"At Table Together" Maundy Thursday 2014

Exodus 12: 1-14 John 13:1-17 & 31-35 I Corinthians 11: 23-26 Week in week out, we come to take for granted that we do what we do without recognizing that when in worship we are gathered At Table Together. Whether for Nourishment, for Worship on Sunday, for Communion, for the birth and Baptism of a new member of the family, birthdays and becoming Adults, Holidays, Marriages, Anniversaries, Memorials, we gather at table together. There is importance in routine, there is also meaning to every element and tradition. How often we have each noted that for Marriage and Parenting and Coping with life there are No Instruction Manuals! The central purpose of worship, the purpose of all celebrations and rituals is our passing on of core beliefs and relationships through tradition to new eyes, ears, mouths and generations, be they children or strangers. The point of the Passover and the point of Communion is you cannot be an observer, a stranger, ALL of us are honored guests, there is no greater or lesser place of honor, all are welcome, all are to participate fully. Palm Sunday, I was struck by all the references to The Ear and the Eye. We see this parade. We hear the marching footsteps of the horses and troops, contrasted with the children and foal of a donkey scampering beside Jesus. The Psalter referenced unwaxing our ears, and being given a Word to sustain. The following morning an unoccupied drone was lowered into the Ocean to search for a lost plane... that drone had cameras to see and to hear, even in the cold darkness over 3 miles down at the bottom of the sea. And Yet, as human creatures formed in the image of God, we are about so much more, we smell and taste and touch and feel, we think and pray and reflect and sacrifice and feel, we have a sense of past and present and we anticipate the future. Gathering at Table Together, there are smells and tastes, touches and feelings, related to every memory. Perhaps it is the times we grew up in, possibly the way my brain is wired, but my oldest memories are in b & w and the memories are silent. I remember the smell of pot roast, the scent of roast lamb, the stench of Brussels-sprouts, the smell of Turkey on Thanksgiving. Often times, especially Sundays there were candles. Recall the smell, the humidity, and the feel of a hot bath relaxing your muscles and joints. I remember every holiday waiting and waiting for relatives to arrive, relatives who always were late. It seems as though at least five years went by, when every night one of the four of us going through the spasms of puberty spilt a glass of milk, wetting the table and our laps. There was the sugary sweet taste of Wedding cake icing. There was the smell of brandy when my parents tried to make cherries-jubilee and plum pudding and neither time would they light. I recall the salty taste of tears as we prayed and sat in silence at the Table when my 13 year old brother had run away from home. The feel of a newborn in your lap, the anxiety of trying to host family in your new home. I remember the silence, after siblings boisterously told a story that was an embarrassment. It seems as though every important family occasion, every discussion took place At Table Together. The Passover and the Sacrament of Communion are sacred meals, shared at Table Together. You cannot celebrate Passover alone. You cannot have Communion by yourself. It is such a simple nuance, but vitally important that you do not simply serve lamb for Passover... You begin with a new beginning, as if this is the first day of the rest of your life. We all know things have happened before this, but this is a point of a new beginning spiritually. And you take an unblemished lamb for every household. The lamb was supposed to live with you for at least four days, breathing the air in your home, hearing the sounds and voices, sleeping under your roof, becoming a part of you and your family. When this has become personal, you prepare the sacrifice. Sacrifices are hurtful, sacrifices are bloody. So you take of the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and you write the name of God upon the doorposts and the lintel, that all who enter and exit would know you belong to God. In the sacrificial lamb, in the footwashing, there is a cleansing atonement. For as long as I can remember we have taken the Confirmation Class to worship at the Jewish Synagogue. Ironically the last several years, the Rabbi has had the same reading whenever we have attended which is on the most obscure Law of the Torah. There are 613 laws in the Torah, 10 of which we know as the 10 Commandments, but for 3 there is no explanation: not wearing Cotton & Wool together, not eating Dairy & Meat together, and the Red Heifer. The Red Heifer is obscure, not only because it requires finding a completely red heifer, without a whitespot, white hoof, blemish or scar; but also because the purpose of the Red Heifer is to be sacrificed for the atonement of someone who has been shunned from the community. You are to acquire this Red Heifer, and sacrifice it, and burn all its parts, then collect the ashes and take to the one who is shunned, you cannot do this for yourself. Then you are to anoint the other with these ashes of the purely obscure sacrifice for atonement. However, after which the one atoned for is pure and forgiven, but the one who made the sacrifice, who anointed the other, they have acquired the sin of the other. Part of Judaism is that you are never done with atonement, the sin can be passed, but never fully gotten rid of. THAT is the point of Christianity! Jesus' sacrifice is a complete atonement for our sins. Also recognize that in the Ancient Middle-east, people did not regularly wear sandals, did not wear socks, and as there were camels, cows, oxen, horses, sheep and goats everywhere, there was a lot that people had stepped in. So the most basic act of hospitality when you had a guest was footwashing. As it was so unclean, and intimate an act of cleansing, this was done by the lowest scullery slave. Those who have watched Downton Abbey know that there is a Class system, a hierarchy of jobs, even and especially among those who were servants. This was the job for the lowest of the lowest. No wonder Simon Peter freaks out at Jesus wanting to wash their feet. The point of Baptism is not bathing, the point of Communion is not satisfying hunger, the point of footwashing was not sweet smelling feet, but that the job of atonement, the most basic caring for another was done by the Son of God! One of the most amazing parts of the Last Supper, for me, has always been that Judas did not leave until after Jesus washed their feet, after all had been fed and given the cup. Jesus knew what was going to take place, he knew Simon Peter would deny him not just once but three times over, he knew all the disciples would run away, he knew Judas was in the process of betraying Jesus, but still Jesus washed the feet of all twelve, Jesus offered the bread as his body broken for all, he passed the cup naming this as the sign and seal of the new covenant in his own blood to all twelve. And after Judas left, then Jesus described the new Commandment, that we are to Love one another. Sometimes the monumental accomplishments are the easy ones. You are given a great quest, an enormous task, to change the world so you break it down into pieces, conscript others to help and get it done. But the basic, simple things, Love One Another, it seems so easy we take it for granted, but it is an entirely different outlook on life. I was listening to NPR yesterday, as they described a project in a tough inner city school where they showed a film about the Genocide that happened in Rwanda. The point of the project was to change attitudes about hate, violence, the things which lead to genocide. The students were then given a writing assignment of describing how they felt when they had been bullied, and when they had attacked someone else. They were not allowed to say “I feel sad or bad” they needed to describe. One of the youth described that “In the real world, forgiveness is seen as weakness, as if you do not have the nerve to stand up and fight for yourself.” This Commandment from Jesus to Love One Another seems even more appropriate today than ever before! Communion always seemed like the thing we do in Church. For 2000 years we have broken bread and drunk from the cup. Several years ago, reading through the history of this church, the Session named that when the church had been in conflict “We crucified our Lord all over again!” Suddenly it occurred to me, the Crucifixion is not only 2000 years ago but happens in our relationships, in our doing harm to each other that we crucify the Lord all over again. So also the breaking of bread, and serving the cup are the occasions each day when we have chosen to love another. Among the final words of Jesus, were not; “Keep the Faith” or Go out and die with me” or “After I am gone remember what I told you” but simply: “Love One Another.” So when have each of us chosen to love? To overlook having been slighted... To put aside your goals for the needs of someone else... To simply check in with someone whom you imagine might be afraid... Love One Another.