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Sermons & Writings |
Loree Penner
Saint James, Monkton
March 20, 2008
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At the beginning of this service, we said together the anthem that is spoken or sung during the traditional foot washing service. It reminds us of the reason we come together on this Maundy Thursday - to commemorate the day that Jesus gave his Mandatum - from which the word Maundy comes - the mandate to love one another as Christ loves us. We begin with two powerful images of love - That echo our sacraments - baptism and Eucharist. No, we don't normally baptize feet… But it is a wonderful image, isn't it? To imagine that God were holding our feet in his hands, pouring water over them, washing them and wiping them clean, and cleansing us in the process. An act of humility - an act of love. And we follow this image with Eucharist - - the remembrance of the Last Supper in which Jesus reminded us to take, eat, drink, of his body and blood, given for us. o An act of sacrifice. And love. Yet from these powerful images of love, our liturgy quickly descends into darkness, as, after the Eucharist, the candles are extinguished, the vestments put away, and the altar is stripped - Stripped like Jesus was stripped of his clothes, his dignity, and ultimately in life. And we are left in darkness. And silence. The silence of the dark night of the soul. In the gospel story, we see Peter make a similar journey - From understanding what it means to be made clean by God, in his intense and impetuous urge to follow Christ: "Lord, don't just wash my feet, but also my hands and my head!" And then descend into his own dark night of the soul when he is confronted with Jesus' arrest, and discovers that his ardent feelings are not enough to sustain him in the time of trial, and he flees, one step behind Judas, denying he ever knew this Lord who had made him clean. And so we will be left tonight with Peter and the disciples, waiting in the dark. And wait we will for two days, waiting for the light once again. Like so many times in our lives when things seemed impossible - when we have found ourselves facing the same things that faced these gospel players on this holy night - - betrayal, fear, loss, despair, sorrow, regret… Yet, our hope during this darkness comes to us even as we await the Light of Christ. For we do not wait in the dark alone. The mandate to love one another is as practical as it is challenging. Together, we form the Body of Christ. Together we share one bread, one cup, so that we do not have to wait in the dark alone, but hand in hand. We reach out to one another through our own dark nights of the soul, through times of betrayal and loss. We as friends of Christ, are friends one of another, and we stand with each other in the hard times, so that one's dark night of the soul becomes a shared experience Through the whole body, the church. We wait together as One in the dark, even as we wait together tonight, until the Light of Christ comes near, a living sign that He is indeed present in this world. For the Light shines even in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. |
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