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All of us are on a journey of faith in our lives. At Faith Lutheran in Okemos, Michigan we bring people one a journey of faith each week and share that journey with the world.
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Now displaying: April, 2021
Apr 25, 2021

This past Thursday was Earth Day, and for people worldwide who are part of the environmental movement, it was and continues to be not only a time for reflection on the goodness of creation but also the many ways in which we have abused the good creation we have been given.  And, for the church, it’s the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Easter is the season throughout which the church is continually reminded of the resurrection of Jesus. All our Bible readings throughout this season focus on new life – the Easter life – that God promises for the whole cosmos.

Again, on this past Earth Day, environmentalists have reminded us that plastic waste continues to kill ocean life, our planet’s ice is melting even faster than we thought, climate change is bringing more and greater disasters each year for which we inevitably find humanity unprepared, and species from snails to bats to lizards have been declared extinct, never to be seen on Earth again.

As we think about these things, just listen to a version of Psalm 23, written by jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin and dedicated to his mother:

The Lord is my shepherd
I have all I need
She makes me lie down in green meadows
Beside the still waters she will lead
She restores my soul
She rights my wrongs
She leads me in a path of good things
And fills my heart with songs
Even though I walk through a dark and dreary land

There is nothing that can shake me
She has said she won’t forsake me,
I’m in her hand
She sets a table before me
In the presence of my foes
She anoints my head with oil
And my cup overflows
Surely, surely goodness and kindness will follow me
All the days of my life
And I will live in her house forever
Forever and ever.

 

 We cannot help but hear in this Psalm promises of green earth and clean water, the promise of abundant food and wine and oil, and the promise that this planet is made for goodness, and for mercy, and for home, our home and the home of all living things.

The psalmist writes famously “The Lord is my shepherd.” And centuries later, the writer of the gospel of John attributes the same imagery to Jesus when we hear Jesus say, “I am the good shepherd.” These images of shepherd and sheep show up a lot in the Bible, and the imagery can be complicated.  It’s complicated in part because most of us don’t have a ton of direct experience with the practice of sheep-keeping. But more than that, shepherding can get sentimentalized into this sort of mushy idea of a Jesus who’s just super wise and gentle, with soft hair flowing in the breeze and a gentle beam of sunlight on his dark skin.

Yet, we know that Jesus is many things.  The gospels tell us that Jesus is not only gentle but also fierce, Jesus is bold, and at times offensive. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd,” but we also call Jesus the “Lamb.” The imagery is messy and complex.

Truthfully, we’re not the first ones to idealize shepherding – by the time Jesus lived on earth, shepherding was actually no longer the central economic practice.  However, there was this collective memory of a time when nomadic ancestors roamed the countryside and kept sheep as a source of life. The ancestral connection to sheep and shepherding carried over so that when the people wanted to talk about leadership, someone who was responsible for the well-being of a group, it made sense to talk about shepherds. Throughout the ancient near east, kings and deities are compared to shepherds, and the royal scepter is said to have evolved from the shepherd’s crook.

Jesus reminds us there are many different kinds of shepherds. It wouldn’t have been hard for the hearers of John’s gospel to imagine what Jesus meant in today’s reading when he talked about the hired hand.  From what Jesus say about the hired hand, we can picture this person as a quasi-leader who sort of acts like he or she cares for the flock, but then as soon as things get serious, it becomes clear that leader was actually only in it for the money!   This is the kind of leader who doesn’t have any sense of care or common belonging with the flock but leaves the flock to be hurt by the forces of evil and death. That kind of leadership isn’t hard to imagine because we’ve experienced it.  Sometimes, it is harder to imagine what it would look like for world leaders, or people in positions of authority, to be good, wholesome, ethical people who truly care about and for all people. So, the gospel of John provides us this image of the model shepherd:

  • Someone who would risk personal harm for the sake of the group’s well-being.
  • Someone who belongs to the flock, and the flock belong to him or her.
  • Someone who loves and takes care of the sheep.
  • Someone who notices the other sheep also, and is always gathering the “others” in.

 

Friends, good shepherds are good not because they have some special skills that the hired hand doesn’t, but because of relationship. The reason good shepherds don’t sell out is because they are connected by this deep mutual knowledge, creature to creature, that each one’s life only makes sense when we’re all safe.

As we continue to think about this earth, care of the earth, and Jesus saying that he is the Good Shepherd, make no mistake; God is not only the good shepherd of human earth-creatures. God is also shepherd of literal sheep and all living creatures, including the earth itself!  God is shepherd of the mountain goats, and of the snails, bats, and lizards, and God is shepherd of the green pastures, and of the still waters and all their insects, and of the ice caps and the atmosphere. That is the way that God relates to each created thing in the cosmos, with deep knowledge of our wild creatureliness, with deep care for our well-being, and no creature is left out of that care.

Throughout the Easter season, we continue to learn more each day about what it means to trust in God’s abundant new life. Proclaiming that abundant Easter new life is not easy. It’s not simply idealism. It doesn’t mean pretending that the forces of the cross and grave aren’t as real and harsh as we know they still are. Instead, it is a fierce clinging to God’s promise. Proclaiming Easter means insisting week after week that God’s future will not be just a far-off dream, God’s love will not be imprisoned to the realm of word or speech, but God’s future and God’s love will be made real in truth and action.

In an era of scarred landscapes and lead-poisoned water, Easter is green pastures and still waters that feed the body and soul. In the midst of malignant individualism and the far too often violent enforcement of the status quo, Easter is pointing to restoration, mercy, and the way of good things. And, when it becomes difficult to imagine that we might ever emerge alive from the depths of shadow and despair, God shows us a future – not without valleys or wolves – but a future in which we are not alone and never abandoned by the one who is good.

God teaches us that we are beloved, cherished, and invited to God’s cosmic party table overflowing with food and drink for all. When we come to that table, that cosmic table, we begin to notice that we’re not alone anymore, but part of a much bigger flock that stretches out beyond borders and across species to the whole of creation.  God cares for all of creation!  And, that should invite us to work diligently for the care of creation and restoration of creation in all that we do. The Easter message tells us that no longer is abundant life obscured. Now we can perceive clearly the one who is leading us always towards our home, which is abundant, restored life. Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Apr 18, 2021

It seems to me that over the past few years we have faced more than our share of shocking, explosive events.  And, as we again have just seen yet another murder, by a police officer, of an African American man, I simply pray that we take a good look at ourselves as people and address our own issues which are multiple.  Almost all the shocking events that take place in our country are rooted in racism which is truly America’s original sin, and we must face this and work for change.  Shocking, explosive events often bring about change, change to both people and communities, and hopefully they bring about the kind of change that makes for better communities and societies.  Hopefully, we can be the kind of people that work for the kind of transformational, healing change that needs to take place. 

As we continue to celebrate Easter, we gather because of a shocking, explosive event that changed the world, the resurrection of Christ.  In today’s readings we hear about shocking, explosive events.  In our reading from Acts, a shocking event has drawn the people to the temple, a shocking event that centered around healing.  A crippled beggar who was a constant presence at the temple’s Beautiful Gate had been dramatically and unexpectedly healed in the name of Jesus.  In response to this event, an astonished and puzzled throng of Israelite people pack into the area of the temple known as Solomon’s Portico, pressing around Peter and John, the men who seemed to be the source of the miracle.  So, Peter takes this opportunity to give a short sermon about Jesus.  Peter says, “You’ve got it wrong.  Do you really think that it was our power, our clever wisdom that healed this man?  This is not about us.  This is about God.  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the one true healer.”  Peter tells them it was Jesus’ name itself that healed the lame man.  And guess what?   The people do not understand.  Then Peter proceeds to tell them that their public rejection of Jesus before Pilate was the reason Jesus was killed.  Peter is very candid and asks the people to take a close look at themselves.  Peter bluntly declares Jesus was killed because they had rejected him.  And then, after saying this, Peter does something astonishing, I would even say shocking.  Peter communicates the good news of the life-giving grace of God as he lets the Israelites off the hook and says God was in charge all along.  He goes on to bear witness to the Risen Christ.  He bears witness to an Easter world where “the healing and forgiving power of God is as pervasive and present as sunshine and rain.” (Feasting on the Word, p. 410)

Peter bears a powerful witness to the Risen Christ because he, himself, had experienced an astonishing, explosive event, the healing and forgiving power of God’s life-giving, gracious presence.  He, himself, had experienced the major, disruptive, life-changing grace of God when Jesus had let him off the hook. Peter himself had been eastered, as Walter Brueggemann would describe it.  Remember, Peter was the one who had denied Jesus three times and then deserted him during the crucifixion.  And, in today’s gospel reading from Luke, we are told that after the resurrection, Peter and the other disciples lived in fear behind closed doors, afraid that the authorities would come after them.  There had been some strange reports of “Jesus sightings” by the women and those two disciples who had journeyed to Emmaus, but the rest of them still had trouble believing what they had been told.  As we heard last week, they gathered in Jerusalem and remained behind locked doors, immersed in fear while experiencing a gamut of emotions.  They undoubtedly felt guilt, doubt, anxiety, suspicion, distrust, and maybe even terror.  Their leader was dead and his bloody and wounded body was missing!  Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Jesus had appeared in their midst saying, “Peace be with you.”  And, even then, they simply could not believe.  The writer of Luke’s gospel says, “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering….!” 

Well, it had taken more than a simple appearance by Jesus to convince Peter and the other disciples that Jesus was truly alive.  This news was so shocking and explosive they simply could not absorb what had happened.  They had wondered if they were seeing a ghost, so Jesus did something truly astonishing.  Jesus asked them if they had anything to eat.  The writer of Luke seems intent upon making it very clear that the raised Jesus is truly a bodily Jesus.  They offered him a piece of broiled fish and he ate it!  Now, a supposed ghost does not eat food.  Then, the disciples finally realized that this post-resurrection Jesus indeed was flesh and blood and bones!!   This astonishing, explosive event really eastered the disciples, and they were forever changed!

After eating, Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to further understand the scriptures and then commissioned them to proclaim the good news of repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all the nations.  Jesus then told them, “You are witnesses of these things!” 

Through these experiences of the forgiveness and grace shown to them by the risen Lord Jesus, Peter and the others finally believed and understood.  They had been eastered!  Jesus had opened their minds and hearts and, in doing so, set them free from their fear and all that held them captive.   And, released from his fear, Peter began to bear witness to the Risen Christ.  He began to bear witness to the Risen Lord and, as we heard in our reading from Acts, he communicated the same forgiveness and grace that Jesus had given him.  He communicated the grace of the Risen Jesus and people began living into an Easter world.  The people were eastered!

So, I ask you today, what holds you back from bearing such witness?  Is it fear, or guilt, or anger, or a sense of not feeling adequate?  What imprisons you in a locked room?  Have you seen and experienced the Risen Christ in our midst? The Risen Christ is present to each one of us and is saying, “Peace be with you.”  And, God invites each one of us to live into an Easter world, just as he did Peter.  God invites us to be witnesses to all that God is about – God’s intention to bring peace, unity, harmony, love, compassion, grace, justice, and mercy to a world that is so broken and sinful.  Today, I ask that each of us think about what our communal response to Christ’s presence in our lives looks like, both here in this community, and also in the greater world?  Just as Jesus commissioned the disciples, Jesus commissions us to declare the presence and power of God in the depth of not only our brokenness but also the world’s brokenness. 

Christ makes God’s own self known to us in ways that are large and small.  The good news to us is astonishing!  God, in the risen Christ, has defeated death and we do not need to live in fear!  This is explosive, life-giving news!  And, as people of faith, we are each called to bear witness to the Risen Christ.  We are called to be witnesses to Christ’s presence among us, not only through the words we speak, but also through our deeds, through the actions we take and the way we live in relationship to all others, to those who are different from us, to those whose ethnicity is different from ours, to our African American sisters and brothers, to immigrants who come simply seeking safety. To be a witness to the risen Christ is to give our whole lives as evidence. Priest and author Henri Nouwen suggests that at the end of each day we ask ourselves these questions: “Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone's face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love?” “These are the real questions,” Fr. Nouwen writes. “I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.”

Friends, we have been eastered!  We are called to be Easter people.  Our faith demands nothing less.  Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Apr 11, 2021

I love the questions our youth often feel free to ask.  In fact, I wish more adults would feel as free to ask similar questions.  Anyway, on multiple occasions, I have received questions from our young people regarding faith, the life of Jesus, questions about the existence of God, and questions that show they have doubt about many aspects of faith.  I truly encourage these questions because that is how we learn, that is how we grow, and that is how we are taken to new places.  Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, once said, “Live the questions!”  I truly believe that is the best way we learn.  I also believe that as Christians, when we ask questions, we need to be honest about our doubt.  Far too often the church has discouraged doubt.  However, doubt is really a healthy aspect of faith.  In fact, theologian, Paul Tillich, said doubt is a very necessary element of faith.  And, theologian, Frederick Buechner, writes these words about doubt, “Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.  Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.  They keep it awake and moving.” (Wishful Thinking)    In other words, doubt is not only an element of faith, doubt becomes the process through which faith grows and faith is deepened.  Vibrant, living faith is nurtured and born in the mix of a rich environment where we have the freedom to ask questions, voice our doubts, articulate our wonderings about this person we call Jesus, and let go of old even elementary images of God.  For all of us, there is a real need for our old understandings of Jesus and our old understanding of faith to die.  Our old understandings need to be eaten away by doubts so that a new and deeper faith may be born. 

In today’s gospel reading, questions and doubt come to the forefront in the story of Thomas.  However, the truth is that all the disciples were questioning and experiencing doubt.  It is the day of the resurrection and here we find the disciples sitting in a room behind locked doors because of fear, doubt, and quite likely more than a little shame.  They have blown it completely, they are hiding in fear, and they are doubting everything their master had said.  And, what is so fascinating is that, in the gospel of John, when Jesus appears to his disciples after the resurrection, nobody, not one person, initially recognizes him.  Notice in the beginning of today’s reading, the disciples do not recognize him until Jesus shows them his hands and side.  They doubted him!  They doubted it was Jesus!  It is only after Jesus shows them his hands and side that the disciples rejoice because they have seen the Lord.  While the other disciples also doubt, for some strange reason, only Thomas gets labeled “doubter.” 

Far too often we judge Thomas because of his doubt.  We need to cut him some slack and give him a break.  In Thomas we find the yearning of one who desperately wants to see with his eyes and touch with his hands that of which he has been told.  He has real questions, real concerns, and a desire for a real encounter with the risen Lord.  I think the story of Thomas captures our hearts and minds because we, too, were absent to the Resurrection experience two thousand years ago.  When faced with the mystery of the Resurrection, the story of Thomas names that part in each of us that wants to scream out, “Show me!”

Thomas has just had a very harsh encounter with reality.  Reality had hit hard in the form of a cross when his dear friend had been crucified.  And, when he fled that horrible scene, not only had Jesus died, Thomas’ hopes and dreams had also died.  Jesus’ crucifixion had destroyed his hopes for the future and very poignantly reminded him that there is an end.  And, it is the same for us.  When the harsh realities of life hit us – whether it be the death of a family member, the loss of a job, an unexpected illness, a broken relationship, aspects of this pandemic, or whatever – reality deeply cuts into our hopes, our dreams, the very fabric of our relationships, and we are reminded that there is an end.  There is an end over which we have no control as we feel we have been taken captive by an extremely cruel conqueror

The reality that sliced into Thomas’s hopes and dreams left him emotionally bleeding and broken.  As he again joins the community of disciples, within the context of those who proclaim Jesus is alive, Thomas lays bare his doubt.  He is very honest about his doubt as he says, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”  In the depth of his despair Thomas articulates his doubt, and it is in that place where he is now confronted with the risen Christ.  It is in that place of despair that Thomas is greeted by the risen Lord whose presence exudes forgiveness and grace as he hears the words, “Peace be with you.”  In that moment, Thomas knows he is in the presence of God and he believes

Theologian, David Lose, describes the experience of Thomas in this way:

When Thomas is greeted by the forgiveness and grace embodied in the words, “Peace be with you,” he instantly believes and makes the great confession of John’s gospel: “My Lord and my God!”  In a heartbeat Thomas knows that he is in the presence of God, has been saved and redeemed by that God, and that he will never be the same again. 

 

Thomas lays bare his doubt which takes him to this encounter with the grace of God, embodied and enfleshed in the risen Lord Jesus.  Doubt drives him to question and it takes him to this place where he is encountered by the risen Lord and his entire reality is changed.  Wow!!  Did you get that?  Reality itself has changed.  The despairing Thomas does not escape from the real world and there is not a break from the tangible reality of the world.  No.  But, there is something very different, something very, very new.  God’s grace and God’s kingdom have invaded the real world, transformed it and nothing will ever be the same again. 

I think Thomas experiences Easter in the way many of us begin to experience it.  Thomas finally gets Easter when he brings forth his questions. He wants to see and touch. He wants tangible proof and needs his own encounter before he can trust the story.  It is doubt that compels Thomas to ask the questions and it is doubt that takes him to the place where he is looking for what is really real and what truly matters.  You see, without doubt, our faith is shallow and rootless.  We fail to go down deep.  Doubt is a sign of a healthy and deep-rooted faith, though most of us are taught to believe the opposite. And, when doubt takes us to the deeper places in faith our reality changes.  We are transformed and our perspective on all of life changes as we live into a new reality.

This is what Easter is all about and what Easter means for each one of us.  This new reality is a way of life, expressed as we come together to worship and be fed by the very life of the Risen Christ.  We participate in the work of our risen Lord and live into this new reality as we see the hungry in this world and work for change, whether it is by distributing bags of food to Okemos families so they can have an Easter dinner, by filling our micro pantries, or working with the refugees who are living in the Parish House as we help to provide for them a life of hope.  We live this new reality when we intentionally work to end extreme poverty, racism, and work to bring healing and wholeness to the environment and the profound brokenness in this world God so deeply loves.

As the community of faith gathers and we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, voice our doubts and ask our questions, Jesus does appear.  The community of faith is not the place where we have and know all the answers.  It is a place where a searching faith can develop and become authentic and alive.  Such an environment creates the space for an authentic encounter with God as the risen Christ appears.  The story of Thomas, his questions and his doubt, is one of the most compelling, believable, realistic stories in the Bible because it is our story.  Doubt and the questions that arise are the very heartbeat of our faith!   And, the risen Christ is always breaking into our doubt and our questions and working to make us new.  Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Apr 4, 2021

I am sure some of you remember the closing theme song on the PBS show, Lamb Chop’s Play-Along, hosted by puppeteer, Shari Lewis.  It was called “The Song That Never Ends.” Here are the words: “This is a song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend….”  At the end of each episode, the puppets and children would sing several continual verses as the song just keeps repeating and repeating in a loop, while Shari Lewis would try in vain to get them to stop singing.  It really is one of those songs that just kept playing over and over inside your head.  The Song That Never Ends.  Well, today we come to celebrate another song that never ends…the song of joy and of hope, the song of the resurrected Lord.  And, this is a song that keeps repeating in our very being, in our individual lives, and among the body of Christ for the rest of our lives. 

The beginning of the end in Mark’s gospel is very much like the other gospels.  It is early on Sunday morning and the women are headed to the tomb while it is still dark.  In their grief, they are carrying spices to embalm Jesus’ body because they had not been able to do this when he was wrapped in linen and placed in the tomb. On that horrible Friday afternoon of Jesus’ death, the Sabbath was about to begin, and even anointing a body was forbidden work on the Sabbath.  So, the women arrive at the tomb and they are astonished when they discover the massive stone that had blocked the entrance has already been rolled away.  And, equally alarming to them, is the stranger they find in the tomb, a man dressed in white, who tells them, “Do not be afraid.  Jesus, who was crucified, has been raised.  He is not here.  Go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee…just as he told you.”  Well, if the trauma and horror of the past days had not been enough, this stranger now tells them to not be afraid and go back and tell the others Jesus has been raised and will meet them in Galilee!  And, it is here where Mark’s gospel, which by the way was the first gospel to be written, is very different from the other gospels.  Mark’s last words to us are, “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” 

That’s it folks!  That is all we get!  That is all Mark gives us. In fact, the risen Jesus never actually makes an appearance in Mark’s gospel.  We have a resurrection scene without Jesus that seemingly ends in failure. The women not only fail miserably as they leave in terror, they also say absolutely nothing to anyone!   This is quite a cliffhanger to say the least! 

Now, it is true that most of you will find in your Bibles a few additional verses to Mark’s gospel.  However, those additional verses were added a few hundred years later by monks who found Mark’s ending so unsettling and unfinished they had to “fix it.”  Yet, the stark reality and truth we face on this Easter morning is that Mark’s gospel, the first gospel written, concludes by deliberately not concluding!  Theologian, Tom Long, describes this unfinished-ness so well when he says the writer of Mark’s gospel finishes the story of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “by dangling something incomplete and unsatisfying before the reader in the final verse….. Not only does this verse fail to provide proper narrative closure, it also lurches to an awkward grammatical stop because a more literal translation of the Greek would actually read, ‘To no one anything they said; afraid they were for...’  That’s it, folks!  It is almost as if the author of Mark had suddenly been dragged from his writing desk in midsentence.” Mark’s gospel story ends very abruptly, unfinished, and the risen Jesus never appears.

So, why would Mark end his telling of the Jesus story in this manner?  What gives?  What is going on?  Well, Mark was not only a good storyteller, he knew exactly what he was doing.  If we look at the opening verse in Mark’s gospel, Mark 1:1, we find these words, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  The entire gospel of Mark is only the beginning of the story.  Mark uses a cliffhanger to invite us into the story.  Mark’s gospel really ends unfinished because the gospel story is always beginning again, anew for every person, in every time and place.  This open-ended gospel that threatens to end in failure places us where the women left off.  We are invited into the story to go and tell the good news that this person, Jesus of Nazareth, has been raised and is going ahead of us to meet us, just as he promised.  And, did you notice where Jesus is going?  The man in white tells the women Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee!  That is where they will meet him.  Galilee was home, the place where Jesus and the disciples were from, the place where they lived their ordinary day to day lives.  This is significant because, as we hear this story, we are told Jesus will meet us in the ordinary places of life, those places where we spend our day to day lives. 

Joan Mitchell, in her book Beyond Fear and Silence, suggests the three women who left that tomb in terror and silence in Mark’s narrative, bring each of us, the readers and hearers, to our own thresholds of faith, to the limit of words to speak the unspeakable….and to the limit of human experience to trust Who or What is beyond death….the narrative still calls the disciples of each new generation to speak for themselves, and bring the gospel into dialogue with our very lives. (p. 115)

Yes, we are called to bring the gospel Good News into dialogue with our own lives.  That dialogue happens in the depth of human pain and suffering as we discover the crucified, risen Christ is present to us.  That dialogue happens when we find ourselves in the depths of failure, when we fail miserably and discover the crucified, risen Christ is present to us.  That dialogue happens in the depth of the pain of this horrible pandemic, as we have discovered the crucified, risen Christ is present to us!  In the depth of such pain and despair, in the messiness of our own lives, in those places and times when we just do not know what to do, when we have no words to describe the pain, and when we do not know how to go on, we meet the crucified, risen Christ and we discover hope.  Today’s gospel tells us that we meet real hope that is rooted in the love of a very real God who walks with us and meets us in the depth of all the messiness, all the mixed-up-ness, all the joys, all the sorrows and the real “stuff” of our everyday lives.  And, the song of the crucified, risen Christ becomes our song because that unending pattern of dying and rising is the story of our lives.

We live in a world where we like closure and happy endings.  When we read books and see movies, we want closure and happy endings. However, when we finish reading a book with a happy ending, we put it down and simply say, “Great story!”  The gospel of Mark, with its unfinished ending, is very different because you cannot put it down, even if you want to.  The gospel good news is the never-ending story, the never-ending song!  The crucified, risen Christ walks with us as the Jesus story continues to be written in our own lives, and as we joyfully sing out the victorious song that never ends!  Today, we celebrate the hope we have been given as a community of Faith, hope rooted in the love of the risen, universal Christ who lives among us!  We celebrate the hope of the never-ending story, the song that never ends, the song of the risen Christ who is always, always, always bringing life out of death.  We celebrate the hope of the risen Christ who goes before us and is drawing us into a new future, making us ever new!  Christ is risen!  He

Apr 2, 2021

Over the past year, due to this pandemic, many of us have had to face situations where we have been forced to move beyond our comfort zones.  Moving to online worship is an example of how we have been forced to go to a place that was initially beyond our comfort zone.  It took us a while to adjust to this new reality. Wearing masks, maintaining physical distance from others, and following public health guidelines have also forced people to move way beyond their comfort zones.  I find it is fascinating to watch people’s actions and behavior when forced to move beyond their comfort zones.  Quite honestly, when people are forced to do this because of circumstances, they often react adversely. We have seen this in extreme examples over the past year.  When we step outside of our comfort zone, it always tends to produce added stress and anxiety.  And, when this happens, people react – often unpleasantly.  So, the gospel reading on this night is captivating because we see the disciples having to move way beyond their comfort zones.

In biblical times, the washing of feet was a non-religious, ordinary part of everyday life. It was as ordinary as brushing your teeth or washing your hands before a meal. It was a secular practice that routinely took place after entering a dwelling, especially if you would be sitting down and preparing to eat a meal.  After all, peoples’ feet would get very dirty from all of that walking in those sandals on dusty roads. Furthermore, this foot washing was always done by the lowliest of servants.  So, when Jesus gets up from the table and begins washing the disciples’ feet, his action is truly shocking. In fact, it is disgraceful and scandalous, and it moves the disciples to a place of real unease.  It moves them beyond their comfort zones.

Reactive Peter, always the outspoken one, always a work in progress, knows that servants wash the feet of their master.  Masters do not wash the feet of their servants. This is just NOT how the world works.  So, certainly Jesus, the one they see as the Messiah, should not be the one touching their feet!  Peter’s world is structured by domination, power, hierarchy, and tradition. Foot washing revealed the societal pecking order. It was usually done by slaves, children, and women, those who had no standing in society. The lower class washed the upper class. Now, I have to say, our world is not so different from Peter’s. Those who have power, wealth, intelligence, beauty, and position are the ones who are washed, they make sure they get the best of everything and hire others to do the menial work. Those who don’t have power, wealth, intelligence, beauty and position – well, they are the washers.

But this night is different, this foot washing is different. Once again Jesus is breaking the rules and the social order is being realigned as Jesus forces the disciples to move beyond their comfort zones.  In the middle of supper Jesus gets up from the table, removes his outer robe, ties a towel around himself, pours water into a basin, and he begins to wash the disciples’ feet. With this action, the boundaries that establish status and power are reversed, and all human images of protective barriers that provide security are removed. And what is the result? Turmoil fills the room.  Peter is alarmed.  His world is being changed.  This is truly uncomfortable.  Peter does not like it and he does not understand it.  

As we ponder Peter’s reaction, I ask you to think about this past year, about how your world has changed and how you have felt threatened by that change. Think about the last time some circumstance forced you to move beyond your comfort zone.  Even when it’s for our own good we often resist, get angry, or fight back. At a minimum, we grumble under our breath or vent to a trusted friend. So, Peter responds saying, “You will never wash my feet!  I am hanging on to what I know, to what I have. I don’t want you messing with my world. This is just not right and definitely not comfortable.” Today in the church we might respond, “We’ve never done it like this before and we’re just not really interested in starting now.”

Jesus is always setting before us one example after another of what God’s life in the world looks like.  Friends, God’s life in this world is always going to shake us up and move us to places that quite frequently seem uncomfortable and downright risky.  For Peter, Jesus’ action looks like nothing he has ever seen or done before.  As he reacts, I wonder if he might be pondering, “If this is how the Messiah acts, what will be expected of the Messiah’s disciples? Whose feet might I be asked to wash for the love of Christ?”

Well, as Peter objects and wonders, he hears Jesus say, “You also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master.” Jesus is essentially saying:

Peter, do not resist the freeing power of divine love through which I am calling you into a new dimension of what it means to be truly human. Here status needs are not relevant. Those rules apply only in the world of consistent human yearning, the world of human becoming.  I am a doorway for you into being itself.  Come through me and you will become more fully human.  I am inviting you into an experience that will make you whole.  If I do not wash your feet, you cannot be part of the God I am revealing and of the humanity I am offering.  (John Shelby Spong, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic)

 

In the gospel of John, Jesus is always calling us into a new way of being, new life that matters. And, tonight, we see Jesus sets before the disciples and before us an example of love, servant love. That is the kind of love he has lived and that is the kind of love he calls us to live.  By doing this, Jesus has washed away the old ways of domination and hierarchy. He has replaced those old ways with something new, communion and love. There are no feet excluded from God’s love, and God’s very self is defined as love. There are no feet unworthy of being washed. Even Judas’s feet were washed.  And, the unconditional love of Jesus always means moving beyond our comfort zone and going to the places where Jesus goes.

Think of all the feet that pass through our lives in a day, a month, a year, a lifetime. What have we done with those feet? What will we do with them? Maybe we ignore them. Maybe we have stepped on them. Maybe we have received them into our lives and maybe we have not.  So many feet. Young, old, tired, lost, angry, hurt. There are all sorts of feet. Feet that have walked through the muck of life. Feet that have trespassed into places they shouldn’t have gone. Feet that have stood on holy ground. Feet that have carried the message of good news. Feet that dance to a different beat or walk a path different from ours.

Those are the very feet Jesus washed. They are the feet of the world. They are the ones he commands us to wash.  And, guess what?  They are no different from our own feet. We too have walked through the muck of life. Our feet have trespassed into places they shouldn’t have gone. Our feet have stood on holy ground. Our feet have carried the message of good news. Our feet have sometimes walked a unique, if not strange, path.

Well, still feeling the discomfort of this situation, Peter hears Jesus then say, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus, through his action of washing the disciples’ feet, has just taken on the role of the servant.  He is showing the disciples that love means serving others, all others!  The love he has for them also means providing routine physical, even intimate care for others.  Jesus subverts the religious expectations of the moment by turning this non-religious deed into an act of humility, service, and love. And, he moves his disciples way beyond their comfort zones.  Yes, that is where love will always take us. That is what love does because love always takes us to the cross.

Tonight, Jesus comes to each one of us and, through his very humble deed, shows us and teaches us what love is all about.  The self-giving love of Jesus connects us to the very source of love, God’s very self.  It is a love we will see lifted high on a cross. And, it is that self-giving, healing love that empowers us to move beyond our comfort zones as we share God’s love for the sake of a very broken world. 

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