From Cold Spring Presbyterian Church’s annual Easter Sunrise Service at Sunset Beach, Cape May Point, New Jersey, April 21, 2019. Larry Moyer sings “Then Came the Morning” with Jayne McDonough, accompanying.
Jesus used foot washing to show several lessons: Hospitality and serving is a mission of Jesus’ followers. The faith community, the host: 1. must take care of their guests. 2. Always serve. Serve others in worship, teaching, dinners, teams, groups, and every interaction with the community. 3. When we serve, our feet will get dirty.
The only way our feet will be dirty is if we go somewhere! So let’s get our feet, and our hands, dirty in serving our community generously! Then, we will look most like Jesus who came to seek and to save everyone who has lost their way.
Where will your feet take you today in service to others?!
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15).
According to the World Happiness Report 2018released last week, Finland is top of the world for happiness, closely followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Four out of the top five spots are Nordic, and are well known to be stable, safe and socially progressive. The Happiness Report measures a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)(money matters), Longevity(people like living longer), Corruption(If citizens don’t trust government and business, they’re not happy), Social Support(you know others have your back and support), and Freedom (making your own important life choices is better than the government telling you what to do). People who live in a nation that scores high in GDP, Longevity, Social Support, and Freedom, but low in Corruption, likely have a better life experience than those that live in an under-performing nation. And if you‘re wondering, the United States ranked 18th out of 52 nations surveyed.
We prefer to feel happy. Happy is good. People in Jesus’ time also wanted to feel happy. That’s why many devotees of Jesus (not just the disciples) clamored for Jesus to take over their nation. This week is Palm Sunday where we will begin our “feel good” happy time when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem as the new King. But, after only a few days, the political climate shifts unexpectedly as Jesus goes from Palms to Passion. Passion refers to Jesus’ suffering as he is betrayed, denied, arrested, tortured, ridiculed, slandered, and (without a real trial) is sent to death row. By Friday, Jesus is dead. All hope was lost. Or, was it?
If there was such a thing as a World Happiness Report 33 (yes, AD 33!), the people in Palestine would have been at the lowest ranking. GDP was down (the religious leaders controlled the dysfunctional economy). The average life expectancy in Jesus day was about 45. Corruption affected every sphere of life from the Temple, to politics, to the trades. Social Support was spotty at best but the generation family systems had its advantages over our more modern nuclear family today, that is is you weren’t female, young, poor, sick, or had a physical difference. And what about Freedom? Simply, what freedom. Rome was the occupying political power and squashed personal freedoms, especially those of a different political party or who didn’t play and pay by their rules.
This week we follow Jesus as the Lenten Journey is in the Home Stretch with a message titled, TheHome Stretch—From Palms to Passion. You will participate in an interactive reading of the Palmsscripture reading along side the Passionscripture reading and make up your own mind about Jesus and happiness.
“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
Did you know stones could sing? Yes, they can! When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he was welcomed as King. People were pretty excited, it was a red carpet experience that everyone celebrated. Well, almost everyone. A group of fake-religious leaders called Pharisees criticized Jesus and told him to stop the festivities! Imagine that. They wanted to stop the Jesus party. The children were singing, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!,” chanting this over, and over as God’s promises spoken long ago were being realized then and there. Jesus said, no way! Even if I told them to keep quiet, the stones themselves would start to sing! Yes, singing stones, because all creation, everything that God made, the universe and all that’s in it—including you!, are designed to enjoy God’s presence and sing God’s praises. Take a look in the special Holy Week burlap pouch… Look! Singing stones! Stones with words of Scripture on them. Would you pick one and read it to us so we can hear the stones sing? Read more stones. Go ahead, and choose your favorite stone and keep it as a reminder that God loves you and shows his love through you. God will help you to sing through your life as you follow Jesus, just like these stones. Blessed in the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
When is the last time you described something as extravagant? Maybe a lavish dinner out when the boss wanted to spare no expense celebrating a new venture. Or, when your extravagant gift conveyed lavish love and that delighted another. Extravagant is literally to go beyond the full measure of what is expected. This week, our text from John 12 describes an expression of extravagant love that powers extravagant mission.
We get a glimpse of true love in action when Jesus journeys to Bethany, his happy place at the home of his best friends, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. And yes, that Lazarus! The one “whom Jesus had raised from the dead.” While Lazarus was indeed a unique host, it was the way Mary expressed her gratitude to Jesus that shocked all the guests and provoked Judas, (Yes, that Judas!) to condemn her gift as extravagant, too pricey, overboard, and scandalous. (He reasoned that the fragrant, extravagant gift could have been sold and the money given to the poor. While that’s not a bad idea, find out on Sunday what Jesus had to say as his feet were anointed, and how he responded to Judas, because, Extravagrant Love and Extravagant Mission are inextricably bound together!
This week, “you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love” (Ephesians 3:18a). There is a place for you, here! (If you’re new to our church, discover more about what we believe and why we do what we do by visiting a special Welcome First-Time Guests page on our website, here.)
You know the difference between something that is plain, and something that is extravagant? Plain is good. Taking something that is plain and turning it into extravagant takes time, energy and attention. Consider matza. Do you know what matza is? Sure, it looks like a cracker. Kinda boring. But tasty! Why do some churches use plain, flat, crackers, matza, like this for communion at the Lord’s Table? Where did matza come from?
The idea for matza, unleavened bread, came from God. When God’s people were imprisoned in Egypt, they wanted more than anything to be free! Well, God heard their cry’s for help and sent Moses to lead them out of their prison! But, Moses told them, we gotta go! Now! You can’t delay. They didn’t have time to bake bread. Waiting for wheat and water to mix, blend, and be kneaded into dough, it must then wait for hours as it rises. Waiting. Waiting. Then it has to bake in the oven. More waiting. Since they couldn’t wait, they took their flour and water, rolled it out thin, then baked it in ovens and on hot stones. It didn’t take long. Matza reminds us of how God quickly freed us!
Here at our church, we improved on plain matza. Take a look. We have the tastiest communion bread anywhere, its like Scottish shortbread. We are so excited that God loves us, that Jesus leads us, we upgraded matza to Scottish communion bread!
But there’s more. Because God loves us in extravagant ways, what would matza look like if it was even more extravagant? How about chocolate-dipped Matza?! Yeah. Amazing. Here. Try some.
Remember that God’s love in Christ is extravagant. God doesn’t hold back. Beyond measure. There’s nothing plain about God’s love. You can enjoy these specially dipped matza that Melissa made. After worship, would you help me offer these extravagant matza to everyone else? Great! God’s love: Extravagant! Let’s pray.
While we all know exercise is important to our health, and most agree that we should exercise more, it can be a struggle. Run? Why run when you can stay put! Why run when you can drive, or ride? But, Research shows that running, more than other aerobic activity, keeps you healthy from the inside out. Did you know?:
- Running makes you happier. …
- Running helps you lose or maintain weight. …
- Running strengthens your knees (and your other joints and bones, too). …
- Running will keep you sharper, even as you age. …
- Running reduces your risk of cancer.
So, running is good. Walking is good. Any kind of aerobic exercise is beneficial. But the direction and object of our running is more important than the running itself. Have you ever had a day leaving you feeling like you were on a treadmill? Have you ever exerted lots of energy to do something great, only to be left dismayed with the underwhelming outcomes? Have you ever run with a right spirit of dedication only to realize you were ruining in the wrong direction? Well, that kind of running can be draining and unproductive. Lots of motion, but no progress! This week’s Gospel of Grace from Luke 15 reminds us that we’re not the only ones running as we consider Jesus’ parable depicting God as running for us! That’s right, imagine God running to meet us where we are, no matter where we are. God is running to catch up to us regardless of what we are caught up in. God runs to us, with us, and for us to bring words we long to hear: “You are loved.” “You are forgiven.” “I want to bless your whole life!” I will give you a future of hope.”
If you need to hear these powerful words, invest 30 minutes of your time and listen to this message from God’s word titled, “The Day God Ran.” If anyone knows something about running, its God. On our Lenten Journey, God is running for you with the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
There is a place for you, here! (If you’re new to our church, discover more about what we believe and why we do what we do by visiting a special Welcome First-Time Guests page on our website.)
Have you seen the new McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish commercial? This humorous ad features a toy mechanical fish mounted on a wall who sings, “Gimme that fish, O Gimme that fish…” announcing the return of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Have you ever wondered why the Filet-O-Fish Sandwich is so heavily promoted the same time every year? Hint: The special fish promotion always occurs during the 40 days of Lent. That’s right. It all started in a predominately Catholic neighborhood in Ohio when, in 1959, a McDonald’s franchise owner named Lou Groen noticed plummeting hamburger sales every Lenten season. Instead of just suffering through the 80% drop in sales, he decided to meet the needs of his customers by developing a non-meat alternative. The incredible success in delivering what his community needed is, as they say, history.
What does the Filet-O-Fish have to do with Jesus’ words about the fig tree from our text this week from Luke 13? As we will discover during this Sunday’s message titled, “Fish, Fig, Discipleship” the origin story of this popular sandwich can teach us a lot about our mission. You see, the fig tree Jesus spoke about was not producing the fruit the other crops needed, nothing for three years. But, instead of destroying the barren fig tree, the owner agreed to let the fig tree have one more year to deliver what was needed.
We know figs are remain a very popular fruit in the United States, but did you know that it was the abundant vitamins found in figs that motivated a Philadelphia baker in 1851 to produce a machine that could stuff the nutrient rich fig jam into pastry dough. Delivering what the community needed led a baking company to buy the machine and the cookies were a huge success. The town they were first produced was, you guessed it, Newton, Massachusetts!
Fish and figs can teach us a lot about discipleship as we follow Jesus during lent as we deliver spiritual nutrients our neighbors need.