STILL, YA GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY

“You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.”

-Bob Dylan

To be perfectly honest, when I first heard Gotta Serve Somebody, Bob Dylan’s Born Again masterpiece, I was embarrassed for him. Here was the ambassador of progressive politics preaching a message of primitive dualism… black or white, good vs evil.

But how the times have a-changed.

Since Dec of 2005 I’ve been living and working in group homes for
people with special needs. I began at L’arche, living in a faith-based community centered on the lives of adults with developmental disabilities including Downs Syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, as well as more general disorders. And as of this past May, I began another job in a foster home for children with behavioral and psychiatric disorders, often the result of neglect, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD, bipolar disorder, etc.

What I’ve gathered from this experience is a profound realization about the nature of human growth as it relates to the core insight of Christianity. Let me start by clarifying this core spiritual insight which has been called the Law of the Cross. Our tradition teaches that Jesus redeems the world through his death and resurrection, and in faith we are called to take up our own cross. Thus in our own lives we walk the path that Jesus walked, turning hatred into love, harm into healing, injury into forgiveness. And we must constantly turn to God for the power to forgive, to love, and to be merciful when our impulses tell us otherwise.

But what is remarkable about the Christian faith and what makes it ring so true for me personally, is the universality of this spiritual maxim.

What I can say from having worked with people on the margins is that regardless of our lot in life—whether we have been born with Downs syndrome, come from a background of terrible abuse, or have been born healthy and privileged—the same dynamic of spiritual growth applies. No matter who we are, God is calling each and every one of us to let go of our hurts, disarm our hearts, and to become loving and merciful as our heavenly Father.

And of course progress is always relative; if the parable of the Prodigal Son tells us anything, it’s that God has a special place in His heart for those who are furthest from Him. From the perspective of God, the emotionally damaged teen who realizes that self-harm is not a good way to get attention or to deal with frustrations is just as significant as the investment banker who decides to be donate to charity or simply be kinder to his secretary. The path to spiritual growth is universal, even if we access it at different points.

We may however see this as an unrealistic if not cruel expectation for someone born into horrifying abuse or an overwhelmingly profound disability. To this I would say two things:


1) Trust in the hidden life of the spirit.

In extreme cases (take for example the recent Terri Schiavo case), a person may seem ‘trapped’ behind a disability, unable to move voluntarily or communicate in any way. We may even wonder if that person is experiencing any significant form of consciousness.

But even in those hardship cases we must never discount the hidden life of the spirit. We can only pray that those people are being inwardly consoled and nourished by the mercy of God.

2) With God, It’s Never Hopeless

When suffering seems empty and utterly destructive, lacking any possible redemptive value, we must resist the seduction of despair and trust that nothing is outside of God’s redemptive will. Everyday we see tragedy that challenges our faith: What kind of God could allow for that? Why is suffering so overwhelmingly destructive, rather than redemptive?

In these situations, hold to the bigger picture: perhaps in this life a person was unable to grow through adversity, but Christians believe that death is not the end. Thus the afterlife must be viewed in continuity with our purpose here on earth. Consider that the journey continues on the other side of death, so even if spiritual progress seemed limited on earth, our path to growth does not end. Even in those heartbreaking situations, God may be ‘writing straight with crooked lines.’


So now when I hear Dylan’s Gotta Serve Somebody, I can appreciate the wisdom of that ‘primitive’ world view, and I suppose that’s why it’s endured: if there was no truth to it I suppose people wouldn’t be singing about it—not to mention turning their lives around because of it—all these thousands of years later.