Maundy Thursday 2020

The reading from the Gospel of John is the traditional one of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at their last meal together and him giving the disciples the greatest commandment, to love one another.

    When I was in school one of the reading techniques I learned, which is always helpful when I am reading a passage to preach on, is to look at the strong verbs in a passage. The ones which command action and move the story forward. In this gospel passage the strong verbs are wash, serve, glorify, love.  

    I find these verbs very appropriate for where we are in the world right now. We are all washing a little bit more often and a little bit more diligently right now than we might have otherwise. We probably don't all find joy in the continual prospect of washing, and our hands might all be turning a little more dry and red, but it is helping all of us stay safer. 

    Brother Lawrence, a monk in the 1600's wrote a book about finding God in the midst of daily activities and one of the things he wrote about specifically was finding God in the midst of washing dishes. His little book, The Practice of the Presence of God, is a collection of his writings compiled after he died in relative obscurity in 1691. Brother Lawrence had two main jobs in the monastery: Washing dishes and mending sandals. When you think of what kind of work he had, it is amazing that he wasn't bored, but Brother Lawrence wrote, “We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.” Right now especially, we wash out of love.

    Washing really is an important part of the Christian life all the time, we are washed in baptism, we wash each other in forgiveness, we usually literally wash each other's feet on Maundy Thursday. Right now, how are you finding God in the daily tasks of life? Are you finding God among the washing?

    Serve. God certainly does serve us in many ways, and Jesus calls us to be servants, to serve others. Right now, it can seem harder to serve others while we are all in isolation, however, we are still able to serve in ways. We can donate to groups who are still serving in safe and healthy ways. We can offer service in making things which are needed. How are you able to continue serving right now?

    Glorify. Well, usually glorifying is one of the things we tend to do in community. We glorify God when we meet in community to share good news, when we give praise to God in singing and in words. Right now, we are not able to meet together, but we can still glorify the abundance which God is giving to us. we can still make a joyful noise. we can still give thanksgiving and praise, we can still call each other to share good news. How are you glorifying God right now?

And love. Love is always part of the Christian way of life. We cannot live without love, because the Good News of Jesus is God's love for us. And we are called to share in that love, not only in sharing it with others, but in receiving it for ourselves. We tend to think of loving another in very specific ways and actions, but many of those ways and actions are not open to us. However, God certainly is able to show us love without hugging or kissing or getting close to us and we can use the imaginations God has given to us to come up with different ways to share God's love in the midst of this turmoil. How are you sharing love right now? How can you share more love?