Phyllis Tickle, via her book, The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime, informed me this morning that on May 1 we celebrate the lives of St. Philip and St. James. This James is the one known as “James the Less.” She said that these two Christ followers “remained fairly obscure during their lives, preferring apparently to further the Church and not their own fame.” That observation concerning two of Jesus’ original disciples reminded me of a rather humbling moment of self-awareness I experienced a few years back.

The church’s basketball team had played that night and when I walked in the kitchen, after the game, Kathryn asked me if we had won.
“Nope, we lost.”
“What was the score?”
“I don’t remember but I had twelve points.”

Oops. I wouldn’t think it is a sign of a good team player to be sure what you scored but unable to remember the team’s score. Most likely, this applies not only to basketball players but to church folks, teachers, public servants, parents, spouses. . . let’s just say pretty much everyone who seeks to live with other people and somehow leave things a little better than you found them.

I’ll confess, throughout my career as a minister, I constantly had to remind myself of one the most important things a pastor can remember; it’s not about you. It’s not about you when you preach. It’s not about you when you counsel. It’s not about you when you lead.

One would think that would be a little easier to remember in retirement, when you are slowly drifting to the periphery anyway but I find the wondering how I’m doing and fretting over what my stats are, doesn’t quiet down so easily.

I’m still trying to live into the lesson the teacher gave the disciple when he told him to go to the graveyard and praise the saints there as highly as he could and then to insult them terribly. The disciple did as he was told and returned to his teacher.
“What did they think of your praises and insults?” the teacher asked.
“They didn’t seem to care.”
“Strive to care as much about whether people are praising or insulting you.”

They didn’t seem to care about their own fame, preferring to further the Church. Happy St. Philip and St. James day.