MAUNDY
THURSDAY
Lutherans around the world are in the middle of
marking the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. This is a three year celebration with Synods
and congregations focusing on the theme: Liberated by God’s grace. The theme is
divided into three specific convictions: Salvation is not for sale! Human
beings are not for sale! Creation is not for sale!
Each sermon over the Three Days reflects on the not for sale theme, weaves in a trilogy of novels by
Greg Iles, and binds the ideas together through the branches and roots of a
tree.
In the
coolness of an evening breeze, the ancient olive trees in the garden relax and
turn their silvery evergreen leaves to dance in the moonlight; a reprieve
following a day of hot sun; their leaves are whispering peace through the sound
of their rustling. For centuries these trees have stood witness to the
conversations and happenings of many the passersby. On this night, melodies of Psalms float
through the branches as Passover dinners come to an end and repose is taken
with small groups of friends wandering through the garden. The huge hollow gnarled trunks become the
resting spot for Jesus and his friends as they sit awhile to pray.
Natchez Burning, the first book in a recent epic
trilogy by Greg Iles, is a novel placed in the Southern United States –
starting in Mississippi. The main character is the son of a beloved -now
retired- family doctor; who as a lawyer is faced with his father being accused
of killing, albeit doctor assisted death, of a black nurse who worked with him
in his practice in the 1960s.
The situation
becomes complicated as the doctor chooses to become a fugitive rather than tell
a long story of how he was part of a past that is safer to be left
un-recounted.
Natchez Burning is a novel that delves into an
age both past and present --- of conspiracy, greed, the KKK and their vicious
Double Eagle crew; war vets, power in government, corrupt institutions, killing,
and racism, racism, racism.
Here the
history of 40 years comes back to bite the participants in the senior years of
their lives, pulling their children’s lives into danger as well. Secrets let loss, secrets (in an effort to
keep them quiet) are leaving a trail of blood. There is one undeniable fact: no
one – black or white, young or old, brave or not – is ever truly safe when
history, through truth seekers, unleashes its secrets.
Maundy Thursday
is the night that we retreat to ancient history. We make a pilgrimage to the
slave villages of Egypt; to a people preparing to leave oppression behind. The ancient ritual of Passover is entered –
so as to face the condition of humanity; slavery, racism, oppression – there
are no secrets left undisclosed; the reality is from human experience, human
history shows that people are for sale; but, the Word in the street, the Word
as sandals are strapped to feet, the Word around the table; something new is about
to take place, something new wherein perhaps human beings are not for sale.
A few thousand
years later, we continue the pilgrimage of this night by entering the Passover
meal as it is celebrated by Jesus and the disciples. Ancient history and ritual
is lived as “the good, the bad, the ugly,” all is retold through the story and
meal.
Jesus on this
last night with the disciples, takes a step deeper along the path of
remembrance, by bringing an intimate experience to the table to move the
disciples from simple remembrance to something new wherein human beings are
given worth. Jesus lays aside his outer
robe, and stoops to wash the feet of each disciple. Jesus’ action is saying:
“yes we remember that once we were slaves, but, no longer; you are free.” Freed
to set other people free.
Natchez Burning, is a novelled history that
continues the pilgrimage of remembrance into recent times. It speaks to the
brokenness of humanity; it addresses broken relationships, in this case of
whites and blacks in Mississippi; and confronts issues of living in a world
where people are for sale, including: their morals, dreams, ambitions, power,
and their very lives. It is a pilgrimage
that has one wrestle with telling the truth – is it ever too late? Should some secrets simply die with those who
hold them? Or is it time to open the
secrets, to come clean, and change the way business and living is done?
Consider Jesus’
disciples, of all times and places- offering to wash the feet of family,
friend, and enemy--- taking responsibility for creating right relationships and
listening to the stories of history from the mouths of those who lived it, so
that the generation of now, can be set free to move forward- for the healing of
the world.
Washing of
feet and the healing of this action, might be seen in the work of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission – where the past is remembered, so that people can be
set free.
Another
example, as I wrote sections of this sermon, I had just finished listening to
an interview on The Current with David Suzuki.
At 80 he is blunt! One statement
was directed to outspoken pessimists who have decided to do nothing in the
on-going fight against global warming – he said: “If you really think it’s too
late then shut the hell up and go away.”
He reflected, “What is that all about anyway?” A total lack of hope, fatalistic thinking,
creation in a form of slavery -an excuse to live large now because it is
already to late to save the world? I translated Suzuki as saying- There is
still time. If we chose: Creation is not
for sale. Creation can be set free.
Now is the
time to pilgrimage through ancient history, to remember how it is that we have
arrived at the now, and remembering---- to decide to live into something
new. Tonight Jesus is in the midst of
ritual and at the table. He takes off
his outer robe and washes our feet. It
is a new beginning, where slavery is washed away, so that pilgrimage turns to a
walk of freedom.
Tonight, in
the Garden of Gethsemane, a group of faithful pilgrims will process through the
olive grove to keep vigil and pray, before heading to the prison where Jesus’
spent his last night. While in the garden the olive trees will bear witness to
their prayers.
These olive
trees are not just any olive trees, the DNA of eight trees in the garden is
identical – they are siblings all growing from clippings of a mother tree
planted in the 12th century.
A particular tree was chosen to be the mother tree, with roots that can
live 2000 years, it is speculated that the mother tree “witnessed” the night of
Jesus’ agony in the garden.
What is the
agony of this night to which the trees bear witness? What are the prayers spoken under their
branches?
Prayers for a
humanity wrapt in slavery: growing racism, racial profiling, fear of terror
attacks, human trafficking, missing women, domestic violence; addictions,
rising apathy, pervasive pessimism.
Lord in your
mercy, Hear our prayer.
What actions
will come from eating the Passover meal and having ones’ feet washed?
The courage to
go beyond splashing the waters of lip service to the slavery of our time and to
pause to listen to the stories of those in slavery, and to take off our outer
robes to wash their feet. This is done, not that their feet are dirty, but,
rather, a humbling of our hearts and a willingness to enter relationship. May this be so.
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
As the meal is
shared and feet are washed, we are liberated by God’s grace; grace to whelm our
beings into action --- to bring to fruition a Jesus’-kind-of-world, where: Creation
is not for sale. Human beings are not for sale. Salvation is not for sale.
Lord in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
In the Garden
of Gethsemane evening lingers on, and the darkness thickens. The pleasant breeze in the trees quiets;
psalms have ended and slumber is upon those in the olive grove. Prayers have ceased, and the trees are hushed
-frozen- by the presence of an angry mob; their peace whipped out of their
branches and gone with the wind. The mob
did not hear the Word in the ritual, did not see that there is freedom from
slavery; the mob had no time to listen to ancient history, to entertain the
thought of something new- what Jesus was offering, had offered day after day in
the market square- a washing of feet so
to speak; a Word kept whispering “you are free.” The olive trees heard it, that was the peace
they whispered in their leaves; the world is about to change – please let the
world -humans and creation- be set free. Please…
But for
tonight, freedom is hushed.
As Jesus is
taken away, the disciples leave the garden, the trees silently cry…
Lord in your
mercy, hear our prayer.
This was a beautiful sermon, Pastor Kimber! I think it was more hopeful this year, and I am so looking forward to what comes.
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather!
ReplyDelete