So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said,
“It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.
Acts

               The movie “Cabrini,” shows Mother Frances Cabrini and her sisters fixing up a ramshackle building in one of New York’s worst slums so they can house and feed the desperately poor immigrant orphans they came to serve.  When they move to a bigger property, Mother Cabrini even digs s a well late at night.

These scenes came vividly to mind when I read today’s passage from Acts in which the apostles say that “it is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table,”

My first reaction was a snarky “Really???” We farm girls weren’t raised to think that hard work and helping others were beneath us. But prayer is important too.


We need  to ask whether service and prayer are mutually exclusive and whether one is higher than the other. What does Jesus teach us?

At the Last Supper he washed the feet of these same men who seem to think serving at table interferes with prayer – not the lesson I draw from that episode. On the other hand, Jesus told Martha to stop fussing at Mary for not helping because she chose to spend time with him. We can conclude that Jesus values both prayer and service.

Perhaps the best solution is to integrate prayer with service and to regard service as a form of prayer since most of us can’t turn work over to a community like the apostles did. I think of the years when I picked up my crabby, hungry kids and prayed for the pasta to cook faster. Sometimes I even remembered to offer up their bickering as I tossed the salad.

Starting your day with a quick morning offering of all your “prayers, works, joys and sufferings” is a great way to turn your crazy day over to God.  
Our lives need to incorporate both prayer and service. The trick is to find simple, workable ways to do this.