The Episcopal Church
of the Resurrection
1433 NW R.D. Mize Road, Blue Springs, MO
Weekly e-mail
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Maundy Thursday: 6:00 pm Agape Meal; 7:00 pm Foot Washing and Holy Eucharist; all night prayer vigil at the reserved sacrament until 6:00 am (Bulletin)
Holy Friday: 7:00 pm Veneration of the Cross and Holy Eucharist
Holy Saturday: 7:00 pm Great Vigil of Easter
Easter Sunday: One Service Only -10:30 am Holy Eucharist

Great Vigil of Easter
Saturday, April 16, 2022
One Service Only at 7:00 pm


Easter Sunday
Sunday, April 17, 2022
One Service Only at 10:30 am
Please bring something to share to eat at the light reception following both the Easter Vigil and Easter Day services.
From Father David +
THE IMPORTANCE OF SERVANTHOOD

We believe that Jesus Christ calls us to serve one another in love as he did. Rather than seeking to lord it over others, we are called to follow the example of our Lord, who chose the role of a servant by washing his disciples’ feet.

Just before his death, Jesus stooped to wash the disciples’ feet and told them, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”1 In this act, Jesus showed humility and servanthood, even laying down his life for those he loved. In washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus acted out a parable of his life unto death for them, and of the way his disciples are called to live in the world.

Believers who wash each other’s feet show that they share in the body of Christ. They thus acknowledge their frequent need of cleansing, renew their willingness to let go of pride and worldly power, and offer their lives in humble service and sacrificial love.

John 13:14-15, Matthew 20: 20-28, Mark 9: 30-37, Luke 22:25-27

Foot washing was common in first-century Palestine, where people wore sandals to walk the dusty roads. Normally, people washed their own feet. Occasionally a disciple would wash the feet of a teacher as an act of extraordinary devotion (see John 12:1-8).
 
No one would have expected Jesus, the master, to wash his disciples’ feet.
John 13:1-30 recounts Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet. The act is followed by a commentary (13:31-17:26), which explains what it meant for Jesus to love his own who were in the world unto the end (13:1), even those who would betray or deny him. His love reached all the way to laying down his life for them (15:13). He laid aside the privileges of power, although “the Father had given all things into his hands” (13:3). He showed the true power that comes through servanthood: “He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him” (Phil. 2:8-9).

Those who follow Jesus are likewise called to let go of privilege and pride in order to love others more fully, even those who are hard to love. By this life of love, they show that they are cleansed and a part of Christ (John 13:8-10). Washing one another’s feet is a way of expressing this commitment to follow Jesus in powerful, humble service.

Among our congregations, some practice foot washing, while others have discontinued the practice or have never observed it. Congregations are encouraged to practice foot washing when it is a meaningful symbol of service and love for each other. “Washing the feet of the saints” (1 Tim. 5:10) is one way of representing Christ to each other in acts of hospitality, service, and love.
From Fr. Jay Sidebotham +
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

ILOL. IMHO. LMK. ROFL. These text abbreviations are child’s play compared to my favorite: PBPGINFWMY. Translation: Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet.

When we started RenewalWorks, a ministry with congregations, I told people there was an invisible tattoo on my forehead which read (in elegant typeface): Work-in-progress. I’ve been told that at some point I have to stop calling the work a pilot project. These thoughts were prompted by today’s line from the Lord’s Prayer. After addressing the one whose name we seek to hallow, we pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It suggests a holy work-in-progress. God is not finished with us yet. I’m grateful for that.

I once had a young child ask me a question after I preached a sermon on heaven. He asked: Is heaven a place or a feeling? I fumbled through a typical Episcopal answer, like “It’s both.” Or “What do you think?” But whatever, however, wherever it is, it is its advent for which we pray.

The Lord’s Prayer suggests that heaven is the place where God’s will is completely done, where all that resists God’s gracious will has been set aside. In my limited imagination, it is the place where we will finally be able to fulfill the great commandment to love God with whole heart and soul and mind, and to love neighbor as self. Talk about a work in progress. In my imagination it is the place where relationships that have been broken can be healed. Where does your imagination take you?

I take it as holy coincidence that we come to this part of the prayer as we begin Holy Week. The week is filled with questions about what kind of kingdom we’re looking for, what kind of king Jesus might be. Jesus spoke a lot about the kingdom (random sampling above), and he spoke in mysterious ways. It is coming. It is here. It is out there. It is within. It is very much a work in progress, as parables indicated, often with mysterious beginnings and small starts like a mustard seed growing into a tree expansive and inclusive enough to provide a place for all the birds of the air. All of them.

In Jesus’ last days (which we observe this week), all kinds of questions about his kingship surfaced, beginning with the procession on Palm Sunday, when crowds hailed him as king. Pilate asked point blank: Are you a king? Jesus responded: My kingdom is not of this world. It’s not what you’ve been expecting. Those who ridiculed and tortured Jesus made fun of his claims to kingship. They didn’t understand. In the end, Pilate insists on a sign on the cross that declares that Jesus is a king.

And so we sing: The king of love my shepherd is. The kingdom for which we pray is marked by love. As Michael Curry repeats: If it isn’t about love, it isn’t about God. The cross that stands at the end of this week shows us what love looks like. Words of compassion, forgiveness, hope and trust are spoken by Jesus in that crucial moment, with arms stretched out on hard wood to draw us into his saving embrace.

Take this Holy Week as an opportunity to pray for God’s kingdom to come, on earth as in heaven. The news of the day tells us we are not there yet, in oh so many ways. That prayer can be offered not only with our lips but with our lives, as we realize that we are indeed a work in progress, that we have left undone those things that we ought to have done. In each day there are opportunities to grow in love of God and neighbor, a step at a time, a step closer to heaven. Holy Week is a grand time to take those next steps.