April 13, 2017: Day + 143

Today we had 2 bath aides show up at 7:15 from different companies.  More is better than less!  One came today but she is suppose to come tomorrow and so we hope she will be here in the morning.

Another big event is that Doug went to his first church services since October 30.  He went to Maundy Thursday services.  It was really nice to be able have him participate in services again.  It was a big night for him, and much for him to do, but he wanted to be there because I was preaching. 

Since we have had a very long day, instead of writing anymore I am copying my sermon here.  It captures my heart and thought on this Maundy Thursday.  I am preaching on the Servant Song.  If you have never heard it you may want to click on this link. 

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mozilla-004&hsimp=yhs-004&hspart=mozilla&p=servant+song#id=35&vid=e2f3866670e778b92f652e44afb4b2dc&action=view

Maundy Thursday Sermon

April 13, 2017

Tonight, like so many years ago, we are drawn into the mystery of this evening. Long ago, Jesus, sat with his friends, and reminded them of what was most important. He told them they were to be servants. He told them “that you should do as I have done for you”  The word servant may not have sat with his friends very well that night. Servants held a low status in society. Today, we don’t often take kindly to being someone’s servant.  

When Doug and I got married almost 22 years ago, I chose to sing the Servant Song to him, as a vow I was making to him.  Looking back I can’t remember why I chose to do that.  Anyone who knew me very well knew that I was a “woman’s liber”.  I had the t-shirt to prove it, “A woman needs a man as much as a fish needs a bicycle”.  But I guess, somewhere inside I also knew that to make a marriage work we would need to serve each other. Over the years this song has been an important reminder to me as who I am called to be as a wife, mother, friend and as a Deacon in the church.  Tonight, with Jesus as servant, as foot washer, I decided I want to share this song with all of your.  And so tonight I am going to read a short reflection and then we are going to alternate singing the verses. So please take out the music for the servant song.  I after the refection I will sing the first verse, then I give another reflection and you will sing the second verse and so on and so forth.  After the 5^th verse we will all go back and sing the 1^st verse.  Please don’t worry about what you will be doing.  I will tell you along the way.  I just want you to be prepared.

The Maundy Thursday gospel reading, reminds us to serve each other, but not just serve, but to be a servant to one another.  Foot washing is a very personal act. Too wash someone’s feet are to care for another in a deeply personal way.  When we wash someone’s feet we stoop to serve them.  To allow another to serve us, we also must humble ourselves. We must rid ourselves of our false pride, our ego, we must accept the help from another.  Sometimes this is a harder act.  Especially in this world where we associate strength and power with being independent, and able handle things on our own.  We may want to reject the help of others.

Eileen sings…

Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I might have the grace
To let me be your servant too

We are pilgrims on this life journey. To be a pilgrim means: a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.  If you are here tonight, and you await the day of resurrection you are a pilgrim.  You will travel a long distance in your life searching, longing and experiencing the sacred. And while we have examples of those who travel alone like the hermits of old, more often if we are lucky we will travel with friends. Jesus did not travel alone he traveled with his friends.  He loved them and they loved him back.  His expectation was that they would continue on after he was gone. As we travel this spiritual journey we will see beautiful vistas filled with great joy and love, but we also will experience hardships and troubles.  The pilgrim’s road is long.  There may be times that we become discouraged or afraid. It is during these times that we need our friends to help carry our loads.  It is also at these times that we need to share our joy when we are feeling blessed and we encounter the holy.  Life is better when shared.   Remember what Jesus did the night before he died.  He sat, and he shared bread, wine and fellowship with his friends.  He told them that he loved them.

 

Congregation  sings…
We are pilgrims on the journey
We are friends upon the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load

When have you been afraid and what did you need? When I am afraid, I need the presence of a friend.  I need someone to be with me. Usually I am not looking for advice. I am looking for presence.  I need someone to shine light the path.  I need their light to shine on me.  I need someone to meet me where I am and to tell me everything is ok.  I need someone to speak peace to me.   Some time back I was feeling very discouraged and fearful.  An acquaintance came and was telling me how to fix the situation. He was very sure of himself.  Now in truth that solution would have worked perfectly for him. But only I could find my own truth.  When we hold the light for each other we act as a beacon. When we put on the consciousness of Christ our interaction brings peace and hope.

Eileen sings …
I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear.

Who are your friends? And whom are you a friend to?  My dear friend Scotti is such a great example for me of what it means to be a dear friend and a fellow pilgrim.  When I weep, she weeps. When I laugh she laughs. That tenderness makes us close.  We know each other’s hearts.  At Christmas when Doug was so sick, it was Fr. Dave who sat with me, cried with me, rejoiced with me.  He walked the pilgrim’s path with me. When I am with Doug, I know that he will share my joy and sorrow.  He won’t try to fix it.  He has confidence in me, and in our God, to know that the answer will come. In keeping my blog about our journey to healing and wholeness these past months, many have shared our joys and sorrows.  They have been our pilgrim friends. They are with us till we see this journey through.

Congregation  sings…
I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh, I'll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we've seen this journey through.

Is there anything sweeter than to be with people with whom you call friends?  There is such sweetness in having friends who know the agony you have been through and the love that you have shared.  When I walked the Camino de Santiago, the 500 mile pilgrimage across northern Spain.  I shared that time with my daughter Angie and with a group of 6 others, from Canada, Ireland, Michigan, and Germany the last weeks.  Through all the blisters, the tendinitis, the shared dinners, the beautiful vistas and the daily walks we began to love and serve each other.  When we reached Santiago and looked around and saw all the other pilgrims who had suffered and endured, we were all overcome with joy.  The same is true in this congregation.  When we share each other’s journey and then come together to worship our God, who is with us through it all, each Sunday morning, there is such harmony.  There is sweetness and warmth in sharing this sacred journey.

Eileen sings…
When we sing to God in heaven
There will be such harmony
Born of all we've known together
Of Christ's love and agony

We celebrate the servant journey this night as we remember the actions of Jesus.  We are reminded that Jesus gave us an example.  We are to lay down our lives for our friends.  And I ask you, who should we call friends?  To know Christ, is to serve others.  Not just on a surface level. Not just in the giving of what is easy for us to give.  It is in stooping and washing another’s feet. It is seeing Jesus in the calluses, the corns, the veins, the stiffness and the pain in each other’s feet.  It is living in the mystery of the love and the agony.  For Jesus said: I give you a new commandment; Love one another as I have loved you.

Congregation

Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I might have the grace
To let me be your servant too

And Jesus said: “you should do as I have done for you”  “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,” Amen