Love one Another: Maundy Thursday

According to the dictionary, the definition of the word privilege is:

a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.

Often we think of the privileged as those who can live lives of luxury or those who have vacation homes, more leisure time, less wanting and more having.

But Jesus has a different way of looking at privilege.

As Jesus’ apprentices---those who follow in this life of Jesus----our privilege is to serve.  Our special right, our advantage, our blessing, comes from how we live.  And we are called to live lives of service.

Today’s celebration is such a gift to us.  In this crazy, chaotic world that implores us to buy our way to happiness, in this society that tells us, first and foremost, we better look out for #1, in this culture that tries to scare us into being afraid of those who are not like us---telling us we should build walls instead of bridges, that we should not trust those of different faiths, that we better have a gun if we want to be safe in our own homes…..today, Jesus points to a different life of blessing, to a different path to privilege….

Come, Jesus says, come and gather with those who are seeking this different way of living, share in the one bread and the one cup---remember who you are and whose you are and let your heart be filled with hope, become possessed by the Holy Spirit, let your eyes see your brother and sister with the eyes of God, and be changed.

Kneel, Jesus says, kneel and take up the worn-out, dusty feet of your fellow pilgrim—without regard to color, gender, faith, or economic status---don’t be dismayed or unsettled.  Tend to them; tend to their brokenness, their pain, their sorrow. In this act you will know love, give love, be love. When we serve, we give glory to God who, from the very beginning of our story, has always freed the oppressed from whatever binds them up. When we serve, we participate in God’s ongoing redemption in the present world; we enact the Kingdom.

By these acts of communion and service, Jesus promises, we are blessed.  Not because our bankroll increases; not because our lives are made easier, not because our problems are ended.  But in this remembering, in this serving, our hearts are enlarged.  Our spirits, which are weighed down with the grief and the sorrow of everyday living, are lightened and lifted.  We get a glimpse into the true meaning of this living, the real gift of this life----our relationships.  Being connected to others.  

Having communities who help to bear the load and lighten the burden.  A web of grace into which we can lean when we ourselves tumble, or are pushed, into the depths.

Privilege—a special right, advantage, or immunity.  Living as an apprentice of Jesus does not promise an easy road; in fact, it is difficult.  And yet it is our privilege.  For as we truly live this Way with our whole heart, we become immune to loneliness and disconnection; we gain the advantage of sharing our grief and our joy; we recognize the right we have always had, even before we took our first breath, to sit at the banquet table in the community of Father, Son, Holy Spirit because we are loved. We are worthy. We are forgiven. We are enough.

Come.

Kneel.

Take and eat.

Serve and be blessed.

You belong; we belong; all belong. May our lives become our thanksgiving.