Sermon.
17 April 2025. St John the Evangelist's, Ovington.
Maundy
Thursday.
Gospel:
John 13.1017, 31b-35
This
sermon is going to have three parts.
You
know: a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Except
I am teasing you.
Today
I actually am going to speak of a beginning, an end, and a middle!
I
am thinking about parts of this service.
The
beginning, end, and middle of this service,
The
beginning.
We
began the service tonight with the welcome of the oils. The olive oils.
St
John the Evangelist’s people may remember that I said that the Greek for olive
oil, elaion, is probably related to the word for having mercy, ele-eo,
and mercy, eleos. So oil is an embodiment of Gd’s mercy. And “mercy”
is much broader than forgiveness, than pardon. It means more God’s tenderness towards
us.
These
oils have all been blessed by the bishop at the cathedral. You have seen the
three kinds:
the
oil of healing, which I call the oil of strengthening;
the
oil of baptism, for baptismal candidates, when they are sealed by the sign of
the cross;
the
fragrant oil of chrism, for, well, for whenever someone is commissioned to be
the particular kind of disciple they are being called to be.
You’ll
see we have four sets. One for each church.
So
here is another way in which are all together.
This
ceremony is not ancient. I am not pretending it is. It is modern.
But
surely it is a good thing.
It
is a good thing to go into these Most Holy Days by seeing, and welcoming, the
embodiment of the tenderness of God, to welcome these gifts for us.
From
the beginning to the end.
I
rejoice that this church has had a tradition of stripping the altar at the end
of this service. It is a powerful experience for many. We are used to ending
our service with some combination of a triumphal song, a slow or at least a
deliberate procession, and a solemn-ish blessing… and then fun and chat, over
coffee and delicacies (I can vouch for the delicacies). It’s quite something,
then, if we hurry to empty the church of the things we can remove, leaving it
barren and bereft, and then just depart. In silence.
We
find it shocking, and we get that we are meant to be shocked.
Why?
Why is it good to be shocked at the end of this service, uniquely?
It
isn’t hard to say, and it isn’t a secret. We have here a different kind of
embodiment. Here we are embodying the disciples, who fled from Jesus at his
time of trial, after the Last Supper. They deserted him. They didn’t even
hesitate. They fled. We mark that.
But,
perhaps, if I put it that way, we might also be sensing this… don’t we need
something more? Are we to stay frightened and isolated and away from Jesus? I
say we do need something more. In a way, the stripping of the altar is Act One.
It makes sense if it is followed by Act 2. What would Act 2 be?
Act
2 is that we seek to mend what the disciples broke. For we are free. We are
free to play the role we choose in this story. Where the disciples fled, we can
stay. We can watch and pray. And so the stripping of the altar gives way to a garden
of repose. A garden, where Jesus rests, abides, in the form of the Blessed
Sacrament. It is our own Garden of Gethsemane, right here in Ovington. That is
what we can do.
We
will empty the church of the usual things (in truth, there isn’t that much to
take away), and we will set up a new focus, with the Blessed Sacrament, signs
of nature (a garden) and candles.
So
there is an invitation, there. You are invited to stay and pray before Jesus
(the Blessed Sacrament) and the Garden. Throughout the world, some will be
praying and keeping watch throughout the night. Some will keep watch until
midnight. But, because I know (think) this is new to you, I suggest.., stay for
a while. You can leave before, during,
or after. But please leave as quietly as possible. Either way, there is no
formal ending. And it’s not a time to chat (sorry about that).
From
the beginning to the end, to the middle.
I
mean what is next in this service. The washing of the feet. Yes, we are doing
it! Just like the welcome of the oil, and the watch before the garden, this is
not my idea. I am not bringing in anything that is my idea. They are all there
in the service books. And, if you paid attention to the Gospel, you can perhaps
see why.
I
can be blunt about it: Jesus tells us to do it.
He
tells us to wash one another’s feet. Hear it again:
“if
I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet.
For
I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”
It
sounds pretty clear, doesn’t it?
We
typically… don’t do it. We don’t wash each other’s feet literally. We say it’s
an image, a symbol. We say it’s a way of saying we need to serve one another in
the ordinary matters of life. Giving lifts to hospital, carrying shopping,
going to funerals, challenging a bully, overlooking one another’s mistakes, and
so on. And this is right. This is our service.
But…
what if… foot-washing does mean all of that,
and
is
also something we need to do literally, in the plain sense of the words?
It's
embarrassing for us, of course, to show our feet. It’s not very C of E. Notice,
though, that it seems to have been embarrassing for Peter as well,
and
Jesus didn’t let him hide away.
I’m
inviting anyone who wants to have their feet washed to come forward. Nobody is
obliged to. And don’t - do not - do
it just to please me. But don’t avoid doing it, just because it is out of what
we now call your “comfort zone”.
It’s
a two-way gift, two-way sharing, two-way invitation.
One
party offers the vulnerability of actually showing their feet.
The
other has the gift of washing them,
with
the attitude of service and of tenderness that (I remind you)
Jesus
himself showed.
This
service marks Jesus’ Last Supper of course. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and in
Paul, for that matter (as we’ve heard), the focus is on the meal, and the bread
and the wine, and what Jesus says about them, how he prays with them, and
identifies himself with them.
That’s
entirely absent from John.
In
John, the focus is on the washing of the feet.
We
can presume that Jesus meant this.
But,
look, there’s anything but a spirit of bullying, or even cajoling here.
I
am just inviting you to think about it.
Let’s
return to the beginning and the end.
Remember
the oils, the embodiments of God’s mercy,
God’s
eleos, God’s tenderness.
As
we enter these three Most Holy Days,
let
us look for God’s tenderness, for ourselves, and for others.
Remember
the invitation to watch and pray
(for
we are free to watch and pray).
If
we don’t do it here, let us do it in our own way.
God
will supply what we need, to watch, pray, and find God’s tenderness.
Amen.