Maundy Thursday

 Today is Maundy Thursday, 2024.  This is the Easter week for this year, and Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday lie ahead of today.  Our family and our faith tradition normally do not celebrate Maundy Thursday, so I had to look up some information about the day.

The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum, meaning commandment, and references the words of Jesus as he said to his disciples, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  The day commemorates the washing of feet and the last supper of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

 For those of us who are Christ-followers, this entire week as special significance.  We may not all celebrate each of the days of this week in the same way, but the culmination of the week on Easter Sunday is special for us all, as it commemorates the risen Lord, and with it the promise of grace, forgiveness, and life everlasting.  Now, I know that for those who are uninitiated in the tenets of the Christian faith, this whole thing seems to be so far-fetched and implausible that we often are branded as insane idiots who choose to be carried off into a fairyland where God and eternal life are front and center.  We are told that we are delusional.  We are told that the Bible, our source of all that we believe, is itself a fairy tale.  And we are dismissed as a people who willingly follow along in a sort of lemming-like way off the cliff of reason and logic and into the morass of fable and fantasy.

 I don’t know what you believe about all of this.  Many of my friends have similar beliefs.  Some do not.  This post isn’t the place to argue those points.  I’m not a Christian apologist.  You can believe whatever you wish to believe.  I only ask that you give me the same grace as I give you, without the name-calling or the put-downs.  That behavior is not necessary and is non-productive.  I’ve heard it all before, and whatever you may say will be nothing new.  And I promise I’ll not harass you with “religion” unless you are interested in what I have to say.

 The Easter week, and especially Easter Sunday, is also a symbol of the coming of spring, the renewing of the earth, and an awakening of life.  Easter eggs, flower arrangements, bunnies & chicks, and all that goes with those things are symbols of that awakening.  Easter is a moveable holiday, celebrated anywhere between March 22 and April 25, depending on the date of the first full moon following the spring equinox.  Just how that came to be is a long story that I’ll not re-tell here.  You can look it up in the fountain of all information, Wikipedia, if you want more background.

 I don’t know how you celebrate Easter.  Maybe you have a special Sunday dinner for the family.  It may be that you take in an Easter Sunrise service or participate in a special Easter service that your church offers.  You may make a special time for the kids in your family by hiding Easter eggs or taking them to a park.  You may just consider it to be an ordinary Sunday and not do much of anything.  Whatever you do or don’t do, I encourage you to at least read the account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in one of the Gospel accounts in the New Testament.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all have the story within them.  Doing this will give you a better idea of the reason for the holiday and why Christians the world over celebrate it.

 And if by chance you have a question after you’ve read the story, I also encourage you to find what many call a “spiritual advisor” to help you better understand the account you read and answer any questions you may have.  That advisor could be a Christian friend or the minister or pastor of a church.  There is much more to the Christian faith than just this story;   however, without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is nothing left upon which the Christian faith can “hang its hat,” so to speak.  The Easter story is the foundation…the crux…the basis of all that we believe and practice.

 This Maundy Thursday, the day of foot-washing and the last supper, the day of the giving of a new commandment to love one another…today is a day of reflection…reflection on life and living, death, and relationships one with another.  May your day today be one of blessing.

Daniel

 These past two weeks, our church has been having our auditorium pews re-upholstered.  The old upholstery is original, as I understand it…50 years old.  I know many churches are going with chairs in their auditoriums.  We also had the choice to do the re-upholstery or go with chairs.  We chose the upgrading of the existing pews.  The entire project is expected to be finished by tomorrow evening.

We hired a company who manufactures, repairs, and re-upholsters pews to do the job for us.  They have, as I understand it, three teams who do nothing but re-upholster and repair church pews, sending those teams out to churches all over the country for however long it takes to get the job done.  Our team has rented an Air BnB for the two weeks they are here, and have put in long hours getting the job done.

Of course, no job of any size will always go the way it is supposed to go.  There will always be things that crop up which were unforeseen…things that get in the way of efficient and timely completion of a job.  And those unforeseen things have been present in this job as well.

But the thing that I noticed when these things came up was the demeanor of the foreman of the crew.  Daniel has taken everything in stride.  He doesn’t get upset, at least outwardly.  He remains calm.  He has ideas and apparently the ability to fix the unforeseen.  He seems to be the epitome of calm in the storm of deadlines in danger of being missed and many plans disrupted by failing to complete the project on time.

Now, I don’t know Daniel, other than our interaction on this project.  But I enjoy working with him and know he will be a calm presence, and a resource for ideas that are practical and well thought-out.  His crew seems to respond well to him, and they continue to make progress even as the deadline for completion looms ever nearer.

I’m sure you’ve known of people who, when faced with the unforeseen, whether in work or in life, seem to come apart at the seams.  They fret and stew.  They moan and groan.  They make sure everyone knows about the difficulties they are facing at the time.  And, it seems, they have trouble coming up with a solution that will manage or remove the issue at hand.  Worry and drama seem to be their modus operandi.  They attempt to stir up everyone else into the same worry and drama as they themselves are in, and seem to want to live in that kind of environment.

And then there are the others…those like Daniel.  Those who, in a calm and collected manner, approach the unforeseen with what to me is no less than grace combined with resolve.  They quietly analyze, plan, and execute what they believe will be a solution to the problem.  The atmosphere they create is one of quiet competence and optimism.  They are a pleasure to work with and to be around.

I am reminded of many places in the Bible where worry is addressed.  Proverbs 3 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Psalms 46 reads this way: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”  In Psalm 94, David says this:  “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.”  And last, but certainly not least, in Luke, Jesus says this about worry:  “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” 

I know everyone is wired differently.  I know some of us are more demonstrative of our emotions than others.  I know we all have different ways of coping with the unexpected…the unforeseen…the roadblocks, if you will, that come our way.  But when those things come into our lives, it might be good for us to look at the bigger picture…to see beyond the here & now and lean on our God for guidance and help in these times of trouble.  It seems to me that would be a much better plan than expending energy on worry and drama, getting everyone else worked up and worrying, and generally causing commotions rather than solving problems.

Daniel is someone we could and should emulate when it comes to worry and dealing with the unforeseen.  And Jesus is the one we need to hear when he tells us that we can’t add a single hour to our lives by worrying, so why are we worrying about all the other things in life.

 May you be blessed this day with peace and contentment.

"Worth It All"

 “Seeing that right there…that’s worth it all.”  So said a woman who was standing beside me on the deck of a cruise ship in Alaskan waters last summer.  We were about a mile from Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park.  This glacier was actively calving…house-size and up to ten-story building size chunks of ice were calving off of a three-hundred-foot high wall of ice into the Arctic Ocean, producing a delayed thunder-clap-like sound about as loudly as I’ve ever heard as the ice chunks fell into the sea.

I’m not exactly sure what the woman was talking about when she said “that’s worth it all.”  We both were so engrossed in what we were witnessing that we didn’t converse with each other at all.  But I suspect she may have been speaking of the expense of the cruise, the difficulty she may have had in travel, or some other kind of problem that made that moment…that moment when we were privileged to witness one of the great spectacles of nature in a remote part of the earth…worth whatever difficulty she may have had to overcome.

We, too, had some things happen in the whole trip process that, while they may not have been extreme difficulties, they could have easily become a roadblock of sorts.  We had multiple conversations with our travel agent to be sure we were both on the same page.  We had to have our passports renewed, as part of our trip was in Canada.  We went through customs, had to wear masks, be vaccinated against COVID and show proof of the same.  Our bus didn’t show up at the airport to take us to our hotel, so we had to make alternate arrangements.  At times, we felt like we were sort of herded like cattle.  We went in June, so the air was rather crisp at times.  Our room on the ship was really small for the four of us.  A red-eye flight back to civilization over several time zones.  Beyond tired.

Yet those were really small inconveniences compared with the magnificence of what we experienced in the Arctic Ocean a mile or so from a huge wall of ice.  Yes, seeing that right there…that indeed was worth it all.

Paul, the apostle of Jesus, had something to say about whether or not the difficulties we encounter in life were worth it.  This is a man, you recall, who endured arrests, dungeons, beatings, shipwreck, and other “inconveniences” for the privilege of telling others about the risen Lord and a new covenant God was giving His people.  Yet he insisted on calling these things he experienced…these beatings, arrests, and other troubles “light and momentary troubles” compared with what he knew he would experience in eternity with his Lord.  Here’s what he said about that.

 

 We do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

 

Life seldom goes the way we would like.  Most of us haven’t had the kind of troubles that Paul had in his ministry.  Yet we do experience things that are part of life and living which make it more difficult, it seems, to be the kind of people God would have us be.  Sometimes we get so discouraged that we consider just giving in and giving up.  We determine that the end we envision isn’t worth all the trouble we are experiencing in order to get there.

I know that we can’t physically see the reality that God says he has in store for us if we remain faithful.  It can be incredibly difficult to be in the midst of trial and trouble, yet know, believe, and anticipate that ahead lies something that will make all of the difficulties in this life worthwhile.  I know that because I am just like you…I sometimes wonder if it’s worth it all…if something I cannot yet see, feel or comprehend in any physical way makes the trials and problems of life worth it.  The temptation to just give up and give in is real.

And to add insult to injury, Christians are often accused of believing in a fairy tale…a pie-in-the-sky, unbelievable, and preposterous tale of a god who became human, lived a human life, was killed by the Romans, and that that death somehow makes it possible for anyone who believes that story to have a life after death that is glorious beyond description.

I get it.  The logic in me says to be wary.  Any other story that seems too good to be true, we are told, usually is.

“Seeing that right there…that’s worth it all.”  I often go back to that statement by the woman who was standing next to me on the ship as we watched the calving of the glacier.  I may not physically see God or the future time, but with a kind of sight that bypasses the eyes in my head, I see the truth of what I am told.  I see the God of the universe.  And I too am convinced that these troubles are really “light and momentary,” compared with what I comprehend is ahead.  And I hope and trust that you also will understand that yes, it indeed is “worth it all.”

 

Blessings.

"Between the Lines"

 A good friend and fellow minister writes a pretty much daily article to post on his social media pages.  Today, he was writing about helping those in need and that he would much rather see the church and people of faith helping rather than the government.  Here is an excerpt of what he wrote.

I would rather help the poor directly.  The less the government takes, the more I have to give.  I am not sure how effective government programs are, though we certainly get whatever assistance we can for those in our community of faith.  I think it is better when I give to those I know and can directly help.  Of course, this assumes we will all give generously to those in need.

 He goes on with his main point in today’s writing:

 I want Jesus and God to get the glory/credit/praise for any help given.  I do not want the resources I have being used for the glory and praise of the government or any politician.  I want to help in the name of Jesus.   

I am always thankful when people are helped.  If God wants to use the government to do that, well... that is certainly His business.  But I just don't see working in earthly kingdoms as fulfilling my real Kingdom responsibility.

 OK, this is Jay again.  I have no issue with what he said.  It IS the responsibility of Christ-followers to help those in need, and to do so with compassion and dignity.  And that help needs to be more than a couple of dollars we might give to the man at the street corner asking for money, or a few cans of green beans given to the food pantry.

However, I believe the issues are much greater, more ingrained, and more intractable than what many people understand.  I wrote this in response to his post.

 Reading between the lines of your post, I see the tension of relying too much on government versus the faith community's charge to care for the needy.

The needs, however, are greater than what any individual church or person can provide.  And, although certainly necessary, needs go far beyond a meal, a coat, or a room at a motel for the night.  Mental health, generational poverty, physical health, depression, legal issues, addiction, affordable housing, and other issues loom like unconquerable mountains over the lives of many of these people.  It’s as if they are looking at a path ahead that is so blocked that there is no conceivable way through or around.  Despair, surrender, and exhaustion become the norm.

However, as my friend Jennifer White and many others have said, and I've often quoted, "I can't do everything, but I can do something." Just because the problem seems intractable is no reason to sit back and relax. We can ALL do something, even though knowing we won't ever "fix" the issues entirely in this fallen creation.

 This is Jay again.  I don’t know what your thoughts are regarding the poor, the impoverished, the unhoused, the mentally ill, and those with other types of issues that keep them from what many of us consider to be a “normal” lifestyle.  You may be one of those who has a very black-and-white view of them and you say, or think, “Why don’t you just get a job and get back into life?”  Others of you may be very engaged in these societal issues through your work as a social worker, therapist, counselor, medical provider, or other similar vocations.

Still others of you may be helping in some way by volunteering at a food pantry, a soup kitchen, or by handing out clothing and other needs to the unhoused.  The responses to the issues of poverty, homelessness, and all the rest are many and varied.  However, the responses of the Christian…the one who is a true follower of Jesus Christ…must be more narrow in scope.

Christians don’t have the option of dismissing someone’s misery by telling them to “Just get a job.”  And Christians do have, in my opinion, an obligation to try to understand at least some of the below-the-surface issues that manifest in homelessness and poverty.

I believe we also have an obligation to not only begin to understand the issues, but to help alleviate those issues ourselves, AND work alongside non-profits, government, and communities of faith…supporting them as we can and are able.

It’s a big issue…one that we will always have with us, I believe.  And it’s one that we as Christians need to not only be aware of, but “dug in,” so to speak, in some way to help alleviate it…renewing the creation One. Person. At. A. Time.

 Blessings