Putting the 'M' in Maundy

        Before the Festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.        Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God.4 So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing.        After he washed the disciples’ feet, he put on his robes and returned to his place at the table. He said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you?  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am.  If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do.  I assure you, servants aren’t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them.  Since you know these things, you will be happy if you do them.        “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.  This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”

John 13:1-5, 12-17, 34-35

The prophets called them “beautiful,” at least when they belonged to those who brought good news. Beautiful feet?!? We hear of folks having great legs, or beautiful hair, or stunning eyes; but when have we ever heard of someone with beautiful feet?

Most feet are not only funny looking, they are also crooked, ugly, and sometimes even smelly. So just imagine washing someone’s feet—to peel off the mud and dirt that was caked onto their heels, and maybe between their toes!

It’s not very inviting, is it? It’s understandable why that particular job—always fell to the lowest servant of a household, to the “last hired, first fired,” the person with no seniority.

On his last night on Earth, that’s exactly what Jesus did. He got up during the meal, wrapped a towel around his waist, got down on his knees, and began to wash the feet of his disciples. It was so unexpected, so “un-Lord-like,” that when Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter crossed his arms and said rather emphatically, “You will never wash my feet.” Because in Peter’s mind, washing feet was clearly not the kind of thing Jesus ought to be doing.
But Jesus took on the servant’s role anyway. So why did he do it? Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, not because he had to, but because “he loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.” 

That’s a hard task indeed for many of us. We can put up with folks for a while. But loving someone “fully”? That’s a different matter. When we don’t get any affirmation from our relationship or when another person is spiteful toward us, it’s tempting to just give up on them. We could understand it if Jesus, who “knew that his time had come to leave this world,” had been just a little distracted on that evening with what was about to happen to him. He didn’t really have time to put up with the petty arguments of his disciples, who were still fighting about who was going to sit in the places of honor at the meal. Who would have blamed Jesus, had he told them to just “be silent and sit down”?

But he didn’t. Instead, Jesus simply got up and took the servant’s role and washed their feet. Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that real love and real faith, and especially real leadership, means one thing and one thing only: it means serving… 

Even two thousand years later, nothing really has changed about what real love is, and how Jesus calls us to manifest it to others. Indeed, if you want to follow Jesus, the simple truth is that the line starts at the rear. Jesus said “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.” And that novum mandatum is the expression from where the term “Maundy Thursday” comes. 

If we want to know just what following Christ means, the mandate makes it clear: it means being willing to serve others, even if not just their feet, but their whole manner of being makes them genuine stinkers. 

Because it is by this that everyone will know that we are truly Christ’s disciples. Indeed, people will recognize that we are sincere in this whole faith business only if we actually love one another. So are we keeping Christ’s mandate to truly love those around us?

To be sure, feet may not be very glamorous. But they can say a lot about who is here to be served and who has come to serve. What’s more, as the prophet of old once told us, our feet can even be beautiful if they belong to those who bring good news. 

        Let us hear the call of our Savior speak through the centuries:“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” 

Grace and Peace,

The Joy of Holy Humor Truly Last final update

There’s a season for everything    

and a time for every matter under the heavens:     

a time for giving birth and a time for dying,    

a time for planting                                                                

and a time for uprooting what was planted,  

a time for killing and a time for healing,    

a time for tearing down and a time for building up,  

a time for crying and a time for laughing...

    

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4a

             A preacher's little boy inquired, "Daddy, I notice every Sunday morning when you first come out to preach, you sit up on the platform and bow your head. What are you doing?" 
             The father explained, "I'm asking the Lord to give me a good sermon." 
             The little boy said, "Why don't he?" 

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"This isn’t the time or the place for that!"  I’ve heard this phrase wielded countless times about what is and is not appropriate for worship. We all agree, it seems, that there is a time for dying to self, time for uprooting sin, a time for tearing down defenses, a time for crying, a time for mourning, a time for avoiding embraces, a time for tearing our hearts (not our clothes), a and a time for hating evil.

                Season of Lent is there to help us to focus on these things.  But unfortunately, we get stuck at times.  We take ourselves quite seriously to the point that we miss the reason for giving up so much.  There is a reason that we take up our cross; it’s because we were meant to be emptied so that God might fill us with something different – with joy.  God wants our lives to be filled with, well, life. We are to be as faithful to the delight that God wants to share with us as to the guilt of our sin.  Let's not neglect these other parts of the scripture…for there are also times for giving birth, planting, building up, for repairing, for healing, for embracing, for dancing, for laughing, and for loving.
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http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/multimedia/cartoons/

The Reverend Billy Graham tells of a time early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. 

When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven." "I don't think I'll be there," the boy said. "You don't even know your way to the post office."

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One day God was looking down to earth and saw all of the evil that was going on and decided to send an angel down to earth to check it out.  so God sent an angel to earth for a time. When the angel returned it told God, "yes it is bad on earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good."

Well, God thought for a moment and said “maybe I had better send down a second angel just in case.” So God sent a second angel to earth for a time. This angel returned to God and said “yes the earth was in decline, 95% was bad and 5% was good.”

http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/multimedia/cartoons/

God said this was not good and decided to send a letter to the 5% that were good and encourage them, something to help them keep going. Do you know what that letter said?






Oh, you didn't get one either?!

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There once was an Illinois man who left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. 

When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. 

Unfortunately, he missed one letter, and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife, whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fainted to the floor.

At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen: 

"Dearest Wife, 
          Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow. 

Signed, 
Your eternally loving husband. 

P.S. Sure is hot down here."

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Edited from H.A. Williams' book Tensions:
No wonder the Pharisees, who seem to have been always wholly serious, had to have Jesus put down. He made their piety look ridiculous.

Who in reality had ever witnessed a pious man blowing a trumpet before he put a dollar in the offering plate? And then there were camels going through the eyes of needles, not to mention camels being swallowed easily by those who choked when they swallowed a gnat.

And worse: idlers who were given full pay, stewards who were successful cheats, wicked sons being distinguished on their return home - what had all this nonsense have to do with religion?

…but Eternity had the last laugh after all. Here are Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod and all theirs, have done their duty getting rid of a dangerous fool. He is safely dead. Now they can concentrate on the serious matters to which their lives are dedicated.

But behind their backs,  the fool has popped up again like a Jack-in-the-box and is dancing about even more vigorously than before. People here, there and everywhere are falling under his spell…

If that isn't funny, nothing is. The resurrection is the supreme, the

final, the ultimate joke. And since laughter is highly contagious, perhaps even the hardest heart will in time catch the disease, turn around, see the joke, and then laugh with the rest of creation because the kingdom of God has drawn near."
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          There was a Christian lady who lived next door to an atheist. Every day, when the lady prayed, the atheist guy could hear her. He thought to himself, "She sure is crazy, praying all the time like that. Doesn't she know there isn't a God?"

          Many times while she was praying, he would go to her house and harass her, saying "Lady, why do you pray all the time? Don't you know there is no God?" But she kept on praying.

http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/multimedia/cartoons/

          One day, she ran out of groceries. As usual, she was praying to the Lord explaining her situation and thanking Him for what He was gonna do. As usual, the atheist heard her praying and thought to himself, "Humph! I'll fix her."
          He went to the grocery store, bought a whole bunch of groceries, took them to her house, dropped them off on the front porch, rang the door bell and then hid in the bushes to see what she would do. When she opened the door and saw the groceries, she began to praise the Lord with all her heart, jumping, singing and shouting everywhere! The atheist then jumped out of the bushes and told her, "You ol' crazy lady, God didn't buy you those groceries, I bought those groceries!" At hearing this, she broke out and started running down the street, shouting and praising the Lord.
          When he finally caught her, he asked what her problem was. She said, "I knew the Lord would provide me with some groceries, but I didn't know he was gonna make the devil pay for them!" 

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The child and his mother:

              A curious child asked his mother: “Mommy, why are some of your hairs turning grey?”

             The mother tried to use this occasion to teach her child: “It is because of you, dear. Every bad action of yours will turn one of my hairs grey!”

             The child replied innocently: “Now I know why grandmother has only grey hairs on her head.”

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http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/multimedia/cartoons/

There was a terrible blizzard and it was snowing and snowing all weekend. Sunday morning came and the Pastor saw that the snow had reached his window. He didn't think anyone would be coming to church this morning, but he felt obliged to go anyway. The pastor fought his way through the icy wind and snow to get next door to the church. He waited in the sanctuary, reading, for ten minutes. He was about to go when the door opened, and a man staggered through. 

" Hello!" said the pastor. "Church will have to be cancelled today. You're the only one who has come."

The man replied, "Reverend, if you had a big herd of sheep, and only one came home that night to feed, would you still feed him?" 

The pastor was amazed and cried, "Yes! I would!" He then was filled with the spirit, and decided to preach the best sermon ever. He talked and talked about all of life's trials and joys. He referred to passages from Genesis to Job, Psalms to John, Acts to Revelation. He did so with profound excitement and conviction. This went on for a long time. 

After the minister had come to his final conclusion, he went down and talked to the other man. " Did that satisfy you, sir?" he asked happily. 

The man replied, "Reverend, if you had a herd of sheep and only one came home that night to feed, would you make sure he ate the whole bale of hay!?"
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A young woman teacher with obvious liberal tendencies explains to her class of small children that she is an atheist. She asks her class if they are atheists too. Not really knowing what atheism is, but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy fireworks. There is, however, one exception. A girl named Lucy has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. 

"Because I'm not an atheist." 

"Then," asks the teacher, "What are you?"

"I'm a Christian."

The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Lucy why she is a Christian. 

"Well, I was brought up knowing and loving Jesus. My mom is a Christian, and my dad is a Christian, so I am a Christian."

The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly. "What if your mom was a moron, and you dad was a moron. What would you be then?"


A pause, and a smile. "Then," says Lucy, "I'd be an atheist!"

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  One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God. They picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him. 

The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and get lost."

God listened patiently and kindly to the man and, after the scientist was done talking, God said, "Very well! How about this? Let's have a man-making contest."

To which the man replied, "OK, great!"

But God added, "Now we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam."

The scientist said, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.

God just looked at him and said, "No, no, no. You go get your own dirt!"  

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An elderly pastor was searching his closet for his collar before church one Sunday morning. In the back of the closet, he found a small box containing 3 eggs and 250 $1 bills. 

He called his wife into the closet to ask her about the box and its contents. Embarrassed, she admitted having hidden the box there for their entire 30 years of marriage. Disappointed and hurt, the pastor asked her, "WHY?" 

http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/multimedia/cartoons/

The wife replied that she hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings. He asked her how the box could have hurt his feelings. She said that every time during their marriage that he had delivered a poor sermon, she had placed an egg in the box. 

The pastor felt that 3 poor sermons in 30 years was certainly nothing to feel bad about, so he asked her what the $250 was for. 

She replied, "Each time I got a dozen eggs, I sold them to the neighbors for $1." 

          

Filling in the "Gaps"

          When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”

John 19:26

Here is something I shared yesterday at the Community Good Friday service at Holy Cross Catholic Church here in Pickens:

We live in a busy world.  How many of us constantly scramble trying to keep pace with the unrealistic demands we place on ourselves? Everyday stuff becomes urgent and consumes us to the point that there is no room for anything, or anyone, else.

Why are we then surprised when difficulties and struggles come that we find our lives going from busy to frantic? We fill in every gap with activity as we try to patch the pain and ease the hurt we experience.

Someone I visited this week shared with me, “I had my plans of what I hoped to do [before getting sick], but now there’s just a great big gap.”

“It’s true,” I nodded, “and you know what I have learned about those gaps? It’s in those unplanned times in my life that God draws near, speaks to me and uses me the most.”

As Jesus suffered on the cross, he was struggling for breath and feeling the tear of the nails in his hands and feet. His back scraped open wounds across a coarse wooden beam. If anyone had a right to be focused on their own pain and suffering, it was Jesus. Who would blame him? 

Instead, Christ models the love of others he taught his disciples.  He sees Mary’s hurt and pain through the drops of blood that traced his face.  He shows an ultimate concern for her even as he draws nearer to death. “Woman, behold your son.” These words breathed by our Savior show that he never lost sight of others in his darkest hours. He knew that Mary needed the comforting assurance that she would not be alone even after Jesus was gone.

“Love one another as I have loved you,” says Jesus. May we take pause – especially when our days are busy and difficult -- so that we might embrace the ‘gaps’ of life.  Even when things are not going as we planned, may we take every opportunity to show love to others as Christ has loved us.

Grace and Peace,

Jesus Leads the Way

I have often wondered about the story of Palm Sunday -- how Jesus rode into Jerusalem knowing that he would willingly lay down his life for us.  But what if he had been the Messiah that many Jews sought so many years ago?  How might things have been different?

In another bog, Brian McLaren imagines how the scene might have appeared:

"For days, Jesus and his disciples meet secretly outside Jerusalem. They plan where their weapons will be stored, where horses will be waiting, where various militia will assemble and wait until they receive the word to strike. They also organize crowds to hit the streets at just the right moment to create intimidation, distraction, and fear in the Romans and all those in Jerusalem who collaborate with them. "Operation Sacred Vengeance" is about to begin. 

Then on Palm Sunday, Jesus mounts a white horse. He is carrying a huge sword, but has it hidden in a palm branch. His disciples are similarly well-armed with swords, daggers, and shields, all camouflaged behind palm branches. They are mounted on warhorses, prepared for battle. The word goes out and the crowds assemble. In each man's right hand is a sword or dagger raised to the sky, concealed beneath in a palm frond or coat. Each left hand is raised in a fist. Younger men and boys carry concealed torches, ready to light them, march on the city, and create mayhem when the battle begins. "Hosanna!" the people shout. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord to execute vengeance on our enemies!" 

Word spreads and people stream out from the city to welcome the freedom fighters. 

As they cross the brow of the hill near Bethany and the city comes into view, Jesus gives a rousing speech. "It is wrong for the heathen idolators to have power over the faithful people of God!" he shouts. "That wrong must end today! We have suffered enough. Now we will make our persecutors suffer!" The people cheer and chant, "Victory! Victory! Crush the Romans! Kill the collaborators!" 

"Who is with me in our holy cause?" Jesus asks. The crowds shout, "We are!" in a roar that echoes across the valley into the streets of Jerusalem. "Who is willing to fight to the death and avenge the blood of our ancestors?" Again the crowds shout, "We are!" "And who will shed a gallon of Roman blood for every drop of our blood that is shed?" Again the crowd erupts. Then the branches and coats are thrown to the ground and blades glisten in the sun.
The Pharisees hastily interrupt, nervous now that bold words are brimming over into action. "Shouldn't we wait a little longer until we have more weapons and troops? Some of our advisors think this battle is premature." "Are we trying to be Goliath, or are we David?" Jesus asks defiantly. "Those who live by restraint will die by restraint. Now is the time. Now is the day of annihilation for our enemies. 

And so the battle for Jerusalem begins." 

http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/palm-sunday-2011-end-of-violence.html

What would we think of our Savior had he come in such a way?  How does it make our lives and our faith different that he comes --not to kill, but to die?

How many times, in the name of Jesus, have we seen people launch vicious campaigns against others?  How many times have we seen the righteous headed into battle in order to uphold God's word?

If God's Word came as a Suffering Servant, shouldn't we follow Jesus as he leads our way?  If we get angry with someone different from us, hasn't Jesus found us as guilty as a murderer? or if we call someone of another viewpoint an idiot or a fool, do we not fall under judgement? (Matthew 5:22)  Jesus leads the self righteous in quite a different path when he says, 

         “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well. When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. When they force you to go one mile, go with them two. Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you.          “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.

Matthew 5:38-48 Common English Bible, 2012)

I wonder what our society would be like if we let Jesus lead the way -- if we approached those different from us
     ... headed to the cross instead of headed to crucify
     ...willing to sacrifice instead of ready to strike
     ...seeking to love instead of seething and loathing
     ...turning the other cheek instead of being cheeky in return

Unless Christians let Jesus lead the way, I am afraid that we may never know.

May the One who rode into town that he might die grant us

Grace and Peace,

Preview for May 13, 2011 sermon

Here is an excerpt from Phillip Yancey's book  What's So Amazing About Grace?

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods' appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."

          After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, and the Muslim code of law -- each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.

          Aware of our inbuilt resistance to grace, Jesus talked about it often. He described a world suffused with God's grace: where the sun shines on people good and bad; where birds gather seeds gratis, neither plowing nor harvesting to earn them; where untended wildflowers burst into bloom on the rocky hillsides. Like a visitor from a foreign country who notices what the natives overlook, Jesus saw grace everywhere. Yet he never analyzed or defined grace, and almost never used the word. Instead, he communicated grace through stories we know as parables.

          -Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 45.

Enjoy God's beautiful gift of grace in Jesus Christ!

Careful of Our Compasses

I found this great story on a website while doing some research for sermons.

It was April and the Aboriginals in a remote part of Northern Australia asked their new Elder if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Elder in a modern community he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn’t tell what the winter was going to be like.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the tribe should collect firewood to be prepared. But being a practical leader, after several days he had an idea. He walked out to the telephone booth on the highway, called the Bureau of Meteorology and asked, ‘Is the coming winter in this area going to be cold?’

The meteorologist responded, ‘It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold.’

So the Elder went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.

Conscientiously, a week later the Elder called the Bureau of Meteorology again. ‘Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?’

The meteorologist again replied, ‘Yes, it’s going to be a very cold winter.’

The Elder again went back to his community and advised them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later the Elder called the Bureau again. ‘Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely,’ the man replied. ‘It’s looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters ever.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ the Elder asked.

The weatherman replied, ‘Our satellites have reported that the Aboriginals in the north are collecting firewood like crazy, and that’s always a sure sign.’

--http://sustainablelivingwise.com/forecasting-weather-patterns/

Even though the point seems rather obvious, I have been thinking about the implications of this story. In life, we sometimes are unsure about our way. We don't know where we want to be long term. We are not clear about what we might want the future to bring; so, we look for signs all around us that would indicate where we might go from here.

Some signs point us toward more prestigious jobs, fancier cars, a new group of friends, a particular brand of clothes, the list goes on and on...We judge the success of others by their appearances, and expect that others will do the same for us.

One day near the end of last year, I was playing with a compass in my office. As I held it on a flat surface I had nearby, I noticed that it was pointing the wrong way for "north." Then it dawned on me. In my "infinite wisdom," I was using one of those note pads that attach to the refridgerator -- by a magnet. Of course, the pull from the magnet was causing the compass to be unable to see true north. Instead it simply pointed to the closest thing that attracted it.

During the season of Lent, we take time to be careful of our compasses. We check to make sure that our lives are pointing -- not to the nearest fad or fancy -- but to our "True North" in Jesus Christ. He alone can guide us. He alone can steer us through the obstacles of life. He alone is worthy of having everything directed by and toward Him.

May we lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us and run with endurance the race that is set before us. [Hebrews 12:2]