should also have to do that. We should be models, giving our example, living what we proclaim as a value. I think I might have gotten in trouble.

But I stick by my position. I really do believe that we adults in the pew should be modeling to those coming up the openness and willingness to contribute time and talent for love of the LORD and one another. The LORD calls us to do this. The night before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion when time was of the essence, He took time to wash the feet of His disciples and told them to do as He had modeled, to be a servant to others. That should tell us how important loving service is in the life of a disciple.

There are so many ways that we adults can give of our time and talent in service: volunteer at church for a specific ministry like ushering or choir; volunteer for a parish function as a worker; volunteer at the local food pantry; be a scout leader; be a catechist and teach youth about Christ; collect food for the hungry; work at a parish or congregation’s resale shop; bake a dessert for the parish festival; volunteer to help build a home with Habitat for Humanity; volunteer at the library to read to children; volunteer to be a tutor; visit those unable to get out, the sick, the elderly, the lonely. You get the idea.

We have opportunities all around us in our churches, our organizations, and our neighborhoods. This winter, for instance, a couple with two young children shoveled the drives of several neighbors who struggle to clear the snow on their own. They did it without being asked or paid. I talked to the mom and thanked her. She told me, “It is our pleasure, we are trying to teach our boys to look out for others and help others whenever you can.”

Christ asks us to see the other and to offer our time and our talents to help the other. I could relate to the young mother’s rationale. I had used it with my own children. As she spoke, my own mind flew back specifically to a hot day in Tipton, Iowa in the early 1980s when I helped my children and other neighborhood children make up a lemonade relay for the overheated and parched road construction workers paving our street. That memory still makes me smile.

As I’ve grown older, I have had to change some of my habits, taking less physical tasks; but I know that even in my “senior years” I have been given time and talent not just for my benefit. And that reminded me of the community I worked with years ago when we were asking every member to give of their time and talents to help build up the community but also to help those most in need. And a group of shut ins approached me and asked how they could be involved. We came up with the parish prayer warriors and these individuals offered their time daily to pray for the family members, for special causes, for special needs submitted by parish members. It was wonderful to behold.

Today, I plan to spend some time thinking about how I could and should use my time to help others, to serve others, to support others on their journey. I know that as long as I am given time for my journey, I should include serving others in my plans.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.