As I am writing this May article for the Deacons’ Bench, it is Good Friday and I am still thinking about the Maundy Thursday service last night. Due to Covid-19, it was a much different service than it has been in the past; most notably, the foot washing ceremony was not done.
My first thought was that missing this would be a disappointment in the ebb and flow of the Pascal Triduum. In actuality I found that I became much more meditative during the service as I was not dwelling on what the next ‘action’ piece would be. I had more time, just to be.
When Jesus was in the upper room he spoke to the disciples after washing their feet, “Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things , you are blessed if you do them.” JOHN13
He went further to 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.”
In effect he was giving them their job description. Perhaps one of the most concise ,yet all encompassing job descriptions ever produced : “to love everyone as I have loved you”. It really leaves no room for ambiguity.
As I sat in my place at the Good Friday service and heard the passion narrative I heard, not for the first time, but perhaps ‘really heard’ for the first time in a long time, the absolute perfect unconditional love Jesus has for us. And as the choir sang the Anthem Salvatore Mundi J. Blow h1649-1708) translated:
“O Saviour of the world, save us, who hath redeemed us by thy cross and blood.
Help us, we beseech thee, O our God.”
It all came together for me, not just as a reminder but as a ‘new birth’. The realization rocked me out of my comfortable pew. Sometimes we KNOW something in our hearts and in our minds, but it may have a little dust on it. Perhaps we have not taken the knowledge down off the shelf in our mind and dusted it off and really looked at it. I find that I am doing this a lot with old memories that are coming to the forefront of my memory, so, I suppose, why should it be any different with my relationship with Christ?
Perhaps it is just me, but as the church year follows its natural ebb and flow , and as I get older, or perhaps , more set in my ways, my mind tends to wonder to days gone past and sometimes I am not in the moment.
Do you find comfortable relationships sometimes need a little more attention to detail? To the reason why we are in a relationship to begin with? Sort of like, taking it for granted?
How might I work on the relationship? How might I make it better? How might I invest myself more in the relationship? Have I gotten too comfortable? Am I doing my daily devotions by remote? I believe the term might be, ‘calling them in’. If that is the case, it cannot be much of a relationship! Jesus did not ‘call in’ his crucifixion; so how can I be complacent in my relationship with Him?
As a deacon, not just because I am a deacon; as a Christian I have a job to do. My job description is very clear, I have been paid in advance with the promise of unconditional love and eternal life and all I have to do is what is at the very core of who I am, I only have to love my brothers and sisters in this world. I do not even have to like them, which is good because that removes the judgement factor; I am commanded to love them.
As we go further into spring and summer our brothers and sisters are still there needing love. They may not be cold, but so many are still hungry, still without housing , still dealing with addictions and so much more adversity. We cannot go on vacation . Our job is seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
We are all tired due to Covid this past year, but it has also enabled us to strengthen old relationships and make new ones. This is the gift of our faith.
The World is temporarily closed: God is not!
