So last night at the Maunday Thursday service I got a little off track…here is the sermon (typos and all) that i thought that i was going to preach just for those looking for a little extra Maunday in their friday
Here it is:
I came across something interesting the other day about stage coaches. Did you know that there were different classes for stage coach seating? There were three different classes; first, second and third. The difference was not weather you were able to be in the front of the line of stage coaches, or if you had to sit going backwards or not. It was all about what happened when the coach got stuck in the mud. Those paying for a first class ticket were allowed to stay in the coach while they were hauled out of the mess. Second class had to get out and walk beside the coach. Finally the third class had to help push the stagecoach and any first classers who resided there in. What a crummy way to travel. Always having to trudge through the mud, being smelly and wet…and then when you do get to ride it is uncomfortable. For third class passengers it would seem that service is not something that they do but rather a way of life.
So too is service is a way of life for the Son of God. Tonight we gather to be enfolded in the God’s story and it is all about service. On this night we remember the way that Jesus poured himself out for us. When Jesus took his disciples to the upper room they were going to celebrate the Passover. They had made the preparations and everything was set. The Gospel of John tells of Jesus washing his disciples feel before they ate the Passover meal. Who would have thought that their friend, their teacher, their savior would lower himself to washing their feet. Even the feet of the one who would betray him.
There is something beautiful in imagining this thing Jesus did. But really there is no glamour in it at all. Service is something that we are all called to and something that takes a lot of courage, sacrifice and humility and very little pride.
On this night we are tempted to ask questions like the disciples. “Why would it have to end like this?” “But isn’t there another way? After all you are God, Right?”
We are the first to raise a hand when we see or since injustice and slow to come to the rescue and push our own stuck stage coaches. Often times we are found asleep off to the side as God continues to act in spite of us just like the disciples in the garden.
Finally tonight we find ourselves falling short and looking on passively as we strip our sanctuary and all hope seems to be lost. Like Peters denial in the crowd of onlookers, we fail to act on behalf of our Redeemer.
Yet through all of the suffering and serving will emerge the perfect way for us to encounter God face to face. Through Jesus suffering, death and resurrection that will bloom as this week unfolds we will know what it is to be called children of God. We are not just a part of creation, something that God sculpted together. We are loved and cared for and a great cost ad been paid.
During the Passover meal the Jewish people remember the way that God passed them by when handing out judgment. The kind of love that God offers us isn’t like a fine coat that we wear over dilapidated garments to make us look worthy. The kind of grace that god has to offer us here on this night is the kind of love that transforms us from the inside out. It is the kind of love that doesn’t save us from judgment but places us back on the side of righteousness if we would only choose it. It is the kind of love that serves and welcomes. It never turns away or excludes. The picture of love that Jesus paints for us tonight is one that places us in relationship with the creator and shows us what it is to be called beloved.
Through these simple elements we are reminded of all of these things and we are given great and wonderful promises. The kind of love God has for us is one that sees no divisions, classes, or barriers, only people who are unique and special that have gotten off track. Jesus was a first class passenger who chose to live like the lowest. To interact with the last, the last and the lonely in order to bring hope to the whole world.
As we turn to scripture tonight let us reflect what it is to be loved by God so much that Jesus would be sent to us so that we may come to know not only what life is, but to open the door for an abundant life lived in the light of the perfect expression of love through Jesus.
