Did you know that today is National Waitstaff Appreciation Day?

Just for a minute, think about all the people who serve you food and drinks: the barista that remembers just how you like your incredibly complicated coffee drink, the server at the sandwich spot who helps sort out all your large group orders, the front-of-house Pizza Ranch team member who asks about the Buffet Your Way. 

This hits home a bit, right? Our Ranches may not technically have waiters/waitresses in the traditional sense, but we do have an entire fleet of folks across the mid-west working hard to serve with excellence and give our guests a legendary experience. 

Service isn’t sexy. It’s not fun or glamorous. Oftentimes, those who serve us are underappreciated, overlooked, and overworked. Unfortunately, our world is not naturally bent toward servanthood. But Jesus came and showed us something different…

John 13 (NLT)

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

13 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.[a] 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas,[b] son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” 9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” 10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet,[c] to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

Like Jesus, how can we “wash the feet” of those around us?

To those being served: Imagine how you’d act if Jesus was making your coffee.

To those serving: Imagine you’re the closest thing to Jesus that someone experiences today as they order a ridiculously complicated pizza. 

Matthew 20:25-28 (NLT)

 25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

One of our key business drivers and focus this week is “Service from the Heart”.

It is as simple as always having a smile, a please and thank you at the ready. It’s about perceiving and meeting our guests’ needs and desires before they need to ask us. But above all, its providing the genuine warmth and love you’ve come to expect from family.

This calling is for all of us.

Support Center team, we have the amazing opportunity to truly serve and support all those in our restaurants; and each other.

And to our restaurant team-members, possibly listening on Zoom today, I want to take a moment to say Happy National Waitstaff Appreciation Day. I want to bless you! You are not overlooked or forgotten. Chin up! Keep the faith! May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. Thank you for showing up and serving with a smile. We are cheering you on! All of us at the Support Center couldn’t do what we do, without you!

To end, a liturgy or prayer from a book called “Every Moment Holy” These prayers have helped center my heart in the mundane and invite the Holy Spirit into my every day. This one is around restaurant service… 

Give grace this day, O Lord. I will probably need it. For my work here has taught me that people can be unkind.

Some customers will receive my services gratefully, engaging me with cheerful friendliness and making a point to show their thankfulness. What a joy it is to serve them!

But others will make my day difficult, going out of their ways to be punitive and demeaning, meeting any kindness with rebuff, treating me like an object, taking out on me whatever frustrations or disappointments gnaw at their own hearts. Give me grace to serve them, O God!

Let my services to all customers in this upcoming shift be rendered as conscious acts of love to you, O Lord, without regard for their varied responses, and without expectations of their praise.

Give me your grace to lavish upon even the ruse and ungrateful, that I would learn to imitate your constant mercies and your prodigal love relentlessly extended even to my own inconstant heart, O my King.

Let me serve joyfully, knowing that every act of service offered in your name is received by you and will have its eternal reward – even those acts of kindness offered to ungrateful customers in my restaurant. 

So let me see today, O Lord, how your eternity intersects my service here.

No receive these, my acts of worship. Amen.