Thursday 3-24-16

St Barnabas, Norwich VT

Sermon by Rev Jennie M Anderson

Lord, make us stewards of ourselves, that we may be servants of others. Take my words and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, take our hearts and set them on fire, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.  Good morning!  Welcome! 

Fred Rogers once said, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world." — Fred Rogers

Maundy Thursday… This was the last meal Jesus would share with his beloved disciples. He was grateful yet he was so afraid. He asked for his brothers to watch with him for one hour tonight.  Will you watch with him this night?

Foot Washing:
Who would not wash the foot of the other
If we knew.
If we had the chance to take holy water,
Pour it over worn soles
Rub them and Towel them dry.
If we had the chance to show our love
Kneeling at the foot of
Holiness in the Other.
Would we not rush to the
Water?

We hold two stories about this night in our Christian tradition.  We remember the last supper in the three gospels, Matthew Mark and Luke.  When Jesus calls us to share in the Passover Seder only with a new reason for the remembrances… We are called to remember him, and not just his life of ministry, the healing and caring he did for the people, not just the vision of God’s justice and peace available to all who believe in him, but in the vision of the eve of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice… giving up his life for us.

There are a lot of deep and complicated and multi-layered explanations for Jesus’ death.  The truth is though, he simply offered himself to die in place of those who followed him as a means of giving up the only thing any of us really have to offer for another, his life… our lives… this offering of his life for another is the most radical thing we ever do and Jesus was one who did it… he gave himself over to the authorities, removing himself from his followers and yet… he offered us a way to remember him in the last supper that he gave to us.  Each and every Sunday, we celebrate this gift of life in Holy Communion and tonight, we will do this in a state of anamnesis – recreated from deep memory to make the actions we do alive again…  

In John’s gospel, our mandate, which comes from the term Maundy as in Maundy Thursday, our mandate is to care for one another in very dear and intimate ways.  We are instructed by Jesus to offer this deep and humbling act of love to one another… we are instructed to wash one another’s feet.  We are called to act in this way, to exchange our vulnerabilities with each other and offer our feet to the other to be washed.  For those of you who get “skeeved out” by this… rest assured that the apostles did too… especially Peter… The response to Peter is as Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." That’s a pretty harsh rebuke for one who has loved Jesus and followed him so faithfully.  So, in response to that rebuke, Peter says, “ok my hands and head as well…” But Jesus says, your body is clean, only your feet are vulnerable and get this special treatment… and yet,… this is all to not only tell us something but to show us!  Jesus is showing us how to show others that we do love one another as he has loved us!  He says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

A couple summers ago I went up to Vermont to help my son Dylan and his wife as they delivered their first baby, my grandson.  I went up to be with them, to stay at their house while they were in the hospital and give them my skill in the remodeling of their place to finish getting ready for the new baby boy to come home.  When they came home, I was just finishing up … still on my hands and knees washing the floors… they had no mop but they had plenty of rags and good soap and so I set aside a couple hours in the last part of the day to do this chore… and it had been a long time since I was on my knees scrubbing a floor… I couldn’t help but think about this story though… that… maybe a step removed… I was offering my love, showing my love, to scrub and wash the floor on which my grandson would likely take his first steps… with his two little feet…  When my son pushed open the door just as I was finishing, he said, “mom!  What are you doing down on the floor like that?”  He kind of sounded like I imagine Peter sounded to Jesus… like, “No way… that’s just not right!”  But it is right, it is how we show our love for one another… it isn’t just that we have love for one another, it is that we demonstrate that love.  We do things for each other, and on behalf of those who we don’t even know yet… Jesus said, “Everyone will know us… by what we do about our love for one another…” Love is a verb, an action work… we can act our way into new thinking way better than we can think our way into new actions… 

These acts of love are heartbreaking and keep our hearts soft, vulnerable, strong and able to keep on beating.  The act of giving, doing, loving one another is how we show that we love Jesus.  It is almost painfully beautiful and as acts of sacrificial love most often are, they bring tears to my eyes and pain to my heart.  I can almost hear my heart breaking… like the sound of the bread snapping as it is broken for us at the Eucharist… washing, holding, touching, blessing, breaking, giving, anointing, hugging, handshaking, embracing, and offering the kiss of peace.  Intimate, generous, vulnerable gifts of love that show that we are his disciples…

Foot Washing:
Who would not wash the foot of the other
If we knew.
If we had the chance to take holy water,
Pour it over worn soles
Rub them and Towel them dry.
If we had the chance to show our love
Kneeling at the foot of
Holiness in the Other.
Would we not rush to the
Water?

Let us pray. We exult in your love, O God of the living, for you made the tomb of death the womb from which you brought forth your Son, the first-born of a new creation, and you anointed the universe with the fragrant Spirit of his resurrection. Make us joyful witness to this good news, that all humanity may one day gather at the feast of new life in the kingdom where you reign for ever and ever. Amen.