LIMINALITY

CONTRIBUTED BY GILLIAN GODSELL

This  short piece by Michelle Wade,  is from a longer essay, ‘Living with Jesus in Liminality’  which can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1skGzhFwhynt4F0BBjhyEvOp5nwMcAw16O86wgNn4e2Q/edit?hl=en_US

3.Liminality Church

Embracing Holy Saturday liminality for the Christian Church undergoing massive socio-cultural transition, is as massive as the Institution itself.  To those who were struggling with his teaching, Jesus once said, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60)  I

that it does not seek to oust or master other narratives; its nature is love,

believe that this is the guidance the Western Church needs to respond to the opportunity implicit in its present liminality:  to let the dead be dead, and get back to basics: to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as we love our self.  “The kenosis of the gospel is not victory” (Clark 2009, 109).

In other words, the Christian expresses their faith in God by allowing the dead church to die.  Scott Cowdell describes this as a pneumatology of hope, rather than despair.  If we trust in the Church as Religious Institution, we are driven to despair, for movement out of liminality only comes from outside ourselves.  In contrast, to embrace the Community of God as Mystical Union with Christ, is to let go of those human definitions of the Christian Church and reformulate our identity and understanding with more explicit reference to Divine Mystery (Cowdell 2006).  Elsewhere he concludes that this leads the Church into a ministry of ‘midwifery’ rather than ‘palliative care.’  “That does not mean abandoning the old...[however] the ministry task today is not to preserve and protect dwelling pockets of the old, but to see where the new is coming to birth and put in our best efforts there” (Cowdell 2004, 70)

Brueggeman and Frost both employ the lessons of exile to the prophetic task of ministry and church today.  In Brueggeman’s words: “Prophetic ministry consists of offering an alternative perception of reality and in letting people see their own history in the light of God’s freedom and his will for justice” (Brueggemann 2001, 116).  This includes the formation of communitas, radical discipleship, and prophetic ministry that “seeks to penetrate the numbness in order to face the body of death in which we are caught...[at the same time as seeking to] ... penetrate the despair that new futures can be believed in and embraced by us”(Brueggemann 2001, 17).  The New Monastic communities within the Emerging Church movement are a particularly interesting expression of this.  

“Monastic movements were creations and movements of the Spirit.  If new monasticism is to serve the mission of God through the Church, as I hope, then retrieval – reconnection to the ancient church, and renewal – the breaking in of God’s future, his new creation, need to go hand in hand.” (Cray 2010, 10)

CONCLUSION

This essay has presented an argument that liminality is a natural part of human experience which presents the follower of Jesus with an opportunity.  Surviving liminality requires faith and understanding – that this is not the end of the story, that there has been One who has been here before.  It is, in fact an opportunity to come into intimate contact with that One who is beyond our reach in the everyday of life.  Saying yes to this opportunity means embracing the moment -  standing still in the dark, or lying with Jesus in the grave.  It is a strange mix however, for at once there is a letting go of the old, a refusal to draw on human resources, the determined act of trusting that there is a future.  Critical thinking and searching for meaning, searching for God is a liminal intelligence that refuses to believe there is nothing but void.  That there is a power beyond the grave to come to our rescue, break through the meaninglessness with purpose and redeem the old ways so that they make sense again in a new light.

What does it take

to mark the canvas

to write the line

to play the chord

to plough the field

to cross the river

to change the world?

Perhaps

the courage

to let become

what is waiting to become

('What does it take?' in Adams 2010, 1)

From https://docs.google.com/document/d/1skGzhFwhynt4F0BBjhyEvOp5nwMcAw16O86wgNn4e2Q/edit?hl=en_US

THE PARISH OF ST PAUL’S, PARKHURST SERMON – 10 APRIL 2016

THE PARISH OF ST PAUL’S, PARKHURST

SERMON – 10 APRIL 2016

Readings: Acts 9: 1-6; Psalm 30; John 21: 1-19

What an intriguing portion of Scripture John chapter 21 is! Most theologians these day agree that this chapter is an appendix to the original text of John’s Gospel. Rebecca S. Chopp says “A paradigm shift in theology must support this very important claim – that there is a new way of reflection, a new procedure of interpretation, a new orientation of knowledge … [liminal] theology interprets, interrupts and transforms …”

Actually, this viewpoint makes a lot of sense. Just listen to the last 2 verses of John chapter 20, and ask yourself if this doesn’t sound like a conclusion to a text:

“And so there were many other signs that Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, which are not written down on this scroll. But these things are written so that you may have faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith you may have life in his name.” [Nicholas King’s translation]

So, what do you think, does it sound like an ending? I think it does!

WHO then wrote chapter 21 and WHY?

Apparently, according to a number of theologians, whilst John chapters 1 through to 20 may well have been written by the “Beloved Disciple”, which in this case is identified as the Apostle John himself, chapter 21 appears to have been written much later … probably between 90 and 100 CE … by which stage all the original apostles who had seen the incarnate Son of God were all dead – hence the posthumous details given of St Peter’s manner of death in our reading today in verses 18 and 19:

“Jesus said to Peter, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands and some one else will dress you and take you where you do not want to go.” In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God.”

It is commonly believed that John chapter 21 was written by the Johannine community – in other words, a faith community or little church that was planted in Ephesus by John himself, and which continued to meet in all faithfulness even when John was in exile on the island of Patmos where he later died.

They seem to have used as their primary Christian Scripture text John’s version of the Gospel of Jesus. What this seems to indicate is that John chapters 1 to 20 revolve around Jesus and the first generation of disciples, whereas chapter 21 is very much in response to second generation Christianity AND BEYOND, even up to today.

Even the apparent conclusion of chapter 21 appears to be “open ended” … a kind of indication that this is still on-going:

Verse 25: “There is much else that Jesus did; if it were written down in detail, I do not suppose the world itself would hold all the books that would be written.”

What is still going on? We are still actualizing the glorified Jesus every time we proclaim: “It is the Lord!” It is not always as simple as it sounds because, even in our reading for today, we are told that this the third time these particular disciples are seeing the same Risen Lord Jesus and yet they struggle to recognize him until “the Beloved Disciple” identifies Jesus and then Peter acts out of a loving heart by jumping into the water and wading through this shallow part of the sea to reach Jesus on the beach.

Like all of John’s Gospel, we can’t just take things at face value; we need to be intention about discovering meanings within meanings.

As usual, even in today’s short portion of verses 1 to 19 of chapter 21, this passage is so dense that I propose that we examine simply one aspect of many – like liminal space; unfinished business; Jesus’ words: “Follow me”; the meaning of the numbers; the Eucharistic overtones … etc. We are going to stick with the first one: LIMINALITY.

Within the text itself liminality refers to “threshold” times and spaces – the in-between / the “already” and the “not yet” …

For example:

(1)  “Early in the morning” (verse 4), or as some texts call it “dawn” – that is, the night is over but it is not quite day-time yet;

(2)  “the sea and the shore” – a meeting point … sometimes when the tide goes out, then part of the sea becomes the shore, and when the tide comes in, the shore becomes the sea;

(3)  Jesus’ resurrected body, no longer earthbound, but not yet ascended.

Increasingly, for me, LIMINALITY seems to carry with it also God’ dynamism of ongoing creative evolution. Which, in turn (if we believe that Jesus is a Living Word to the church throughout the ages) means that God fully intends for us consistently to develop our God-concept and to grow and expand in awareness of our context, so that we can interpret our Scriptures and faith in the light of growing scientific, biological, mathematical, technological and other realities. For example:, cloning; genomics (genetic engineering); 3D printing; laboratory-grown organs and even perhaps as has been mooted, simulated human beings, by 2040.

When we, as church, hold firmly onto old models of being church, our “spiritual hands” close into “fists” and we close ourselves off from receiving the new creation that God desires to gift to us when we are willing to live in the certainty of God’s love for us as well as the uncertainty of liminal space.

Some of the signs of a liminal space faith community and faith person are:

*        We no longer need to tell people “what” to think, but rather

“how” to think;

*       There is not so much a change of style of liturgy, but

instead an invitation to enhance creativity, metaphor, symbolism … and let relevant, authentic substance of the content of sermons, prayers, discussions etc be offered;

*        Allowing spaciousness of attitude for original thought,

genuine empowerment, interdependence, personal congruence; encouraging bigness of heart and minds, for real change that values mutual benefit over individual reward;

*        We no longer legislate God, but rather offer God in the

context of endeavouring to understand the world’s mind.

*        As church in the 21^st century, recognizing more and more

that the entire globe (if not the universe) is in that obviously evolving space of liminality.

One of the greatest gifts we are consistently called into and that Jesus challenges Peter to return to, through the three-fold question: “Do you love me?” is the whole issue of RELATIONALITY

Dairmuid O’Murchu describes this so powerfully in his book Poverty, Celibacy and Obedience: he writes “We come into being because of a relational matrix and that is open to several different levels of understanding: scientifically, biologically, socially and theologically. The purpose of our existence is to enhance and advance life’s capacity to relate … we need to redirect our creative energies to … a mutually creative engagement with our relational God in a relational universe.”

In conclusion, John Shea says “As long as the stories of person and God remain exclusive accounts of separated entities, reality is inevitably split and all energies are spent on building bridges over gulfs that do not exist, rather than exploring relationship which do exist.”

AMEN

The Venerable Michelle Pilet

Rector of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Parkhurst

Archdeacon: Region 6 Diocese of Johannesburg.

SERMON, 3 APRIL 2016

Collect

Collect: God of mission, You raised up Jesus Christ as your faithful witness and the first born of the dead: by Your Holy Spirit, empower us to witness to Him so that those who have not yet seen may come to believe in Him who was and is and is to come, and who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Readings

1st reading: Acts 5:27-32 27 

When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, 28 saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.’ 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, so that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.’

Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150 

2nd reading: Rev 1:4-8 4 

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Gospel: John 20:19-31 19 

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 20 After he said this, he showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ 22 When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ 28 Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name.

I don’t know about you, but I relate to Thomas, referred to as ‘Thomas the twin’ in our Gospel passage, but better known as ‘Doubting Thomas’, because I too have to admit that I too struggle to believe that Jesus could really have risen from the dead, don’t you?

And Thomas is given an overly hard time – after all, all the remaining disciples were locked behind closed doors, in fear for their lives, and they had all doubted the women’s testimony that Jesus had risen…

As for Thomas, in our passage he declares Jesus to be his Lord and God and tradition has it that he travelled even beyond the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as present-day India in AD 52 where he founded what today are known as Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis. Thomas is regarded as the Patron Saint of India, and the name Thoma remains popular among Saint Thomas Christians in India.

Getting back to our gospel and Acts passages, the way all the disciples changed from cowards hiding and denying even knowing Jesus into fearless proclaimers of the risen Christ shows beyond a reasonable doubt that they truly believed in the resurrection, and so we too can believe in the resurrection, despite our doubts…

But the Christian story doesn’t end at Easter – our reading from Revelation reminds us that the Jesus “who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood…  made us to be a kingdom, priests serving His God and Father”. In addition, John’s gospel later describes the risen Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit onto His disciples before ascending, and it is the Spirit in them, God in them, who changes their lives, enabling them to live resurrection lives, and we see evidence of Holy Spirit inspired resurrection lives in countless men, women and children throughout the history of the church – I’m sure we’ve all been blessed with encounters of the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit in our lives as well as many encounters with Holy Spirit inspired resurrection lives

Our reading from Acts reminds us “we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit Whom God has given to those who obey Him” – obeying God is the requirement, and the fruits of the spirit is the measure…

I know I’ve been blessed with many encounters with the Holy Spirit – and usually in the most unexpected ways, through the most seemingly ordinary people…

I don’t often talk about politics in sermons, but I do believe in and am proud of Christians and the church or anyone, be they of any faith or none, when they, clearly in obedience to God and surely inspired by the Holy Spirit, stand up against injustice, especially if the injustices are when the powerful oppress or abuse the weak or poor, as this is surely what Jesus did and commands us to do too, as long as we do this in Spirit inspired love, with humility, in a Christ-like and life-giving way…

After all, in chapter 13 of John’s Gospel, Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, then shares the Last Supper with them, predicts how He will die for them, and says: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The Gospels makes it clear – Christianity is all about sacrificial love, so I was deeply disappointed by the revelations about the alleged influence the Gupta family has on our government, and I mentioned it at our Holy week service last Thursday before citing examples of Christians Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero who stood up in Holy Spirit inspired self-sacrificial love to injustices in their context…

I think we should remember that there are many others who bravely stand up against injustice, Christians and non-Christians too: surely many also acting in obedience to God and thus acting in Holy Spirit inspired love?

Have you heard of the approximately 1.5 million Muslims (including 70,000 clerics) who have signed a petition against terrorist attacks by Isis? [see the St Paul’s blog and Facebook pages].

And then, you must have heard about our Public Protector, advocate Thuli Madonsela? I’m not sure if she is a woman of faith, and I resisted the temptation to check because my point is that she too has taken a courageous and surely Holy Spirit inspired stand against injustice and abuse of power in South Africa in declaring some of the unpleasant truth about our president and Nkandla, which has cost her?

I was (quite frankly), pleasantly surprised by the headlines on Friday morning, when I saw reports that the Constitutional Court has unanimously ruled that the president had failed to uphold and defend the constitution by not acting on the Public Protector’s remedial actions…

I must emphasise that for me this is not about party politics, about bashing the president or any political party, it’s about something much bigger, something more important than our constitution – it’s about looking into our world to acknowledge and celebrate where we can see the same Holy Spirit the resurrected Jesus breathed onto His disciples before ascending, which enabled them to live resurrection lives, enabling us and those around us to likewise live our resurrection lives…

Surely the bravery of the Muslims who are standing against ISIS terror attacks, the bravery of people who like Thuli Madonsela and the Constitutional Court Judges who are upholding the constitution in South Africa, the bravery of Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero, the bravery of all people who stand up to injustices in their context, is as Holy Spirit inspired as the transformation of the disciples, be it denying Peter, or doubting Thomas?

In our collect, we prayed for our God of mission, the God who raised up Jesus Christ as a faithful witness and the first born of the dead, to also empower us to witness to Him by the Holy Spirit, so that those who have not yet seen may come to believe in Him, and surely we witness to Him whenever we stand up for the poor and oppressed, courageously inspired by the Holy Spirit, as described in our readings from Acts and the Gospel?

And surely we ALL see and PARTICPATE IN many, many examples of Holy Spirit inspired self-sacrificial love in the world, and so make the resurrection real daily, be we honest public prosecutors who make the news, or caring public-servants, be we teachers, doctors, lawyers, clergy, business-people, the unemployed, the young or the old or whatever who do our best for those in our care or those we chance to meet, just because it is the right thing to do or because it’s what God or our conscience is asking us to do?

With all this evidence of resurrection life around us, if only we choose to open our eyes and see it, how can we not rejoice in the fact that Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, and we, along with the saints of the past and the present, are all blessed as those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe?

Dear Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit, empower us to witness to Him so that those who have not yet seen may come to believe in Him who was and is and is to come, and who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN

Rev Gavin Smith

MAUNDY THURSDAY SERMON, MARCH 2016

First Reading

Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14;

Psalm

Psalm 116:1-2, 11-18

Second Reading

1 Cor 11:23-26

Gospel

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

1  Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7 Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8 Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ 9 Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ 10 Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them…

…Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Tonight at our Maundy Thursday service we have two paintings, firstly the unknown artist’s portrayal of Jesus Washing the Disciples Feet, as described in John’s gospel, which John says is “before the festival of the Passover” and the second painting is El Greco’s Last Supper which reflects his perspective of the last supper, which Mathew, Mark and Luke describe happening when Jesus shared the Passover meal with his friends.

Last night Garth and Sue Kramer gave a beautiful overview of the Jewish Passover tradition, from which we get our Eucharist Liturgy and traditions.

Maundy is derived from the Latin word “mandatum” or “commandment” as Maundy Thursday celebrates the day Jesus gave His disciples the “new commandment” to LOVE ONE ANOTHER - to quote from our gospel reading: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”….

Looking at the paintings, I’m struck at how the disciples and even Jesus are enculturated to both artist’s world views: both seem to depict a scene from circa 1600, which is only appropriate given this is art, and the invitation for us, then is to also re-interpret these paintings and their respective scripture passages for our context….

Let’s start with the El Greco’s painting which is enculturated to the artist’ frame of reference, which is fine, as long as we don’t take the scene literally ourselves, and rather also allow the Spirit to talk to us through the image ….

In this case, the faces are more stylised, less personal than in the other painting to me. And, for me, this painting depicts Jesus’ disciples as mostly seemingly irreverently distracted and pre-occupied with other things, rather than on the Passover meal and institution of Holy Communion….

In this case, there are only 11 disciples at the table (seated, not reclining as the Jewish custom of the time would have been… To me, Jesus and the disciples are seemingly better dressed and more middle class than they are in the other painting: I feel this could be due to the artists view of their role as more sacramental and priestly and ‘within the sanctuary’, rather than as going out into the world, a criticism many have and do have of the church…

The disciple bolting through the door one would naturally assume to be Judas, on his way to betray Jesus….

This painting makes me think, and there are biblical scholars who agree to varying degrees, that Judas is not alone in misunderstanding what Jesus’ kingdom was about – most of the disciples, just like us, have their own agendas and impose their views of who the Messiah should be on Jesus… We can all learn from Judas’ mistakes, as well as those of the other apostles….

Judas possibly believed the role of the Messiah was about overthrowing the Romans and instituting the Kingdom of God on earth, as in heaven – after all, look at how Jesus was welcomed as a King when he rode into town on a donkey, as we remembered on Sunday, a few short days before…

Is it thus not possible that Judas may have been trying to force Jesus’ hand so that He would call on the people to overthrow the hated Roman occupiers, possibly with the assistance of the heavenly hosts?

Clearly, Jesus’ death appalled Judas, leading to his suicide… Clearly he either missed or refused to accept Jesus’ description of what God’s kingdom was like, where the last will be first and where the greatest will be servants of all, not kings…. But then, he was not and is not alone in that misunderstanding….

The betrayal of Jesus by one of his disciples is widely regarded by scholars as authentic: it is considered unlikely that the early church would have invented this tradition, since it appears to reflect badly on Jesus.

However, some suggest Judas possibly acted with the full knowledge and consent of Jesus in "betraying" him to the authorities.

In his book The Sins of Scripture, John Shelby Spong says that "the whole story of Judas has the feeling of being contrived". He writes: "the act of betrayal by a member of the twelve disciples is not found in the earliest Christian writings. Judas is first placed into the Christian story by the Gospel of Mark (3:19), who wrote in the early years of the eighth decade of the Common Era." Comparing the three conflicting descriptions of Judas's death — hanging, leaping into a pit, and disemboweling with three Old Testament betrayals followed by similar suicides, he suggests that these were the real source of the story. Spong's conclusion is that early Bible authors augmented the Gospels with a story of a disciple, personified in Judas as the Jewish state, who either betrayed or handed over Jesus to his Roman crucifiers.

The point I would like to make is that rather than using the Judas character as a scapegoat, the character is more helpful as a metaphor for the part of each of us who ‘runs away’ from the Living God and God’s call for our lives…

Next, let’s reflect on the foot-washing painting, as it offer us, I believe, a clear metaphor of the Living God’s call for our lives: the red clothing and the red backdrop on the Greek-Orthodox-looking-screen in the background possibly represents martyrdom of Jesus and of the disciples, and Jesus’ invitation for us too to FOLLOW HIM by laying down our lives for others that our lives too may be saved….

The faces in the picture appear much more detailed and thus more personal and human than the faces one generally sees in iconic images, and Jesus in particular looks anxious to me, all 12 of the disciples are depicted and most seem to be prayerfully humble, except for the disciple who I imagine to be Peter who (I think) is the one having his feet washed with his hand on his head in apparent confusion, amazed at Jesus’ humility…

For me, the railing represents the alter rail and Jesus is, I believe, calling the disciples, and thus clergy and all Christians, out into the main body of the church, so that we all may go out into the admittedly mucky world, ‘to live and work to God’s praise and glory’, through attitudes of also being suffering servants, figuratively washing the feet of those most in need by literally loving them without counting the cost to ourselves.

I find it most moving that Jesus doesn’t wear an ornate stole, but rather the humble servant’s cloth as used to wash feet… It reminds me that we similarly are invited, but not compelled, to put aside our interests, our egos, our finery and, like Mother Theresa, to realise that we are serving Christ whenever we help the least of these….

This new commandment to love one another, just as Jesus has loved us is an incredibly demanding teaching, a teaching that, I admit, makes me feel totally inadequate and unworthy, yet at the same time so encouraged when I remember it is God who does the work - I remind myself that all we are called to do is to make ourselves wholly available to the Spirit, so God can work through us, the way God has worked through so many saints over the centuries…

I am encouraged when I remember that all the saints were ordinary people like you and me who allowed the Spirit to achieve what God needs to achieve through them…

Two of my favourite examples of people who recently have epitomised this radical love include Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, whose writings on Christianity's role in the secular world, particularly through his book The Cost of Discipleship is incredible, most especially because he “walked the talk” so profoundly through  his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler's euthanasia and genocidal persecution of the Jews. Truly following Christ, his loving-the-persecuted cost him his freedom and his life: he was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned for one and a half years, before being transferred to a Nazi concentration camp. After being associated with the plot to assassinate Hitler, he was tried and then executed on 9 April 1945 as the Nazi regime was collapsing.

Another example who inspires me is Oscar Romero, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture. On 24 March 1980, thirty six years ago today, he was murdered by a death squad in a hospital chapel in the city. His commitment to the poor and oppressed of his country offended the rich and powerful, the politicians and military who oppressed the poor. Last year in May, his witness was acknowledged when the Church beatified him, the first step to sainthood.

His reflection in a sermon minutes before his martyrdom remind us of the challenge and cost of solidarity; his life of service lives on in many who share his commitment to God’s justice. People of faith cannot but hear in this an echo of Jesus' last words to his disciples on what we today call Holy Thursday.

Romero said:  "Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ will live like the grain of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies.

We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us".

We too live in difficult times – we have a proud tradition as Anglicans of standing up against the injustices of apartheid, and many in our church and even in our parish were involved in the struggle as church, at work, as teachers, at universities, through organisations like the Black Sash, and many others….

We have come a long way, but all is not well in our democracy….

When I was working in Alex a few years ago, I was struck by the difference between the rich suburbs with their increasing wealth, protected by walls being built higher and higher and private armies and security companies getting more heavily armed to fight increasing criminality while the poor in the shacks barely survive….

On Tuesday night I took someone home to near the Cathedral and I was appalled to see the city in complete disarray – bins have been broken and emptied on the streets, litter lined the streets and the squalor and filth literally on the doorstep of our Cathedral struck me as so inappropriate, especially at Easter…. Clearly, as Christians, we too have a duty to stand up and to look after all of our city…

Back in suburbia, things seem fine - we have volunteers and entrepreneurs removing rubbish, cleaning where others have illegally dumped, sometimes for charity…

We are called to follow the higher voice of God, exhibited through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, a life of humble repentance, continuous reconciliation with God and each other, like the 11 other disciples, like Bonhoeffer, like Romero as we too surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, living like the grain of wheat that only apparently dies. If we live so as to not die to self, we remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies. We need to make every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, it is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us.  AMEN!

Rev Gavin Smith