This weekend's scripture passage is among the most poignant and compelling in the whole Bible. Every time I read it, I'm struck by how emotionally charged the situation must have been: Jesus throwing down the gauntlet, marching into Jerusalem, his followers cheering, chanting, and hailing him as Messiah. It was exciting, dangerous, and fraught with peril. Then, Jesus gathers his folk for what everyone knew would literally be a "last supper" and this Messiah picks up a towel and washes his disciples' feet -- including the one who would betray him -- radically reinterpreting precisely what "lordship" looks like.
The implications for the Christian community are momentous: the visible truth of the gospel hangs upon our visible counterculture of love. It's a much-needed message these days, and we'll explore it in depth this weekend in all services. Jen Christianson will preach at the 8:45 a.m. Chapel service and I will preach at the others.
In addition, we'll celebrate World Communion at all services and welcome Imam Atif from the Islamic Society of Greater Charlotte to our First Sunday Talk series in the Fellowship Hall at 9:30. Considering love often begins with understanding, I invite you to take an hour and learn from this fine community leader.
Let me leave you with this thought.
A wise Episcopal priest, Reuel Howe, said, "If your love depends on the loveliness, the utility, the deserving of the other, you'll never be much of a lover."
"When people ask me how to find love," Howe said, "[I tell them] you will find love not by looking for it, but by giving it away. . . . If someone asks me where to find God, I tell them to go find someone to love" (Herein Is Love).
See you this Sunday,
