Taylor Swift is a 33 year old musical artist whose net worth is about $740 Million USD. She just released a movie about her concert tour and has grossed over $178 Million USD just since October 11, 2023.   Her concerts are so massive, she has over 50 semi-trucks carrying her Stage, Equipment, and Sets from town to town.

She is now dating an NFL football player and she goes to the games to watch her boyfriend play.  She is so popular that, in her first game watching, the TV showed her in the stands almost as much as they did the game. 

So, I ask again, what can a rich, popular, singer teach us about service?  I mean, she doesn’t have to lift a finger for the rest of her life if she doesn’t want to.  She doesn’t even have to pay people to serve her if she doesn’t want to.  I am sure that thousands would become her personal servant for free if they were asked.

It turns out that she doesn’t fit the rich girl stereotype. At a recent game, as she watched from a private booth with a few close friends and relatives, she got up and started cleaning up used plates and cups.  Let that sink in.  She could have easily left that job to someone else, anyone else.  She could have assumed that staff would come by and clean up the place.  She could have thought that she was too good to do something so lowly as picking up someone else’s dirty dishes.  And yet, she saw a need and she gave of her time and energy to make her surroundings a better place. 

I don’t listen to Taylor Swift’s music (nor am I recommending that anyone should) and I don’t know what kind of person she really is on the inside, but I do know that in this instance, she showed an unselfish concern for the wellbeing of others. 

Some scriptures pop into my mind:

Galatians 6:2-3  Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  For if anyone thinks himself [or herself]  to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. [We are all nothing, compared to Christ and our Heavenly Father].

Romans 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Taylor Swift is rich and has many thousands of fans willing to do anything for her.  But she is willing to get her hands dirty doing the most menial of tasks.  What are you willing to do to serve the members of your congregation?

We are the United Church of God, with local Sabbath-keeping congregations in both Ft Worth and Dallas.