The Apparent Failure of the Cross

In the last analysis, the service the Christian
does is not his [hers, etc.], but Christ's.
Therefore he must not feel too keenly the burden
of responsibility, because at the end of the day
all he can say is, "We are unprofitable servants."
This knowledge, far from inhibiting action,
actually releases the Christian from that appalling
feeling of responsibility that has driven so many
high-minded humanists to despair, even to suicide...
Work done conscientiously by the Christian is
his share in Christ's service; but it is Christ's
service, and therefore the Christian need neither
be proud because it has succeeded or overwhelmed
because it has failed. The service of Christ is
supremely expressed in the apparent failure of
the Cross.
- Anthony T. Hanson (1916-1991),
The Church of the Servant