February 24, Second Sunday of Lent
Anchor: Downton Abbey
Frame: Mr. Carson, the Butler
Thread: ?
Matthew 20:25-28
But Jesus called them
over and said, “You know that those who rule the Gentiles show off their
authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around. But
that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you
will be your servant. Whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave—
just as the Human One didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give
his life to liberate many people.”
As butler, Mr. Carson is the
head of the household servants. Like the nobles they serve, all the servants
stand in respect when Carson enters the room. He is the final arbiter of all
matters of the maids, the footmen, and other servants in the house (though, to
be sure Mrs. Hughes oversees the women but even she is second in authority to
Carson). Carson has the most direct communication with the Earl of Grantham and
his loyalty to their family is unwavering.
Carson’s
ultimate concern is that everything in the household runs in a dignified,
appropriate, and unobtrusive manner. During the morning breakfast, Carson
stands of to the side, always ready to respond to any need that the Earl may
have. He almost becomes a part of the furniture, melding into the woodwork,
never drawing attention to his presence but every ready to swing into action
when called upon.
Carson
sees his role as the one who can uphold the highest standards of service for
the masters of the house. He excoriates the staff for their flippant
conversation when Matthew is named as Lord Granthams’ heir (Matthew is middle-class
and unfamiliar with the way a high house functions). During the Great War, when
many of the servants have been called into military service, Carson takes on
many roles that would otherwise be beneath his dignity – but he does them
himself so that nothing gets left undone. In the midst of the chaos of
converting Downton Abbey in to a convalescent ward, Carson is seen using a
ruler to measure the exact distance between the knife and fork on the dinner
table. For him, it when all else is flying into bedlam that his job is most
important: keeping life at Downton stable, dignified, predictable.
In
season one, it is revealed that Carson used to be a vaudevillian. His role at
Downton might be seen as less enticing to many, but Carson sees his role of
service as a high calling and desires nothing else than to make Downton run
smoothly. He defines his worth and dignity upon his ability to provide for the
Crawleys’ the best service he can provide, and he demands that of all who work
for him.
We live in a culture that tries to define our power and
dignity upon the ability to exert power over others. We live in a time when it
is difficult for us to imaging that serving as a butler or maid is not in some
way demeaning. We want to be masters, not servants. We want to sit at the
breakfast table and have our coffee and crumpets served to us. I, and I think
many others, would find it stifling and odd to stand to side just waiting to be
called upon.
In
this context, I find it particularly challenging that Jesus defines his worth and
ministry on just that kind of existence: “ the Human One didn’t come to be served but rather to serve.” Jesus acts this position out in John’s
Gospel when he strips to the waste and washes his followers’ feet. I wonder if
this is why we find someone like Mother Theresa so compelling: her habit was to
serve the poor and dying of Calcutta. She desired service more than honors.
Can we learn from those at
Downton Abbey how to become true servants in the Urban Abbey? In the cloistered communities, they
covenanted with each other to serve Christ in each other and in the stranger.
To be sure, they were human beings and as such that covenant got lived out
imperfectly and unequally. But the calling of Christ remains just as
undiminished. When Jesus instructs his followers to love one another as he has
loved them, it could just as well be translated that we are to serve one
another just as we have been served by Christ. As 21st Century
Christians, we are still called to be the butlers, maids, and chauffeurs of the
world.
The Servant Song (“won’t you let me be your servant…”) comes
to mind. As does the Covent Prayer attributed to Joh Wesley:
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and
disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
I am challenged by this. I enjoy
the privileges afforded to me as a middle-class (now used as a positive term!)
white North American male. All of those descriptors speak of things that I take
for granted: I earn a decent amount of money; I am rarely (if ever) challenged
because of race; I am imputed some basic authority because of my gender (even
in this day and age). I define my worth by my ability to act and accomplish as
a self-actualized individual. I do not want to be distracted by a conversation
on the merits or evils of slavery, but I believe Jesus chose that word
carefully when he told us that the first must be last and slave of all. Slave
says something about status that is even less than servant. How am I in
Scottsdale serving the poorest of the world? How can we shift our worth and
dignity from our paychecks and status symbols into aprons and towels and
basins?
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